So much to do, so little time....

Knitted from the top down in "lace" pattern that I made up and the yarn I used is six skeins of Rowan Kidsilk Haze. I call it "Purple Cloud" because it's so light weight yet warm.

This one below is called "Seaweed" made of Blue Heron Egyptian Mercerized Cotton, knitted from the top down with a crochet edge.

I love teaching but it's so time consuming, not the actual teaching but the preparation of the materials. Planning out how to explain and transfer knowledge of knitting techniques to 10 people at various levels of knitting capabilities can be challenging. Because I've knit without a patterns for so long I instinctively know how to do many techniques but how to transfer that knowledge to 10 people is the fun part. But beginner and advanced knitters all get something out of my classes that is why I did not specify a skill level for the class. Knitting from the top down is a simple concept and can be done easily for the beginning knitter and for the advanced knitter there are lot's of designs and stitching styles to learn about.

The classes have been a great success and I love what I'm teaching, "Design Your Own Top Down Sweater" is such an easy way to knit a sweater and lends itself to your own design elements beautifully. Who needs a written pattern that fits somebody else when you can knit a sweater that fits you, even hard-to-fit sizes, custom fit to your "lumps and bumps" oops. my lumps and bumps your shapely figure.

Then there are the hand outs, oh yes I have to shoot pictures and write text and use some sort of publishing software to be able to lay out the page is a challenge alone. But I've progressed I have actually learned InDesign and have been able to print out a fairly presentable notebook.

I've copied my hand outs, knitted my swatches and organized my tools. I spend a lot of time organizing my tools. When you are a natural gatherer / collector, besides a large yarn stash I have a large collection of knitting tools. I am a firm believer that you are as good as your tools and if you are good to your tools they will be good to you.

The right knitting needle can make the difference of a pleasant smooth knit as opposed to struggling with every stitch knit. My goal is to make garments that look hand made and not home made, not that there is anything wrong with home made look sometimes but most of the time I like to have the finished hand crafted garment look neatly done with fine workmanship. This is where the tools come in when you have just the right little gadget that picks up dropped stitches or a circular needle and in the size you need to make your sweater so it hangs right etc.

Often people ask me which kind of needle is the best, well it depends. It's a tool and it has to suit the job if I have very slippery yarn I like to use Bamboo needles but if the yarn is sort of sticky then the Addi Turbo needle is the best. So you can see with this attitude I might have collected a number of needles. I have the circulars and the double points, the straights and my newest collection of 9" and 12" circulars.

Because we had people on a waiting list I have added another class at Amano Yarn Center in January 2009.

Three Thursday evenings from 6 pm to 8pm January 8th, 15th & 22nd.

A Mano Yarn Center
12808 Venice Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90066
310.397.7170