Video

Private Sale of Knit Stars 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0

From now through midnight Friday, February 1st, you can sign up for Knit Stars 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 for just $199 per season.

Complete your collection by adding any seasons you may have missed, and become an All Star and access the bonus materials, including Pattern Vault, Topic Index, and Bonus Footage.

If you haven’t purchased any seasons, you can join during this sale by purchasing 1.0, 2.0, or 3.0 (or all three!). The current price of $199 per season will go up to $229 per season the next time they are offered.

If you use my link (https://knitstars.mykajabi.com/a/4441/qzGWw9gQ), I’ll get a kickback and we all win!

Knit Stars 3.0 Update

I recently taped my segment of Knit Stars 3.0: North Stars Rising. Unlike other video workshops I’ve done, I got to tape this one in the comfort of my own home.

It took about six hours to tape what will be about 60 minutes of class. During the class, I instruct how to secure steek stitches with slipstitch crochet, cut the steek open, then finish the edges with a zipper or button band. It’s similar to a class I’ve taught for a couple of years.

I’ve found that many knitters are wary of cutting their knitting (and, honestly, who can blame them?) and are uncomfortable attaching a zipper to knitting. To minimize the knitting time, I teach the techniques on a cool little cup cozy. The cozy can be knitted in a couple of hours so students don’t feel as though they may sacrifice a whole lot of knitting time if the cutting goes wrong (it never does, by the way).

I knitted nine step-outs in preparation for the day of taping. I didn’t want to waste time knitting on set when I could easily grab a separate cozy for each technique.

We set up stage on my desk, which I covered with a linen tablecloth to provide a neutral background. Once the camera was set up, we used masking tape to mark off the edges of the field of view. The tape helped me stay focused in the center.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the last segment was tapped, I’m not sure who was more delighted — me because I got through it all or my videographer, Daniel who had time to join his girlfriend at a local brewery! Suffice it to say that we were both happy.

Now Daniel’s real work begins — he has to put together a cohesive class from all the starts and stops of the taping, and cut out all my blunders!

Knit Stars 3.0 will debut November 26 – December 14.

Freebie videos will become available October 16, 19, and 23, followed by a live Q&A with the makers of Knit Stars on October 24.

Enrollment for Knit Stars 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 (including yours truly in 3.0) will be open for one week between October 25 and November 1. After that, the classes will be unavailable for an indefinite amount of time. Mark your calendars for the dates if you’d like to join in (and I hope you do!).

Live Q&A with the teachers will take place December 15 and December 16.

Back-to-School Sale!

For three days only, Craftsy Classes are under $20 
Back-to-school savings aren’t just for kids! Tomorrow through Sunday (August 17 – 19), every Craftsy class is on sale (some restrictions apply). This includes my three classes Save Our Stitches: Fixing Knitting Mistakes, Essential Skills for Sock Knitting, and Knit Like a Master, as well as tons of new classes.

 

 

Knit Like a Master Craftsy Class

Continue your path of learning from the comfort of your home.

You don’t need a coupon to save. Simply choose from the huge selection by clicking here.

 

Knit Stars 3.0 Update

I’ve been scurrying to knit all the necessary step-outs for my upcoming Knit Stars 3.0 segment. It’s all very exciting.

I’ll be teaching how to cut and finish a steek with a zipper or button band. Downloadable instructions are included for knitting two cup cozies — one with a bright zipper and one with a tidy button band. You don’t have to commit too much time to knitting the small pieces before you can practice the fine art of adding closures to steeks! Once you successfully cut your knitting, you’ll wonder what all the fuss is about.

Special yarns have been dyed by my friend Ana Clerc of Yarn Carnival for my cup cozy project. Kits will be available through Loops in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Knit Stars 3.0 will launch in November. Sales are currently closed but you can get your name on the waitlist to ensure your spot when they open again this fall.

Under the Bright Lights

I spent a good part of last week taping what will be my third (3rd!) class for Craftsy. This class is titled Knit Like A Master and includes as much information as I could cram into the two-hour format. For this class, I deciphered all the techniques that I feel are most important for any knitter to know.

As usual, I arrived the first day to find a star on the door of “my” studio.

I posted an Instagram expressing my delight and was pleasantly surprised that some of my followers thought it was a little lame. According to paolo_vino, “This image is not exactly expressing permanent ‘star status’ on the owner, is it? I mean: Who was chalked-in before … and Who gets chalked-in next. Come on Craftsy … You need to UP YOUR GAME!”

Well, I showed that comment (and others expressing the same thoughts) to my crew. The next day, my star was “upped”.

But that wasn’t good enough. One follower said, “Better … at least it’s not smudged!”

 

The third, and final, day I got some color! What a difference three days make! Get a load of the balls of yarn in the “d”s.

 

 

 

 

For three days I was treated by royalty (with the exception of the temporary star) and had a lot of fun, despite the many re-takes. (Sorry guys!)

Thanks to Danica (on the left) for giving my hair and face a go-over. Danica has been in charge of hair and makeup for all three of my Craftsy tapings. She’s cute as a button, thoroughly talented, and a whole lot of fun to boot. I wish I could have taken her home.

 

 

 

 

And thanks to my crew, from left to right: Rob (director of photography), me (the “talent”), Stephanie (producer), and Ivana (technical).

My First Podcast!

Stacie and Me podcastI’m excited to announce that I taped my first podcast last week with Stacie Dawson of Must Stash Yarn. I admit to being a little nervous, but Stacie is so engaging that she put me right at ease.

You can watch the podcast and learn about how I became a knitter and my newest adventures by clicking here.

For those of you who may not know, Must Stash is among the best self-striping yarn I’ve come across. The colorways are inventive and fun. At present, I have three skeins of Must Stash sock yarn.

From left to right: Dark Side of the Moon #4 (it’s a little-known fact that I’m a Pink Floyd fan), Sesame #16 (how could I resist?), and Happy Birthday Cindy (dyed specially for my friend, Cindy’s, 50th birthday bash; if you knew Cindy, you’d understand).

Must Stash yarns

Craftsy Sock Class Winner

I love all the reasons all of you love to knit socks!

The lucky winner of Essential Skills for Sock Knitting is Roxanne, who wrote:

“Being over 70 inspires (requires?) that I multi-task or combine more than one element in everything that I do.
I enjoy knitting socks because I get utility along with beauty in the finished product.
Socks are portable and offer endless possibilities for customizing PLUS they keep your feet warm.
Double points, endless loop, cuff down, toe up, a multitude of ways to turn a heel…. Oh my goodness how I love to knit socks!!”

I’m with you Roxanne — multi-tasking is the way to go! I hope you find lots of inspiration (and help) in the class.

For the rest of you, you can get the class at 50% off by clicking on this link.

Here’s to happy feet all winter long!

New Craftsy Class

I’m delighted to announce that I have a new Craftsy class: Essential Skills for Sock Knitting!

titleCard

In this class I demonstrate how to knit socks from the top down as well as the bottom up with round heels, short-row heels, wedge toes, and short-rows toes. The techniques are color coded: coral for a toe-up sock with a short-row toe and heel, light blue for a toe-up sock with a wedge toe and round heel, burgundy for a top-down sock with a short-row toe and heel, and dark blue for a top-down sock with a round heel and wedge toe.

all 4 versions 1200x1200

In addition to as many tips as I could squeeze in to the video sessions, you’ll get downloadable patterns for the four sock types, each in my signature style of multiple sizes (seven!) and multiple gauges (five!). The handouts alone will keep you busy knitting socks for family and friends for years to come.

Click here to get a 50% discount on the class!

Fall Blowout Sale!

For the next three (3) days, Craftsy is having a half-price sale on all of their online knitting classes. The cool thing about these classes is that once you’ve enrolled, you can watch the class wherever you want and as often as you want. And you can also ask the instructor for clarification if you run into problems. It’s like having your own private workshop.

Sept14_Sale_Knitting

My class is called Save Our Stitches: Fixing Knitting Mistakes, but there are loads of other great classes on essential basics, skill building, and mastery of all sorts of knitting techniques.

For a bit of fun, the folks at Craftsy are running a friendly contest among the teachers to see who can entice the most students to enroll in any of the knitting classes — regardless of the teacher. Follow this link to enroll in classes. It’s a win-win situation — you save 50% on any class and I get to compete with the likes of Amy Herzog, Clara Parkes, Lucy Neatby, Sally Melville, Anne Hanson, Franklin Habit, Romi Hill, Nancy Marchant, Eunny Jang, Stephen West, and Amy Singer.

Won’t you take a moment to tell me which class(es) you’d most like to take?