Knitting Classes

All knitting classes will be held in the Sparta United Methodist Church fellowship hall.

Wooly World of Westknits with Stephen West

Join Stephen as he welcomes you into his colorful woolly world of Westknits. In this 1 hour 15-minute Zoom presentation, Stephen will discuss how he chooses his color palettes and share secrets for how to make your palettes pop. This live presentation hosted on Zoom will be a visual feast for the eyes while Stephen gives you an up-close look at many of his most popular design samples. We will discuss how to create successful color palettes for Marled knitting, Faded knitting, and graphic stripes and slip stitches. You will learn a few of Stephen’s color-changing tricks and color planning strategies to gain more confidence with your own knitting projects.

Saturday morning - $15.00

Brioche Basics with Amie Palmer

Brioche knitting results in lofty, textured fabric. It is a truly distinctive form knitting.  In this class students will learn the fundamentals of two-color brioche knitting by making a chunky cowl. Starting with a super stretchy cast on, the class progresses to brioche knit and brioche purl. To complete your project, finish up with a super-stretchy bind off to match.

Saturday morning - $60.00 plus $5.00 materials fee

Make Mine Marled with Amie Palmer

If one yarn is good, more must be better! Working with yarns held together creates endless color and texture options. Learn how to predict the weight class of the yarn combination and how to create or suppress characteristics in yarn you already own.  Expand your design skills!

Note:  Crocheters are welcome in this class, too.

Friday morning - $60.00 plus $10.00 materials fee

Quick Toe-up Slipper Sock with Amie Palmer

Quick! Let’s knit some socks! These cozy slipper socks cover all the basic techniques for toe-up sock knitting in super-bulky yarn so you can make a sock in a day. From using a cast on for a closed toe to turning the heel and casting off with enough stretch to be functional, this class gets you ready for your next sock adventure. You will learn Turkish cast on, use of double point needles and basic sock knitting techniques

Saturday afternoon- $60.00 plus $11.00 materials fee

Short Row Hat Construction with Amie Palmer

The gorgeous Toph hat from Woolly Wormhead features an unusual short row construction and is a quick project packed with great new techniques that you'll see in many future patterns.  This class will cover a provisional cast-on, German short-rows, reading knitting charts, and grafting.  This class will help you enhance your knitting skills while making a cool hat.

Friday afternoon- $60.00 plus $11.00 materials fee

Up Your Skills With A Knitted Lace Doily with Nancy J. Nicholson

You’ve seen and created knitted lace patterns in shawls, tops and blankets. You've seen the crocheted doilies from your grandmothers, but have you ever knit a lace doily?

Lift up your lace skills with this simple and fast doily, great for gift giving. In this class you will learn to read your stitches and know whether you're on track. Doily making is fiddly for the first few rounds and then it gets exciting as the pattern is revealed before your very eyes.

During this class we'll cast on and increase our stitches. We'll talk about why a lace pattern does certain things and how to recognize the SSK, verses K2tog, and why they are important. Is this an increase row, or do you need equal increases for your decreases? Basically, we'll be studying the mechanics of knitting.

As we progress we'll talk about issues that can arise and how to fix them. We’ll talk about multiple bind offs, but in this class we’ll add a border while we bind off.

Saturday afternoon - $50.00 plus $15.00 materials fee

AMIE PALMER is a lifelong fiber arts enthusiast who believes there are two types of projects: the ones that require concentration and those meant for meeting up to chat with fellow knitters and crocheters.  She always has at least one of each in progress.  Using her background in engineering, Amie breaks patterns and stitches into simple chunks to make them accessible to anyone.  Her classes encourage understanding the “why” of a technique to enable the “how” of bringing a project to life. Based in Durham, NC, Amie loves teaching for local yarn shops and regional fiber festivals. She has taught at Southeastern Animal Fiber Festival, New York Sheep and Wool Festival, Carolina Fiber Festival and a variety of knitting retreats.  She is a TKGA member who is also a TKGA Certified Knitting Judge.  When not teaching, she is a technical editor for knit and crochet patterns.  Her website is www.DaisyAndCloverDesigns.com.

NANCY  NICKOLSON is the Fearless Leader of Fearless Fibers, a local yarn store in Clemmons, NC, specializing in knitting, crochet, spinning, weaving and felting. Sewing since she was 8, she’s been doing crafts and DIY projects for many decades. She taught herself to knit on a sailboat in 2008.Sailing in the tropics meant Nancy wasn’t making sweaters and hats, instead she’s been knitting lace, from 60" lace table cloths to smaller table dusters, shawls and scarves. A lace and beaded shawl is a project she takes great pride in. Learning to read her stitches with lace avoided frustrating mistakes and elevated her skills in the fiber crafts. She’s ready to help fiber artists raise their game as well.

Stephen West’s shawl designs and innovative use of color have helped him become an internationally recognized and respected designer. Stephen was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He studied dance at the University of Illinois, where he encountered his first local yarn store, Klose Knit in Urbana. The creative atmosphere of that local shop spurred Stephen to start designing patterns, and he was soon featured in Knitty’s fall 2009 issue with his Colonnade Shawl. Not long after, he moved to Amsterdam, publishing more patterns and launching a series of pattern books under the name Westknits. He continues to produce pattern books and hosts several online knit-alongs each year. His simple, clean, architectural designs have now been knitted by thousands of knitters all around the world. Stephen has taught workshops throughout the United States and internationally in Finland, Denmark, Germany, Italy, France, Israel, Iceland, UK, and Amsterdam where he co-owns Stephen & Penelope, a yarn boutique in the city center. In 2019 Stephen and his business partner Malia Mae Joseph realized a long-held dream by launching their first yarn brand, West Wool.