Sunday, September 21, 2008

KDO Part 2 - Seven Things That Can "Make or Break" a Sweater

My Saturday morning KDO class was Margaret Fisher's Seven Things That Can "Make or Break" a Sweater. Margaret was one of the guest teachers this year. She is another one of the designers who has been participating in Cat Bordhi's "Visionary Retreat" called "Self-Publishing for Knit Designers." (If you haven't heard about it, you can listen to Cat explain all about it in episode 84 of the CraftSanity podcast.) Margaret's book (same title as the workshop) was published one short month ago. Here's a picture of Margaret showing her book to the skeleton in our classroom (classes were on a community college campus - I guess this is a biology room?). It was clear that Margaret had taught this workshop many times before - she had it down to a science. The visual aids were great (combination of flip charts, diagrams on the white board, and actual knitting on giant needles that she held above her head, back to the class) and we got through everything on the agenda.

This class was all about the details... things like how to increase invisibly in various places, picking up stitches for banks, buttonholes, and other bits and pieces. For the details, you're gonna have to buy the book! Here is what my swatches looked like after class:

I felt especially empowered by the buttonhole she taught. Here is the right side:
Here is the wrong side (which I prefer the look of - so now I know to work my buttonholes on the wrong side of my bands):
I will use many of her tips as I continue to work on the Must Have Cardigan. I'm really glad that I took this class!

(And yes, I bought the book ... The Mannings booth had it down in the market.)

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for sending the photo, Margaret was kind enough to pose for me by the skeleton, so I did click a photo with my cell phone. I thought she was an excellent teacher; it was a great class and day at KDO!

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  2. I can't wait to hear more about the button band/holes from you as well as the increasing invisibly!

    Looks like a class that I would have loved. Thanks for sharing your experience.

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  3. And you had to drive down on this day by yourself (sob). I'm glad the day was fun!

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