JC06 Beyond Fiendishly Difficult Stitches

with Merike Saarniit

Yes, these are stitches for the adventurous knitter! Explore unusual stitch manipulations that create exotic fabrics. We’ll look at what can designate a stitch as ‘difficult’ and find ways to understand and create those stitches efficiently. But we’ll do more than just swatch! While exploring these fascinating textured/manipulated stitches, we’ll be edging them with an elegant and useful selvage treatment (some say worth the price of admission alone). Your swatch can easily result in a lovely head warmer or cowl. Add a crown and you have a hat. Stitches have been adapted from several old Estonian stitch libraries. Skill level: Intermediate to Advanced. Participants bring: An assortment of yarn and appropriate size needles with which you are comfortable using.

About the instructor: Merike Saarniit teaches workshops in spinning, knitting, dyeing and weaving in the US and globally, thanks to a traditional Estonian upbringing (in the US) resulting in learning needle crafts early on. Learning to spin in the 1980s, resulted in Merike buying a sheep farm and starting Carolina Homespun to sell fiber crafting supplies. Her “Invitation to Spin” kits popularized high whorl spindles and the “park and draft” method which she still teaches. She was a featured hand dyer in the book Handpaint Country. The farm and shop sold in 2000, she moved to Meadows of Dan, VA where she now designs knitwear and is working on a book.