This event has been cancelled due to the Ohio Department of Health’s Stay-At-Home order to prevent the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and flatten the curve of those who develop the COVID-19 disease.
We are so excited to welcome Esther Rodgers to Ohio for the first time!!
From @jazzturtle on Instagram: ” There are always special places and special classes… @johnccampbellfolkschool is always that. It was an extraordinary week of creativity and inspiration.” See more photos!
Ever look longingly at that amazing skein of textured art yarn but you hesitate to purchase it because you just don’t know what to do with that single bulky skein? In this hour lecture, Guest Esther Rodgers will talk about how to use these special yarns to their fullest potential. Patterns will be suggested and techniques will be demonstrated. Examples will be provided for examination.
This event has been cancelled due to the Ohio Department of Health’s Stay-At-Home order to prevent the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and flatten the curve of those who develop the COVID-19 disease.
Ever wonder how to make that cloud of expensive cashmere go as far as possible, or how to spin those fun textured yarns? In this corespinning class you’ll learn how to do both! Combining the fun with the function, corespinning is a wonderful way to make the most of your expensive fibers, as well as preserve texture and spin those funky art yarns – even the expensive tailspun yarns! As a bonus in this class we will talk about how these corespun yarns are used in knitting. Patterns will be provided, as well as knitted and woven samples will be available for examination and discussion. Carding textured art batts will also be demonstrated.
Students must be able to spin a single and ply on a wheel.
Students should bring their wheel, bobbins, lazy kate, assorted carded fibers (batts, rolags, roving), any other loose fiber (farm wool/locks/fleece), scissors, a tapestry needle, a niddy noddy and any add in’s they’d like to corespin into yarn. (sequins, ribbon, pom poms, etc)
Included materials are: unusual fibers and add in’s.
The cost for this workshop is $85, which includes materials! Registration for this workshop closes March 31!
Esther is a full time fiber artist from Mebane NC, known for her creative art yarns, and her unique fiber preparation. She is constantly innovating her spinning techniques to create new textures and is on the cutting edge in terms of yarn design. She loves to design and spin concept yarns from an inspiration and tell stories with her yarns. Esther is also a SAORI weaver and creative knitter which gives her the perspective of how these extra special yarns can be used. She challenges herself by creating garments and other items out of her yarns and woven cloth. Esther is very conscious of where her fiber comes from, sourcing her wool from local and friendly farms, directly from wonderful shepherds with happy animals, and is often seen lugging, pulling and otherwise schlepping as many bags as she can manage from the fleece shows she visits. She is a master of packing fleeces into suitcases, boxes and otherwise figuring out how to get it all home since she “never plans to buy any”. Esther is an enthusiastic and patient teacher; possessing both national and international teaching experience. She enjoys the adventure of traveling around, sharing her techniques and fun. Some of the events she has taught at include Iceland spinners group, MAFA, John C Campbell Folk School, Interweave YarnFest, PlyAway, New York Sheep and Wool (Rhinebeck), Southeastern Animal Fiber Festival (SAFF), Stitches South and Stitches Midwest and Majacraft Camp in New Zealand. She loves to challenge her students to embrace their design elements rather than “mistakes” and to learn from each new spin. Esther has 2 new streaming videos out through Interweave Press, along with 2 Interweave videos- How to Spin Art Yarn and Carding and Combing wool for Color progressions. She also has a Craftsy class on Fiber Preparation for Spinning. Esther is a regular contributor to PLY, Spin Off and Handwoven magazines, and was included in Ashley Martineau’s 2013 book, “Spinning and Dyeing yarn” and , Lexi Boeger’s 2012 book “Handspun, New Spins on Traditional Techniques.”
You can find Esther’s workshop schedule and peruse her tutorials and general chatter at www.jazzturtle.com . She also sells her yarn and fiber at www.jazzturtle.etsy.com .
What Esther’s Students say about her work: “Really an excellent class and very knowledgeable teacher. Esther was patient and knew how to get the class going despite students being at different levels of experience. I am looking forward to taking more of her classes in the future.” ~ SAFF student, NC “what an awesome workshop last saturday morning. I wish I could have stayed to take your tailspinning workshop too!! Kudos for being generous and confident and organized and spontaneous. Your class on color blending touched on so many topics and tools giving me lots to think about!” ~ Karen S., NY “Esther’s class has given me permission to not follow rules, to fight the need to do what is expected. We are encouraged to trust our muse, to go blindly into the world of all things fiber and, to create great rolling strands. It’s worth doing again every couple of years just to give ourselves permission to play!” ~ Cynthia W. GA
Texture is an easy and fun technique to learn and execute on the rigid heddle loom! Using a simple pick up stick and your fingertips, you can easily add sections of texture to your woven projects for a pop of visual interest or create a beautiful all-over textured fabric.
Join us as Lois Wagner, owner and teacher at Fiber Fun Studio, leads us in creating a sampler that will introduce rigid heddle weavers the how-to behind Leno lace, Brooks Bouquet, Danish medallions, Spanish lace, in lay, and pinwheels.
Required Equipment & Materials: Rigid Heddle Loom with 7.5 or 8 dpi heddle – warped on your own before class 2 shuttles Worsted weight yarn in cotton, wool or wool blend in 2 different SOLID colors pick up stick (these may be bought from Lois on the day of the workshop – please bring cash or checks) table fork (yes, like out of your silverware drawer!) scissors Small crochet hook (size US C, D or E)
A warping plan and other preparation details will be sent to all who register.
Space for this workshop is limited to 10 students.
Unfortunately, we will have to postpone our presentation on Shetland sheep, as our shepherdess has a fever and no desire to share (she has no symptoms consistent with coronavirus!).
We will still have the stash sale in the morning and the business meeting, including information about elections, as planned.
All the details are on our website! Thank you for understanding!
At 1:00, we will hear from Shave ’em to Save ’em Shepherdess Keba Hitzeman of Innisfree on the Stillwater farm. Keba raises Shetland sheep bred for handspinning-quality fleece, as well as makes beautiful pottery. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to check out her goods!
We will also have the nominating committee will present their report, which includes their recommended slate of officers for the 2020-2021 Guild year. Nominations will also be heard from the floor.
From @innisfreeonthestillwater on Instagram: “I, um, appear to be outnumbered… #sheepngoats #kindergoats #greatpyrenees #farmlife #ihavenotreats
Keba Hitzeman is a woman with an armload of hats she (most days!) enjoys wearing – baseball fan, beekeeper, caregiver, chicken wrangler, daughter, farmer, fiber artist (spinner, knitter, weaver), gamer, gardener, herbalist, musician, nature-lover, potter, shepherdess, teacher, wife. In another life, she taught Spanish in several high schools and colleges in the area. She currently spends her days in the middle of her certified Organic 185 acre farm in Miami County, tending her flock of sheep and goats (registered Shetlands, a mixture of hair sheep, registered Kinder goats and some “Craigslist specials”), working on never-ending farm maintenance projects, serving on the Ohio Food Policy Network steering committee, processing and spinning wool, volunteering with OEFFA, watching the grass grow, and, in true farmer style, complaining about the weather.
Are you planning some spring cleaning? KonMari-ing your stash? Maybe cleaning to make room for more stash?
Join our Spring Stash Sale!
We will have table space available for anyone looking to buy or sell yarns for all fiber crafts, handspun yarn, fabric, fiber tools, fleeces, notions bags – any items that are fiber arts related!
If you are interested in reserving a table to sell fiber arts-related materials, please email [email protected] for details.
Admission for shoppers is free! All are welcome!
We recommend bringing cash or checks, as each seller will have their own preferred method of payments.
Bring your fiber and bring your friends for the Spring 2020 Fiber Retreat! Bring a dish to share, lunch will be around noon! Tabled and chairs provided.
Let’s talk about sweaters. You love sweaters but struggle to get the exact fit that you want. Or maybe the fit is mostly right and there’s always one thing that’s off. Or maybe you’d love to make a sweater perfect for you (or someone else) but are too intimidated by the thought of changing anything in the pattern to even try. I’m here to help you realize that making garments that fit you is not that hard. In fact, once you know what to look out for anyone can do it.
We will start with a presentation and follow with a workshop. The presentation will cover the basics of what you need to know to get a good fit. We will talk about fabric characteristics, gauge, ease, measurements, sizing charts and more. Understanding these basic points will get you well on your way to making garments that fit you well. The points will be presented mostly in a knitting context but are universal enough that you can apply them to weaving and sewing projects as well.
A garment in the beginning stages, from Kathryn’s Instagram
In the workshop we will take the points discussed in the presentation and apply them to a real world example. We will all use the same basic knitted sweater design and work through how to adjust the pattern to get the best individualized fit for each student. Each student will learn how to take a detailed set of personal body measurements and will leave with their own set of measurements. We will discuss swatching, how to make a gauge swatch, how to measure gauge, how to read pattern schematics, ease, how to compare your desired garment measurements to the patterns finished measurements, how and why to adjust the pattern in certain areas for desired fit, and how to do some simple math to get us to the best fit. Let’s go make some well fitting sweaters!
This presentation and workshop are based in theory so students do not need to bring any special materials with them. Pen and paper for taking notes are enough. The teacher will provide class handouts, measurement worksheets, and copies of the sweater pattern for the workshop.
Space for this workshop is limited to 10 students.
One morning in 2004 Kathryn rolled over in bed and thought “I have to knit.” She didn’t know how, so she found a local yarn store, bought Debbie Stoller’s Stitch ‘n Bitch book, super bulky yarn and size 13 needles. Knitting has been a central part of her life ever since. This passion for yarn and needles led to Kathryn working at Knitters Mercantile for 4 years. She was also one half of the former design duo of Quirky Bird Knits for 4 years. She discovered a love for teaching at the Merc and has taught at 614 Knit Studio and Yarnbyrds as well. Kathryn has taught a wide range of classes – from intensive beginning knitting to brioche to socks (and much more). Her passion is for sweaters and for adjusting patterns to suit the needs of each person. Kathryn works for county government during the day and is mom to two little girls. She is also a history nerd, a lover of period dramas, a spinner, a dyer, a beginning weaver, an optimistic gardener, and a practitioner of Ashtanga yoga. You can often find her plotting and planning how to get her girls (and sometimes her labrador) into as many hand knit items as possible.
You can find Kathryn’s fiber arts projects on Ravelry.
Schedule of events: 11:00 – New Weavers Group 12:00 – Social Hour 1:00 – Meeting
New Weavers Group
This is a time to meet with other new weavers and pick the brains of some of our most experienced weavers! All are welcome.
Social Hour
Bring a lunch, catch up with a friend, or get to know a new member!
Meeting
Let’s talk about sweaters. You love sweaters but struggle to get the exact fit that you want. Or maybe the fit is mostly right and there’s always one thing that’s off. Or maybe you’d love to make a sweater perfect for you (or someone else) but are too intimidated by the thought of changing anything in the pattern to even try. I’m here to help you realize that making garments that fit you is not that hard. In fact, once you know what to look out for anyone can do it.
We will start with a presentation and follow with a workshop. The presentation will cover the basics of what you need to know to get a good fit. We will talk about fabric characteristics, gauge, ease, measurements, sizing charts and more. Understanding these basic points will get you well on your way to making garments that fit you well. The points will be presented mostly in a knitting context but are universal enough that you can apply them to weaving and sewing projects as well.
From Kathryn’s Ravelry project page: Sweater is handknit and customized to her measurements by Kathryn; pattern is Strokkur by Ysolda Teague; yarn is commercial yarn hand-dyed by Kathryn. “I’m happy to report this sweater still fits even with a bit of a baby belly!”
One morning in 2004 Kathryn rolled over in bed and thought “I have to knit.” She didn’t know how, so she found a local yarn store, bought Debbie Stoller’s Stitch ‘n Bitch book, super bulky yarn and size 13 needles. Knitting has been a central part of her life ever since. This passion for yarn and needles led to Kathryn working at Knitters Mercantile for 4 years. She was also one half of the former design duo of Quirky Bird Knits for 4 years. She discovered a love for teaching at the Merc and has taught at 614 Knit Studio and Yarnbyrds as well. Kathryn has taught a wide range of classes – from intensive beginning knitting to brioche to socks (and much more). Her passion is for sweaters and for adjusting patterns to suit the needs of each person. Kathryn works for county government during the day and is mom to two little girls. She is also a history nerd, a lover of period dramas, a spinner, a dyer, a beginning weaver, an optimistic gardener, and a practitioner of Ashtanga yoga. You can often find her plotting and planning how to get her girls (and sometimes her labrador) into as many hand knit items as possible.
You can find Kathryn’s fiber arts projects on Ravelry.
