Saturday, April 15

2-5 pm with Stephanie Lotven AKA Tellybean Knits

We all have a skein of self-striping yarn hiding in our stash. Self-Striping yarn is undeniably, incredibly fun to knit, but too often those beautiful skeins are hidden away because knitters aren’t sure what to knit with their self-striping yarn. After knitting two dozen pairs of socks in a single year, I challenged myself to get those beautiful rainbow skeins out of my shoes and into the world. If you want to start knitting cowls, hats, mittens, shawls, and sweaters with your self-striping yarn, this class will help you confidently plan non-sock projects for your self-striping yarn.

In this class, we will
1. Assess the self-striping skeins that are in your stash & available at Four Purls.

Every skein of self-striping yarn comes with its own opportunities and limitations. Let’s talk about what your yarn
was dyed to do, and how you can make the most it. In the beginning of this class, we will discuss how yarn weight, stripe length, yardage, number of stripes, and your skeinenthusiasm will affect the planning process. Let me show you how to unlock the secrets of your yarn before it has even been wound into a cake.

2. Plan for a self-striping project by using a simple, a specialized method of swatching. Once you choose your self-striping yarn, it’s time to knit a swatch. Throughout my years of rainbow knitting, I have developed a simple, effective method for testing my self-striping yarn

Before I start a project. This method will help you determine if the pattern you want to knit works well with the yarn you have in your knitting bag.

3. Practice combining colors with your self-striping yarn. In many non-sock projects, you may be called on to combine a self-striping yarn with another color. In this portion of our class, I will teach you my favorite methods for combining rainbow skeins with solids, tonals, and even speckles, so that you can create bright, happy, dramatic knits.

4. Learn how to cheat the stripes. Sometimes your project just doesn’t seem to fit your beautiful rainbow yarn! Not to worry! To finish off this class, we will look at ways that you can cheat your stripes. Let me show you how to make the stripes in your yarn appear longer for larger-circumference knitting using my favorite (uncomplicated) methods.

Supplies Required:

• Your favorite skein or partial skein of self-striping yarn in any weight (please bring skein wound & ready to knit)
• knitting needles appropriate for your yarn
• pencil

Homework: None

All Knitting Levels
2-3 hour class