Vogue Knitting, which normally does several live conventions and other smaller events every year, did their first virtual event this past week. I went to two classes and a lecture and had a great time!
Participants get a personalized Event Hub, where you have access links to the classes and lectures you have signed up for. The actual classes and lectures were on Zoom, which is pretty nifty. People could have their cameras on or not, and the teachers I had encouraged questions and participation.
My first class was Shawl Shapes, taught by Bristol Ivy. She had a small mishap at the start of the session – she locked herself out of her studio – but she quickly figured out a workaround, and everything went very smoothly after that. It was a very interesting class and she is a well organized and knowledgeable teacher. I learned some good rules of thumb about shawl design principles, which was exactly what I was hoping for. We worked little mini- shawls to learn the design principles, which was fun. There was only time for 4 of the 6 designs in the materials, but since I had a couple hours to my second class, I finished the other two.
My second class was Shawls, Sharves, Scarfs & Ponchini, taught by Steven Be. His class was more about making your knitting your own, breaking rules, taking yourself seriously as a fiber artist, and translating inspiration to product. It was very inspirational and I picked up some creativity jump-start techniques. He was very enjoyable, and I got what I was hoping for out of it, so calling it a win. I will say, if you enjoy an organized, A to B approach to things, Steven Be will make you crazy. He is a one-man Mardi Gras of knitting. In a good way. But if you want a pep talk about being yourself while getting a little glitter in your knitting, then he is definitely the man to go to 🙂
And finally, today I listened to a talk by Cecilia Campochiaro on her new book, Making Marls. She talked about marling yarns together in general, where the idea for her book came from and how she put together all the materials for the book. And also she talked about the process of physically having the book made, which was very interesting.
In addition to the classes they had a marketplace of vendors, which had links to their online shops. The vendors had slots of time where they could do Zoom talks or show tours of their stores or whatever they wanted to do with it. A lot of the vendors were offering attendees discounts or had special products for the event, just like at in-person conventions. They also had other online community activities for attendees, like meditation and yoga for knitters, Q & A sessions with various designers, and that sort of thing.
All in all, it was a very good event! My only complaint was that they didn’t give advance notice of when they were opening the registration, so I wasn’t organized enough to register quickly when it opened. A couple of classes I wanted sold out while I was fumbling around trying to get into my calendar. But that is a small quibble. And also partially my fault for not being a bit more prepared. Hopefully they will hold another one of these events a little later this summer – this time with more notice 🙂 Maybe it’s something they will do even after the current situation is over! I can see this type of event appealing to people who wouldn’t be able to make it to a regular convention at all, but would still like to take classes.
Have you been to any online events at all over the last couple of months? If so, what did you think of it?
Quite A Yarn 
That sounds like a great knitting event! I love your tiny shawls:) So much learning there in those little bits!
I’ve experienced quite a few things that I hope stick around after this is over. Our high school did a fun video with the senior’s photos showing where they’re going to college and what they plan to major it. I really hope they do it next year for my son’s class.
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That is a very cool idea for the graduating seniors! I hope they keep that up too 🙂
Yes, it really does help to actually try things for the learning to stick – for me at least!
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How fun! The shawl shape class sounds interesting, and I’d love to listen to Steven, though he probably would drive me a little crazy. Glad you were able to attend a few classes!
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It definitely was! I’m glad I was able to check it out as well 🙂
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How interesting. I think virtual events will continue for a while yet. Until travel is a bit “safer” anyway. I would even prefer a virtual. I am such a homebody. I don’t hate traveling and will do it when necessary. Yet, with my RA, traveling can send me into a flare quite easily. It would also be financially cheaper to do virtual. The money I save from travel expenses would then be spent on fiber from independent dealers. Win win for everyone.
Hubby and I completed a Bible study virtually. I very much enjoyed it and found it as good as when we did it in a classroom setting. I have also done zoom meetings with some crafting friends and have enjoyed that also.
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It really was a very good event! It didn’t quite replace a live event for me, but is a darn good alternate. And for right now, of course, live just isn’t practical, or even possible in most locations.
Virtual Bible study sounds like it would work out really well!
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That sounds wonderful! I would try that. I “attended” virtual Maryland Sheep and Wool which involves me purchasing something. But I didn’t try any of the video workshops.
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It was very cool – would definitely attend another one. How was MSW? I was thinking about going, but the timing didn’t work out.
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It was fun but kind of thrown together, as you would expect. I didn’t set aside the weekend to watch everything, but I would try to do that in the future.
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I think the thrown together aspect is going to be common for a lot of these things. But who knows – if they get a good response, they may do it again alongside the regular event 🙂
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I’m weird, in that, I will sit through a physical class and be attentive, but if I am watching live stream or video, forget it. Not sure why. Maybe because if I am watching a computer screen I am usually knitting at the same time. Glad you enjoyed it!
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No format is going to work for everyone. Getting distracted is definitely one of the potential problems with the virtual format 🙂
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From the teacher’s perspective, I loved how well this worked! Knitters were very happy to get together from afar, and we figured out ways for me to see a knitter’s knitting to diagnose any issues. It felt like we could cover almost as much ground in 2 hours as the in-person 3 hour classes, because I didn’t have to physically get around a room. And it was great to have students coming in from time zones 5 hours apart.
I’m glad you enjoyed your classes! I love your mini shawls. I teach a class like this, but I chose different shapes. Every designer has favorites, for different reasons.
Can you tell me what Cecelia means by microswatching? I missed her lecture, but took her Sequence Knitting class on Sunday morning.
Happy knitting!
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Yes! You could tell everyone was basically figuring out how this was going to work for them, but it was coming together really well for the most part 🙂 Well, now I have to look out for your shawl shapes class! It’s one of those topics that has a lot of room to play in for sure.
I’m glad your classes went well too!
Microswatches are tiny little swatches she does to see how colors marl together. I’m forgetting the exact size, but I think it was 6 stitches by 4 rows or something like that. They are really teeny. And they are just stockinette, so they do curl up. She had pictures of series of them purl side up.
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