Another month, another VK Live 🙂 I just took 3 classes this month, which used up the last of my credits from the Seattle event I was enrolled in for spring. Going forward, I will probably take a class here and there, but not as often. That said, they are pretty good events! If you are interested in online knitting classes, it is definitely worth checking out.
Anyway – this month’s classes. I took one on a different kind of afghan to use up bits and pieces of leftover yarn, the (Ravelry link) Pinwheel Scrap Blanket .
Without giving away too much of the pattern’s secrets, German short rows are involved. The upside of this blanket pattern is it’s very portable, as you knit the squares separately and then seam them together. Also it’s all garter, so if you don’t like purling, this blanket may be your huckleberry. The downside is you have just a ton of ends to weave in. But it does result in a pretty nifty stashbuster of a blanket.
My second class was on designing projects with negative space with Olga Buraya-Kefelian (olgajazzy on pretty much all of the social media). She showed her method for knitting projects with holes of various spaces using modular knitting. The pattern of hers that was the primary example is (Ravelry link) Ten-Ten .
You can achieve this same effect by just attaching bobbins of the same yarn at the intervals around the spaces you want to connect. But this method uses one continuous strand of yarn to knit the fabric, so less ends to weave in and it is arguably more stable. Will I use this? Maybe. Maybe not. But it’s an interesting technique to know.
And last but not least, syncopated brioche with Michelle Bernstein (aka pdxknitterati). Syncopating brioche is where you switch which color is dominant within a row. Here is what it looks like, in a swatch from a person just learning.
The first section after the initial couple rows I was following the sample pattern. After that I just started horsing around to see what it looked like to switch the color dominance areas again. Also, I was practicing the increases and decreases, kind of randomly, which is why it looks terrible towards the end. But it was good practice 🙂 This I can definitely see being useful – there are a lot of pretty brioche patterns out there!
Doing any experimenting lately, crafty or otherwise?
Quite A Yarn 
Wow, these look complex and rather experimental! How do you find the online knitting classes? I was a bit traumatised from my recent quilting experience! Some really interesting ideas, though I think I’d be too terrified to cut a hole in anything I’d knitted.
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I am enjoying the classes so far! They have the format nailed down pretty well, and all the teachers I have had have been very good. Teachers for these classes really have to bear in mind all the constraints around the events, or it leads to disappointing experiences. I have cut my knitting to do steeks before. But these holes are part of the pattern – you knit the fabric around them. It is a nifty technique!
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I like the idea of knitting a ninja hat with the modular holes. Laughed at “may be your huckleberry”. I love that line and allusion. Is that from Young Guns? I think we need to have a Val Kilmer weekend.
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Tombstone! A Val Kilmer weekend sounds pretty great 🙂 I like your free time ideas!
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Tombstone! 🤦♀️
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Brioche is still a terrifying mystery to me, so I’m super impressed with your swatch. Not sure about holey knitting though. I’d be worried about people thinking I had a moth problem :p
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LOL! Just place the holes very regularly, and people will know there are no moths involved. Or if they are, they are OCD moths 😉
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Those all look really interesting. I really like the brioche. It looks like it would make very visually interesting projects.
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Yes! I think being able to switch the primary color for given areas can help add visual interest.
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Ooh the brioche looks lovely and it all looks good to me.
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You are very kind 🙂 It’s a mess up at the top. But good practice anyway 🙂
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Wow those are some cool WIP and classes you are attending! The one with the negative space is amazing! I love the idea of the pinwheel piece to use up scrap yarn!
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There are always so many scraps left over from most crafting – I know quilters have a lot of patterns for using them up too 🙂 They were very fun classes!
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I want to make a pinwheel blanket now. I also want to try that brioche technique. I can see why you just called her Olga Jazzy Knits. I’m going to miss regular VKL updates from you.
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I thought of you immediately with the blanket! You make such cool scrap blankets 🙂 LOL – I think there will be some VKL updates, just not quite as frequently.
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Neat classes you took.
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They were!
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