I have some photos for you!
I'm not done yet with my editing though, so here are a couple of beautiful random images, because I really need to get to bed. :)
I'll post some more next week.
Felicia x
PS. If you missed my post from Tuesday there are a couple more photos.....
Well today is the day. Kickoff of The Craft Session's 2016 retreat. Another year and we can't wait.
It's hard to explain what this weekend means to us. It is the culmination of a year of work, and thought, and intention, but it is also the result of the community we have around us, and the connections we have made. If it's possible, it actually becomes more meaningful as the years tick by.
And in big part that is because of you. It is because of how you follow along with the retreat, even if you live on the other side of the word, sending us well wishes and love. It is because of those of you who have been in the past, or plan to come in the future. It is because of the connections we have made around our joint passion; the practice of making as part of our daily life, and the beauty we share because of it.
And so in celebration of all that connection, we have a few things to offer you who are following along at home.
A Giveaway!
We have a couple of this year's retreat gift bags ready to send out to you, as well as five skeins of gorgeous Shibui Pebble generously donated by Sunspun. We are also lucky enough to have two of my favourite patterns to giveaway from Tessuti. So five prize packs in total with a variety of absolutely beautiful goodies from our sponsors. I have been posting about some of the beautiful things they have sent us on instagram if you fancy having a look.
To enter - all you need to do is leave a comment on this blog telling us about how "making encourages your connection with your community". We will close off comments on Sunday at 9pm Melbourne time and this offer is open internationally.
Another Giveaway!
In addition to that I want to point you over to another sensational giveaway one of our teachers, and sponsors, and all round good women, Kirsten Johnstone of Assemblage has on offer The Craft Sessions at Home Giveaway on her blog. There is a sweater's worth of over $300 of Shibui goodness, and one of her spectacular patterns on offer. Head over to her blog to enter.
Thanks again for the love you are sending our way this weekend and for the community we are lucky enough to be part of. Craft, connection and community is where it's at.
I thought I would leave you with a few photos of last year just to get you in the right mood.
Fel x
PS. I also wanted to add a big thank you for the wonderful response to the Anna Maltz Top-Down Colourwork workshop and her Marlisle workshop. In particular our Country Victoria workshop only has a couple of places left.
I've had quite a few emails asking how good of a knitter you need to be to take one of these workshops .....and the answer is you can be either a rather confident beginner, an intermediate OR an advanced knitter. As long as you can knit in the round and have some experience of colourwork then these classes are for you. You will come away a more confident knitter, about colourwork techniques, top-down knitting and about colour in general. We rarely have access to someone with Anna's unique skills in knitting, teaching and art so take advantage of her while you can. In a good way, obviously!
The lovely Robin. x
Me looking blurry but feeling the joy - I can't wait to meet you all.
Hosted by Felicia Semple of The Craft Sessions
Spend the day with Anna learning new skills and improving your knitting - but in the true spirit of The Craft Sessions, this will be a day of great food, great community and inspirational craft.
Anna is joining us from the UK for this year's retreat as one of our amazing knitting teachers, and so we thought it would be a total waste if we didn't offer her skills up to a wider audience while we have her here. So Anna and I have planned a little roadtrip together....
I know you will love spending time with her, as I do, and reveling in her unique take on knitting!
We have four workshop dates finalised.
- Lauriston (Near Kyneton) on Saturday September 10th
- Melbourne (East Brunswick) on Sunday September 11th
- Southern Highlands (Near Moss Vale) on Saturday September 24th
- Sydney (Near Frenchs Forest) on Sunday September 25th.
Time: 9.30am - 4.30pm
These workshops run a little longer than a normal one day workshop to give you the time to really sink in to the joy and conversation of the day.
How the day will be structured.
Arriving at 9.30 am we will get stuck into our workshop for the day with Anna taking you to previously unknown places of knitting joy with her unique ideas and sunny personality.
Around 12.00pm we will stop for lunch, with Felicia being available for an impromptu "Knit Clinic". Bring any pesky knitting problems you have along and we will do our best to solve them.
We will get started at 1.30pm for a full afternoon with Anna punctuated by a delicious afternoon tea and finish up the day at 4.30pm, before heading home feeling the joy.
You can find all the details on the workshop page here.
How to get tickets?
Tickets are on sale now!
We know these classes will be popular and can't wait for you to meet her!
See you there.
Felicia x
An example of Marlisle.
Exciting day! We are announcing our first ever one day workshops. We are very excited about them and thrilled to be able to offer them to you in September of this year.
The lovely and sensationally talented Anna Maltz is coming out to teach at The Craft Sessions retreat this year, and so we thought it would be a waste of her talents and her kindness if we didn't share her with you in a few other ways. So some one day workshops it is!!
For those of you who don't know much about Anna, you can check out her bio on our Teachers page. But to sum what you need to know, she is a good woman. She is a clever, courageous, inspirational knitwear designer who makes up her own techniques - like Marlisle which is so clever and the answer to many a knitting dilema. She also happens to kind, generous, funny and the sort of person anyone would be lucky to have a vino with. Which is why I asked her to come!
Anna Maltz will be teaching Advanced Colourwork and Marlisle!
We here at The Craft Sessions, want any workshops we hold, including our one-day-ers to have the "feel" of the The Craft Sessions' retreat, so they will include all the good stuff - great company, great food in a beautiful space with inspiring, encouraging and generous teaching. These one-day-ers won't just be a workshop where you come to learn some skills. They will be all about the community and the joy. Just how we like it.
I will be hosting the day and Anna will be running the workshop. Feel free to bring along any problem knitting you have as we will be having an informal knit clinic at lunch and lots of time to chat.
So far we have dates confirmed in Lauriston (Country Victoria) on September 10th and Melbourne on September 11th with dates coming for NSW and hopefully Tassie.
They will go on sale in a couple of weeks and if you are interested in hearing more details then please join our mailing list. I'll also give you a bit more info on this here blog.
So so excited to be doing this!
Felicia x
Wow!! - so I asked the question and you responded - which I truly appreciate! - and now I have some thinking to do. I've heard all your wonderful suggestions and they will go into the mix with all the other things we need to think about - like other non-craft sessions work commitments and family life and some more travel. Big decisions. I'll let you know in time what magic we come up with. But let me tell you I am excited by the idea of doing something more!
We have some great news that we are really thrilled about!
We are going to give away TWO scholarships!
If you saw the original scholarship post you will know that the scholarships are very personal to me. So to finally be able to offer them was very exciting. After putting in place the things I needed to - like an external scholarship panel to make the decision - and then we were good to go.
But when the applications for the scholarships started coming in and we started talking in more detail about why they were so important and why we wanted to run them in the first place - because we believe in the power of craft to provide joy and sustenance for our souls - then we realised that actually they were even more important than we thought. And so we decided to offer more. I think initially the idea was to start small and build, but in the end we have decided that we might as well start where we want to go on from!
So two scholarships this year and then two scholarships next year and so on.
The panel is getting back to me today with their decisions and the two recipients will be notified by Monday.
Happy days!
Felicia x
We all have the capacity - and often the desire - to deny truths that show us engaged in things we know aren’t ideal. To minimise, avoid, distract and rationalise our way to feeling OK with our choices and our behaviour.
And it makes sense. It’s human to avoid the hard stuff, especially when that hard stuff involves us changing behaviours we enjoy. I do it. Regularly. And I’ve been doing it regularly in my making, for many years, in many ways.
“The term fast fashion refers to ….speedy production of ….clothing, ….. in order to meet the latest and newest trends.”
I do this. I produce things in a speedy way in order to meet the latest and newest trends.
So I wrote last week a post asking “Is my making fast fashion?”. And then I did a video on Instagram discussing similar topics in a slightly different way. And as always, you lovely humans have helped me clarify some of my thinking with your thoughtful, clever commentary.
And while I think there is so much more to discuss, here are four key possibly-more-meta ideas that have come up for me out of those conversations.
In using the quote last week that suggested that there was no single answer, and suggesting that this was freeing, I really did mean that we should sit in the grey. Not that the lack of “an” answer to this question should mean we get to ignore the question but rather that the lack of “an” answer means that we need to keep asking bigger more beautiful questions. And keep asking them.
Is my making fast fashion?
Am I living my values or merely thinking them?
And how can I make those two things a little more aligned in this moment?
These are my big beautiful questions.
Yours might be different.
And importantly this leads to point 2.