An update on our September Retreat

So today we have a few announcements about our September Retreat. It has been a while since I’ve given you an update and I have a couple of important things to tell you.

The first is I've been getting some emails asking if we still have space. And we do!! Not heaps but some. We are fully booked in some classes but there are still great options available for you whether you are a seamstress or a knitter or a crocheter or interested in natural dyeing. Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.

The second thing is to let you know if you were thinking of coming (and I know there are still quite a few of you!) that that we are closing registration on August 8th – so about 4 weeks before the event. This allows us time to finalise our preparations, and our teachers the time to finalise any materials they need to prepare for the event. 

One of our teachers Kirsten Johnstone's new pattern for girls Medaki! There is still some space in Kirsten's seamless hat class at the retreat.

And the final thing today is to let you know that the lovely Kirsten Johnstone of Assemblage, j(ust one of our internationally respected knitwear designers!) one of our teachers, has sent me some pictures of the hat pattern she has created for her Seamless Hat class. When we were putting together the descriptions for the classes she hadn't really written the pattern so I posted pictures of another one of her hats as a place holder. So below are photos of the finished hat! I got them a little while ago, posted one on Facebook a while ago but forgot to post it here - Apologies! Kirsten has also just released the pattern - called the Go Hat - for sale on Ravelry.

So this workshop would be the perfect class for advanced beginners/intermediate knitters who want to work on bettering their skills. The hat pattern is fully reversible, has five design options (the black and grey in the right hand photo is colour blocked) and uses a single skein of worsted wool. You would be learning a provisional cast-on (which is not as scary as it sounds and very very useful!), about knitting seamlessly in the round, about decreasing shaping to the crown and i-cord bind off. I particularly love i-cord bind off. Incredibly satisfying and such a neat result. 

As well as being a great designer Kirsten is a top woman and great teacher. I feel really lucky we were able to convince her to teach!!

Felicia x

Visible Mending as an art form.

I’ve been known to swear about the mending pile. I’m sure many of you are with me. I avoid it and wait till it builds up – aaaand finally get around to it when it is absolutely necessary.

However after years of having little kids I have come to love the fact that a bit of creative mending means that I am able to extend the life of their clothes in a way that non-menders can’t*. One way that I do this is to add cuffs to things like the top below. This was a size four that I purchased for him when he was 3, that he is still wearing at 7. I call that a win. It's longevity has come with a very small price and that is maintenance. Small boy puts a hole in it and I put a patch. You will notice the difference in the pictures between the top patch and the bottom. Same fabric for cuffs, patch on the sleeve and patch on the bottom but each patch has a different type of mending. There is a third that you can't see.

*What do people do about leggings in real life. Those cheeky things seem to breed holes. Do they just chuck them? Btw - All photos today except for the top two are new and were thoughtlessly taken in the tent. The tent is blue inside - which means we have super whacky light that no amount of creative Lightroom work could fix. Squint a bit maybe. It might help?

The fact that I can extend the life of their clothes so much, means that I am able to love the product that comes out of the process of mending. However, I admit that I still struggle with the process. Which leads to today's post - I have just read about a new way to think about it….

It came from something I read on the Fringe Association the other day about a course Karen did on "Boro and Embroidermending". And as part of that course she talked about the idea of visible mending. And those words - visible mending and embroidermending changed something for me. Karen's post is about a shift in her thinking, which in turn has caused a slightly different shift in mine.  

Fix #1

Different leg - slightly blurry Fix #2

Two down and one (still) to go.

Now I generally do visible mending as I am a little bit too lazy and not skilled enough to do invisible mending. But what I love about this idea, is that it is taking visible mending and with a little shift to my thinking, making it a thing of beauty rather than simply ease or utility. I started thinking about the idea of visible mending as crafting - or as another art form if you will. Rather than a mending as a hassle, I could make mending part of my craft. Thinking about enhancing a garment as part of the mending process should ultimately make it more enjoyable? I'm going to try it and see.

These were favourite small person jeans (that are BRIGHT red) that have been fixed once about 9 months ago. I have avoided this one quite a bit second time around.

Patches on top of patches on the super messy back.

If you need a little inspiration for your mending pile have a look at these lovelies on pinterest. Especially these as they are amazing!

How do you feel about mending? Avoid it, love it? Swear about it or does it make your heart sing from the sheer utility of your work?

 Felicia x

PS. My apologies (again) - today was supposed to be a post about the extra workshops at the retreat this year. Unfortunately we have had a little car trouble this week and I haven't had time to finalise the post. Soon I hope - Rex is fixed and we are back on the road tomorrow.

Classes are filling up….

Apologies for the quietness of the blog. I am finding that getting to instagram is about my limit most days at the moment in terms of social media. Some weeks are like that though. When wifi means sitting in the dark, on a bench near a campground reception, after putting the kids to bed, then I am giving it a pass.

Thanks to an afternoon off today, next week I have two posts ready to go. I'm feeling like a champion! The first is normal post with some ramblings on craft and the second is announcing the three "Extra" Saturday afternoon classes.

As most of you are aware we have changed the format of this year's event to give you some extra "free" crafting time.  But if you feel an urge for more learning, then we wanted to offer something more structured. These workshops are completely optional – you should feel free to sit and sew with new friends in front of a fire if you like, or go for a walk in the stunning Yarra Valley bush instead if that tickles your fancy. They are shorter one hour workshops and you should feel free to just turn up on the day if you feel like it. Because of this they aren’t limited in size like our normal workshops are.

Thanks to all of you who completed our survey a couple of weeks ago about what class three should be. The result was resoundingly one sided. So keep your eyes out for that blog post next week.

Registration Update

While we have now fully booked some knitting classes, we still have some space in the amazing Kirsten Johnstone's Seamless Hat class. If you are wanting to improve your knitting then this is the class for you. Kirsten is an amazing knitwear designer who designs for the likes of Brooklyn Tweed and Shibui. She has designed a hat specifically for this workshop (which I don't have pictures of yet - coming soon!) but if you want to learn more about seamless knitting or techniques such as a provisional cast on then Kirsten's class is a perfect fit. She is also a top woman! I really like her and you get to spend the day with her. Picking her brain about all things knitting….

There are a couple of classes that are almost completely full - Belinda's Weaving has just a few spots left as does Sophie's Leggings class. There is only one or two spots in Jules' Steeking class and a couple in Melissa's Embroidery. So if those workshops were on your must do list then you need to get your registration's in. 

I also meant to mention Mel Tonzig's crochet classes. I have been meaning to do a proper post on her work - just because I think she is so amazing but haven't got there yet. I planned to post an image or two for you to see what you could get up to if you learnt to crochet but I'm about to post four as I couldn't decide on just two. How gorgeous is her work….

All photos by Mel Tonzig.

You can see more on Mel's blog but also check out this interview with her on Wholehearted Journal.  

Most other classes still have some space but all are filling up daily so get your skates on my friends if you are interested in coming.

See you next week.

Felicia x

The post where we get a little personal

So here is the thing. I'm actually overseas and will be for a few months. I had big BIG plans to be able to continue to post like nothing is happening. I was going to answer emails in a timely fashion, and peruse and chat on instagram as normal. I was planning on working like I wasn't away. Not sure why I thought that was necessary to keep everything going as normal. I'm guessing it was ye oldy friend ms.perfectionist trying to do it all. 

Anyhow, it isn't working. I have been away a month and trying to find time to reply to emails quickly, and keep totally on top of things is causing me a little spot of stress. So I wanted to explain where I'm at, rather than confusing you with pictures of a Danish field and a wool shop in Croatia*. Or frustrate you by posting in a totally random fashion....

And this is where the personal comes in. I don't often get personal on here so here goes.

The long and the short of it is that we have been planning and hoping for many years now to go on an adventure with our kids. A big adventure. I like them. Always have. But I kinda screwed up 13ish years ago and met a corporate fella while I was travelling. And he is/was super corporate, so we got stuck in the life. A lovely life - but one that lacked time and had plenty of stress. 

Fast forward ten years and three kids and we start talking about adventures. We weren't sure of the when and how, but we had plans. Lots of plans. Maybe we drive from Australia to England in a camper van. Maybe we spend 6 months in South America. Maybe. Maybe. Anyway late last year we got super lucky and he was made redundant after nearly 20 years. And we booked some tickets.... 

We decided to start a bit smaller and so now we are camping our way around Europe - with a tent and three kids seven and under. We left at the start of April. Got to my MIL in the UK. Bought a second hand Land Cruiser and top box and off we went.

We are only a week or so into the camping part, but I can see that life will not quite be what I thought. We have adventure, but adventure means that I can't be sure of wifi access and/or how many kids will throw up on the ferry and/or if there will be the time and space on any given day to take a photo and write a post. Two days ago I thought we were headed for Spain, but we are now heading down through Germany into Prague. We actually have no plans and nothing booked. I can't tell you how exciting that is…. 

So before you get concerned…. The Craft Sessions September 2014 is all good to go. We are completely sorted and I will be back in plenty of time :) (and we still have some tickets left!). The blog will keep going and emails will be answered, classes assigned, etc etc. The only thing is - it might take me a day to get back to you sometimes, and somedays it may take me three. 

I'll be back later on in the week with a post on some inspirational nordic knitters and hopefully another one on patchwork. The next post in the Secret to Becoming a Great Knitter/Learn To Read Your Knitting series has just been photographed and hopefully will pop up next week. 

Hope things are good with you and yours.

Felicia x

*If anyone has any wool shops etc that I should check out in Europe please let me know :)

Filling in time

So I am working really hard on nailing down the last of the details for this years class list and registration details. And we are so close. So very close and so very excited. Big announcements will start early next week including some new teachers and all of the new classes. (Many pretty pictures...) Jump on our mailing list if you want to be kept up to date. 

And so things have been a little quiet here on the blog......my apologies but unfortunately there aren't enough hours in the day and also I have no words left. None.

So I thought to fill in a little time I would throw you a few photos from last year's event that I haven't published. Just to get you in the mood.....

I do just want to add one caveat before we begin with the photos (where it looks like everyone knits). There were people at the event that couldn't knit. Lots of them. It isn't a prereq!! 

Getting the dyebath ready with a nice cuppa tea.

Blankets ready to warm the knees of the people doing the natural dyeing 

Leslie doing her thing in Improv Patchwork

The beautiful Yarra Valley Conference Centre

Stitching around the fire pit.with teachers Anna and Jules

More stitching

The lovely Martine learning to sew with knits - all about the joy!

Registration with Claire and Leslie

Fireside knitting.

Sketching

Cutting some gorgeous oldschool Ink & Spindle fabric.

Another gorgeous view at YVCC.

Casting on for a cowl

Kirsten Johnstone - one of our super talented knitting teachers - the only good photo I got of her....

One of Melissa's beautiful books.

Colourwork class with Camilla in her Agnes

Improv Patchwork

Georgie Hallam teaching Intro to Design

Heads down in Sophies class

Old school machines meet washi tape.

Anatomy of a Quilt with the lovely Anna

Block printing with Leslie

Wishing you a lovely weekend. 

Felicia x