Learn to knit intricate colour patterns. This is a new half-day class giving participants the chance to try stranded colourwork under the expert guidance of one of our favourite knitting teachers.

Teacher: Julia Billings

Workshop Length: Half day

Description: Designed to give knitters an introduction to the thrills of stranded colourwork, this three-hour session combines a bit of theory with lots of hands-on and uses a warm winter hat as a focus to learn the fundamental techniques. Please note that the pictures on this page are just to give you an indication of the types of things you will be able to try after this class. Julia is designing a hat pattern especially for you to make on the day.

We’ll get straight to work with needles and yarn, learning the tricks to knitting with two colours at once - the various ways to hold the two yarns, carrying the unused yarn neatly at the back, working in the round, colour dominance and more. At the same time, we’ll take a brief look into the traditions of colourwork knitting and discuss the basics of colour theory and working with colour charts.

Materials to bring: Two (or more) shades of woolly, non-superwash, 10ply yarn. Participants will be required to work the band of the hat before the class. Instructions for this, as well as the required yarn quantities and needle sizes, will be provided before the event.

Takeaway: The beginnings of a hat and the confidence to take on more complex colourwork designs.

Level: Adventurous beginner/intermediate.

Prerequisites: Participants should be comfortable with casting on and off and knit and purl prior to this class. Some experience knitting in the round would be helpful.