Practice and all is coming.

While I engage in the odd bit of yoga here and there, I'm not a yogi, nor have I studied the history or philosophy of "the yoga". I am however a collector of wisdom and knowledge from wherever I can get it (it makes me joyful!). I am also someone who has done enough yoga to understand that you get more out of it than simply bodily strength and flexibility. 

Sometimes in order to really hear something you need to hear it at the right time, in the right place. This was true of "practice and all is coming" for me. I had heard it before but only really understood the skills part of it. Y'know...the practice and you will get better at whatever you are practicing. That is until a few weeks ago, when the inspirational force that is instagram served it up to me first thing in the morning, and I really got it.

We talk a lot about practice on this here blog; about practicing in the gap and that talent isn't necessary but making is. How we need to practice to get where we want to get to in terms of our ability to make the things we see in our minds eye. However on this particular morning, as I was sipping my morning cup of glorious coffee, it occurred to me that craft gives me something much more than enjoyment in the process, and an end product. 

“Practice and all is coming.”

— Sri K. Pattabhi Jois

Now I won't try to define what the statement means in yoga terms as that is not my field of expertise, but I am interested in what it means in a crafting practice. In the same way that you learn about yourself through yoga, I believe that this is also true of craft. Craft providing framework that creates the space needed to learn the lessons you need to learn. 

It was the word "all" that struck me in relation to my craft. Yes - there is the total joy that is the process; feeling the yarn through my fingers, slowing my heart rate down and settling me in a way that not many things do. And yes - there is also joy in the end product, the jumpers, the hats and the shorts. But the thing that was revealed to me in reading that statement, at that moment, was that I don't often think about the other incredible benefit I have got out of making things; I get the total joy (and often frustration) of learning about myself. What I like, what I avoid, where I get stuck and why I get stuck and what I need. A simple example would be how I have a bit of a problem with stillness ;). Little gems of self knowledge that weren't the intention of the practice, but that come none the less over time, with the practice. Craft slows you down, revs you up, excites you, calms you and lets you get right to into a creative state of flow. And through engaging in that process, over the years, through practice, I've learnt things about myself that have changed me.

Another reason to be grateful to my craft practice? Have you found this to be true?

Felicia x

You just blew us away!

Wow! That was a totally unexpected, but incredibly lovely thing, that happened on Tuesday. And I just want to say Thank You!! 

For those of you who missed what happened at registration a couple of days ago -  we sold out this year's retreat in 2.5hours. Two and a half hours!  Bejeezus. 

I knew that more of you knew about us since last year, and I knew that the class list was good, but that was totally unexpected. And we are feeling pretty chuffed. Chuffed that you have such faith in us and such enthusiasm for the craft and the community around it. 

For those of you who missed out this year - I'm so sorry!! I know some of you were excited. We have started a waiting list, and please do go on it if you were planning on coming, and didn't manage to snaffle a ticket. Even if you don't think you will get in , it will really help us to figure out how to plan this thing moving forward if we have a better idea of actual numbers. And spots do come up!

Email us at admin@thecraftsessions.com with the title "Waiting List".

For those of you that did snaffle a place then Yay! We can't wait to meet you (again!) and are so looking forward to it. As Katie said - only 141 days to go. We have emailed many of you, but due to the fact it happened a little faster than expected, we are a little slower than normal. You will hear from us very soon!

Back to normal blogging Tuesday and Friday next week. I've got about ten half-written posts to uncurl, and translate into something readable, and I can't wait to get back into it. Thanks for your patience.

Felicia x

Registration opens at 9am today!

Registration for The Craft Sessions 2o15 is open at 9am!

Big day today - registration for this year's retreat opens at 9am! On offer is a gorgeous weekend in the Yarra Valley filled with good food, beautiful scenery, amazing craft workshops and fantastic teachers. And lovely lovely people - always the bit I love best! 

Just in case you missed the other details;

• The registration page is here.*
• The workshop list is here.
• The workshop schedule is here - you need this for registration!

We do have limited places available in all classes so please get in early if you have your heart set on a particular workshop. With the increased interest in The Craft Sessions since last year's retreat we think we will probably have a full house this year (we nearly hit capacity last year) and we don't want you to miss out. 

And just in case you are still ahmming, and ahhhring about whether it's for you, then take a quick stroll back through our blog archives to this post which is all about the magic that is women and craft. Or go and have a look at our retreat photos from previous years. You can see the joy in every photo. 

Exciting times!

Felicia x

Knit Design - Design your own hat.

A Schedule, some more info, a winner and normal blogging.

So I want to start by asking those who come here for the blogging, and not for the event, to hang in there. Posts have been a little light on the ground - which is due to all the work that needs to go on to get this retreat thing up and running - AND some normal life things like school holidays and unthought-out overcommitment*.

So the Workshop Schedule is up.

I have tried to make it as unconfusing as possible but if you want to ask questions the please ask in the comments of this post. That way everyone will be able to see the replies.

I really hope the things you totally have-to-have-to do don't clash, and that there is enough depth and variety there that if they do clash, that you have other choices. I've tried to spread the different disciplines across the two days so you will have plenty to choose from. 

A couple of important things to note.....

1. The Lace Class 
Sometimes when you are creating an event like The Craft Sessions Retreat, there is the odd bit of a smoke-and-mirrors kind-of game you need to play, to get everything up and running. Especially, as is the case here, when this is a do-it-in-our-spare-time gig, as it is for most of our teachers. So, why am I telling you this? Because I want you to have a look at our Intro To Lace class - I totally love love love lacework - but I've only ever made a couple of lace shawls in my life. Mainly I use lace as an edging on something or as a panel (like the Frost Flowers motif seen in the gorgeous Immie Tee's below) or even in the baby blanket which you see at the top of the post. Even if you think that lace shawls aren't for you, I wanted to explain that in our lace class, the lovely Ophelie is writing a pattern that is incorporating the Frost Flowers pattern (which is the panel in the tee below) into a beautiful shawl or scarf. In my opinion, Frost Flowers is the most beautiful lace motif ever which is why we wanted to design a class around it. I just don't have photo of it yet as the pattern is still in the works. So in the mean time go and have a look at Carrie's gorgeous cowl here for some inspiration. We aren't using her pattern as it is a bit too Frost Flowers intensive for a beginner class but we totally adore it. 

Work created by the incredible Siobhan in last year's Embroidery from the Natural World workshop.

2. The Embroidery Classes and Melissa
Another thing I wanted to let you know was that we have TWO separate Embroidery classes. We have Embroidery From The Natural World (which has been one of the most popular classes for the last two years!) AND then this year we also have Embroidery 101 for those people that want a bit less of a freeform class, a class that is more directed. You will be using transfers in this class and working more closely with Melissa to make a project bag. I need to stress that the gorgeous super lovely Melissa won't be teaching in 2016 as we need to mix the classes up some more so if you want to take a class with her then this is your chance. And you do want to. She is ace!

Create one of these embroidered project bags in the Embroidery 101 workshop.

3. The "Extra" Afternoon Workshops
So I'll be telling you more about these later in the week - but they are pretty spec-bloody-tacular. For those of you that haven't been before, we have "free" time on the Saturday afternoon. Now if you are the slow moving type you might like to sit around and craft in that time, chat around the fire with your new friends, go for a walk in the bush, or do the restorative yoga class. However, if you are more of a "I love a class, as many classes as possible please" type, you might like to try our one hour "extra" classes. You don't need to tell us you want to do these, as there is no class size limit, so if you want you can even decide to come to the these on the day.

So what are the "Extra" 1 hour workshops this year? I'm excited to tell you they are; 

• Blocking your knits - with Ophelie
• Tips and tricks to sewing designer garments - with Beattie
• A Spinning Demo and Q&A - with Judy and Kate.

These classes are just icing on the cake for me - and I hope they are for you too!

Finally I wanted to say a big big thank you to all of you who left lovely comments on the blog post about which classes you wanted to do. I loved reading what you were excited about. The winner of the giveaway was Karen Tsutsumida. Yay Karen! I'll email you directly to get your address. 

Chat very soon - we will get back into the normal blogging rhythm soon I swear. 

Felicia x
 

*OK so normally I just talk The Craft Sessions in this space but this is a fantastic event and for a good cause! One of the overcommitments I've made is that Jenn and I have organised an ace fundraiser for a local kinder**. We have dragged renowned author Steve Biddulph across the Tasman to come and do two different talks in the next two days. If you are in the north east of Melbourne around Eltham or Templestowe way and are a fan of Steve (and who isn't?) then there are a few last minute tickets available. He is speaking about The Road To Manhood on this Wednesday 15th at 7.30pm and then on Thursday the 16th Steve is presenting The Secret To Happy Children, again at 7.30pm. We would love to see you there. 

**The real question is why I would choose to arrange a fundraiser AND launch the retreat in the same week..... that was the unthought-out (and unclever) part ;). 

The Workshop list for our 2015 Retreat is live!

It's one of my favourite days of the year; the day where we get to release the workshop list for The Craft Sessions 2015 retreat. It's live and the full list can be found here.  So so many good things, covering a range of traditional textile based handcraft. I'm really happy with the breadth of subject we have covered this year, and really thankful to have the teachers we have. They have come up with some great stuff!

A couple of things to note; I got it wrong the other day - there are 21 classes, not 20 as I said last week. Three of those are three of our most popular classes from last year and ALL the rest are all new!

We are thrilled to have some sensational new teachers on board (I'm super excited to be teaching a class this year too :) ). I have left our teacher alumni up on our teacher page as I hope to have them all back at some time in the future. They are all such generous and knowledgeable people and I want to thank them for putting in the work to pull this event together. 

The registration page has been updated also with some more information about the process. Registration will be open on April 21st at 9am. The key reason we release the workshop list two weeks before registration is to give you time to think about your workshop choices. You will need to specify your preferences when you register - this way we can get back to you in a very timely fashion what you got into.

The workshop schedule for what workshop is on when will be up next Tuesday.

So because I want to hear what you all think in the comments today, I thought I would offer a little sweetener - I have three skeins of Quince and Co Tern in Stonington to give away! (Stash Less in action my friends ;)) To enter you need to answer the question "What are your three favourite workshops?" Leave a comment on this blog post to enter by Monday 13th April at 9pm EST. I'll draw a winner at random. This is open internationally but if you are commenting from another country feel free to add your country in the comment. Just curious as to where you are all from ;).

Can't wait to hear what you all think - I really hope you like it. 

Felicia x