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| Nathan wearing his hugely popular Il Burato double knit scarf |
You can see his creativity and talent by clicking here to see all his patterns and designs on Ravelry.
Based in London, England Nathan has a varied life and hardly has a moment to spare with everything he is involved with. Apart from his knitting commitments which include designing, teaching and commission work he is also well known as an actor, singer, lyricist and even a sounding board for his composer husband Ben. But perhaps it is his video podcasts on youtube which have helped to increase his visibility in the knitting community on a global scale. You can watch his you tube channel by clicking here and discover just how talented and charming he is.
His mission is now about to bring him all the way to New Zealand in late August of this year and luckily for us it will include four workshops in the South Island, two in Arrowtown and two in Dunedin. All the information about the workshops and how to book are listed below.
ARROWTOWN
Workshops kindly hosted by The Stitching Post,
But held at the Lakes District Museum, Buckingham Street, Arrowtown.
Wednesday, August 29th, 9.30am - 12.30pm
Workshop 1: Demystifying Double Knitting
This is a class for knitters who want to explore the
wonderful world of double-knitting (DK). That’s the two-sided technique, not
the yarn weight!
DK is a versatile and wonderful way of creating stunning
effects in reversible, two-sided knitting, so no more wrong sides, no unsightly
floats, and best of all, two garments in one, as whatever beautiful pattern is
displayed on the front, shows on the back too, but with the colours reversed.
Magic!
In this class we will be exploring how the basic mechanics
of DK work: looking at the structure of the fabric, and how the two sides
interact with each other to create the interlocked, reversible beauty that only
DK can give you. We’ll talk a little bit about what is possible in the
technique, to give you a flavour of where this foundation can eventually lead
you, but we’ll mostly be concerning ourselves with getting you familiar with
what yarn goes where!
Thursday, August 30th, 9.30am - 12.30pm
Workshop 2: “Strantarsia” – Stranded Intarsia
We all know that intarsia can’t be done in the round. (Well,
you can do some sorts of things that involve working back and forth, and
seaming up the side, but it’s not really possible to do it properly.)
You CAN, however, work a panel of stranded (think fair-isle)
knitting in the round, where the colour work does not go all the way round the
piece, but is only worked in one specific area.
This is a technique is pioneered by Nathan and it’s really
fun to do. Its applications are many and various. You can, for example, put a
contrasting motif on the ankle of a sock, or a sports logo on the front of a
hat. Fancy working a patch of colour work into the breast of a jumper knitted
in the round? Thought you could only achieve it with duplicate stitch after the
event? Not anymore! Now you can add little patches of stranded colour work
anywhere you like in your in-the-round projects.
DUNEDIN
Workshops kindly hosted at The Valley Project Rooms, 262 North Road, North East Valley, Dunedin.
Friday, August 31st, 1.00pm - 4.00pm (Fred Hollows Room)
Workshop 3: “Strantarsia” – Stranded Intarsia
A repeat of the Arrowtown workshop, please see above for the content detail.
Friday, August 31st, 6.00pm - 9.00pm (Te Putake Room)
Workshop 4: Double Knitting Shaping - The Future of Double Knitting
Double-knitting is a fantastic technique for creating
reversible, double-squishy fabric with no unsightly wrong sides, and can be
used for many different purposes. If you want to take your double-knitting to
the next level, you are going to need to know a little bit more than how to
make the standard stocking-stitch-on-both-sides fabric that we all know and
love. Nathan will show you how to execute a variety of different types of both
increases and decreases, and tell you where you might want to use each of them
to their best effect.
The class covers two different types of yarn overs (both
connected and unconnected forms), along with the Make One increase (both left-
and right-leaning). For decreases, we’ll discuss the idea of matched pairs, and
learn about right- and left-leaning single and double decreases, as well as the
Centred Double Decrease, and a whole variety of others. Time permitting, we’ll
even learn how to do German Short Rows in DK, so that you can send your
double-knitting round corners! Once you get to grips with what is possible, the
possibilities are endless. This really IS the future of double-knitting!
Additional class information
Duration - Three hours (please arrive a few minutes early)
Cost - $67.00 per class
Requirements
- A smile and an open mind
- Yarn - Bring two contrasting solid colours of yarn. Please avoid variegated colours.
- Yarn type - The yarn should be smooth to help show off stitch definition.
- Yarn weight - Your own choice but DK/8 ply is most common. Please avoid novelty yarns.
- Needle size - Appropriate to your yarn choice
- Needle type for Demystifying Double Knitting - Straight or circular
- Needle type for Double Knitting Shaping - Straight or circular
- Needle type for Strantarsia - Circular or DPN's (You'll be knitting in the round)
- For the Double Knitting Shaping workshop you must already know how to double knit
- For the Strantarsia workshop you must already know how to knit in the round
- Notebook and pen
Booking Information
To book your place on any of the workshops and to arrange payment just send an email to jamesherbison@gmail.com indicating which workshops you would like to take. Payment details will then be provided and your place(s) will be confirmed once payment is received.
You can take more than one workshop if you wish to but the number of places in each workshop is limited so please book early to avoid disappointment.
(Double) Knit in Public with Nathan
If you are not able to make any of Nathan's workshops, fear not, you will still have an opportunity to see him in Dunedin. If you have been lucky enough to have taken a workshop with Nathan you will have one last opportunity to see him before he heads to Wellington.
Saturday September 1st, 8.30am - 9.00am you are welcome to join Nathan outside the Dunedin Railway Station for a (Double) Knit in Public event. Bring along your double knitting and add to the colour of the day and knit out loud.
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