New Classes from Knitgrrl Shannon Okey and Andi Smith

I’m a big fan of Shannon Okey and what she’s done at Cooperative Press, which allows knitting and crafty authors a venue for publishing fun, innovative projects with smaller print runs than a more traditional publisher would allow, but with more support and ease of distribution than creators would have with self-publishing.

Okey has presented a class at STITCHES and elsewhere to help knitters and other creatives who want to publish their own work, and she’s now expanded that class into a month (or so) long online course where users can work at their own pace.

In addition to that class, the virtual Knitgrrl studio is also hosting two classes by Andi Smith, author of Big Foot Knits. One is about knitting a sock to fit whether your foot is big or small, and the other is on the crochet Crocodile Stitch.

Check out this blog post for all the details or to register. Sounds like lots of fun; online learning is great for those of us who never or rarely make it to the shows/conferences/events in the knitting world!

Next Pattern:

Many times when I write these posts I will say something like “you can use any yarn you want” or “this would be a great stash-busting project.” That’s just how my mind works. And my stash, too, since I probably have sweater quantity of two or three yarns at most, but tons of singles and odd balls and leftovers.

Blankets are generally a really good way to use up those bits, but in this case, I think you’re going to want to plan it out a bit better.

Looking at photos of the Color Study Blanket from Purl Soho, it looks like it’s made with two yarns held together, and that block in the center is worked with one of each color from the adjoining sides to make a mixed up color.

But that’s not actually how it’s done. This is three separate colors (four, really, with the neutrals in the corners) chosen form a yarn with an expansive palette so they play off each other. The project calls for a worsted weight superwash wool, which is a great choice for a blanket that’s both warm and washable.

This pattern was originally designed by Laura Ferguson and was updated by Hiromi Glover. It is worked in one piece in garter stitch intarsia, which is a great way to learn the intarsia technique if you don’t already know it. It comes in crib or throw sizes.

Despite the introduction to this post, I am going to go ahead and say that, yes, of course you could do this blanket with scraps or odd balls or even just choose five colors that don’t blend together so easily. But I really do love the look of the color play, and I think it would be worth your time to find colors that play well together to get a similar effect.

This pattern is available for free from Purl Soho.

[Photo: Purl Soho]

Next Pattern:

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