British Yarn

Jane Thornley is a Canadian-based knitwear designer who is also a jewelery designer and writer of women’s fiction and mystery novels. In between designing, she still writes at least one novel a year.  Jane is world-renowed for her ‘free range’ knitting philosophy; she knits and designs patterns that incorporate many different yarns, different colours and different textures. You can find out more about her and her work on her website.

Classes with Jane will take place in the Stirling Management Centre

Free-Range 101: free range knitting for beginners

Here’s where it all begins, the introductory class for those new to free-range knitting and who just feel the need to revisit the approach.

Participants are challenged to look at knitting and yarn completely differently – without fretting about mistakes and gauge—and to take control of their own knitting world. Instead of following a traditional pattern that points to only one ‘right’ result, the trick is to just let go and fly.

Here’s knitting that encourages you to relax into your own potential. Let the yarn tell you what to do. Yes, it whispers!

Using an initial cast-on of 60 stitches, I guide participants on a free-form scarf or wrap (depending on length of session) where various yarns and simple stitches are combined for stunning feats of colour and texture. Stitches taught or reviewed include: seed/moss, eyelet lace, wave and drop stitch.

No mistakes are acknowledged here and the inner perfectionist is banished so knitters can revisit the glory of creative play and discovery. Invariably, knitters (even first-timers) are amazed by what they can create. Some never return to the fold and become addicted to the delight of free-range knitting.

Every yarn and every weight can co-exist happily with one another in this style of knitting. Not only is this a perfect stash-busting approach but I show knitters how to use those glorious yarns they’re puzzled over in the shops. Ribbon? Tape? Textured concoctions? They’ll all work here.

When: Tuesday, 9.30 - 12.30

Level: Beginner plus

Class Skills: Comfortable with basic knit stitches

Cost: £40

Class Length: 3 hours

Please bring with you:

Scissors

10-20 small balls of previously-wound yarns in various colours and textures including tapes, ribbons, specialties and wools (i.e. Collinette’s line is ideal).

1 tapestry needle

1 pair of 5mm, 7mm and 9mm needles. Circulars are fine if preferred.

Homework: Cast on 60 stitches (in your darkest colour) and knit three rows (garter stitch).

Minimum number of students: 12 Maximum number of students: 25

Taking flight with feather and fan

Feather and fan stitch, once the domain of baby blankets and traditional shawls, is now set loose in flights of colour fancy. Participants learn how modifying the stitch to shape a garment while blending different yarns to create a beautiful colourscape of possibilities.

Each participant is provided with a PDF copy of a booklet which contains three recipes to explore: the Feather and Fan Organic Wrap, a wrapped shrug and a cardigan. Using these designs as templates, I guide knitters in how to knit special garments uniquely their own. Skills explored involve variations of the feather and fan stitch, how to combine this stitch with others for a gorgeous wrap and how to use various weights and textures to bring out yarn’s full potential.

When: Tuesday, 2.00 - 5.00

Level: Intermediate plus

Class Skills:

Cost: £35

Class Length: 3 hours

Please bring with you:

Scissors

10-20 small balls of previously-wound yarns in various colours and textures including tapes, ribbons, specialties and mohair.

1 tapestry needle

1 pair of 5mm, 7mm and 9mm circulars needles.

Homework: none

Minimum number of students: 12 Maximum number of students: 25

Colourplay for the Faint at Heart

Here’s a visual journey through colour blending, combining, risk-taking and transitioning colours for the faint of heart.  Want to be braver with your colour choices instead of knitting the same hue again and again? Want to try multi-colour knitting but are afraid to marry one hue with another? This is your workshop.

Using, in part, photographs of knitting and nature projected from my computer, I guide participants into the surprising world of colour combinations addressing such questions as:

What makes some combinations pleasing and others not?

How can individual knitters learn to take more risks with colour without resorting to tedious mechanical charts and tools?

How does nature teach us the truth about colour?

When does a little ‘poison’ thrill rather than kill?

The psychological impact colour has on our mood and senses

Transitional tricks for creating subtle, artistic, blends rather than stripes and skunk lines.

When: Wednesday 9.30 - 12.30

Level: Beginner plus

Cost: £40

Class Length: 3 hours

Minimum number of students: 12 Maximum number of students: 25

Please bring with you:

Scissors

10-20 small balls of previously-wound yarns in various colours and textures including tapes, ribbons, specialties and wools.

1 tapestry needle

Needle size of choice.

Homework: None

Reflective Knitting: creating a knitting and yarn journal

Creativity is as much observation as talent. When we begin to really study the world around us, a voyage of discovery begins. Keeping an inspiration journal can help guide you along the way, unlocking abilities through observation and interpretation. Often a photograph, a favourite object or even a skein of hand-dyed yarn can launch the process.

Anyone ready to take their knitting beyond the basics, to begin designing their own evocative knitting projects through colour and texture. Even beginners who only know how to knit and purl will benefit from keeping a yarnscaping journal. This workshop gets you started.

When: Thursday, 9.30 - 12.30

Level: Beginner plus

Cost: £40

Class Length: 3 hours

Minimum number of students: 9 Maximum number of students: 25

Please bring with you:

Pens, coloured pencils, a spiral-bound blank notebook, a favourite hank of multi- coloured yarn, other objects/images that inspire you

Legends of the Fall: Autumn-enhanced knitting

Nearly any pattern, any design, can be ‘autumnize’ through colour and texture that goes far betond choosing fall hues. Here, I’ll show you how to knit tree ‘trunks’ blooming with textured leaves, how to select fall-infused stitches to deploy in any pattern, plus heaps of other harvest tricks.

When: Thursday, 2.00 - 5.00

Level: Intermediate plus

Cost: £40

Class Length: 3 hours

Minimum number of students: 12 Maximum number of students: 25

Please bring with you:

Scissors

10-20 small balls of previously-wound yarns in autunmal colours and textures including tapes, ribbons, specialties and wools.

1 tapestry needle

Needle size of choice.

Homework: None

Evocative Knitting

Knit a forest, knit a field, knit a beach. It's simpler than you think. The key is to begin seeing the world in stitches with the easiest ones working best. For instance, the simplest of slipped stitches combined with textured yarn can deliver the most stunning bark effect whereas the beloved feather and fan stitch can bring you misty moors. Here's a class that will open your eyes to a whole new way of viewing the world -- in stitches!

When: Friday, 9.30 - 12.30

Level: Intermediate plus

Cost: £40

Class Length: 3 hours

Please bring with you:

Scissors

10-20 small balls of previously-wound yarns in  any colours and textures including tapes, ribbons, specialties and wools.

1 tapestry needle

Needle size of choice.

Homework: None

Minimum number of students: 12 Maximum number of students: 25

All images © Jane Thornley