Tag: modular knitting

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Woolly Workshops

Posted on by Jackie B

After Saturday’s Embroidery with Sea Glass workshop I got to thinking about a couple of others I’ve been to over the last year. Almost a year ago. I went on a worship on Entrelac and Modular Knitting with Judith Schur of Needlecase at Amble Pincushion. At the time I fell in love with Judith’s beautiful modular shell cowl and started to make my own – I got it finished a while back.

I used West Yorkshire Spinners Signature Sock Yarn in Woodpigeon (variegated in mauve, grey and white) and some pink and purple sock weight yarn I got from a stash sale. I’m so pleased with it – and learning this technique has cured me of my dislike of picking up stitches.

I went on another of Judith’s workshops a few months back. This one was on 2-colour brioche knitting. If you’ve never come across brioche knitting before, it looks a bit like K1 P1 rib and in the case of 2 colour brioche, the knit stitches are in one colour and the purl in another to form stripes…. then you can make the lines cross and form waves. It’s double thickness, so each row is knitted twice (you have to slide the stitches back along the needle before you knot the second one so you need to use circular or double pointed needles.). It feels really squishy .

During the workshop we learnt the techniques and produced a sample square ( I must admit I made a bit of a mess of mine, mainly because I was chatting to the other participants. I had another go and perfected my sample when I got home. Brioche does require a fair bit of concentration.

Next I started a cowl using one of Judith’s patterns. This and two balls of James C Brett Aztec were included in the price. I chose a pale duck-egg blue and a deep green – brioche looks most effective when you use strongly contrasting colours. It’s a lovely aran weight yarn with some alpaca in the blend which makes it really soft.

I did make some mistakes, but I pulled them out and kept going until I got it right. The end result looks amazing and is so lovely to wear – the softness of the alpaca and the squishy brioche knitting makes it incredibly cosy.

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Lessons in Entrelac

Posted on by Jackie B

I spent a very enjoyable Saturday at a knitting workshop run by Judith Schur of Needlecase, at Amble Pin Cushion. Five of us were learning about modular and entrelac knitting under Judith’s expert tuition. She’s also recently run workshops on Fair Isle, Brioche and Sock Knitting.

Judith began by showing us some of her modular and entrelac creations, including, scarves, cowls and blankets. They look amazing!

We began learning the basics of modular knitting, making a mitred square, then picking up stitches along one edge before knitting a second square, and so on to make a 2 x 2 square sample.

We then worked on samples of entrelac.. which uses a similar technique but gives the appearance of woven strips of knitting. It looks really effective.

It was a lovely relaxing day, spent in great company.

I got my entrelac sample almost finished, completing it the following day. I’m really pleased with it.

One of Judith’s completed items that caught my eye was this cowl made using the modular technique, but using shell shapes instead of squares.

I think it’s stunning and couldn’t wait to try it, using one of the patterns Judith gave us during the session. I made a start tonight and completed the first shape. It’s so exciting to be learning something new!