Monday, January 22, 2007

Knitters love Beth Brown-Reinsel

After 2 days of classes, I can safely say that knitters love Beth Brown-Reinsel. Beth has an extensive knowledge of Scandavian knitting techniques and history, an obvious joy in sharing it, and a seemingly never-ending supply of patience. For those of you who missed her, rest assured, Beth will be back!

Saturday's class was on traditional Ganseys. We learned what makes a Gansey - from the Channel Island cast on to the underarm gussets to the shoulder strap construction - and knit our own mini version. Here's the sample Beth brought -

Mini Gansey
And here's mine, photographed the next morning -

Mini Gansey in progress
With all the end of day excitement, I didn't get photos of my classmates' ganseys. None of us finished, though Camille led the pack - she's quick with those 12" circulars! - and we all did a lot of knitting in our 6 hour class.

Sunday morning began with Swedish Cast-ons. Each new cast-on Beth demonstrated was greeting with, "why do it this way?" only to be quickly followed by oooh's and aaah's as we mastered each one and saw the beautiful results for ourselves.

Beth Brown-Reinsel in class
knitting students with Beth Brown-Reinsel
On Sunday afternoon, Beth taught a class about Latvian knitting techniques using a wrister as a template. Here's what a few students had knit by the end of the day.

Latvian Wristers in progress
It's fun to challenge yourself by learning something new, and Beth was a great guide into unknown territory. I hope you'll join us the next time we welcome a guest teacher or for one of our own classes. Knitting can be as simple or as complex as you like, and if you want to, there's always something new to learn!