Kristin Drysdale/Scandiwork Workshop
We're excited to announce a weekend with Kristin Drysdale, author of "Nordic Knitting Primer".
Where to begin? Inspired by her Scandinavian roots, Kristin Drysdale has been steeped in the world of Nordic knitting for more than 30 years. Her journey started on a college trip to Norway—before she even knew how to knit! Patterns were the perfect souvenir for a broke student: lightweight, affordable, and full of possibility.
Soon after, Kristin began designing and knitting her own traditional sweaters, mittens, hats, and slippers, and hasn’t stopped since. Now based in Salt Lake City, she designs, writes, and teaches full-time, with her work featured in Laine Magazine, Knitting Magazine, and by Harrisville Designs.
She’s taught thousands to fall in love with colorwork and brings such joy to seeing her Scandinavian-inspired designs knit and worn around the world. You don’t have to be Scandinavian to knit Scandinavian—her patterns prove that creating these timeless Nordic heirlooms connects makers of all backgrounds. And let’s be honest: making wintery stuff is just plain fun.
Plan a weekend trip to Billings with your knitting friends. Billings has much to offer in the way of downtown hotels, happenings and dining.
Choose between 4 classes or take them all!
Steeking without Fear: Friday, January 30, 9:00am - Noon This class will teach you how to secure, cut, and finish your knitted fabric for colorwork-in-the-round cardigans, vests, and more. Kristin is teaching three different techniques to finish steaks and hide cut edges. Homework: Before the class you will need to knit the Selbu Thermos Cozy so we canget right to work with a hands-on steeking experience. You may also wish to knit the two extra cup cozies beforehand to take advantage of the three methods. The more projects you come prepared to cut, the more steeking practice you will get. Skill level: Intermediate
Name Day Mittern: Friday, January 30 1:30 - 4:30pm Nordic Knitting motifs are a treasure trove of symbolism. Each symbol in these intricate colorwork mittens can tell a story or carry a message of love, hope, encouragement. You will design a mitten (with a lot of help from Kristin!). She has gathered together and created a little library of Nordic Motifs and charted out numbers and letters so that you can design a personal Selbu Mitten for yourself or for someone you love. Techniques you'll learn •Tvinnarand •yarn dominance • decreases & increases within color work • thumb gusset • fit • small circumference techniques Homework: You need to decide whom will be the lucky recipient and swatch to get gauge for the size of mitten you need to knit. Skill level- Intermediate
Knitting with 3 Colors at Once: Saturday, January 31, 9:00am - Noon. This class will teach you how to knit with three colors at once with ease. Knitting with three colors is a bit like a dance, you will learn weave colors in and out, catching floats where you need to and you can do it all without getting your colors all twisted up. We will be referring to the Ebba Hat or the Astrid Cozy. The Astrid Cozy starts with a round of tvinnarand (a Norwegian braid). It takes a bit of time to complete, and a pre-class zoom will be included to students who would like to make the Astrid Cozy Homework: Swatch in color work to get a gauge of 26 sts/31 rows. Skill level: Intermediate to advanced
Jumping into Colorwork: Saturday, January 31, 1:30 - 4:30pm This class will focus on holding the yarn in the left hand and in the right hand. We will practice whichever way is new to you and then put your now found skill to work and jump into knitting into colorwork. Homework: Before class, knit the ribbing on either the Sander Cowl or the Freja Hat so that we can focus on colorwork in class. Skill Level: If you can knit and purl, you can thrive in this class.