Camp Video

Camp was amazing. Thank you to Fiona Ellis and Beth Casey for joining us and teaching amazing workshops.

Anne came to Camp with her camera and made an amazing video that captured our weekend.



Thanks Anne for all your work!!!

Watch for information on Camp 2019. We should be able to announce the dates in a few weeks.

Homework

Fiona

Friday Morning - Experiment with Colour and Fair Isle

Materials:
-part balls (a few yards each) in double knitting or worsted weight yarns, bring as many colours as you can and are willing to share.
-4mm, 4.5mm and 5mm needles. These can be straight or circular.
-graph paper
-coloured pencils (if you have them).

Homework:
None.

Saturday Morning - Shaping in Cable Patterns

Materials:
-1 ball of double knitting or worsted weight yarn
-4mm, 4.5mm and 5mm needles. These can be straight or circular.
-cable needle

Homework:
None.

Saturday Afternoon - Shaping the Silhouette and Decorative "Fully Fashioning"

Materials:
-a ball of double knitting or worsted weight yarn
-4mm, 4.5mm and 5mm needles (these can be straight or circular)
-graph paper

Homework
None.

Sunday Morning - Finishing with Finesse
Materials: 
-2 part balls (a few yards each) of double knitting or worsted weight yarn in different colours
-3 yarn appropriate needles (a pair plus 1)
-pair of double pointed needles (same size as the other pair)
-yarn appropriate crochet hook
-blunt-ended sewing needle.

Homework:
2 small (4 in x 4 in) stockinette swatches, still on the needles or leave on stitch holders

Julie

Find Your Fade

Materials
Find Your Fade pattern purchased on Ravelry (please no sharing of patterns)
Skeins of fingering weight (sock) yarn
-bring lots even if you don't think the colours work together
-please have the skeins wound into balls - it will save time in class
-please label your skeins - we might be passing them around to show different colour combinations

3.5mm circular needles
-60cm is long enough to start but you will need one 80cm long to finish the shawl

Brioche

Materials
-2 balls of double knitting or worsted weight yarn. 1 ball dark (not black) and 1 ball light
-3.25mm, 3.5mm, 3.75mm, 4mm and 4.5mm needles. These must be circular. 60cm long is a good length.

Homework
None

Weekend Agenda

Thursday September 20

4:00-6:00pm    Registration in Crusader Lounge

6:00pm    Dinner in Echo's Dining Lounge

8:00pm    Meet in Cedar Room for Rowan's Anniversary Party

Friday September 21

8:00am    Breakfast in Echo's Dining Lounge for those registered for Option 1

8:15-8:45am    Registration in Crusader Lounge for those registered for Option 2

9:00-11:45am    Morning session of classes 

12:00pm    Lunch in Echo's Dining Lounge    

6:00pm    Dinner in Echo's Dining Lounge

8:00pm    Fashion Show in Cedar Room

Saturday September 22

8:00am    Breakfast in Echo's Dining Lounge

9:00-11:45am    Morning session of classes

12:00pm    Lunch in Echo's Dining Lounge

1:30-4:15pm    Afternoon session of classes

6:00pm    Dinner in Echo's Dining Lounge

8:00pm    Student Fashion Show in Cedar Room

Sunday September 23

8:00am    Breakfast in Echo's Dining Lounge

9:00-11:45am    Classes

12:00pm    You must be checked out of your room

12:00pm    Lunch in Echo's Dining Lounge

Dying Sock Blanks

We have a new class this year. Dying Sock Blanks.

In a nutshell, a sock blank is a knitted rectangle designed to be unraveled and then knit into socks, scarves, shawls, mittens, or anything you would knit with fingering weight yarn.

They look a little bit like an unfinished scarf with live, loose stitches at each end.  Sock blanks are machine knitted with undyed yarns and then dyed. Gradients, stripes and random splashes of colour are all popular designs for sock blanks.  

Take a look at this blog post from Felicia at SweetGeorgia Yarns for ideas of what you can make with sock blanks.

We still have room in all the workshops but don't wait too long. There is a limit on the number of people we can have in the dye workshops.

Loot

Our suppliers are always very generous with yarn, needles and accessories for the door prizes and goodie bags.

The loot has started to arrive for Camp 2018.

The ladies at The Knit Kit sent 3 kits to be part of the door prizes.

Speaking of loot - did you know that this year is Rowan's 40th Anniversary? We are going to be celebrating at Camp.

Cake. Party games. Loot bags. We're going to have fun.

10th Anniversary

Imagine a weekend away with someone cooking your meals and making your bed. Oh yeah, you also get to knit all weekend!

This is the 10th Anniversary of The Needle Emporium Knitting Camp. Before this I hosted the weekend with two yarn shop owners from Toronto. This is actually our 22nd year of hosting knitters for a weekend away.

It is important to me that everyone be included. Don't worry about coming by yourself. You won't be alone for very long. Meals are eaten at long tables and the returning Campers will make sure that you are part of the group.

Thursday evening is a fun night with games and prizes. My sister Beth hosts the evening. You will laugh like you haven't laughed before. By the end of the evening everyone knows each other.

All the information for Camp is available on the website. Check out the instructors, workshops and pricing information.

Please contact us if you have any questions.

Sunday

One last class before heading home.

Fiona
Finishing with Finesse
Hands-up those of you who hate finishing! Now try thinking of it as a fun part of the project rather than a chore. In this workshop Fiona will demo, and then let you practice, several ways you can add some finesse to your project during the finishing process. These will include adding a knitted-on I-cord, 3 needle bind off for seaming and simple crochet edges. She will also cover a few of the basic techniques to allow you to become practice perfect, these will include, grafting stitches, mattress stitch and setting in a zipper.

Beth
Have fun with Dye
This is a class for students who've taken a dying class with Beth earlier in Camp or at a previous Camp. You will have the option to dye a mini skein pack (5 mini skeins of Shepherd Sock) or full skeins of Shepherd Sock.

Try mixing Splattershots with solid patches. 
Dye a mini skein kit with different Splattershots.

Have fun!

Class Fee: this will depend on the yarn that you choose

Julie
Brioche
A favourite with designers now from Stephen West to Andrea Mowry. This is a technique that creates a double sided fabric.

In two-color brioche stitch, two rows are worked for every row that appears on the face of the fabric.

We will work Brioche flat and if time permits we will play with Brioche on circular needles.

Saturday

Here are the Saturday morning classes

Fiona
Shaping in Cable Patterns
Stitch patterning, be it cables, lace, texture, or colour, is often can be central to a sweater’s design. Stitch patterning is and also one of the best ways to explore your own sweater creativity! But it can sometimes offer up challenges, too – many of which center around shaping and pattern. In this workshop, Fiona will teach you how to tackle shaping and stitch patterning with confidence and a sense of fun. The workshop will cover how to gracefully add waist shaping in a patterned piece, how to run the pattern seamlessly around necklines (Fiona often includes this detail in her designs) and beyond. Fiona will focus not only on the methods of increasing and decreasing stitches used to change the shape of a piece, but how they can be used to create decorative effects within the cable fabric itself.

Beth
Sock Blanks
A sock blank is a long, rectangular piece of knitted fabric created by a knitting machine and then dyed or stamped with colour.  The edge of the sock blank isn’t bound off — it’s loose so that you can knit from it, pulling the stitches out as you go. The basic idea behind the sock blank is that you’ll get an amazing yet unpredictable colourway when you knit with it.

Class Fee: $40US

Julie
Find Your Fade 
Find Your Fade is one of the hottest patterns on Ravelry right now.

Starting at a single point and growing, shifting and fading into a piece that begs to be wrapped up in. This asymmetrical triangle shawl uses some clever increasing and decreasing, combined with relaxing garter stitch and simple lace so that you have a fun-to-knit canvas to play with mixing colors on! This shawl is all about making it your own. Let your creativity shine!! 

Julie has completed three shawls and the yarn is set aside for more. It is a fun knit and you are finished before you know it. 

Bring your skeins of hand dyed fingering weight yarn and we will play putting together colour combinations. We’ll have a yarn swap - maybe your neighbour has the perfect colour for your shawl. 

In class we will discuss

-using more than 7 colours

-making the shawl smaller

-tips and tricks to make the knitting easier

And Saturday afternoon

Fiona
Shaping the Silhouette and Decorative "Fully Fashioning"
In this workshop Fiona will focus not only on the methods of increasing and decreasing stitches used to change the shape of a piece, but also how these stitches can be used to create decorative effects within the fabric itself.

Beth
Sock Blanks
A sock blank is a long, rectangular piece of knitted fabric created by a knitting machine and then dyed or stamped with colour.  The edge of the sock blank isn’t bound off — it’s loose so that you can knit from it, pulling the stitches out as you go. The basic idea behind the sock blank is that you’ll get an amazing yet unpredictable colourway when you knit with it.

Class Fee: $40US

Julie 
Brioche
A favourite with designers right now from Stephen West to Andrea Mowry. This is a technique that creates a double sided fabric.

In two-color brioche stitch, two rows are worked for every row that appears on the face of the fabric.

We will work Brioche flat and if time permits we will play with Brioche on circular needles.

Friday

Friday is always a fun day at Camp. The attendees are so excited to be away for the weekend. Here are our Friday classes.

Fiona
Experiment with Colour and Fair Isle
Working with colour can be so much fun! And dreaming up your own colour story is very rewarding. In this workshop we will look at colour theory and apply it to knitting. There will be time to experiment by yourself to see what happens when you introduce a new colour palette to a tried and tested pattern. Patterning in yokes will be discussed. For students who are unsure of how to work the Fair Isle method instruction will be given.

Beth

Splattershot
Have fun playing with a new dye technique from Lorna’s Laces. Splattershot.
Beth will walk you through the process and you will end up with a skein of great looking yarn.

Shepherd Sock
100gram skein
395m (430 yards)
80% superwash merino
20% nylon

Class Fee: $40US

2018 Pricing

Date: Thursday September 20 - Sunday September 23, 2018
Location: Bayview-Wildwood Resort
Pricing: We have 3 options.

Option 1
Price includes
3 nights accommodations
Meals Thursday dinner through Sunday lunch
4 workshops
Friday night fashion show
Thursday evening game night
Single $1450
Double (per person) $1150
Non Knitting Guest $700

Option 2
Price includes
2 nights accommodations
Meals Friday lunch through Sunday lunch
4 workshops
Friday night fashion show
Single $1300
Double (per person) $1000
Non Knitting Guest $650

Option 3
Price includes
2 nights accommodations
Meals Friday dinner through Sunday lunch
3 workshops
Friday night fashion show
Single $1200
Double (per person) $900
Non Knitting Guest $600

I am excited about our instructors. Beth Casey and Fiona Ellis are coming back.

The workshops haven't been finalized but I can tell you that you won't be disappointed.

Weekend Away
Imagine a weekend away with someone cooking your meals and making your bed. Oh yeah, you also get to knit all weekend!!

Knitting Experience
Whether you bring a friend or two, or come alone, you'll enjoy the company of new friends with common interests and spend a few days where free gifts, surprises and interesting seminars by fantastic instructors await you.

Mini Yarn Shop
We take a small part of The Needle Emporium and set up a yarn shop at Camp. Yarns, kits, books, needles, knitting bags and accessories.

Fashion Show
On Friday evening we will be presenting a Fashion Show where you will see (and be able to feel) fabulous garments and accessories. After the Fashion Show there is time for you to try on garments.

Bayview Wildwood Resort, has been welcoming guests to the lakeside village of Port Stanton for over 110 years for wonderful Ontario resort vacations. Whether it is a family vacation, Weekend getaways, Conference, Meeting, Wedding, Family reunion, or Romantic Getaways, Bayview Wildwood offers a variety of modern facilities and services to suit your needs. At our all seasons Ontario resort you'll feel right at home with the wide range of accommodations we offer including rooms, suites, waterfront cottages and historic houses.

Dining
Breakfast and lunch are offered buffet style, with a daily change of food fare. Dinners are full service and offer up to four choices of entrees, two to three appetizers and a selection of tempting desserts all made fresh from our on-site bakery.

Registration
We're limiting registrations to keep workshops small and personal. Registrations will be accepted on a "First Come, First Accepted" basis.
All prices include HST (13%)
If you cancel before July 31, 2018 the refundable amount is $350. After that date there are no refunds.

She's Coming Back

Fiona Ellis will be joining us for Camp.

Fiona graduated from DeMontfort University (England) with a degree in fashion knitwear design in 1993 and she has been designing professionally since then. Her work appears in leading magazine publications including on- line at twistcollective.com, and in yarn pattern booklets. She is a regular instructor at Stitches Events and at Vogue Knitting Live. She has also produced original concepts for major fashion houses in London, Paris and New York. She is the author of Inspired Cable Knits, Knitspiration Journal and Inspired Fair Isle Knits. You can find out what she is currently doing at fionaellisonline.com or follow her on Twitter or Ravelry (both under her name). 

We're finalizing the classes and the brochure should be ready next week.