Weather

It looks like we are in for a great weekend.

Camp Homework

Trick Up my Sleeve

Materials:

• knitting basket basics
• pencil & paper
• calculator
• Please bring along a garment (one you already own) that you either love or hate the fit of the sleeve. It doesn’t need to be hand-knit and can be in woven fabric

Homework: none.

Rootcamp Bootcamp

Materials: 

• 2 - 3 balls of different coloured medium weight yarn 
  • This can be double knitting weight to worsted weight yarn
• yarn appropriate needles
  • for double knitting weight 4mm needles
  • for worsted weight yarn 4.5mm - 5mm needles
• pencil
• squared paper (optional).

Homework: none.

Top Down Seamless

Materials:

• 4mm-5mm, 16”-24” circular needle
• 4mm-5mm double pointed needles or a needle for magic loop 
• approximately 50grams of a light coloured worsted weight yarn
  • Cascade 220, Malabrigo Rios or something similar
• stitch markers

Homework: none

Custom Mitts

Materials:

• Your homework swatch
• The needles you knit your swatch on
  • Also bring needles that are one size smaller and one size larger.

Homework: Swatch

• Find a yarn you’d like to make mittens with
• You will need 200m-400m
  • less for thicker yarn and smaller hands
  • more for larger hands and finer wool
• You will be working with needles 2 sizes smaller than the ball band recommends. If the ball band says 4.5mm then use 3.75mm. If the ball band says 6mm then use 5mm.
• Cast on 26 stitches and work 3” (8cm) in the round. You will be knitting every row so your swatch will be in stocking stitch. 
  • You can do your swatch on double pointed needles or do magic loop on circular needles
• Bind off the swatch
• Handwash the swatch

Size & Fit

Materials: none

Homework: Please bring patterns you’ll like to make so we can talk about them.

Please make sure you have the following in your knitting bag

• Variety of knitting needles and crochet hooks
• Extra yarn for class - just in case
• Sewing Needle
• Scissors
• Pen
• Paper
• Tape Measure
• Stitch Markers
• Stitch Holders
• Calculator
• Scrap Yarn
• Reading Glasses
• Credit card

Camp Agenda

It’s hard to believe that Camp is only 4 weeks away.

Friday September 30th

3:00pm         Registration in Cedar Room

3:00-4:00pm Mini Yarn Shop will be open in the Cedar Room

6:00pm         Dinner in Echo's Dining Lounge

8:00pm         Fashion Show in Cedar Room

Saturday October 1st

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 October 2nd

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

Come join the fun

Knitting Camp is nothing like the camp you attended as a kid. At Knitting Camp you get to choose your day’s activities. Go to class, sleep in, take a hike - totally up to you. Super comfy accommodations with someone else making your bed. And the food is incredible and seemingly endless. The one way it is like camp though, is that you will make great new friends who you will look forward to seeing year after year. Come as a group, a couple (non-knitting partners love camp too!) or on your own. Don’t worry you’ll all be included in the fun.

Before dinner meet up.

We sit at large tables for meals. No one is left in the corner on their own. 

On Saturday evening we hold a student fashion show. Everyone is invited to bring one or two items that they have recently knit to show them off.

Our suppliers are very generous with door prizes and items for our goodie bags.

A mini yarn shop is set up for the weekend.

Come join the fun!

Camp Food

Please don’t come to Camp and think you are going to lose weight. 😘

All meals are eaten in the dining room. We are at long tables so no one is sitting in the corner by themselves.

Breakfast is a buffet. Cereal - hot and cold. Breads. Lots of fresh fruit. Pastries. Then there is a hot table - you will see some or all of pancakes, scrambled eggs, eggs Benedict, French toast, bacon…

Lunch is a buffet. Breads and cold cuts. Salads. Fruit. Soup. There is a hot table with different foods each day. There is a table with deserts.

For dinner you order off a menu. Here is a sample that I took from the Bayview-Wildwood website. 

ETA - all meals are included in the cost of the weekend.

That is the meals in the dining room.. Then we have snacks during class. Fruit. Cookies. Pastries.

You won’t be hungry!

Camp Accommodations

I haven’t posted about the accommodations for Camp. Double occupancy doesn’t have to be a room with 2 beds. There are even accommodations for 3 people where you each have your own bedroom.

If you and a few friends are coming to Camp, cottages are available. This is the Maple cottage. There are 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a sitting room. This was my cottage for many years.

This is Swallows Nest

There are two units that share a porch. Each unit has one bedroom with a queen bed and the second bedroom has a queen bed and a single pull out sofa bed.

This is Pinedell. 

One bedroom has a king bed and the second bedroom has a queen bed and a twin bed. Sitting area has a pull out sofa bed.  

This is Balsam Cottage. There are 4 units in this building.

End units provide a king bed, with sofa bed and fireplace. Middle units have two queen beds and a fireplace. All rooms provide a mini fridge, microwave, private bath with shower and private deck. There is an option to have adjoining rooms.

If you are interested in a cottage, don’t wait too long to book. These go fast!

Camp Brochure

We are happy to announce Camp for 2022. Friday September 30th - Sunday October 2nd. Camp is going to be a little different this year. We will be meeting from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning. We’re nicknaming it Camp Light. Kate Atherley and Fiona Ellis will be our instructors. Both ladies have taught at Camp before and teach amazing workshops.  Camp includes 2 night accommodations Meals Friday dinner through Sunday lunch 3 workshops Friday night Fashion Show Saturday evening Student Fashion Show For registrations before March 31, 2022 Single Occupancy $1275 Double Occupancy $1100 Non Knitting Companion $500 After April 1, 2022 the pricing will be Single Occupancy $1375 Double Occupancy $1200 Non Knitting Companion $550 Camp Registrations will not earn points in our store points program. Any purchases made at Camp will earn points.

Full payment is required to secure your spot and guarantee your class choices. __________ Kate Atherley is an expert teacher, with more than 12 years experience teaching at local yarn shops, guild gatherings, retreats and large-scale events. All classes include high-quality handouts. Technique classes are a lively mix of discussion, demonstration and hands-on practice, with individual attention and guidance provided. Fiona Ellis’s career is certainly one about escapism. After pursuing a sensible career in laboratory work for textile production and colour cosmetic formulation, Fiona escaped from career-captivity in the early 1990’s to pursue fashion design at De Montfort University. She graduated with a degree specializing in Knitwear design. Fiona then founded her independent design business, selling designs to major fashion houses in New York, Paris and London. Her contacts in New York helped her to add design for the independent knitter to her repertoire. This led to her published patterns in major print and on-line magazines, and two successful books published by Random House. Fiona helps people escape from the mundane and bring creative design sensibilities to their knitting. __________ Here are the workshops that we are offering. At the end of each workshop description I have added a comment as to why I chose this class. It will be in Italics to make it easy to find. Saturday Morning Classes Kate Introduction to Top Down Seamless Garment Knitting description: The top-down one piece garment construction is very popular, particularly for babies’ and kids’ garments. This class takes you through the process of working a complete mini-sweater project, building all the skills and techniques you need to successfully work any such design, whether for kids or adults. A baby-sized sweater pattern is included in the class. skill level: beginner: knitters need to be able to cast on, knit and bind off, no garment experience required; also suitable for more experienced knitters who have never tackled this type of pattern before Top down sweaters are the rage. Not everyone is comfortable knitting in the round from the top down. This is a great way to try the technique and see if you like it. Fiona Trick Up My Sleeve Beginner - Advanced Sleeves are a complex part of a garment. They can add style and interest or dramatically change the overall silhouette. A sleeve has several different components, each of which can be modified. Combining variations of these components has led to a seemingly endless number of styles. Fiona will begin with an illustrated journey through sleeve styles and design, looking at when and why various styles became popular or fell out of favour. But the journey doesn’t end there... we will move onto how to modify a published knitted sleeve pattern. An invaluable tool enabling student to ensure a better fit for their specific project; we will look at how to lengthen or shorten a sleeve or, for more advanced students, how to maybe change its shape. There will also be an overview of handling increases and decreases & appropriate choices for patterning. This is a more theoretical class, with some hands-on paper pattern manipulation, calculations (Fiona will be there for hand holding & guidance of course), and discussions rather than lots of knitting. From Fiona Sleeves are very important from a style point of view which is why I developed this one. It could be great to have campers bring along a garment that they don’t like the fit of the sleeve as actual real life examples or patterns they they might like to change the sleeves. I have a problem with most sleeves that I knit. They are way, way too long. I can’t just take 4” off the length and call it a day. There are also many top down sweaters that are shown with long sleeves but I would like to knit them with short sleeves or shorter sleeves. How long? How do I change the decreasing? Saturday Afternoon Classes Kate Custom Mittens Winter is coming! It’s never too early in the year to prep for the cold weather. We’ll show you how to create a custom mitten – regular or fingerless! - for any hand, and any yarn. Use up your stash and keep your friends and family warm. Along the way we’ll share tips for making hand-mittens as warm and possible – from yarn choice to lining strategies, and help you deal with problem areas like ill-fitting or holey thumbs. skill level: intermediate – knitters should ideally have made a pair of mittens or two My fingers are stubby and I need to knit a large mitten to fit around my hand but they end up way too long. It would be amazing to have a go to pattern that fits my hand and keeps my hands warm. Fiona Rootcamp Bootcamp: Rediscovering our Strengths Advanced beginner - advanced “A tree’s beauty lies in its branches, but its strength lies in its roots” – Matchona Dhliwayo By going back to the basics of our knitting practise we strengthen our roots, learning how to become more aware of stitch structure and see what is occurring in a specific technique. This in turn improves our proficiency and ability to read our work, leading to fewer errors or more confidence when fixing a mistake. Through a series of knitting exercise Fiona will bring awareness to the humble knit and purl stitch, directional increases and decreases, how to shape “in pattern”, and create simple colourwork patterning. I had a customer in this week who is merrily knitting away on her shawl. She read the pattern but didn’t understand the stitch. She was doing the stitch wrong for the whole shawl - it is halfway finished. If she had understood her stitches she would have questioned how she was knitting from row one and her shawl would turn out better. Fiona will also teach you how to shape ‘in pattern’. This is the one of the hardest techniques for most knitters. Sunday Morning Classes Kate Size & Fit: Why the “Medium” Never Fits Quite Right description: The biggest challenge for many knitters when choosing a pattern is knowing which size to make. This class will show you how to decide - and set you well along the way to a successful and flattering sweater project. We’ll explain how to read sizing tables and schematics to understand how a garment is sized. We'll show you how to measure yourself properly to make the right choice. And most importantly, we'll explain garment fit, including demystifying terms like "negative ease"- and show you how to choose the right pattern from the start. And then once you’ve got the pattern and size chosen, we’ll discuss easy alterations to perfect the fit and look of a garment. skill level: all levels, ideal for knitters just starting with garment knitting, or for knitters who haven’t had a lot of success with garments Customers come in the store all the time telling us that they are disappointed in their project - it doesn’t fit because they knit the wrong size. This class will benefit everyone. Fiona Trick Up My Sleeve Beginner - Advanced Sleeves are a complex part of a garment. They can add style and interest or dramatically change the overall silhouette. A sleeve has several different components, each of which can be modified. Combining variations of these components has led to a seemingly endless number of styles. Fiona will begin with an illustrated journey through sleeve styles and design, looking at when and why various styles became popular or fell out of favour. But the journey doesn’t end there... we will move onto how to modify a published knitted sleeve pattern. An invaluable tool enabling student to ensure a better fit for their specific project; we will look at how to lengthen or shorten a sleeve or, for more advanced students, how to maybe change its shape. There will also be an overview of handling increases and decreases & appropriate choices for patterning. This is a more theoretical class, with some hands-on paper pattern manipulation, calculations (Fiona will be there for hand holding & guidance of course), and discussions rather than lots of knitting. From Fiona Sleeves are very important from a style point of view which is why I developed this one. It could be great to have campers bring along a garment that they don’t like the fit of the sleeve as actual real life examples or patterns they they might like to change the sleeves. We are offering this class twice because I want everyone to have a chance to take it. Sleeves are a part of the garment that needs adjusting for most people.] 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. Full payment is required to secure your spot and guarantee your class choices. All prices include HST (13%) If you cancel before July 31, 2022 the refundable amount is $350. After that date there are no refunds. Call the store to register. 1-800-667-9167. Covid Policy We will be following the Province of Ontario guidelines regarding masking and vaccination requirements.

Camp 2022

 

The dates are set for Knitting Camp 2022.

Friday September 30 - Sunday October 2. 

The brochure will go live next Monday (March 7th).

Workshops

Here are the workshops that we are offering for Camp 2020. You can see the classes and pricing on our website.

We're limiting registrations to keep workshops small and personal. Full payment secures your spot.

2020

The dates are set.

We will be meeting at Bayview-Wildwood from October 1-4.

Kate Atherley will be our guest instructor.

Kate Atherley is Knitty.com’s Managing Technical Editor, and a seasoned designer and teacher of all things knitterly. 

Known for her attention to detail in her patterns and her classes, she regularly teaches at stores and events across North America, including Interweave YarnFest and Vogue Knitting Live. Her work has appeared in many books and magazines.
An expert instructor, Kate has over a decade of experience teaching at local yarn shops, guild gatherings, retreats, and large-scale events. Technique classes are a lively mix of discussion, demonstration, and hands-on practice, with individual attention and guidance provided. All classes include high-quality handouts.

Kate teaches amazing workshops - you won't be disappointed. Kate has taught in the store and at Camp and I highly recommend her classes. Even if you know the technique she is teaching you will come away with tips and tricks that you didn't know.

Workshops will be on the website by the end of the month.

What a great weekend

We had a great weekend at Camp. Thanks to Laura Bryant for the amazing classes she taught and thank you to all the students who came. I have a lot of pictures to share over the next few days.

Camp Agenda

Thursday October 3

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

6:00pm    Dinner in Echo's Dining Lounge

8:00pm    Meet in Cedar Room

Friday October 4

8:00am    Breakfast in Echo's Dining Lounge

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 October 5

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 October 6

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

Camp 2019

The dates for this year's Camp have changed. We will be meeting at Bayview-Wildwood Resort October 3-6, 2019.

Registration will open on March 1.

Laura Bryant is founder and creative director of Prism Yarns. She has written 6 books, including Artful Color, Mindful Knits and The New Knitter’s Template (with Barry Klein). She is well known for her color expertise, exploration with hand-dyed yarns, and innovative approach to garment shape, developed through years as a working artist. Laura has published designs and articles in many magazines, including Vogue Knitting and Knit Simple, and has published over 70 booklets for Prism.

Julie Schilthuis
Julie is in her 31st year of owning and operating The Needle Emporium. She has taught many classes and workshops both in the store and at many knitting guilds across Southern Ontario. She loves to source new and beautiful yarns and through her many trips to TNNA has formed relationships with companies from around the world. Julie’s customers will tell you she has a knack for putting colours together and many of her regulars leave the selections up to her. The Needle Emporium has become a destination yarn shop for knitters from across Canada and the United States – it is worth the drive to Ancaster!

Beth Schilthuis
Beth has joined us as a Camp Counsellor for years. Beth has been around the fibre world her whole life. Early on she was dragged into yarn stores and then when Julie opened her store she learned to knit.

At a trade show she fell in love with needle felting kits. It started with a small kit of a shark and ended up with an aquarium.

This year she is going to share her knowledge on needle felting.

The Details
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, so peruse this site, phone your friends, pick out some courses, circle the calendar and send your registration in today!

All prices include HST (13%)

If you cancel before July 31, 2019 the refundable amount is $350. After that date there are no refunds.

Option 1
Price includes
3 nights accommodations
Meals Thursday dinner through Sunday lunch
4 workshops
Friday night fashion show
Thursday evening game night
Single $1500
Double (per person) $1200
Non Knitting Guest $750

Option 2
Price includes
2 nights accommodations
Meals Friday lunch through Sunday lunch
4 workshops
Friday night fashion show
Single $1300
Double (per person) $1050
Non Knitting Guest $700

Friday Morning
Laura
Yarn Stash Workshop
This in-depth class takes participants through the steps of sorting their stash into usable collections. Students will learn about yarn types, color, and weights, and how to successfully combine them into projects. Lots of hands on swatching will allow students to see how different yarns can be worked together. We will investigate strategies for stretching yarn amounts, and formulas for calculating when there is enough—and when there isn’t. Dozens of knitted samples and swatches will be shared.
All levels. Sample instructions will range from simple to advanced, but each student may choose which swatches to do.

Beth
Needle Felting with Beth
Spend a couple of hours playing with fleece and felting needles.
(We were rushing to get the brochure ready and don't have the pricing on supplies for the class. We will send you a list of supplies with your homework. You can order your supplies from us and we will have them at Camp for you.)

Saturday Morning
Laura
Creating with Gradients
Gradient or ombre yarns abound in the market, either as long-repeat stripes or as gradient sets from hand-dyers. Successful knitting with either type requires planning and forethought. Join Laura in exploring design possibilities from simple rectangle scarves and shawls to more complex shapes whose pieces must match. Great for modular, mosaic, and straight knitting, as well as some interesting side roads. Lots of hands-on work.

Technique Requirements: Knit/purl; cast on/bind off; increase/decrease; have knit a few accessories; easy colorwork; basic finishing techniques; beginner crochet
Materials Fee 
$20 US for 8-step gradient yarn paid to Laura at Camp



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.

Saturday Afternoon
Laura
Activated Colour
Color choice for visually active patterns like chevrons, mosaics, and slip stitches can make or break the impact of your work. Learn what Laura has learned through years of discovery, including studying Missoni. Lots of hands-on swatching with simple pattern stitches illustrates how to achieve a dynamic balance in value and hue contrast. Turn that ordinary pattern into extraordinary! Especially useful for showing the beauty of hand-dyed multi-colors.

Technique Requirements: Knit/purl; cast on/bind off; increase/decrease; easy colorwork; advanced crochet




Sunday Morning
Laura
Knitting Pitfalls
Or, how I learned to avoid these mistakes and love my garments!
Join Laura for an illustrated talk on a baker’s dozen mistakes knitters make repeatedly. Her humorous observations, tips & tricks will have you nodding in agreement, will surprise and sometimes delight you, and are sure to send you on your way with a new enthusiasm for getting it right. From fit to gauge to tricky stitch maneuvers, Laura’s use of an artist’s editorial process produces results that are often outside the box of tradition. Come join the fun!

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.