Showing posts with label certificate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label certificate. Show all posts

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Are you bistitchual?

I think the term bistitchual is rather fabulous. It's defined along with a great example in the Urban Dictionary as:
 
The ability to create stitches in two crafts, e.g. knitting and crocheting.
 
Alena is bistitchual; she can both crochet and knit.
Penelope is not bistitchual; she can only knit.
 
I am one of the 49% of crocheters who also knit* and it's time for me to devote a little more time to improving my knitting skills now that the holiday gift-making is a distant memory.

I am embarking on the Craft Yarn Council's first knitting certificate. Hurrah! It's a six month long distance-learning course and my career in the yarn industry really began when I started my first CYC crochet certificate almost two years ago. Back then I didn't plan to actually get a job teaching crochet at that time. Read about it in my earlier post "How my crochet career began".

 
I have run a knitting and crochet workshop at my local yarn store every Friday afternoon for the last 16 months. I certainly knitted more frequently than crocheted in my younger years. The height of my knitting prowess was a sweater with a multicolored intarsia countryside scene (so twee!). In short, I'm not a beginner. Pattern support is the most common requirements at the workshop and I am pretty good at deciphering the symbols. However, having gained so much knowledge undertaking my two crochet certificates I feel that I have a duty to my knitting attendees to up my game to the same level. I want to be able to talk authoritatively about knitting best practice in the same way as I can for crochet and I know that the certificate will do this for me.

I just received details of my assignments today and my master teacher is the knit and crochet guru Edie Eckman. I own two of her books and I am totally in awe of her skills. I am so excited and albeit rather nervous about having her assess my work. Better get stitching!

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Blocking

Making great progress on my crochet certificate. Blocking my stitch samples this evening. The sweater I designed is coming on too....

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Blocking

Working onward with the swatches for my crochet certificate. Just about there. Bought a set of blocking boards from Knit Picks.

Saturday, December 6, 2014

Swirling broomstick lace

Have been making further swatches for the CYC certificate 2 (broomstick lace, crohook and hairpin lace all involving unfamiliar additional tools and mastery of new techniques). The broomstick lace is so so pretty and pleasing with it's repeating swirls...... I may have to make some gifts for my girlfriends although the inevitable seasonal surge in projects at this busy time of year is wearing me down somewhat!




Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Crochet Certificate 2

Here I go again. Have registered for the Craft Yarn Council's second certificate. Have been working my way through the crocheted samples. Tunisian crochet is new to me as is filet, cro-hook, hairpin and broomstick lace. Of course, I'm hard at work on Christmas crochet gift making too so my coursework must compete with this.

Blocking ahead of me since Tunisian curls. I'm not a big fan of blocking but it's best practice for producing polished items.