Virtual knitting Tour to the moon April 14-16, 2023

HOW TO WRAP THE MOON IN GREEN CHEESE: AN INTRO TO SHAWL DESIGN with Kim McBrien Evans

Are you over the moon to learn how to design your own shawl?

Come with Kim and we’ll launch shawls to wear on our next space flight, wraps to keep us warm on those cold lunar nights, and power shawls to don to our next meeting with NASA to discuss how much yarn we’ll need to wrap the moon in our beautiful knit stitches.

Using the moon, space, and astronomy as our guides, Colour and Design Superstar Kim McBrien Evans will take you through the process of designing your next favourite shawl! 

We’ll start by generating basic ideas for inspiration and then commune as we spend some time building and planning our ideas. Finally we’ll all come together again to show off the latest, greatest fashion sensation in the galaxy!

Remember: While wearing your lunar shawl, no one can hear you scream. ;)

ALIENS LIKE TO KNIT, TOO! PATTERNING WITH BEADS with Romi Hill

There’s colorwork with yarn, and then there’s colorwork with beads! 

Beaded patterns can look subtle or flamboyant, and you can use different geometric or organic patterns without worrying about long yarn floats! And the best part? Colorwork charts can easily be adapted for beads. Join Romi in one of her favorite pastimes: playing with beads and yarn! 

She'll talk about choosing suitable beads, and she'll show you how easy it is to convert colorwork charts to bead charts. 

In class, knit up a beaded swatch or start on a pair of alien wrist warmers!

KNITTING A MOONSCAPE: CRATERS with Xandy Peters

Knitters have several methods of forming large holes or craters in knitted fabric. (Xandy, the genius developer of the fox paws type of knitting, was quick to tell me their least favorite way to achieve holes is, um, MOTHS.)

This hour long class is an introduction to Xandy's special technique to create holes that are significantly larger than typical eyelets. In class, you'll learn how to combine clever increases and decreases to create openwork motifs. 

Once students grasp the basics of this stitch, we will try out some different size craters and even experiment with using these craters to create interesting shaping. 

MOON MAGIC

For our first evening together, we'll get to know each other while we do kitchen prep  for our group's Saturday night dinner. (Note: Such prep shall not include the cleaning and reorganization of the top of your hostess' refrigerator.)

At 7:15 PM Eastern, Sky & Telescope's contributing editor Bob King will share an awe-inspiring presentation entitled "The Amazing Things You Never Knew About the Nearest Alien World".

Would processed Velveeta(TM) cheese actually freeze at lunar temperatures? Would yeast rise in an airtight terrarium on the moon surface? Would dropped stitches be nonexistent without gravity? Our expert astronomer might be able to provide answers.

IT'S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE: MATH FOR KNITTERS with Kate Atherley

It’s amazing how far a little arithmetic can take you!

This class is all about deciphering the numbers and codes that power your knitting. Don’t let a few puzzles keep you earthbound: tech editor extraordinaire Kate Atherley will show you how to solve them so you can harness their power and reach new heights! 

This session is all about the mathematics of patterns. 

• We’ll discuss strategies for counting and keeping track. 
• We’ll cover how to understand and work challenging instructions like “Decrease every 8 rows 10 times”, and "Increase 12 stitches evenly distributed across the row". 
• We’ll have a discussion of gauge, what it really means, how to check it (and when you don’t need to), and what to do if you can’t match it. 

This session is suitable for newer knitters, and those who wish to get more comfortable reading and working from patterns. It's all about conquering your fear of numbers--and the unknown!

WOOL MOON: LUNAR KNITWEAR BLASTS OFF with Franklin Habit

When the average daily temperature is no more than a chilly -244 degrees Fahrenheit, darling, you'd better put on a sweater!

The word is out: the Moon is now the place to be for the knitters who are ready to defy gravity. Dyers and designers fleeing rent hikes in Brooklyn and Portland have transformed this once-dusty enclave of green cheese wholesalers into an absolute supernova of fiber creativity. 

Reporting live from Tranquility Base Yarns and Café, roving fashion correspondent Franklin Habit will tell you what's waxing, what's waning, and what the man (and woman) in the moon will be knitting this season.

HAVE SOME TANG: OUT OF THIS WORLD STITCH PATTERNS with Carol Sulcoski

In this hands-on session, let's take a look at some stitch patterns that are out of this world! 

This collection of stitches is fun to knit and, like your favorite orange-flavored powdered drink mix, have a little zing. 

You’ll receive a handout with all the stitches (and a few bonus ones, too) presented in both word and chart form. 

Far out! 

DINING BY MOONLIGHT

Believe it or not, astronomical gastronomy need not be restricted to freeze-dried NASA rations.

Tonight, we'll put the finishing touches on Friday night's prep and enjoy a moon-inspired dinner. 

The recipe is a keeper and is perfect for folks who'd rather be sitting and knitting than futzing in the kitchen!

KNITTING A MOONSCAPE: DUNES with Xandy Peters

Topographic knitting is a short row technique used to create interesting and unusual surfaces in a knit textile which mimic the dunes found on the lunar surface. 

It can be used solely as a textural element, or in conjunction with colorwork to create a variety of interesting effects.

In this class, students will learn to make hills and mountains in their knitted moonscape using an easy, no frills, short row technique. 

We’ll try out different size dunes in class and talk about how these stitches can be used in a project.

COUNTDOWN SEQUENCE: THREE KNITTED SHAWLS with  Cecelia Campochiaro 

This 2-hour virtual class is an ideal introduction to Cecelia's groundbreaking research and development of sequence knitting. 

Sequence knitting is an approach to knitting where you repeat a sequence of stitches to build up a reversible, textured fabric. It can be done at any gauge, in any color, with any kind of yarn—

although smooth yarns show off the texture better than fuzzy yarns.

Triangular scarves and shawls are particularly nice to make with sequence knitting. By varying the sequence and the way they are repeated, an endless variety of rich textures are possible. 

It is an addictive way to knit, and the three patterns taught in this class, "Anywhere", "Conversing", and "Careful", are beautiful and easy. We’ll swatch all three in class.

DROP A LINE FROM THE MOON with Mary Annarella

We've probably all panicked at the sight of a dropped stitch in our knitting, but with a bit of planning, you can deliberately add a stitch that is dropped later on for an extra bit of WOW in your knitting.  

In this fun one-hour class, we'll explore a few different stitch patterns (including a some exciting cables) that add pizazz and give you the confidence to go ahead and drop that stitch on purpose!