Finish the Face of Your Knitted Animals - Cinthia Vallet - Fri. 8/8

Friday, August 8
10:00am - 1:00pm (3 hours)

About the Class:

I propose you to embark on a workshop dedicated to the face features of your knitted animals and to take time to dig into these details, often scary for knitters, but so important for the liveliness of your knitted toy, and the joy you’ll get from crafting it.

Become confident, leave the fear of not doing well behind you and embrace the joy of meeting your character for the first time, that magic moment when you want to hug it and feel like you’re Geppetto in his workshop. 

This class will work in two steps:

The first one at home, a little while before the proper class. I will send you instructions to knit three heads, based on a pattern exclusively designed for the workshop. It won’t be a lot of knitting and you will get all the guidance needed long enough before the class so you won’t rush to complete this homework.

These heads will then serve as study subjects during the class. We will cover techniques and embroidery tools, the different options for the eyes - with or without safety eyes - as well as the question of stuffing. We’ll learn about doing - and undoing if necessary - the embroidered details. It’s all about slowing down, experimenting, taming and enjoying the process, having fun, and in the end, changing the way you think about this step and never feeling reluctant about it again.

All along the process, I’ll be available to answer your questions about face features and finishing in general.

After the workshop, you’ll get the rest of the instructions to complete your little animals at home. 

About the Instructor: Cinthia lives in Nantes with her husband, kids, furry companions and a lot of woolly friends!  
With an aesthetic rooted in her passion for kids literature, she designs knitted animals with an original method that fully reinvigorates the experience of toy knitting and she writes patterns to empower every knitter to make their owns. She’s the author of Mouche & Friends, seamless toys to knit and love, published by Laine Publishing. 

Skill Level: Intermediate

Students need to be comfortable with a method to knit small circumferences in the round (small as a the thumb of a mitten for example). It can be magic loop, double pointed needles or flexible double pointed needles such as the Addi Crazy trio. You don’t need to be an expert, but to have practiced one of these methods. You have a soft spot for small knitting. 

Homework:  Students will knit three (3) animal heads at home before the class under Cinthia's instruction.

Material you will need at home for the first step of the class: needles suitable for working very small circumferences in the round - a long circular needle for magic loop OR a set of double-pointed needles, OR a set of flexible double-pointed needles (such as as ADDI crazy trio); a couple of lockable stitch markers such as bulb pins; wool of your choice. All the details will be provided when sending the instructions to knit the heads at home.

Required Materials:

• Wool : a yarn of your choice, about 20 g of fingering weight yarn or sport weight yarn (a yarn between 330 meters & 400 meters per 100 g).
• Knitting needles : depending on the choice of yarn, the needles sizes may vary from 2 mm to 2.75 mm. The idea is to get a tight gauge, a dense fabric, but still comfortable and enjoyable to knit. Depending on the your favorite method to knit small circumferences in the round, these needles should be either a long circular needle, a set of DPNs or a set of three flexible.
• A couple of lockable stitch markers such as bulb pins
• Provided: Pattern & safety eyes. Tapestry and embroidery needles, as well as embroidery threads will be at your disposal during the workshop.

Please note - Marketplace tickets are not included in the class price and will need to be purchased separately. You can find marketplace tickets here.

In order to allow our instructors to prepare for their classes, we are not able to refund class purchases if your plans change. However, we are happy to transfer them if you find someone to take your place!

Photography by Laura Happo