I love to teach!

Contact me at mjmucklestone @ gmail.com you’d like me to teach at your shop or venue. I’m nearly full for 2013 but you never know!

My Craftsy class The Fair Isle Vest: Stranded and Steeked is available 24-7 forever and ever in the comfort of your own home, so long as you’ve got an internet connection! Check it out HERE !

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March 23   Saturday  9-12  Penobscot Marine Museum, Searsport Maine

Stranded Knitting Traditions Workshop & FUNDRAISER – All proceeds donated to this worthy museum.

Click Here for More Information

 

April 4-6   Vogue Knitting LIVE Seattle

MY HOMETOWN!!!!! So EXCITED! please please please join me!

 

April 5 – Friday

Fresh Fair Isle 8:30 am – 11:30 am (2 hr break for lunch ) 2:30 pm – 5:30 pm

Liven up your Fair Isle Knitting. Spend the day with Mary Jane, author of 200 Fair Isle Motifs: A Knitters Directory, exploring fresh new colorways. This course will introduce the basics of color theory and how to use its principals to guide your color choices. We will learn about the use of color over the years in traditional Fair Isle knitting and move beyond, developing our own personal color schemes. We?ll analyze how different color combinations can completely change how a motif looks. Knitting a simple stranded wristlet or fingerless glove will quickly illustrate new concepts. Mary Jane will bring all 200 of the actual knitted swatches from her book for examination and inspiration.

Scandinavian Colorwork 6-9pm

What makes Scandinavian colorwork different from other world traditions? We will explore color choices and the classic motifs used in Scandinavian stranded knitting. Learn techniques for tacking down extra long floats found in many motifs. We will learn Norwegian purl, and a way of executing garter stitch in the round. Explore ideas for combining motifs and adding colorwork to liven up your future projects. Technique Requirements: Some experience with colorwork essential.

April 6 – Saturday

Fair Isle Socks 8:30 am – 11:30 am (2 hr break for lunch ) 2:30 pm – 5:30 pm

So you’ve knit a pair of socks or two and you’ve done some stranded colorwork. How about having a bit more fun and combine the two? You’ll start work on a pair of fair isle socks, stranding while picking up tips and techniques. We’ll learn to read charts, make a simple heel that  makes fair isle work easy and uninterrupted, learn what to do with those pesky ends, explore methods of choosing and combining colors, we’ll even do a bit of design. Follow the pattern Mary Jane provides or plunge in and design your own custom pair. Come ready for a day of colorful fun and adventure.April 7

April 7 – Sunday

Andean Accents 8:30 am – 11:30 am

Some of the most interesting elements of Andean knitting are the decorative edge treatments found on the classic men’s hats or chullos. We will learn to make the darling scalloped edging called puntas, a charming checkerboard edging, and cheerful instant popcorns, which can be knit in as you go, or added as an afterthought. Not just for Andean projects all of these techniques are easy to incorporate into many different kinds of knitting. Just learn the techniques or knit a sweet wristlet – we will learn to bend our minds and manipulate our fingers and yarn in interesting new ways. Mary Jane will bring as selection of chullos from her travels in Peru and Bolivia for inspiration.

Lecture: Color in Fair Isle Knitting 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm

See photos from my world travels and the environments that inspired many of the colorways included in my book 200 Fair Isle Motifs. Learn how picking colors for a stunning Fair Isle needn’t be a chore! I’ll share my tricks for unique and stunning color combinations.

Click Here for More Vogue Knitting LIVE SEATTLE Information

 

April 26-29    Vogue Knitting Destinations – Camden, Maine

SOLD OUT – Sorry folks !

 

May 3-4 Friday & Saturday Color Immersion Weekend -Harrisville Designs- Harrisville NH

This workshop will be devoted to color play. The course is carefully structure to balance solid skill building with inspiration and serendipity. Mary Jane offers several project choices – a hat, a cowl or fingerless mitts each designed specifically for this extraordinary weekend. Students will receive all 3 new patterns, but will choose one to work on during class. All of the projects are well suited to the specific exercises in color experimentation which we cover.Exploring the basics of color theory we’ll learn how to apply the principles to our own knitting. These exercises will be easily illustrated with Harrisville’s amazing array of sixty-four colors of Shetland and Highland yarns plus the heathers featured in the new Watershed collection at our fingertips.

The actual knitted swatches from Mary Jane’s book “200 Fair Isle Motifs: A Knitter’s Directory” and some from her soon-to-be released book on Scandinavian motifs will instruct and inspire us. We’ll analyze how different color combinations can completely change how a motif looks. We’ll also see how the same colors, used in a different placement, also change the look of a motif. Through this workshop we’ll arrive at a better understanding of how actual knitting differs from the printed chart. One of Mary Jane’s principal driving forces is travel and;she is looking forward to staying in this unique location and the inspiration it will provide. Harrisville is the only 18th century textile village in America that survives in its original form.

Click Here for More Harrisville Color Immersion Weekend Information

 

July 7-21 PERU – A Textile Lovers Adventure

Knitting-Weaving-Machu Picchu & More!

We spend a day in Lima seeing amazing pre-Columbian textiles and ceramics, then fly to the north coast to visit the great pre-Columbian archeological sites of Sipan and El Brujo. Next we fly to the charming city of Cuzco, with its enticing shops and tempting cuisine. With Nilda Callanaupa, Andean weaver and friend, we’ll visit several traditional textile villages, to meet the knitters and weavers. We will learn to dye alpaca fiber with in our natural dye workshop.
Ride the train to mystical Machu Picchu and spend the night there to maximize our time at this awe-inspiring UNESCO site! Finally we fly back to Lima, and have dinner at one of Lima’s famous restaurants. Flights home the next day, July 22.

Click Here for More Peru Trip Information

Click Here to Read my PERU article in Twist Collective

 

September 27-29 Knit East – St. Andrews By-the-Sea, New Brunswick

September 28 – Saturday

Two Color Knitting – Let’s Begin!

In a relaxed setting, I’ll introduce you to the world of stranded colorwork, often called Fair Isle knitting. In this technique class you will lear the basics, covering several methods of holding your yarns, how to introduce new colors, what yarn dominance is, how to avoid tangled yarns, weaving in those pesky ends and finishing techniques. This class is for absolute stranded knitting beginners and those looking to brush up on their technique. We will begin knitting a stranded colorwrk headband or hat. Skills covered: Left-handed, right-handed and combination style stranding. How to introduce new colors, understanding yarn dominance, weaving long floats, weaving in ends, finishing and blockin

Popcorn and Points 1:30-4:30
We will learn to make the sweet scallopy punta edging found on traditional men’s chullo hats. We can use ours for a charming “friendship” bracelet or as trim to add to other projects. We will also learn to make grutas, strings of popcorns that can applied later or knit in as an embellishment for many different projects.

September 29 – Sunday

Inventive Color 9:00-4:30
Do you love stranded colorwork, collect pattern stitch dictionaries and have a great stash of yarn, but donʼt quite know what to do next? Mary Jane will take you through the process of planning a colorwork project, from choosing the perfect motifs, combining several motifs in one project, tricks and tips for placing the patterns on your piece, and finally how to make great color choices. We will first look at the fundamentals of traditional Fair Isle design placement and why it works. Next we will study similar stranded knitting traditions, Scandinavian, Baltic,Turkish, Peruvian and even modern runway designs. Students will leave with the tools for planning their own color work designs. Tips on making your technique more efficient will be offered but not actively taught.

For More Information about KNIT EAST Click Here

 

October 19 & 20 Rhinebeck! NY Sheep and Wool Festival

I’m not teaching but I’ll be there!!!!

For More Information about NY Sheep & Wool Festival Click Here.

 

 

October 31 – November 2 Interweave Knitting Lab California -  San Mateo, California

Great Classes!
Information to be posted by mid-May
Scholarships are available

For More Knitting Lab Information Click Here

 

 

 

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Available all the time!!!

My Craftsy.com Class the Fair Isle Vest: Stranded and Steeks is available 24-7 forever and ever in the comfort of your own home, so long as you’ve got an internet connection!

You can follow along exactly and make the traditional style Fair Isle Vest, or you can apply what you learn to any project of your choice. The lessons will prepare you for any Fair Isle Knitting challenge that may come your way.

Check it out HERE!

 

 

 

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