How To
What the Heck Kind of Class Is This?
I think of myself as a decent knitter. I’ve done things. I’ve made stuff. I know my way around a felted steek.
But never, until extremely recently, had I heard of anything called ladderback jacquard for stranded knitting.
What. The. Everliving. Heck. It sounds like some kind of climb-y cloth. I wasn’t sure how it could improve my stranded knitting, which I already had the hang of.
But when Kay Gardiner started rhapsodizing about this technique, I dialed in.
“Ann!” she exhorted. “It means you can do superlong floats! It’s incredible! I can’t stop yapping about this!”
Kay’s evangelical side is impossible to resist, needless to say.
When she reached out to Amy Snell, the world’s premier explainer of many, many things including ladderback jacquard, I was thrilled.
So here we go: Amy Snell’s virtual class on ladderback jacquard is coming up on September 12. Sign up here.
The recording of the class will be sent to all participants afterward. And yes, MDK Society members save 10%, as ever, with the Society coupon code.
Amy! Amy is everything. She’s a knitting instructor and designer who loves to help other knitters explore new techniques and expand the way they think about their knitting. Her goal is to make complex concepts approachable for all knitters, while sharing tips that improve your process whether you’ve been knitting for several weeks or several decades.
This is going to be one of those moments when we all go WOW. If you’re exploring colorwork, this technique is a game changer. And Amy is the teacher we all need.
I’m in!
I took Amy’s class online well over a year ago. It IS a GAME CHANGER! I adapted the Schemer slipover/vest as my base pattern then added color work, inspired by Pernille Larsen’s Snow sweaters which feature a dark sky, snowy ground, and pine trees dotted with falling snow. I used LBJ (ladder back jacquard) and was able to figure out where to place my columns of “holding” stitches and it looks great! In the class, Amy said she wants LBJ to become the usual method (which you combine with standard floats over the short distances) and for people to say “stranded color work is what people used to do.” I agree! So if anyone is on the fence, I’m a convert. Highly recommended!
Climb-y cloth. (Makes me laugh every time I think of it.)
I can’t attend that day.
If I register, can I access the class later?
Interesting but don”t have a website is this required to join?
Geri, pretty sure you can leave that space blank. Hope to have you in class!
Hi Maryann! Yes, we send a link to the video of the class soon after the class ends. The link does not expire, so you can return to it whenever you like, indefinitely. Meant to include that info in my post–thank you for the reminder!
Thanks! I’ve wanted to try this as I’m a long-time color worker and have several intarsia projects I’ve been putting off.
Registering now!
I have some worsted-weight mercerized cotton in my stash that I’d like to use for this project/class. Folks with LBJ/Bloomlings experience: do you think this yarn will work?
Most worsted-weight yarns will work for this project, but mercerized cotton might be the exception. It will be quite slippery and I’m concerned that you might struggle to get a colorwork result you like.
In a pinch, I’d say it may do for the learning experience if you consider it just a swatch, but I doubt you’d get a hat you like from mercerized cotton.
That’s what I was wondering, Amy–“slippery” was the exact word on my mind. Thanks for the feedback! I’ll dive into my stash for other options.
Hi! I will let some LBJ folks weigh in, and what yarn knitters prefer is totally subjective. For me, a worsted weight cotton is on the heavier side, and when used in stranded knitting, it creates a fabric with a certain heaviness to it. Maybe work a swatch with it, see how it feels, then imagine it twice as heavy because of the stranding you’d be working in ladderback jacquard.
My personal favorite for stranded colorwork is a fingering weight Shetland wool–extremely lightweight, even when doubled, and the furriness of the wool fibers gives lovely blurring of colors when doing colorwork.
This class is brilliant. She is such a good teacher and the technique is what every stranded knit needs.
Is the pattern for this hat included in the class price? Or do we buy it separately?
Thanks.
Yes, the hat pattern is included! Sorry not to see this sooner.
I like knitting just not good at it. Made one one item and I’m 60
Wondering if I’m able to get the discount for classes. How do
I
Find that out thanks. Waiting to sign up