Bliss-Bloss Shawl: Virtual Workshop with Ambah O’Brien

DETAILS

Date:  Friday August 8, 2025

Time: 7:00-9:00 p.m. Eastern time

Location: Zoom—this is a virtual event, and it will be recorded for participants to watch and re-watch.

Something New: If you are in Nashville, come to MDK Headquarters, where we’ll be live-streaming the workshop and watching it together.

Your order confirmation email will include:

• PDF with the link to the Zoom session
• Ravelry coupon code to download the Bliss-Bloss Shawl pattern
• A short homework assignment to complete before class 
• Details to attend the Nashville livestream event

What We’ll Learn

It’s the technique we’re most often asked to teach: intarsia.

Intarsia is one of the most creative knitting techniques, almost like painting with yarn.

In this class, you’ll learn all the skills needed to walk away feeling confident with this colorwork method, and with a great start on an accessory that really pops.

What to bring

This workshop does not include a kit—it’s BYO yarn.

The Bliss-Bloss Shawl is a fantastic stash-buster, or you can purchase yarn for your project separately from MDK. Both Atlas and Jane work great for this design.

Ambah’s photography samples use a DK-weight yarn similar to MDK’s Jane, whose rich palette has a similar vibe to Ambah’s color choices.

To create a slightly cushier shawl with a sunny disposition for the MDK Poochbook, we knit up Bliss-Bloss Shawls in Atlas x Madelinetosh and Atlas. The bright colors will win the heart of the most melancholy Bassett Hound, we promise.

The Bliss-Bloss Shawl comes in three sizes—one, three, or five flowers—requiring the following approximate yarn quantities:

Color 1: 186 (235, 315) yd/170 (215, 288) m
Color 2: 30 (90, 150) yd/28 (83, 138) m
Color 3: 10 (30, 50) yd/10 (28, 46) m

You will also need size US 8 (5.00 mm) needles or the size needed to get the gauge and fabric you want.

Our Workshop Leader

With a background in painting, Ambah O’Brien has a passion for color and interesting design. Making has always been her happy place since she was a girl surrounded by the chaos of her mother’s textile art and design—she had a huge basket of fabric scraps that Ambah could literally dive into.

Ambah is a relative latecomer to knitting; having been taught in 2012 by her then-8-year-old son, who insisted that she fix her mistakes. In knitting Ambah has found a craft that resonates deeply. Through the slow stitching of knitting she has found a way to express her creativity, make practical items, and enjoy the additional soul-soothing benefits knitting provides. To her surprise, Ambah’s newfound obsession quickly turned to designing; when searches for patterns to fit the vision in her mind were unsuccessful, she began to create her own.

Influenced by everything around her—fashion, nature, hand-dyed yarn, art—Ambah’s designs are straightforward to make, size inclusive, and wearable. They enable knitters to express their own creativity through their choice of color. When not designing she’ll be wandering about her vegetable garden, sewing, thrifting or going for a beach ramble.

Ambah recently relocated to Australia’s southeast coast in Southern Victoria, and is grateful to live on Boonwurrung Country.