WORKSHOPS: SATURDAY 12 APRIL 2025
Click on a workshop title to view the full workshop information,
or scroll through the workshops below.
 | W13 Spin and Make: Art Beanie Michelle Snowdon Full Day |  | W19 Dive Into the Shadows with Shadow Weave Rene Corder Evans Full Day |
 | W14 Corner to Corner Crochet in the Round Barbara Finn | W20 Off-site visit to The Tannery and Wild Earth Yarns | |
 | W15 Making the Most of Your Rigid Heddle Loom Ildica Boyd Full Day | W21 PCW Fiberworks Agnes Hauptli Full Day | |
 | W16 Make Your Gauge Work Interactive Workshop via Zoom Patty Lyons |  | W22 Mosaic Crochet – A Patchy Mosaic Barbara Finn |
 | W17 Felting Techniques Including 3D Embellishment Raewyn Penrose Full Day |  | W23 Colour in Both Hands Mandy Dickie |
 | W18 Eco-printing on Wool and Silk Catherine Wright Full Day | W24 Reusing Thrums and Leftover Fibre Jane Dolan |
W13 SPIN AND MAKE: ART BEANIE
Michelle Snowdon, Wooldancer
Saturday 12 April, 9am–4pm
$135 (includes a materials fee of $35 to cover some fibre, sundries and beanie pattern.)
Skill level: Suitable for spinners who can spin and ply on a wheel. No crochet experience is required as the pattern is for beginners. Class Size Limit: 16
Requirements:
Equipment: recently serviced and ready to spin wheel, (a large flyer/orifice is recommended) and accessories including 2 bobbins, a Lazy Kate, niddy noddy and wheel maintenance kit with drive and brake bands. Orifice hook if your wheel requires one. Scissors, crochet hooks: 4mm, 5mm, 6mm, pen/journal for notes.
Fibre: 150g natural fibre – 50g combed top, 50g carded batt, 50g washed wool locks.
Join Michelle as she demonstrates her favourite method of spinning singles art yarn and make your own creative hat to wear home. In this one-day workshop you will spin a creative art yarn. Explore how twist direction will change the character of the yarn when crochet, and work with energised singles yarn to make a project in one day!
Learn how to improvise a hat design with your art yarn, inspire your inner creativity and take home your own wearable art.
Michelle is a fibre artist, Creative Arts Therapist and mother living in the Blue Mountains Australia. Her handspun yarn and accessory designs have been published in the books Intertwined and Hand Spun by Lexi Boeger, and Spinning and Dyeing Yarn by Ashley Martineau. Her art yarn skeins have won numerous first prize awards at the Australian Wool Show. Michelle has toured her signature Spin to Wear workshops throughout Australia and USA. Now with an empty nest she spins and sustains wellbeing in midlife with curiosity and creativity.
W14 CORNER TO CORNER CROCHET IN THE ROUND
Barbara Finn
Saturday 12 April, 9am–12pm
$53 (includes a materials/copying fee of $3)
Skill level: Intermediate to advanced. Class Size Limit: 12
Requirements: three colours of yarn – any weight – colours need to be one plain (eg white) and two that contrast the plain but work together. A crochet hook, size to match the yarn.
Learn to crochet in the round, following the ‘around the world’ pattern. You will learn the tricky steps of the starting rounds and the ‘downwards’ c2c stitch. Having learnt the basics, you will be able to continue your pieces to any size.
Barbara was a latecomer to crochet, having learned off YouTube and then taking lessons. She is left-handed, but crochets right-handed, and she uses US terminology. She loathes weaving in ends, so all her patterns are attempts to reduce the number of ends that need weaving in. Crochet has taken over her life (and her living room) and there’s no stopping her now.
W15 MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR RIGID HEDDLE LOOM
Ildica Boyd
Saturday 12 April, 9am–4pm
$125 (includes a materials fee of $25)
Skill level: Know how to warp a rigid heddle loom and weave on it with even tension. Class Size Limit: 10
Requirements: Materials and the use of looms included. If possible, bring two shuttles that would be a suitable size for the Ashford SampleIt looms, but there will be some available to borrow.
Explore and extend weaving techniques available to the rigid heddle loom. You will be given the chance to explore techniques on pre warped looms, ideas that go beyond plain weave. Various looms will be set up for you to weave samples with several types of weft and warp manipulated weaves, colour and weave variations, pattern stick options, designs and double heddle patterns. Various techniques and tips will be covered, including a demonstration on ways to speed up threading. You will take your samples away with you.
Ildica describes herself as having a passion for patterns. After a BA Hons in Textile Design from Nottingham, UK, (which covered print, knit, embroidery and weave), Ildica specialised in weaving and ran her own textile business. She has taught weaving ever since. She loves the interaction of the warp and weft and exploring where it can take you.
W16 MAKE YOUR GAUGE WORK
Interactive workshop via Zoom
Patty Lyons
Saturday 12 April, 9–11am
$45
Skill level: Intermediate. Must know how to knit, purl, cast on, bind off. Recognize the knit and purl stitch and be able to work them in a pattern without supervision. Basic understanding of what gauge is and how to make a gauge swatch. Class Size Limit: 30
Requirements: Your own device so you can use the venue wifi to log in to a zoom session. You must be familiar with using Zoom.
Worsted weight or chunky yarn to make your swatch, and a small extra ball of yarn. No novelty or textured yarn, light colours only. Needles and hooks: US 9–11 (5.5–8.00mm), (the sizes you used to make your swatches), 1 empty needle for casting on, double pointed needle in a small size or a tapestry needle. Ruler, calculator, paper and pen. Before the workshop please cast on 24 stitches, knit in stockinette for 5 inches (12.5cm) – no garter edge -do not bind off, leave on needle with yarn attached. Optional: On a circular needle cast on 24 stitches. Row 1: K2 tbl, P2, K16, P2, K2 tbl – just do one row and leave yarn attached.
You know the basics of gauge, but how do you make your own gauge work for you? Stop trying to match the gauge exactly and learn how to knit a project to your gauge. After a review of the basics, and how to make a ‘truthful’ swatch, we’ll get to some of the trickier elements of gauge, such as pre-blocked vs blocked gauge, hung gauge, and the difference between yarn gauge and pattern gauge. We will explore what to do when a project is knitted in the round or in a pattern stitch. We’ll even look at special gauge techniques such as speed swatch and an open cast on. Finally, we’ll master the math of using your gauge, not just the pattern gauge. You will learn how to work an existing size with a different gauge, resize a sweater by using a different gauge, how to add different stitch patterns to your garment, and how to make adjustments to your pattern when your row gauge is off. Stop trying to match someone else’s gauge and discover the joys of making your gauge work!
Patty ((pattylyons.com) is a nationally recognized knitting teacher and technique expert who is known for teaching the why, not just the how. She specializes in sweater design and sharing her love of the much-maligned subjects of gauge and blocking. Patty teaches at guilds and knitting shows around the USA. Her ‘Improve Your Knitting Class’ was named Craftsy’s most popular class of the year! Patty also runs wildly popular KAL / Sweater classes on her own education platform. Patty’s designs and knitting skill articles have been published in many magazines, her designs have been included in pattern collections, and she is the author of the best-selling, Patty’s Knitting Bag of Tricks: 70+ Sanity Saving Knitting Hacks.
W17 FELTING TECHNIQUES INCLUDING 3D EMBELLISHMENT
Raewyn Penrose
Saturday 12 April, 9am–4pm
$105 (includes a materials/copying fee of $5)
Skill level: Some felting experience, Class Size Limit: 10
Requirements: 1 x 2metres Bubble Wrap, 1 x 2metres Nylon net fabric, hard soap (Sunlight), tape measure, scissors, two large towels, Merino sliver approximately 200g – can be several colours, silk sliver, silk hankies, silk spaghetti in contrasting or toning colours to the wool, woollen yarns in contrasting or toning colours and a large eyed needle. Raewyn will have some silk products available to purchase @ $2 a packet.
This workshop can become an extension of Raewyn’s first workshop (W5) or just a one-off day where students will create 3D surface and stitch embellishment which will give depth and structure to a flat piece.
Raewyn likes to describe felt making as ‘painting with wool’. She uses fine New Zealand Merino as her primary base material to create one-off, unique pieces, and often incorporates other natural fibres such as silk. She has been enjoying experimenting with screen printed embellishment in more recent work. Her first love is fashion clothing and accessory design, but creates other products such as wall art, furnishings, mood lighting, carry bags etc. She also offers individual/group felt making workshops, covering a wide variety of techniques and catering for students of all skill levels. A fun, creative day.
W18 ECO-PRINTING ON WOOL AND SILK
Catherine Wright
Saturday 12 April, 9am–5.30pm
$230 (includes all materials, transport, lunch and refreshments totalling $130)
Skill level: Beginners to advanced. Class Size Limit: 12
Requirements: Wear old clothes and comfortable shoes. Cash to purchase additional larger silk scarves, $30 each, and/or smaller rectangles $16, if desired.
More than just a workshop, this is an opportunity to spend a day in the beautiful countryside near the Canterbury foothills, while being taken step-by-step through the techniques required to create beautiful clear prints using botanical materials on fabric. A bus will take you to and from Catherine’s family farm, where she has all the equipment for eco-printing set up. While suitable for absolute beginners, existing eco-printers will learn some finishing techniques to give a professional product that you will be proud to wear or gift. You will be creating two of your own pieces to take home, one wool fabric piece and one silk scarf, 270mm x 1800mm approximately.
Catherine and her husband have farmed in the Selwyn area of Canterbury for the past 18 years. About nine years ago she came across the work of India Flint and Nicola Brown in eco-printing and was soon exploring this fascinating and rewarding craft herself. She sells eco-printed wool and silk scarves in local galleries and enjoys sharing what she has learned in the process.
W19 DIVE INTO THE SHADOWS WITH SHADOW WEAVE
Rene Corder-Evans
Saturday 12 April, 9am–4pm
$105 (includes a materials/copying cost of $5)
Skill level: Novice to advance. Students must be able to read a weaving draft and warp their own loom. Class Size Limit:12
Requirements: Four or eight-shaft table loom (or small portable floor loom). Warp and weft yarn, two contrasting colours, (a list of suitable yarns and sizes, and setts will be sent along with warping instructions upon registration), two shuttles and bobbins/pirns. Scissors, tape measure, straight pins. Two coloured pencils (different colours), ruler and note taking supplies. A limited number of four-shaft looms are available for hire and available to warp the day before. Please enquire when you enrol.
Shadow weave is a very powerful structure that creates large motifs on just four-shaft looms and magical designs on eight-shaft and above looms. In this workshop students will work on their own looms (warped beforehand) and will experiment with several different treadling patterns to create a sampler that can be used as a reference for future projects. Drafting shadow weave is also an easy introduction to Profile and Block designs, something that once mastered will unlock a whole new world for the weaver. Warping instructions will be provided upon registration.
Rene has a passion for all things textiles but specialises in felting and weaving. She has a Diploma of Fashion Design from the University of the Fraser Valley, Canada, and was a textile design instructor there for ten years. She now divides her time between New Zealand and Canada and teaches and exhibits both nationally and internationally. Rene has received many awards for her work which can be seen at corderevans.com
W20 OFF-SITE VISIT TO THE TANNERY AND WILD EARTH YARNS
Saturday 12 April, 9am–12pm
$15
Group size: Up to 32
The Tannery is a boutique shopping centre, with a range of unique stores, many located in a special architectural building resurrected from a Victorian Tannery. There are over thirty-five owner operated specialist shops you won’t find anywhere else, covering a wide range of goods (including a popular quilting shop), as well as cafés. While you are there visit the room of the Christchurch Guild of Weavers and Spinners and the Wool, Yarn Fibre Shop which is operated by the Canterbury area of Creative Fibre. On the way we will call in at the shop of Wild Earth Yarns – the leading producer of knitting yarns in the South Island. They produce high quality yarns from super-fine Merino and Polwarth wool, possum fibre, alpaca and strong wool.
W21 PCW FIBERWORKS
Agnes Hauptli
Saturday 12 April, 9am–4pm
$105 (includes a photocopying cost of $5)
Skill level: Be confident in using a computer.
Requirements: Your own laptop with PCW Fiberworks Silver installed and validated. Class Size Limit:10
Students will come to understand the immense possibilities this weaving software has to offer. Depending on skill level of students and time at hand, we will also do several types of designing.
Agnes is a self-taught weaver who started playing on a rigid heddle loom in 1992 as a hobby. She has been in love with this craft ever since and became a passionate fibreholic! She now works from her purpose-built workshop on a wonderful property in the Far North. She weaves mostly scarves, shawls, household items, baby blankets and wraps as well as exhibition and experimental pieces on several different looms. She loves to work with very fine silk threads and likes to create pieces that show complex patterns and colours.
W22 MOSAIC CROCHET – A PATCHY MOSAIC
Barbara Finn
Saturday 12 April, 1–4pm
$53 (includes a materials/copying cost of $3)
Skill level: Intermediate to advanced. Class Size Limit:12
Requirements: Two contrasting colours of yarn of any weight and a crochet hook, size to match the yarn.
Learn to crochet the mosaic ‘Apache tears’ pattern, in the inset mosaic style. You will learn about the different mosaic styles and their pros and cons, how to read and follow a mosaic diagram and tips for making your own mosaic patterns.
Barbara was a latecomer to crochet, having learned off YouTube and then taking lessons. She is left-handed, but crochets right-handed, and she uses US terminology. She loathes weaving in ends, so all her patterns are attempts to reduce the number of ends that need weaving in. Crochet has taken over her life (and her living room) and there’s no stopping her now.
W23 COLOUR IN BOTH HANDS
Mandy Dickie
Saturday 12 April, 1–4pm
$65 (includes a materials cost of $15)
Skill level: Intermediate. You must be able to knit competently in the round, either magic loop or DPNs. Class Size Limit:10
Requirements: knitting needles 3.25mm (circular 100mm long) or DPNs and 2 or 3 stitch markers. Yarn kits will be available for collection once the festival is running. Small hanks will need to be wound into balls prior to the class. Details will be sent to participants
Be more efficient with your colour-work knitting. The aim of this class is to liberate you from the chore of holding multiple yarns in one hand. Knitting is smoother and faster when you hold a yarn in each hand – effectively ‘picking’ and ‘throwing’ at the same time. This technique can be applied to any style of colour-work, and once mastered, can enhance your projects with beautifully even stitch-work.
Mandy has been knitting since she was a child, and in love with colour just as long. Put the two together, and you have colour-work knitting in all its glory. Mastering the technique of holding yarn in each hand at the same time has meant that now she can knit even more colour-work jumpers! Recent garments have won awards for colour-work at the exhibition of the Canterbury area.
W24 REUSING THRUMS AND LEFTOVER FIBRE
Jane Dolan
Saturday 12 April, 1–4pm
$55 (includes a materials cost of $5)
Skill level: All skill levels, no previous felting experience needed. Class Size Limit:10
Requirements: A couple of old towels and any of your own yarn/thrums you wish. The tutor will provide all equipment and materials.
In this workshop you will learn to use thrums and left over fibres to decorate a wet felt sample in a variety of ways. These samples will be able to be used in all sorts of ways, little table mats, wall hangings or stitched up into little bags or needle cases.
Jane has been felting for about 15 years and is an active member of the Southern Felters group and Canterbury Creative Fibre. She has taken courses from both international and local tutors and exhibited in various galleries and shows. She frequently teaches felting in Canterbury and enjoys sharing her love of felting.