Jay Rich's Shibori Workshop - All Sizes, Shapes and Colors

String of Purls recently hosted a Shibori Knitting workshop conducted by Jay Rich, a gifted local knitter/spinner/weaver. Jay walked us through the essentials of this ancient Japanese knitting and dye technique. By banding a "resistance" object, such as a marble, rock or fish bobber into a piece of feltable knitting, you can create the most appealing shapes and formations during the felting process. He also showed us how to create "gathered" lines by running thread through the fabric. This produced an accordion like crease. We experimented with different weights of yarn from fine sport weight wools to heavier felters like Brown Sheep's Lamb's Pride.

We appreciate Jay's expertise and inspiration and are already at work dreaming up ways to incorporate Shibori into felted bags, clogs and scarves.

The Mobius Bowl Never Looked So Good!

Recently, one of our little customers showed us a new use for the Mobius Bowl. Cat Bordhi's, A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting could have used this photo to demonstrate the many practical uses for the bowl. When Louise used her Manos del Uraguay to whip up this bowl, I'll bet she never imagined it could look this adorable!

Mason Dixon's Kay Gardiner's Log Cabin Workshop

Amid the merriment of the holidays String of Purls hosted a Log Cabin Workshop conducted by Kay Gardiner, co author of the Mason Dixon Knitting. We're so lucky that Kay hails from Omaha so we get to see her when she is in town.

A full house of knitters leapt into the Log Cabin technique making cushions from Lamb's Pride Cotton Fleece yarn. Kay selected an array of colors and demonstrated how to choose complimentary hues. It was enlightening to see the differences between cushions composed of many colors versus those with only a few.

Thanks Kay--come back to Omaha soon!