Handwork Classes
This past Saturday I got to attend two wonderful handwork classes taught by fiber artist/teacher extraordinaire and homeschooling consultant Jennifer Tan of Syrendell. The classes were free and offered by the Friends of the Fair Oaks Library. (Thank you, Friends! Thank you, Jennifer!) The morning class was beginning crochet and the afternoon class was spinning. I had the pleasure of taking a spinning class from Jennifer earlier this year, too. Oh my, this stuff is challenging and fun! It’s supposed to become relaxing and even therapeutic once you get comfortable and good at it.
Jennifer’s display of handspun yarns, crochet hooks of many sizes, a fiber batt, niddy-noddies, and drop spindles. I think the tools are gorgeous.
My classmate R’s lovely crochet
The left photo is yarn spun by a 9-year-old girl; Jennifer Tan is in the middle; the right is yarn spun by our lovely Youth Librarian, Stephanie. It is thanks to her and the Friends of the Library that this class was offered.
My crochet! My hands made this!
Basket of colorful roving and some handspun yarns made by Jennifer and her family, all of whom are tremendous fiber artists
Drop spindles
My yarn. We started with a lovely brown wool and moved on to some colors; mine has brown, red, navy, and a dark orange.
I crocheted this wee pumpkin, which is small enough to fit in my tightly cupped hand! I finished it at home and improvised a stem of sorts. My boys think I should sew a jack-o’-lantern face on it.
And this is my attempt to apply what I learned at home without my patient teacher to correct me. I seem to have remembered how to start a circle and how to increase enough to keep it flat. This is a crummy acrylic yarn leftover from our Solstice sun project. It might become a Halloween decoration. I also practiced more on that green square—alas, it is definitely a triangle now.
The Fair Oaks Library is hosting two more handwork classes taught by Jennifer next Saturday, October 23. They are beginning crochet and Tunisian crochet, and both are free. Registration is required though. I would happily take those as well, but for the conflict with our school’s Harvest Faire.
October 18, 2010 at 10:12 am
Nice! I would love a class like that. I have a wool allergy (lanolin), so it is really hard to participate unless there are not too many people working with it in the room, not too much wool sitting around, and I can bring my own materials (yeah, right, eh? and making the class uuber $$$). I have been self teaching myself drop spinning which is tough for awhile! Those yarns look so lovely. I have a lot of angora fur now from my rabbit, hoping to spin some of that! 🙂
So much vibrant color – ahhhh!
October 18, 2010 at 4:05 pm
What a wonderful post! Sara, it was so nice to see you again. 🙂 Happy spinning and crocheting!
October 18, 2010 at 5:23 pm
What fun! I would love to take a class from Jennifer 🙂 I do a fair amount of crochet and really like it – much more than knitting. The trick is counting… haha, as if that makes it easier. I count at the beginning and end of every row and sometimes halfway through to make sure I’m doing it right. You’ll get the hang of it – there’s tons of free instruction online both written and video.
October 18, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Glad you liked it, Jennifer. You are a terrific teacher! Thank you!
October 18, 2010 at 7:56 pm
Thanks for the encouragement, Alyss. I have discovered the crochet videos on YouTube. I figure they will help if I forget what Jennifer taught me. I see granny square blankets online and think they’re so beautiful! Maybe someday…
October 18, 2010 at 7:59 pm
Thanks for reading, Denise! A wool allergy would definitely be a hindrance to an aspiring spinner. The wool fibers are just so cooperative! I’ve seen your photos of your sweet bunny. Good luck with spinning the angora. Maybe blend it with cashmere?
October 19, 2010 at 12:21 am
I follow @Syrendell on Twitter, it’s nice to see interconnections! (and yay for learning to crochet, it’s fun!)