I am just home from tutoring a weekend workshop at Missenden Abbey.
The course title was 'Crochet Beyond The Granny Square' and I designed the workshop to encourage people to design their own motifs whilst getting to grips with new techniques.
I had 8 ladies for the weekend and they all did incredibly well. We started on Friday evening with basic techniques - such as keeping the correct stitch count, understanding stitches (when to miss stitches and when to work into a turning chain for example) and working from and writing charts.
On Saturday, once the basic techniques were in place, the class spent a little bit of time working in a freeform way, using yarns and textures to create an organic freeform piece. Whilst this wasn't for everyone, it is a valuable learning tool and forces people to crochet without thinking - technique is not the priority and 'anything goes' when playing with freeform crochet. It is a really great way of seeing colour combinations and coming up with new stitch formations - and I think it is great fun!
Saturday afternoon and into the Sunday workshop the group worked on their own crochet motifs. I demonstrated loads of techniques including beading, bullion stitches, ribs, bobbles and basic colour work and the group came up with their own personal samplers and motifs.
At the end of the workshop, looking at the work the group had produced, I felt really emotional simply because they all did so incredibly well. As you can see from a few images below, their unique motifs and samples (none of which had started with a written pattern to work from) are really impressive and beautiful to look at.
If you haven't been to Missenden, it is well worth a visit. The building is lovely and of course with all the Christmas themed decoration it was even more atmospheric than usual.
I was so proud of my group and hope that I can return to Missenden to tutor this workshop again some time next year - we had such a wonderful time in really lovely surroundings. If you want any more information about the courses on offer at the Abbey follow this link.
I had 8 ladies for the weekend and they all did incredibly well. We started on Friday evening with basic techniques - such as keeping the correct stitch count, understanding stitches (when to miss stitches and when to work into a turning chain for example) and working from and writing charts.
On Saturday, once the basic techniques were in place, the class spent a little bit of time working in a freeform way, using yarns and textures to create an organic freeform piece. Whilst this wasn't for everyone, it is a valuable learning tool and forces people to crochet without thinking - technique is not the priority and 'anything goes' when playing with freeform crochet. It is a really great way of seeing colour combinations and coming up with new stitch formations - and I think it is great fun!
Saturday afternoon and into the Sunday workshop the group worked on their own crochet motifs. I demonstrated loads of techniques including beading, bullion stitches, ribs, bobbles and basic colour work and the group came up with their own personal samplers and motifs.
At the end of the workshop, looking at the work the group had produced, I felt really emotional simply because they all did so incredibly well. As you can see from a few images below, their unique motifs and samples (none of which had started with a written pattern to work from) are really impressive and beautiful to look at.
If you haven't been to Missenden, it is well worth a visit. The building is lovely and of course with all the Christmas themed decoration it was even more atmospheric than usual.
I was so proud of my group and hope that I can return to Missenden to tutor this workshop again some time next year - we had such a wonderful time in really lovely surroundings. If you want any more information about the courses on offer at the Abbey follow this link.
