Advanced Lace Knitting Class

I've taught a Lace 101 class for years, and it's a lot of fun. It's for knitters of all experience levels who are looking to tackle lace for the first time.

I cover not only how to work lace, but how lace works - the relationship between the yarnovers and all the different decreases. I teach how to read lace patterns, both written and charted.

And I spend some time on preventing mistakes - through the use of a lifeline, through counting tricks, and through pattern management. In four hours, knitters learn enough to confidently tackle their first (few) lace projects.

For almost as long as I've been teaching this class, I've been getting requests for a follow-up: Lace 102.

I've finally put this class together, and I'm teaching it at The Purple Purl in May.

As part of this class, I've had fun developing a sampler out of a variety of nefarious and challenging lace patterns:

From top down:
An applied edging - causes lots of confusion and consternation.

A Gardenia pattern with patterning on both sides, and tricky decreases.

A lace ladder - double yarnovers.

An embossed leaf because I love the pattern, and it also has a wildly variable number of stitches.

A Fountain stitch, with delayed decreases.

A Shetland Fern, with patterning on both sides, and faggotting.

A classic faggotting stitch, patterned on both sides, with stacked decrease and yarnovers.

An Estonian butterfly with nupps. (It's pronounced to rhyme with soup.) Because Nupps are messy and difficult.

And traditional Shetland Razor Shell pattern with my favourite decrease: s2kpo. An opportunity to discuss all types of double decreases, and to discuss marker management.

We'll also practice unravelling lace, and fixing mistakes - yes, you can add in a missed yarnover, or a missed decrease, or even correct the direction of a decrease.

The class runs over two sessions, so we can learn some new skills and gets lots of practice. You'll also have an opportunity to get you started on a new lace project. We'll even cover the provisional cast-on for lace, if you want.

So whether you've got a particular project in mind or not, this class is an excellent way to expand your lace knitting skills, and learn some new tricks.