workshops

One Week Left to Register for Classes!

March 22, 2023 by Natalia 2 Comments

Hey everyone! It’s hard to believe YarnCon is almost here! And you know what that means, you are running out of time to sign up for classes! Click here to see the schedule.

There has been a change to the schedule. Vera will be teaching her DIY Dropping Spinning class at the Plumbers Union Hall on Saturday and Sunday during YarnCon, just like old times, but with one key improvement; we’ve moved it to the ground level to a much more accessible space. If you’ve ever been curious about hand-spinning, Vera is the perfect teacher to get you started.

Vera Videnovich teaching her DIY Drop Spindle Class at YarnCon in 2019.

We have lots of great classes to choose from on Thursday and Friday at the Crowne Plaza West Loop! You can choose from skills that every knitter should be familiar with like Mastering Short Rows, or how about learning double knitting in Technicolor Double Knitting, and have a finished piece with only right sides!

As stitchers, we know the importance of mending hand-made items, but what about store bought clothes? There is no reason we can’t mend anything we wear, and make it truly our own! Kimberley Langley’s class, Extending the Life of Clothing will have you making beautiful repairs to your knits in no time.

A sweater visibly mended by Kimberley Langely.

You can also learn Brioche or how to shape in Brioche, Knitting in Both Directions!, and Tunisian Crochet!

Sadly, Amy Manko won’t be able to join us at the YarnCon Symposium this year. If you are ever at a fiber festival and Amy is teaching a class you will definitely want to sign up!

Time is running out, so please sign up now, so our teachers know how many people to expect, and so that you don’t miss your chance at taking a class at the first YarnCon Symposium!

Filed Under: Classes, Crafting, crochet, knitting, Spinning, workshops, YC2023 Tagged With: classes, fiber festival, knitting, workshops, yarncon, yarncon symposium

Introducing our Panel Discussion!

March 22, 2022 by admin 2 Comments

This year we are trying new things in the virtual realm, and along with our online class offerings, we are also hosting a panel discussion via Zoom. We hope this is the first of many to come.

Our first discussion will be on the subject of diversity and inclusion in the yarn world. For the last few years, we have been talking about racism in our fiber community, usually when someone says or does something offensive. We thought it would be good to talk about it on a more regular basis, in order to keep the conversation going.

We are honored to have Gaye Glasspie (https://ggmadeit.com/), Diane Ivey (https://ladydyeyarns.com/), and Louis Boria (https://www.brooklynboyknits.com/) on our inaugural panel.

Tickets are available here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/yarncon-diversity-and-inclusion-in-the-fiber-world-panel-discussion-tickets-301931273567
Or from our class page where you can see all of our classes available this year.

If you have questions or topics you would like to see us address during the panel discussion, please leave them in the comments. Thanks!

Filed Under: Classes, Community, Diversity, YC2022 Tagged With: workshops

On-line classes you say?

March 10, 2022 by admin Leave a Comment

When we announced that YarnCon is offering on-line (virtual) classes this year, we received a message about pricing. Why are we charging the same amount for an on-line class as for an in-person class? Glad you asked! The reason is that the main consideration in pricing our classes is that we fairly compensate our teachers. Our teachers are doing the same job, teaching the same material, and for the same maximum class size whether they come to a conference room, or they teach via Zoom. In fact, there is more work on their ends when they teach via Zoom because they have to be responsible for their camera set up, Zoom account, internet connection, etc., while still making sure to give just as much attention to their students as they would in person.

I think if the last two years have taught us anything, it is that we can be flexible, and teach in different settings, such as remotely or in the class-room. We all have our preferences, and that’s fine! But, let’s remember that the teacher is teaching the same material, and is working just as hard to make sure their students are getting the most out of their classes, and deserves to be compensated fairly for their work, and the expertise they bring to the classroom, virtual or otherwise.

So, I hope you will take a look at our fantastic class offerings for this year, sign up to learn some new skills, and plan a cozy space in which to Zoom in and enjoy taking a workshop with other stitchers.

All classes are listed here: https://www.yarncon.com/schedule/ and include a link to the registration page.
Please also check out our Instagram page where we are sharing pictures and details about the upcoming classes! https://www.instagram.com/yarncon/

Filed Under: Classes, workshops, YC2022 Tagged With: classes, fiber festival, workshops, yarncon

Register for Classes Today!

February 25, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment

Class registration is LIVE!
The classes are posted, and registration is open! Most of YarnCon 2020’s classes and workshops will take place April 2-3 at the YarnCon Symposium right before our weekend fiber fair opens. But don’t worry, we still have some 1-hour classes over the weekend, too.

New in 2020: a Hotel Room Block!
Stay close to the action at the Crowne Plaza West Loop! We’ve reserved a block of rooms, and you can book online or by calling 312-829-5000 and mentioning Group Code MYF. The deadline to book a room is March 5, so call now! Operators are standing by.

Advanced Spinning Classes
Lots of classes on spinning at YarnCon this year: Wheel Navigation with Emily Wohlscheid and Spinning Wheel Primer with Heavenly Bresser both aim to teach students the ins and outs of their wheels. If you’re further along in your spinning journey, try your hand at Spinning for a Project or Spinning Wirecore and LED Lights! These classes are designed for students who have already some spinning experience. Bring your own wheel and learn something new!

Brioche Knitting Forever
We’re welcoming back Javier Jara for another year at YarnCon. Learn a new skill in his Brioche Knitting class, or if you’re familiar with single-color brioche, why not up your game with his Mastering Two-Color Brioche class? Sign up soon — his classes always sell out!

New Friends and Old FavoritesNew to our workshop schedule this year: Jenn Watkins, Rita Petteys, and Jules Huntsberger.Hailing from North Carolina, Jules is ready to help you with Short Rows
and Picots and Bobbles! Usually behind a booth at YarnCon, Jenn is sharing her knowledge of Lace Knitting and Cables, and Rita will teach you how to put those leftover Bits and Bobs to good use!Perennial

YarnCon favorites Vera Videnovich (DIY Handspinning) and Samantha Lynn (Intro to Dyeing I & II) are back, along with Kathy Kelly’s classes on Tunisian crochet.Check out the whole schedule here! Register to pick up a new skill or brush up on something you thought you’d forgotten.

Volunteer at YarnCon!
We can always use extra hands in many areas: helping vendors unload their wares and schlep them to their booths, working various information tables, booth-sitting for vendors who need a break, and then on Sunday, helping the vendors move their remaining goodies back to their vehicles.In return for your help, you’ll get a special volunteer YarnCon goodie bag! Also, our undying gratitude. Seriously, it’s one of the best gigs going.

Fill out the Volunteer Form to sign up for weekend spots, or click here to help out Thursday and Friday at the YarnCon Symposium!

We are really excited to once again be offering Dark Matter coffee, thanks to their amazing support! Visit us at the beautiful bar downstairs for all of your hot coffee (and tea) needs.

Filed Under: workshops, yc2020 Tagged With: classes, fiber festival, workshops, yarncon, YarnCon2020

And Now for Something Completely* Different

November 15, 2019 by admin 2 Comments

*Okay, not completely, but very new!

We are proud to announce the inaugural YarnCon Symposium! We have wanted to expand our workshops for some time, but the limiting factor has been availability of space at the Plumbers Union Hall. We love being at the Plumbers Union Hall, and we have no plans to leave, but it has made hosting classes more and more complicated. So: a new space was in order if we wanted to expand our class offerings. That led to another change we have always wanted: to be able to attend classes and parties while registered as a vendor at a show.

The solution is the YarnCon Symposium: two days of classes at the lovely Crowne Plaza West Loop!

On Thursday and Friday, April 2 and 3, 2020, we will host our first annual symposium, with classes on both days and a reception on Friday evening. Then on Saturday and Sunday, April 4 and 5, 2020, we will have YarnCon at the Plumbers Union Hall, as we have since 2013. We will still have beginning dyeing and spinning workshops over the weekend during YarnCon, but sit-down classes in classrooms with all of the amenities will take place at the Crowne Plaza. The hotel is just down the road from the Plumbers Union, and is the perfect place to stay if you are coming in from out of town!

If you are a teacher and have thought about teaching with us, but weren’t so keen on the open layout we used to have, now is your time to join us. We think you will be pleasantly surprised, as we have put lots of thought into the care and feeding of instructors. This means competitive pay, lodging, and travel expenses. You can see the details, and fill out the application at the following link:
https://forms.gle/z6CdUUx2DgC8FX4F7

Seeing as we are growing and expanding, we also thought it was time to have a party to celebrate! We are planning a reception at the Crowne Plaza on Friday night after classes have wrapped up. We will have more information on that soon, so be on the lookout, as tickets will be limited. Sign up for our mailing list to get the info!

Filed Under: application, workshops, yc2020 Tagged With: news, party, teaching, workshops, yarncon

Last chance to pre-register for classes

April 3, 2019 by admin 2 Comments

Woo! It’s almost time for YarnCon! Natalia’s minivan is chock full of gear so Team YarnCon can start setting up the floors for our vendors. We have three levels of vendors! Ground level, main hall, and the balcony, and don’t forget the vendors in the hall outside the main hall! We are putting amazing fiber artists everywhere we can because they are just so good! And don’t forget to enjoy some delicious Dark Matter Coffee at the coffee bar next to the ground level vendors. Yum!

Natalia has crammed all the set up gear into her van, and is ready to layout the floors for our vendors!

Along with filling the building up with vendors, our classes are filling up with students, and we are thrilled! A number of classes have sold out, and many only have a seat or two left, so if you have been putting off signing up, time is running out! You can still sign up online right here:
https://www.yarncon.com/classes/ until Friday at 6pm Central time, after that, any seats still open will be available at the show, but for cash or check only.

Don’t forget to stop by our low-tech selfie station by the stage in the main hall! Please tag us with #yarncon and have fun, like this:

So many of us got into this picture that the whole frame made an appearance!

We’ll see you this weekend at YarnCon!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: classes, crochet, fiber festival, knitting, spinning, workshops, yarn, yarncon, yarncon selfie

That’s so wirecore!

March 20, 2019 by admin Leave a Comment

So, you have knit with wool (or some kind of fiber), and maybe you have knit with wire, but have you tried the combination of the two?

Wirecore yarn is what it sounds like, it is fiber spun around a wire core. The beauty of knitting with wire is you can make jewelry and sculptural objects with it. Once you add fiber, you get the same features of knitting with wire, but with the look and color of yarn.

wirecore yarn and tools — Wirecore yarn and tools

Emily Wohlscheid spins up some beautiful wirecore yarn, and in Knit Wirecore Jewelry she will teach you how to make jewelry and accessories with it. For this class, you don’t have to spin your own, Emily will be selling kits for the class.

Bring your knitting needles and your imagination, and learn to make jewelry at YarnCon!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: classes, jewelry, knitting, wirecore, workshops, yarncon

You spin me right round

March 19, 2019 by admin Leave a Comment

Right round like a spinning wheel, baby.

Let’s delve into the spinning classes, shall we? We have a great variety to offer you, so let’s start with the very basics.

If you are curious about spinning, and have either not tried it before, or tried, and you just couldn’t get the swing of it, DIY Handspinning with Vera Videnovich is the class for you. This class is offered on both Saturday and Sunday, and in it you learn the basics of spinning on drop spindles. You don’t even need to have a spindle yet, Vera will show you how to make your own with common household objects, or items easy to pick up at your local hardware store. She also introduces the basics of spinning on a spinning wheel. (We have a few student wheels that will be available in case you want to give it a try.)

DIY Spinning class — Vera has been teaching at YarnCon since our second year, back at the Pulaski Park Fieldhouse. Circa 2008.

Do you already know how to spin, and are ready to learn some new skills? Heavenly Bresser has classes for you! Let’s start with fiber preparation. Of course you can buy fiber ready to spin from, and that’s fantastic, but maybe you want to blend your own colors, or you have seen those pretty rolags, and want to know how to make your own; Blending Boards: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly is the class you want to take.

What about controlling your color while spinning? Just because your fiber is ready to spin, that doesn’t mean there aren’t more choices to make. How do you create yarn that self stripes, that gradually changes color, and how do you ply those singles and maintain your desired effect? Heavenly teaches you how to create a subtly self-striping yarn in Color Control with Fractal Spinning.

fractal spun bobbins — Bobbins ready to be plied in Fractal Spinning

How about art yarn? Have you seen those pretty beehives and wondered how to spin those up? Heavenly shows you how in Art Yarn: Bubbly Beehives.

Just look at the amazing yarn you can make! Vera and Heavenly will make spinning a pleasure, we hope you will check these classes out, and sign up while there are still seats open.

We do want to make one important note about our spinning classes this year. Spinning classes will be held on the stage this year (just like old times!) There are a few steps up to the stage, so if stairs are a problem, please let me know. We hope to have these workshops back in a classroom next year once work on the building is complete.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: blending boards, spinning, workshops, yarncon

Make it uniquely yours

March 16, 2019 by admin Leave a Comment

When you wander the aisles at YarnCon, it is hard not to be inspired by the beautifully hand-dyed yarns. And every dyer creates colors that are uniquely theirs. But how do they do it? And it’s not just dyeing yarn, what about all the gorgeous batts, roving, top, braids, etc., just waiting to be transformed by your hands into yarn or felted art. But how does it all work? How do you dye yarn or fiber so that it is color-fast, and approximates what you have in mind? How do you transform that unspun fiber into yarn, and how much equipment do you even need to make it happen?

We have answers! To be more precise, our teachers have the answers, and they are waiting to teach you their methods to you at YarnCon.

Let’s say dyeing yarn is what you want to explore. Samantha Lynn can teach you to dye yarn, even with something easily accessible like Kool-Aid! And thanks to a generous donation by Wool2Dye4, the yarn will be provided for you! These are fun, and short workshops, leaving you time for other classes and shopping, and you go home with a baggie of yarn you dyed yourself! She has two classes, Dyeing I (the one with the Kool-Aid dyed yarn) and Dyeing II which explores professional acid dyes (believe it or not, Kool-Aid does count as an acid dye, so don’t let the name intimidate you.)

Dyeing with Samantha Lynn — One of Samantha’s dyeing workshops from 2014

Our next post will delve into the many spinning workshops we have in store for you. We can take you from never having tried it at all in our DIY Handspinning classes with Vera Videnovich (Vera taught Natalia how to spin on a wheel, and let’s just say her fiber stash is starting to rival the yarn stash) to blending your own fibers with Heavenly Bresser (take classes with her now while you can still get into them, she was just accepted to teach at Stitches Midwest, and once more people get to know her, she is going to be in demand big-time!), or even learn to make wire-core jewelry with Emily Wohlscheid.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: classes, DIY, dyeing, fiber, spinning, workshops, yarncon

Let’s talk steeks.

March 15, 2019 by admin Leave a Comment

I know, I know, the very idea of cutting our freshly knit or crocheted sweater breaks us out into a cold sweat. So much so, that many of us prefer to stitch our sweater in pieces over doing it in the round and taking scissors to it. But, think about the time it saves, and so much less purling for those who prefer the knit stitch. If you have ever thought about learning how to steek your sweaters, but were too nervous to jump in, then Lori is here to help.

Lori Grady is teaching Cut Your Knitting: Steeks on Saturday at 1pm. Spend the morning checking out all the yarn, fiber, and accessories, and then do something for yourself, learn a new skill! It’s a lot less scary with an expert to show you how.

Interested in taking a class, but with less cutting involved? You are in luck, we still have spaces in our spinning and dyeing classes. More on that in our next post! Stay tuned!

PS Don’t delay on signing up, a few of our classes have already sold out!!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: classes, steek, workshops