We will have another great collection of classes and teachers in 2009, suitable for all levels of experience and all types of fiber skills. If you have any suggestions regarding classes you'd like to take, or a teacher (including yourself!) you'd like to recommend, contact Holly Shaltz at holly@shaltzfarm.com or call her at (231) 582 3206.

Shearing School

Learn how to harvest the great renewable resource that sheep produce. This class is designed for beginning shearers and as a refresher class for experienced shearers. Jim Bristol and his crew of expert shearers will teach shearing technique, equipment care and setup, sheep handling, wool handling, and other baskc sheep care methods, in a sheep shearing trailer designed for proper sheep and wool handling. We will supply all euipment or help you set up and use your own equpment. We use four shearing stations and four sheraing instructors so you will get the one-on-one instruction needed to leanr this craft. School is limited to 16 students, so sign up early.

Creating The Yarn You Want

Introduction to Fair Isle Knitting

Sock Blank Painting

Learn how to create your own self-patterning sock yarn.  We'll begin with sock blanks, double-stranded knitting rectangles that contain more than enough yarn for a pair of socks.  Painting these with dyes produces two identical strands of yarn with patterns in the colors of your choice.  When your yarn is knitted directly from the blank, you'll have an identical pair of colorful socks.  The instructor will cover how to achieve the type of pattern you would like, ranging from simple stripes to various types of more complex designs.

Roving Basket

In this class, students will make a random weave basket out of honeysuckle vines.  This basket would be ideal for roving or for fruit or to display your handspun yarn.  I will provide all materials and tools needed to complete the basket.  Random weave is very easy to do, but if you're a highly structured person with a need for patterns, this may not be for you.  The concept of this design would adapt well to grapevines.  If you have an overabundance of them, you could take your knowledge home.  This basket is very open, so whatever you put in it remains quite visible.

Beginning Wheel Spinning

Saturday, September 25
Afternoon Classes

Drop Spinning

A great low-cost introduction to handspinning as well as a useful and very portable skill for experienced wheel spinners; drop spinning is fun, fast, and functional.  Learn the basics of choosing fiber for easy drop spinning, how to spin on top- or bottom-whorl spindles, and how tos elect a spindle for whatever type of yarn you most want to spin.  Yearning to dip your toes into fiber?  Let this class be your introduction!  Time permitting, the instructor will take you on a tour of the festival's vendors to look at spindles available for sale and explain the strengths and weaknesses of each type.  Feel free to bring your own spindle collection along for an assessment.

Two at Once Knitted Socks

Learn how to knit two socks at once on a 40" circular needle using the "Magic Loop" technique.  This class will teach you the most efficient way to knit directly from a hand-painted sock blank, but the technique applies as well to knitting with two separate balls of yarn or from two ends of a center pull ball.  We will use a toe-up pattern and knit a pair of small learning socks during the class.  Never suffer from "second sock" syndrome again!

Plying For Texture

In this workshop, we will practice making textured yarns by manipulating the way we ply singles together.  We will spin snarl yarns, cabled yarns, two kinds of knot yarns, and two kinds of spiral yarns.  These are all yarns that can be created with "ordinary" Z-spun singles.  Along the way, we will discuss how to create a smooth, balanced two-ply yarn.

Basic Peg Knitting

This thorough introduction to the fun and portable craft of peg knitting will teach you how to wrap the peg loom, basic stitches such as knit, purl, double stitch, and chunky braid stitch, resulting in a tiny coin purse or treasure bag complete with an I-cord draw string.

Kaleidoscope of Colors

Using provided dyes and yarns of mohair and alpaca (you can also bring your own protein-fiber yarn), we will layer colors and yarns in dyepots for a rainbow of bright and subtle colors.  Enrollment is limited; sign up quickly!  Age limit:  13-15 with adult supervision; 16 and up welcome.  No kids 12 or under as the dypots are potentially dangerous.

Matching Yarn to a Project

How often have you fallen in love with a pattern only to learn that the yarn is discontinued or simply not available at your local yarn shop?  In this class we will talk about guage, texture, fabric, suitability of fiber content, finding out how to learn about discontinued yarns, and also a bit about reading a pattern.  We'll do a tiny bit of swatching in class to illustrate key points.  You'll leave feeling more confident about selecting yarn for your next project.

Laminated Silk and Roving Felt Scarf

This class will teach a felting technique which incorporates woven fabric with an open weave structure, like silk gauze, to natural animal fibers with gentle pressure and moisture. The fibers are attached to the gauze background in an unlimited array of designs. During this workshop, students will dye a length of silk gauze, then custom-design and create a beautiful, light-weight silk scarf, using a variety of natural and dyed wool and wool blend roving.

Spinning With Silk Hankies

Silk hankies are a "mawata" silk that consists of very thin layers of silk squares.  We will learn strategies for preparing these hankies for spinning, and then we will spin them using various methods, including Navajo plying.  We will cover strategies for making your hands smooth to minimize snagging of silk on your hands, and various uses of silk hankies and yarns spun from them.

Introduction to Bucks Point Bobbin Lace

Intermediate bobbin lacemakers will appreciate this introduction to that lovely, delicate, and traditional British style of lacemaking: Buckinham Point Lace.  You will learn to use a gimp to outline motifs, different background nets, and something of the history of this famous style.

Gauge is NOT a 4-Letter Word

This class is for anyone who has ever said, "Oh, I don't need to knit a gauge swatch."  Through hands-on exercises, we will clearly demonstrate exactly why swatching is so important.  You will also learn when you can avoid swatching and how to measure, finish, and evaluate your swatch before commencing the project.  The three hours spent in this class will save you time and money in the future.

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Introduction to Card Weaving