| Swing Swagger takes on Halloween across America |
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| The Plains, VA - centre of the universe - Rear-View Terror for Halloween - Charlottesville |
| SWING, SWAGGER, DRAPE - Knit the colors of Australia - was enthusiastically launched by XRX at Stitches Mid West in Chicago on the 9th of September. Thousands of avid knitters, brought together by brilliant teachers, new and renewed friendships, and the passionate desire to knit and create, enjoyed a 'book' fashion parade and author's presentation, and then mixed creation with pleasure in Jane's 'Fit for Style' and buttonmaking classes.The book went to reprint last week! |
| Knitting kits from SWING SWAGGER DRAPE - see below! |
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| Immediately after Stitches Mid West I went on the road, and had a great time teaching classes in 6 beautiful yarn stores from Seattle to Long Beach and Charlottesville. I then travelled north through the changing colors of New England (above) to exhibit at Toronto's Creativ Festival (where the book sold out on the first day!) Another equally as fun Stitches show followed, this time in Hartford CT, capping of an unfogettable American experience. |
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| Me (left) with Bob, Shirley and Valerie from Hunt Country Yarns, The Plains, Virginia. Bob Kelly, "the guy who knits," is owner and proprietor of HCY. Bob learned to knit from a maternal uncle when he was ten. By the time Bob completed college he had knitted several sweaters for members of his family. After careers in teaching, technology and technical writing, working with fibers became a driving force in his life. Bob and Valerie moved to the Virginia countryside in 1997 and the store opened on the 4th of July. Hunt Country Yarns carries a wide variety of knitting, spinning, and needlepoint supplies, and offers classes year-round. |
| Classes, Classes, Classes - see Below! |
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Spidery bits of yarn - Fontelle Jones at Great Yarns in Everett, Washington state hosted Jane's Colour class - exploring proportions and highlights, shows easy techniques to experiment with colour.
Below centre and right Mimi Hyde of The Needlelady in Charlottesville VA had just completed the fabulous crochet throw. It took 4 years, as a beteeen knits project. |
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| Mimi Hyde, proprietor of the Needle Lady in Charlottesville, VA |
| Report on Toronto Creativ Festival |
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After chasing around the states we loaded up a hire car and drove to Toronto.
We were in good company, with Brandon Mabley and Kaffet Fasset hosting the 30 years of Rowan Yarns as part of the show. Our hostess in Toronto, and famous Toronto handknit designer, Caroline McInnes, opened her house to us for the week of the show - a wonderful and friendly beginning to our Canadian love affair. |
| Students play with buttons in Hartford |
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| My first button-making class was a great success at Stitches East in Hartford, CT, where I was blessed with the most creative and talented group of students. They even forgave me for getting Daylight Saving wrong and arriving late. You can see we all made up for lost time, playing with pictures, shapes, textures and materials to suit our current knitting projects or just for fun. |
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| 2010 Knitting Classes - across the USA |
Just Jan Designs - Palm Springs. CA - Weds 13th Jan - Mitres by Design & Button making
Thurs 14th Jan - Fit & Style
Amazing Threads - Minneapolis. IL - Saturday 16th Jan - Fit & Style
Sunday 17th Jan Mitres by Design and Colour
Monday 18th Jan Buttons
Micusboutique - Plymouth Michigan - Thurs 21st Jan Simple Intarsia & Stunning Intarsia
Fri 22nd Jan Texture & Mitres by Design
Sat 23rd Jan Fit & Style
Belafilti - Southern Pines. NC - Sun 24th Jan - Mitres by Design
Mon 25th Jan Fit & Style
Tues 26th Jan colour
Alamitos Bay Yarn Store. CA - Sat 30th Jan -
Sun 31st Jan
Got Yarn - Richmond VA - Fri 5th Feb - Intarsia & Buttons
Sat 6th Feb Fit & Style
Sun 7th Feb - Mitres by Design & Texture
Madrona Fibre Festival - Tocoma. WA - Thurs 11th Feb Simple Intarsia & Stunning Intarsia
Fri 12th Feb Stunning Intarsia & Mitres by Design
Sat 13th Feb Advanced Intarsia & Mitres in the round
Sun 14th Feb Amazing Texture
Stitches West - Santa Clara. CA - sorry all classes are fully booked - you can wait list for cancellations |
| Stitches East: Classes, Books & Parades |
| XRX publishing put garments from Swing, Swagger, Drape on parade with fashion parades, while I gave a 45 minute AV presentation with images from my graduation collection, through the developement of the ready to wear range up to the making of Swing, Swagger, Drape. The garments were then displayed on the market floor where they were available for all to try and judge just how well these pieces fit. |
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| Kits from the Book: beginning with Metro |
| One of the most popular designs from my book is the Metro Coat - this has three length options short to long - Swagger, which is car coat length; A-line which is three quarter length and the longest Swing - which is just above the knee. There are also options of a standard cuff or a turn back cuff which can be matched with a standard round neck, or a collar in two widths. Kit prices below include postage from Australia - the book is not included in the price or the shipping cost. |
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| Please visit www.sigknit.com and select 'Kits from the Book' for pricing and online kit ordering. |
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| And don't forget Swing Swagger Drape for Metro & plenty of stunning designs to knit |
| The book is priced in Australia at $39.95 + $12 postage (No postage cost in Australia when included with kit purchase) USA US$25 + postage US$12. UK £17 + £5 postage (postage for Europe £9). |
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| If you'd like to ask a question about anything in this newsletter - or anything all, please email Jane. Thanks for your support - Laura, Petra, Meg, Sue, and I look forward to seeing you in the knitting circle! |
| Please take me back to www.sigknit.com |
