Leslie and I are proud to announce all the teachers and the multitude of classes that are being taught at SSK 2014.  We have created a page with all the information here.  Class signups will occur in April, 2014.

Until March 1st we are running a contest in the SSK Ravelry group about what you are most excited about for SSK 2014.  All the details are here.

We are less than 6 months away from the event!  We can not wait!

SSK is returning to the Scarritt Bennett Center for 2014!  The event will be held from July 16th -20th.

There are two options for participants.  The first is the event with lodging on campus.  The second “daypass” option is for people who are finding their own housing or live local.

Option 1 (full event including lodging):

Total cost for option 1 is $575.

What’s included in the $575?

• Lodging at the Scarritt Bennett Center Wednesday-Saturday.  Please be aware that while you do have your own room, you will be sharing a bathroom with 1 other person.  These are less fancy than your standard hotel room, but do include wifi.
• Breakfast and Lunch Thursday-Saturday.  Breakfast on Sunday.  Daily snacks.  We do accommodate people with different dietary needs.
• 1 three hour class with either Laura Nelkin, Amy Herzog, Lori Rhone of Deerfield Creations, or Malia Jackson aka Rhymeswithmaria on Ravelry (you can take up to 3 additional classes at an added cost)
• An awesome goodie bag with lots of neat stuff!
• A chance to win awesome doorprizes.
• Entrance to a market with lots of cool vendors!
• Getting to hang out with tons of cool knitters and spinners who love all the same things you do!
• Fun knitalongs, random prizes, and other fun stuff in the Ravelry group.

Option 2 (daypass):

The cost of option 2 is $350

This includes all of the above EXCEPT lodging at the Scarritt Bennett Center.

To sign up for the onsite lottery (option 1), click here.  The daypass option (option 2) is here. 

Both of the links are entries into the lottery for the event.  We wish we had room for everyone, but if we do have more than 146 total entries, a random drawing will occur for spots.  Sign-ups will close September 30th at midnight cental US time.

Good Luck everyone!  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us!

Are you someone that has a wonderful shop to sell fibery goodness?  Know someone that you think would make the perfect SSK vendor?  We are now taking vendor applications for SSK 2014!  We talk quite a bit about the vendor process and what you can expect as an SSK vendor during the last 10 minutes of episode 173 of the Knitgirlls (You can find the episode here).  The link to the vendor application can be found here and if you have any questions, please contact us!

Is it July of 2014 yet?

Today is the last day of continuing education for me and that means SSK is 6 weeks away!  Classes have been updated (with the exception of people who have gotten in since last Wednesday). If you have any question or would like to change your class selection, please email Laura and she’ll take care of you.

Now that you know what classes you are in, here are the homework and materials needed for each class:

Gale Zucker’s Photography classes both require the same equipment.  Students should bring a digital camera (point & shoot or DSLR )  memory media (an sd card or whatever is needed for the camera to record images on) freshly charged batteries and spare batteries, and their camera manual.  They should review the manual before class so they know how  to turn the flash off, how  to change exposure settings and what the symbols mean on their settings. They should also bring a finished project and some yarn or fiber that they want to work on photographing.

For Jacey Bogg’s Back to the Draft Class, we are providing the fiber.  You will need to bring a wheel or borrow one from us (let us know if anything with your wheel status changes, so we can plan accordingly) and a lazy kate.

For Jacey’s Big Spinning Class, we will be providing most of the fiber, but you will need to bring 2-4 oz of additional fiber, a wheel or borrow one from us (let us know if anything with your wheel status changes, so we can plan accordingly) and a lazy kate.

For Susan B. Anderson’s Fair-Isle Hat Class, you will need to bring stitch markers, tape measure, tapestry needle, scissors, and yarn:  worsted weight, preferably wool (a few suggestions: Quince & Co., Shelter, Cascade 220, Brown Sheep)

150 yards of a Main Color (MC)

100 yards of a Contrast Color (CC)

(You can bring several contrast colors if you want a more colorful hat)

Needles: US size 7 sixteen-inch circular needles OR size to obtain gauge and the same size set of 4 double-pointed needles

Gauge: 5 sts per inch in stockinette stitch

Homework for the Fair-Isle Hat Workshop

Select the size hat you would like to work on during class: 0-6 months (6-12 months, 1-2 years, child, small adult, medium adult, large adult). 13 (14, 16, 18, 20, 22) inches in circumference. When selecting a size, I prefer my hats to have 1-2 inches of negative ease so they fit snugly on the head but this is up to you and your preference.

Come to class with 64 (72, 80, 88, 96, 104, 112) stitches cast on with your main color yarn on the 16-inch circular needles. You should be ready to join to begin working in the round. Note: The smaller the hat size the farther you will get on your hat during class if that matters to you!

We are so excited to have some wonderful teachers at SSK this year!  Included in your fee is one of the following classes!

Gale Zucker

Gale is a photographer, designer, author and knitter.  She is the coauthor of the wonderful books Craft Activism and Shear Spirit.  She has her own photography company, Gale Zucker Photography and a wonderful knitting/photography blog, She Shoots Sheep Shots.

Class 1:

Picture this: Making Your Yarn & Fiber Photos Sing

Class 2:

Hello Gorgeous! Fabulous FO Photography on Real Life Models

Jacey Boggs:

Leslie and I have taken multiple classes from Jacey and every time we learn more wonderful spinning techniques.  Jacey is the author of the book, Spin Art, numerous articles for Interweave, and the DVD, Spin Control.  She has recently started a brand new spinning magazine, PLY.  You can find Jacey’s blog here.

Class 1:

Back to the Draft ‐‐ There’s more than one way to draft and in this class, we’ll spend three hours covering 4 different drafting methods: short forward, short backward, point of contact long draw, and long draw from the fold. If you’ve been stuck in a rut or you just want to expand your spinning repertoire, this may be just the thing for you.

Class 2:

Big Spinning – In pursuit of perfect, thin, even yarn, we often lose the skills we started with‐‐ the skill of spinning a bulky yarn. This class will start with two fool‐proof methods for spinning durable, rythmic thick and thin yarns with just the right amount of twist. After thick and thin we’ll move on to all‐thick ‐‐ a bulky, even, low‐twist single.

Amy Christoffers

Amy is the genius behind Savory Knitting.  She has been published in Interweave Knits, Jared Flood’s Wool People, Twist Collective, Knitscene, and Knit.Wear.  She is know for her innovative sweater designs and stunning acessories.   If you’ve watched theknitgirllls, Leslie has made several of her designs.  You can find Amy’s blog here

Class 1:

How to Mod: how to take a pattern you like and change anything about it, gauge, sleeves, neckline etc. and make it work, and pitfalls to watch out for (when not to mod).

Class 2:

Finishing a sweater:

How to wrap up all the hard work of knitting with those final touches ‐ seaming, setting in sleeves, button placement and attachment, etc.

Susan B.  Anderson

Susan B. Anderson is best known for her fun and functional kids, toy, and accessory knits.  She has authored the books, Itty Bitty Hats, Itty Bitty Toys, Itty Bitty Nursery, and Spud and Chloe at the Farm.  She has published over 230 patterns and has a brand new book, Topsy-Turvey Inside-Out Knit Toys arriving at bookstores in March You have to see the video, it’s adorable!).  You can see all the sweetness that is Susan on her blog.

Class 1:

Design Your Own Fair‐Isle Hat: Learn how to do two‐handed fair isle while creating your own hat and selecting your own colors and stitch patterns. Class will include how to do a Latvian Braid, different stitch patterns, catching long floats, short floats and two color rib. Lots of options, lots of fun while creating your own hat to show your personal style!

Class 2:

Design Your Own Seamless Top‐Down Raglan Baby Cardigan: I will provide a basic raglan, seamless topdown baby cardigan pattern with lots of options. The options include different edgings, closures, a hood, different styles of sleeves, etc. The cardigan sizes range from newborn to 2 years. In class we will be working on a newborn size (tiny!) so we can get through as much material as possible together during the allotted class time.

Class signups will occur in March, so stay tuned for details!  Like last year, for an extra fee per class, you will be able to take additional classes (I have my eyes on at least 3 classes if I can make it work)

If you haven’t been over to the ravelry group, we have a brand new KAL going on for even more door prize tickets.  We are knitting some of Amy’s lovely designs (I’m hoping to cast one of her new cowl patterns).  Like always if you use a yarn from one of our vendors, you’ll get even more door prize tickets.  You can find all the KAL details here.  Happy New Year and Happy Knitting!

Have you been to the SSK Ravelry group yet? There are  tons of information including an SSK FAQ thread and lots of chatter (we love chatter!)

One of the biggest things we have going on are the start of the SSK knitalongs.  Participation in Knitalongs is totally up to you, but it does earn you more doorprize tickets (always fun). Here’s all the information on our current Knitalong:

We will be starting our first knitalong November 1st and it will end December 16th.
This knitalong will feature any design by our teacher, Susan B Anderson. You can pick any of Susan b Anderson’s 236 designs (her new mini collection of ornaments is totally floating me boat right now).

Knit something and post a finished picture in the ravelry thread from prompt within the time frame listed, you get 3 extra raffle tickets for SSK prizes
Knit something and post a finished picture in the ravelry thread from the prompt with one of the yarns from our vendors, get 5 extra raffle tickets for SSK prizes
Knit with handspun that came from fiber from one of our vendors (linked to our page of vendors), get 7 extra raffle tickets for SSK prizes (it can already be spun)

Raffle tickets will be given out at time of check-in at SSK. We will keep a master list of who has earned how many extra tickets. We can’t tell you yet what the raffle prizes will be, but we promise you won’t be disappointed!

The prompt is meant to include any pattern written by them: free patterns, purchased patterns, or those that are included in their published books or e-books. You must post a picture of your FO in the ravelry group KAL thread in order to be eligible for any prizes or extra raffle tickets.

Please tag your projects with SSK2013KAL1.

You can KAL with as many projects as you like, but you can only earn raffle tickets on one project per KAL period.

This round will run from November 1st-December 16th

Don’t forget about using SSK Vendor yarn/fiber for extra points!
2013 SSK Vendors:
Another Crafty Girl
Gnome Acres
Tangerine Designs
Hiwassee Creek
Moonshine Fiber Company
Deerfield
Tempted
Unwind
Cakewalk
Jelby
Highland Handmades
Spotted Circus
Gale’s Art
Sun Valley Fibers
Piddleloop
Miss Babs
Knitty and Color
Desert Vista Dyeworks

SSK is returning to the Scarritt Bennett Center for 2013!  The event will be held from July 17th -21st.

One change we are making this year, is that we are allowing for 20 day pass options.  Day passers will be able to do all the things that are included in the normal SSK, including meals.  Daypassers are responsible for their own lodging.

Total cost for the entire event is $600.  Total cost for the daypass option is $250.

What’s included in the $600?

• Lodging at the Scarritt Bennett Center Wednesday-Saturday.  Please be aware that while you do have your own room, you will be sharing a bathroom with 1 other person.
• Breakfast and Lunch Thursday-Saturday.  Breakfast on Sunday.  Occasional snacks.  We do accommodate people with different dietary needs.
• 1 class with a big name teacher.  We’ll have a list of all the classes as soon as possible.  We’re really excited about our teachers and know y’all will be too!
• An awesome goodie bag with lots of neat stuff!
• A chance to win awesome doorprizes.
• Entrance to a market with lots of cool vendors!
• Getting to hang out with tons of cool knitters and spinners who love all the same things you do!
• Fun knitalongs, random prizes, and other fun stuff in the Ravelry group.

To sign up for the lottery, click on the lottery entry tab above.  The daypass option is listed below.

Good Luck everyone!  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us!

For those who participated in our SSK KAL’s, we have tabulated your entries and have your totals for prize tickets counted!  Please review the document linked below.

SSK Door Prize Tickets

If you did not participate, fear not!  We will be giving out more tickets at the event.  🙂