One of the very nicest things about learning a new technique or medium, is that eventually you know enough to be able to share your knowledge with others. Sharing the delights of both freeform knitting and crochet and freestyle stitching,beading and needlefelting is something I love to do.  See below for workshop descriptions.
If your group is interested in hosting a workshop please contact me for further information  - Jenny Dowde

Journey’s of Discovery! - Workshop Descriptions

“Taking Your Yarn For a Walk” covers the basics of freeform knitting and crochet.  In this workshop you will be gently encouraged to work outside your comfort zone to create unique fabrics suitable for wearables, accessories, home furnishings or wall art.  Basic colour theory will be covered for those not confident in their colour choices and several interesting textural stitches will be taught which will help give your work dimension and surface interest. 

This class is suitable for beginner freeformers and while you don’t need to be an expert knitter or crocheter,  you do need to have a reasonable knowledge of the basics of knitting (casting on, casting off, knit and purl stitch) and crochet, such as chain stitch, double crochet, half treble, treble and double treble.

The great thing about freeform is that there are several ways of creating fabric and the sky is the limit once you understand the concept.  I always encourage my students to find their own style, but in the beginning it does help to have guidelines.  The two samples below are created from basic freeform techniques and in the main I've let the yarn do all the work.

Freeform Crochet

Freeform Knitting

“Arty Adornments” is a fun workshop which looks at creating interesting and unique pieces which can be used to embellish clothing, quilts or as decorative art work.

Firstly we will look at building up interesting surfaces by layering various fibres and fabrics onto a background fabric using simple hand-stitching and/or needlefelting and beading.  This surface will then be embellished using freeform beading and stitching. 

Suitable for beginners, this workshop will give you lots of ideas for further experimentation.

"Cosmos” – fabric fragments stitched and beaded to background

“Untitled” – yarn needledfelted then stitched and beaded to background

“Glacier” -  Knit fragments, organza ribbon, scrim needlefelted to background, then stitched and beaded