What you need to know when attending an event at Wool and Company

Our teachers have more than 300 years of combined knitting and crochet experience.

We want to make our classes and events pleasurable experiences for everyone that attends.  Not only will you learn some new skills and maybe get a project or two completed, you will also meet some people who share your love of knitting.  Read the following and you will be well prepared for your first session.

Purchasing Supplies

Please check with our staff for the supplies that you’ll need for the class(es).  There is an overview of the supplies needed for various classes here.

Our classes represent an exceptional value and it is our intention to always keep the cost of these classes affordable for everyone.

While we appreciate that there are many options for you when purchasing knitting supplies, we request that you purchase any materials that you need for the class from us.  We will always have the patterns, yarns and other required accessories available.

Remember that you will receive a discount on all class materials purchased from us, and you know that we’ll always be here to support your ongoing needs.

Do I have to make a gauge swatch?

Not necessarily, however, for classes where you’ll be making a garment to fit we will stress making a gauge swatch to make sure that you can get your chosen yarn to the number of stitches per inch required by the chosen pattern. If everyone knit with the same tension (they don’t) we wouldn’t be so concerned about this.  This is the best way to make sure that your finished garment will fit its intended recipient.

For this reason, we sometimes recommend that participants leave the final choice of yarn until the night of the class – that way you can take advantage of the teacher’s experience in matching yarn, needle and pattern, and with a bit of luck and a fair wind everyone will get cast on per the pattern instructions.

Skill Levels

We grade all of our classes with a skill level.  To get the maximum benefit from our classes and workshops it important that you meet our pre-requisite skill level.  If a student doesn’t have the required skill our teachers may have to spend a disproportionate amount of time teaching the individual the skill and this is likely to result in much slower progress for the other students in the class.

Note: The main way to step from one skill level to the next is through practice. So, if you are an adventurous knitter it may be acceptable to register for a higher skill level. If you have any concerns please call the store and speak to a member of our staff who will help to clarify.

Knitting

The skill levels that are assigned to our knitting classes are:

	Novice. No previous experience necessary. However, an eagerness to learn is a pre-requisite.
	Beginner. Projects for first-time knitters who can cast on, bind-off, increase, decrease and use basic knit and purl stitches. Minimal shaping. We teach these skills in week 1 and 2 of our Knitting 101 class.
	Easy. As for beginner, plus repetitive stitch patterns, simple color changes, and simple shaping and finishing. Basic pattern reading and an understanding of gauge. We teach these skills in week 3 and 4 of our Knitting 101 class.
	Intermediate. Projects with a variety of stitches, such as basic cables and lace, simple intarsia, double-pointed and knitting in the round techniques, mid-level shaping, seaming and finishing.
	Experienced. Projects using advanced techniques and stitches, such as short rows, fair isle, more intricate intarsia, cables, lace patterns, and numerous color changes.

Crochet

The skill levels that are assigned to our crochet classes are:

	Novice. No previous experience necessary. However, an eagerness to learn is a pre-requisite.
	Beginner. Projects for first-time crocheters using basic stitches.  Minimal shaping. We teach these skills in our Crochet 101 class.
	Easy. As for beginner, plus you’ll need to be familiar with using yarn for basic stitches, repetitive stitch patterns, simple color changes, and simple shaping and finishing. We teach these skills in our Crochet 101 class.
	Intermediate. Projects using a variety of techniques, such as basic lace patterns or color patterns, mid-level shaping and finishing
	Experienced. Projects with intricate stitch patterns, techniques and dimension, such as non-repeating patterns, multi-color techniques, fine threads, small hooks, detailed shaping and refined finishing.

Notes:

1. We have defined our skill levels using those published at yarnstandards.com as a starting point.  Our definitions provide a higher level of detail that is appropriate to the types of classes that we teach.
2. The main way to step from one skill level to the next is through practice. So, if you are experienced at one level, and you are an adventurous knitter it may be acceptable to register for a higher skill level.  Please discuss this with our staff.

This information is available online at http://www.woolandcompany.com/blog/needs (this page).