Review of Professional Finishing Techniques course at This is Knit
It was with excitement and trepidation that I gave up my very precious Saturday Morning Off in order to attend a course on knitting and sewing, particularly as I only know what a darning needle looks like and had just taught myself mattress stitch in the week leading up to the course. I'd also never been to This is Knit in Blackrock, only the city centre branch. This shop is held in such high esteem by the dublin knitters that I was worried if I were good enough to be "intermediate" on this hallowed ground.
I was the youngest knitter in attendance by some 15 years I'd say and that was very heartening, when people took out their very complex knitting it was even more so. They didn't know about blocking,pressing or mattress stitch. Basically what I realised was that all these people knew sewing for dressmaking and that isn't suitable for knitted garments really. It was possibly even an advantage to not know that type of sewing as I don't. The course instructor, Helen was great fun and full of useful tips and a no hassle attitude. What's the worst that can happen was her mantra, you might have to start again.
There were loads of helpful tips and Helen made everything seem easy. In fact some of the stitching I had been doing was quite complex and I hadn't realised it. I'd definitely go to another course if there was one as suited to me. Just to advertise a little they covered: mattress stitch, fake grafting, grafting, sewing up garments, 3 needle bind off, short row shaping and kitchener stitch plus countless other tips in three hours and gave a leaflet with useful websites.