Andrea Wong Knits

Knitting Cruise!

Andrea — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:52:46 +0000

Forgive me as I did not post this before! I could swear I did! I am honored to be teaching in a knitting cruise to the Bahamas leaving next week! Sponsored by Baskets of Yarn in Charlotte, NC. The cruise will be 5 days total including several knitting classes in projects and technique, two days at sea and two days to have fun at Port and enjoy the cruise.

I suppose until the ship leave the Port there is still time to sign up! Please contact Baskets of Yarn:

Baskets of Yarn
1318 E3 Central Ave.
Charlotte, NC 28205
704-733-9053

Be sure I will have much to tell you and many picture for you soon!

Scotland 3 – The Scott Monument

Andrea — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:24:47 +0000

The Scott Monument was built in memory of Sir Walter Scott, one of Scotland’s greatest writers. It started on the 15th August 1840 (the anniversary of Scott’s birthday) and was completed in the Fall of 1844. It is 200 feet 6 inches high. There are 287 steps to the top where there are magnificent views of Edinburgh and beyond. The large statue of Sir Walter Scott is in Italian Carrara marble was sculpted by John Steell.

There are 64 statues on the monument, mostly characters from Scott’s novels, with some figures from Scottish history. We were there in a beautiful August day and the flowers amazing!

Click to view slideshow.

Next: Stirling, Scotland and Shetland Islands! The purpose of this trip!

Portuguese Style of Knitting Demo – Marion, OH

Andrea — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 16:38:43 +0000

Spin A Yarn Fiber Garden invited you to

Christmas Open House

Fri, Nov 11, 2011 from 10:00 AM
to Sat, Nov 12, 2011 at 10:00 AM

Where:
Spin A Yarn Fiber Garden & The Charleston Place Shoppes
187 W. Center St.
Marion OH 43302

I will be demostrating Portuguese Style of Knitting and have my products for sale. Come and enjoy this event with us!

The store is on the second floor of the building!

See you there ,

Andrea

A few of my patterns are on Ravelry!

Andrea — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:39:02 +0000

Yes, my dear! I know I do not keep with the speed of technology! But I am very proud to announce that finally some of my patterns are on Ravelry for sale on PDF form. I had help of a very dear friend to start the process but I am proud I was able to finish by myself!

Please take a look at your own convenience! Soon I will have the pattern of my book being sold individually!

http://www.ravelry.com/stores/andrea-wong-designs

Andrea

Rhinebeck and more!

Andrea — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 22:05:58 +0000

OK! It took me a while to settle down and write about Rhinebeck! I had such a great time and such a positive response that kept me wound up for days! The show is much more than I expected in every way: it is bigger, well organized, nicer than I thought it would be. Everybody you see walking around is happy with what they purchased, food or fiber or both. The variety of fiber and animals are amazing: from dog fiber with a “halo” and neon colors to Qiviuk and Cashmere and all that wool we love.
I have taught 6 classes from Thursday to Sunday. The staff (including all volunteers I met) were just the nicest people and all worked hard to make this event a success.

The teachers get to stay in a Bed & Breakfast in Red Hood, a beautiful Victorian house!

What else would you want in a long weekend? Teach what you love, shop for yarn, wine, and chocolate and be fed with inspiration for knitting projects you can hardly sleep?Hope to be back next year!

Scotland 2

Andrea — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 18:53:59 +0000

As I promised: Visiting a tartan weaving industry

Located right at the end of the Royal Mile, downtown Edinburg, there is a old industry that produces Tartan Fabric. You can tour the mini museum, learn about the History of Tartan, and be inspired by hand knitted sweaters and accessories from Ireland and Scotland.

Colors and stitches all over the place. Our visits for the next couple of days included The Edinburgh Castle, The Whiskey Factory, a yarn shop, the monument to Sir Walter Scott Monument, etc. My favorite building inside the castle was the St. Margaret Chapel.

Key facts

Margaret was born around 1045, into the royal family of England. After the Norman invasion of 1066, she fled to the court of Malcolm III of Scotland. They soon fell in love and were married at Dunfermline.

- Malcolm was a warrior who relished fighting the Norman conquerors of England; while Margaret was deeply religious.

- Disaster struck in 1093, when Malcolm and his eldest son, Edward, were killed in an ambush. On hearing the news, Margaret took to her bed in Edinburgh Castle and died from a broken heart.

- The chapel was built by her youngest son, King David I. It has not always been used for worship. From the 16th to the 18th century it was a gunpowder store.

- In 1250, Margaret was canonised as St Margaret of Scotland, for her many acts of piety and charity in her adopted country.

Allow time to visit the whole castle and enjoy the beautiful views from the top of the hill. I suggest very comfortable shoes because there is so much to walk and explore and dress in layers, as the weather could bring any season to you all the sudden.

Scotland

Andrea — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 20:56:00 +0000

Last September I went to Scotland to participate in the “In the Loop – Knitting Origins and Evolution”, a five day international conference at the Shetland Museum and Arquives, Lerwick, Shetland Islands. I know! A knitters dream come true!

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: Susan Crawford, Deidre Nelson, Annemor Sundbø. I have met Annemor before in Seattle, at the Heritage Museum.

In 2008 I have looked into going to the conference but I gave up. When teaching at WEBS in May 2010 I met another knitting teacher that was going to Shetland. When she found out what I teach, she said I should go! That was our conversation over dinner. Two days later I get an email from a lady in England who has proposed classes for the same event. Her proposals were about the Peruvian and the Portuguese Style of Knitting! She needed some help and pictures for her presentation. When I told her I was thinking about going myself, she said:

- Great! If you come I will let talk about it and demonstrate the Portuguese Style of Knitting at the Conference.

Well, she did not need to twist my arm. I went!

Unfortunately I found out I was sick when I came back. Actually, I got much worse over there, but thanks be to God, I did not have a clue about my disease.

I have over 500 pictures of knitting, knitted articles, and about the trip itself. So I will publish it slowly and tell you all about it.

Art Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland Aug 2010

My friend and I arrived in Edinburgh on August 28, in the middle of their summer art festival. The population of the city doubles from 400.000 people to 800.000 during the festival! As you walk in the street you have “sneak peaks” on the performances all over town. People are very friendly and they are willing to help in any possible way.

Edinburgh, 2010

Next post I will show you a weaving/knitting factory I visited. Just wait!

Spinning and Knitting Retreat – November 4,5 and 6 2011

Andrea — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:03:03 +0000

Join Andrea Wong and Constance Hall for a lovely weekend of knitting and spinning!

We will meet Friday night for an introduction with demos and snacks. On Saturday we have 6 hours of classes: 3 hours knitting (9:00 AM to 12:00 PM) and 3 hours spinning (1:00 PM to 4:00 PM). Saturday night is free to mingle, work on a project or go out for dinner. Sunday we have another day of 3 hours each knitting and spinning with time off for lunch and a walk by the lake. If you prefer to knit only or spin only, that is fine but we hope you will try both!

All this fun is going to be at a lovely house on the Lake Huron, OH. Two full days of instruction on Two Color knitting Portuguese Style and Spinning for Fair Isle. Price includes two days of classes, two nights accommodations, lunch for both days and all materials for classes. Total $315.00

If you would like to have more details, please contact me at info@andreawongknits.com

Baskets of Yarn – Charlotte, NC

Andrea — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:19:14 +0000

This summer has been very special as I have been telling you: new perspective in life, everything has a new meaning, great taste, life is delicious!

On the weekend of September 10th and 11th my husband and I went to Charlotte, NC to meet his brother and wife. As a last minute thing I contacted Baskets of Yarn Shop and the owner, Patty Frame, was most gracious to answer me right away and tell me I was welcome to come and do a demo on my knitting technique. It turned out to be a GREAT morning! When I got there, six of their best customers were waiting for me. We have talked, I demonstrated the Portuguese style of knitting and they all tried! And they loved it! You can read for yourself at their newsletter:

Super Crazy Saturday – Wow, yesterday was really busy and my intent is to write a really SHORT newsletter. Hah! We’ll see how that goes.

Andrea Wong – We had a last minute visit from Andrea Wong that we tried to tell as many people as we could about! We posted it to Facebook (have you liked us yet?) and sent an email to those of you who have shopped the most in our store. Andrea was FABULOUS! She was just an incredibly nice person and I am so honored to have met her.

As you know, we came back from TNNA with two books from members of the “Visionary Authors” group started by Cat Bordhi. One was knit,Swirl!, which we are in love with and the other is Seven Things that Can ‘Make or Break’ a Sweater that I am developing a class around right now. Andrea is also a member of the Visionary group and had her books at TNNA. We didn’t have a chance to meet her then, but I am so glad she stopped briefly in Charlotte. She gave us a demonstration of Portuguese knitting and that is ALL IT TOOK for me to be in love! I practiced the knit stitch and the purl stitch and this morning I am even using it to do the seed stitch in the Malabrigo Rasta project I’ll show you later.

I was definitely able to catch on to it faster than the continental style and I think it is helping for the pain that I was experiencing. This is supposed to be a great style to help with carpal tunnel and other knitting related difficulties. Because you tension the yarn around your neck or through a pin, it takes a lot of the strain off of your hands.

We have her books, DVDs and some fancy Portuguese knitting pins that she left with us. I am hopeful that I can get good enough at this to teach you guys who want to try it. If you learn well out of books or DVD’s, you can go ahead and get started!

Now I have been contacted by other shops in the area to come over and do the same thing for them. If you know any yarn shop in NC that would like to have me, please let me know as we are planning another trip to accommodate more teaching.

Minneapolis – Yarn Shops

Andrea — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 20:36:43 +0000

Summer time is always wonderful! This one has been a very special one after 10 months of being sick and being in the hospital! I do not think I will take another day for granted, especially the beautiful, 75 F and blue sky summer days!

At the end of July, my family and I went to Minneapolis, where my husband lived from age 12 on, to visit his family. One day all we did was to visit yarn shops and present my new book to them, since I did not have time to promote it.

We visited Crafty Planet, Bella Lana, Linden Hills Yarn and Depth of Field Yarn. The last two shops have been around for over 30 years! Good job knitters! Since I am all in favor of supporting yarn shop I did buy a little bit of yarn in each one of them, talked to the staff, looked samples and squished every skein available, of course.

There I have bought skeins of Classic Elite Yarn called Kumara, a yummy blend of merino and baby camel. New pattern will eventually be online for sale!

Linden Hills Yarn Shop