Put Your Hands Together!

Next month I have the great good fortune to be teaching at the Nordic Heritage Museum's Nordic Knitting Conference.  This year's theme is MITTENS! 

Now you may know that I'm not a real Scandinavian (couldn't even play one on TV), but the generous folks at the Museum have included me anyway because I'm such a devotee of Nordic Knitting.  And also, there may have been bribes.  Look who else is coming to teach, talk and learn:

Annemor Sundbo, Ragga Eiríksdóttir, Susanna Hansson, Carol Rhoades, Sandy De Master and Mary Germain.

These teachers are not only some of the brightest stars in knitting, they are also personally responsible for preserving and passing on the very history and tradition we hold so dear.  Their combined body of work represents a good percentage of everything we have learned or remembered on the subject.  I just hope I don't spaz out when I meet them.  You know; more than usual.  I'm considering knitting the words "STAY CALM" into a pair of wristlets, just as a precaution.

This being my first year to attend, I asked my friend Karin to tell me a little bit about what the conference is like.  Here's her take:

"People love the ambiance of being surrounded by so much history, folk art, inspirational pieces, etc.. That is almost always a positive remark on the evaluations. Nancy Bush loves teaching there because the students seem so interested and dedicated during class. For the most part they aren't there to just take a class from someone “famous” but truly seem to care. Or at least that is how she tried to explain it. People are coming in from the East coast/mid-west/Canada.

Being a smaller event, people get to know each other better and make new friends over lunch, etc. The Friday night happy hour is a great mixer. The banquet will have tons of door prizes and hearing Annemor speak will be a real treat. Every morning there has been Danish pastries and coffee for everyone.

Mittens will be coming out of collections for display and the museum has asked members to bring in special mittens that their family have knit to be out on display too."

I don't know which has me more excited: Meeting the other teachers, or seeing the mitten collections! 

I'll be teaching "Sassy Selbuvotter", my introduction to Norwegian-style mittens, and the decidedly non-traditional "Entrelac Mittens", in which we make sexy mittens with entrelac gauntlet cuffs. 

What:        Nordic Knitting Conference
Where:      Nordic Heritage Museum, Seattle,WA
When:       October 5-7, 2012

CLICK HERE for more information (prepare to have your mind blown by the class offerings).