What’s Included? Lodging at the UMass Hotel and Conference Center All of your meals from Thursday night’s Welcome Dinner through Sunday brunch with Keynote Speaker, Patty Lyons Late-night knitting get-togethers with snacks, desserts, and cocktails! With plenty of time to meet up with friends or make new knitting buddies, and lots of yarn to see, feel, and buy! Two days of classes on Friday and Saturday with some of WEBS Spring Knitting Retreat the most talented knitting instructors April 30th - May 3rd, 2020 Transportation to WEBS for an exclusive WEBS Knitting Retreat is a weekend of After-Hours Shopping Spree with owners Steve and Kathy Elkins on Saturday evening. fiber, friends, food & flower blooms! We’ll be welcoming knitters to the beautiful Plenty of fun surprises throughout the retreat! Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts for a weekend of classes, late-night knitting, an after-hours shopping spree and more! If you’ve been waiting to make a pilgrimage to America’s biggest yarn store, now’s the time to make your move! Instructors Hotel UMass We have some of the most Enjoy cozy comfort and deluxe talented instructors sharing accommodations at Hotel their expertise this weekend! UMass, our home base for the weekend. Fabulous, fresh Shopping, Sponsors, and Swag Lily Chin meals and snacks, nooks for Gudrun Johnston knitting and a ‘late-night On Saturday night, shuttles will take attendees Patty Lyons lounge’ with desserts, drinks, on a trip to a shopping spree at WEBS, America’s Yarn Store. You’ll have 2 super- Laura Nelkin and a chance to knit and talk special shopping Sherpas: The owners of WEBS, Keith Leonard knitting with those who Steve and Kathy Elkins! The icing on the cake is Josh Bennett understand your fiber passion! that whatever you buy, you will get FREE SHIPPING! And in case you can’t make a decision on Saturday evening, the store will be open to shoppers on Sunday, and again, FREE SHIPPING! Our sponsors will make your weekend as unique and luxurious as possible starting with giveaways and sumptuous swag bags. They will also be on hand Saturday night at WEBS with trunk shows, reps and designers ready to show you their most popular yarns and garments. Pro Tip: Feel free to give yourself some down time during your stay so you can recharge your batteries and fully enjoy yourself during the retreat! Teacher Bios Lily Chin Gudrun Johnston Lily M. Chin is an internationally famous Patty Lyons Gudrun was born in Shetland in the 70’s while knitter and crocheter who has worked in the Patty Lyons (http://pattylyons.com/) is a nationally her mother, Patricia Johnston, was running the yarn industry for more than 30 years, as a recognized knitting teacher and technique expert successful knitwear design company, The designer, instructor, and author of 8 books on who is known for teaching the “why” not just the Shetland Trader. She has made a name for knitting and crochet. Lily teaches around the “how” in her pursuit of training the “mindful herself among a new generation of knitwear world and now has instructional DVDs out as knitter”. She specializes in sweater design and designers, using the internet to directly well as some online classes. She has created sharing her love of the much-maligned subjects of interact with an international community of gauge and blocking. Patty teaches nationally at looks for the New York Fashion Week runway knitters. She has self published two collections guilds, shops & knitting shows around the country collections of designers Ralph Lauren, Vera of knitwear inspired by the Shetland islands, such as Vogue Knitting LIVE, and STITCHES. Her Wang, Diane von Furstenberg, and Isaac The Shetland Trader Book One and Book popular classes can also be found on DVD and Mizrahi, and her work has been on the backs Two and also collaborated with one of her online at Interweave, Annie’s and Craftsy. She also favorite yarn companies, Quince & Co to of celebrities and super models. She was runs wildly popular video sweater classes on her publish a Mother and Daughter knitwear named a “Master Knitter” by Vogue Knitting. Ravelry group. Patty designs and knitting skill collection called Knit With Me. Gudrun has She is regularly cited in media across the U.S., articles have been published in Vogue Knitting, also been published in several prominent including the Late Show with David Interweave Knits, Knit Purl, Knitter’s Magazine, Cast magazines online, including Brooklyn Letterman, Martha, CBS Morning News, CNN, On, Knit Style, Creative Knitting, Twist Collective Tweed, Twist Collective, Amirisu and Knitty. HGTV, Knitting Daily, Knit and Crochet Now, and Mason Dixon Knitting where she writes a She also loves to design using seamless and more. Lily Chin has lived in New York City monthly knitter’s advice column: “Ask Patty”. Patty’s designs have construction and is all her life and has also been included in always adding new been involved in pattern collections techniques to her some aspect of from Classic Elite, seamless knitting the fashion Noro, Cascade, Tahki skills. Gudrun now industry since age Stacy Charles, Sugar runs fiber 13. Bush and Willow related trips to the Yarns. Shetland Islands. Teacher Bios Keith Leonard Laura Nelkin Josh Bennett Keith gained a love for knitting at the age Though she has a degree in apparel design of eleven when he joined a lunchtime Josh Bennett grew up in Pennsylvania where from Cornell University, Laura took to knitting knitting program at school in his hometown he learned to knit from his grandmother when years ago and hasn’t looked back. Her designs of Haworth, New Jersey. After working at he was 8 years old. After moving to New York and techniques are innovative, fun and will City in 2001, Josh worked at a yarn shop on the four major knitting stores in Upstate New challenge you to think in new ways about your York, New Jersey, and New York City, he Upper West Side that wrote custom patterns knitting. She is currently enamored with realized there was no specialized service for their customers. Josh has collaborated unexpected sweater construction, lace, and for knitwear finishing. He took the initiative with CFDA Award winner Michael Bastian on a with incorporating beads into lace, so most of to start his own business, called Knits All hand knitted line. They have also worked her designs lean in this direction. She travels Done, a service for knitters to outsource together on projects for the Folk Couture. He often to teach these techniques their knitted items for professional was the Men’s Sweater Designer at Tommy at workshops around the country and online finishing. Keith’s expertise in finishing and Hilfiger and has also worked with and designed at Craftsy.com, and in her spare time she knitting then led to requests from yarn for GANT by Michael Bastian, Perry Ellis, leads knitting tours abroad. She runs 2 super shops and knitting guilds to teach his Alexander Wang, Rowan Magazine, Vogue techniques. He now travels the country fun clubs every year, The N Club, and Lola's Knitting, and other knitting publications. He is teaching classes while also selling his own Choice, and she has a line of knitting kits, self- the designer of his own exclusive capsule custom Zen Yarn Garden, Three Irish Girls, published patterns, and runs mystery Knit-A- collection of men’s hand knitted sweaters at Malabrigo and Koigu yarns and colors. He is Bergdorf Goodman, Josh Bennett + Longs multiple times a year. Her also the Goodman’s. Josh book, Knockout American studied Menswear Knits, was distributor for Design at the released with Soulwool, a Fashion Institute Random House in hand-dyed of Technology September 2014. Merino yarn (FIT). from Israel. Classes Lily Chin Patty Lyons Tips, Tricks, and Hints: Learn all the little secrets to A Cornucopia of Cool Color-work Techniques: Learn all make knitting life easier and better. Find out how to the techniques of one of Patty’s most popular pattern, cast on in 2-tail method without running out of that the Labadee Cowl. In this class we will work a mini sample second tail. Join a new skein of yarn or a new color Gudrun Johnston and learn all the secrets like the magical “unvented” without losing that first stitch. See ways of attaching contrasting color i-cord cast on, chart reading, slip stitch buttons as you work. Create invisible circular bind-offs Shawls of The North Atlantic (Full Day): In this class we knitting, lifted floats, how to knit in your tail as you go, on a neck where the beginning and the end are will look at 3 different shawl styles from Shetland, the the contrasting color i-cord bind off and so much more. absolutely imperceptible. Weave in those little ends Faroe islands and Iceland. We will explore the We’ll also learn some lifesaving tips on yarn control, that are too short to put through a darning needle. constructions and patterns used in each tradition by jogless joins, circular knitting tips, swatching in the round Take away lots of “fix-its” and improve those details. making mini samplers. and even fixing mistakes. By the end of the class you’ll be ready to tackle this incredibly popular pattern AND you Afterthought No-Sew Pockets: We never have enough Shetland Hap (Full Day): Learn how to knit a traditional can order the kit that includes the yarn to make the cowl, pockets in our clothing! And most knitters avoid Hap (shawl) from the Shetland Islands. This beautiful and a promo code to get the pattern! seaming like the plague.