Stitch and bitch Rotterdam - workshops

As mentioned in my previous post, I went to the Dutch 'stitch and bitch' event in Rotterdam. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole event; especially the broad range of workshops and lectures. I don't think I need to tell more about the event itselft, you can read about it here and here . Maybe better to talk about the workshops ?

I took 'the stitch doctors tricks and secrets' with Debbie Stoller , and 'Color Confidence' with Nancy Marchant.

Debbie Stoller is infinitely funny, and also a good teacher. She showed us how to ladder down a stitch, and pick it up with a crochet hook, how to rework a cable that was twisted the wrong way, and how to lengthen a garment topdown. It doesn't sound like we learned much, but we only had one hour, and it was a hands-on workshop. And Debbie made sure everybody could actually do it, walking around and checking our swatches, saying things like 'put the patient on the operating table, doctors take your scalpels, any surviving patients ?' I know I am very visual learner, so this was a nice workshop (but too short !). Lots of pictures of Debbie in Rotterdam, I won't show a headless Debbie here.
I also followed a lecture by Debbie Stoller, where she talked about her book on crochet.


Nancy Marchant (see pictures - I know they are a bit dark, but worth clicking on) gave a very thorough lecture about color, color theory and how to use color in knitwear. She is both a graphic and a knitwear designer, and that showed.


I have learned that brown is a good unifying color, because it is a combination of several colors itself. I love brown, so that's a good thing to know. Maybe that's why my knitted log-cabin blanket works, colorwise ? There is a lot of brown in it, and the border is a reddish brown also ! And I learned to look at colors and the different undertones - is this a cool red (with a bit of blue in it), or a warm red (more yellow/orange in it) ? I don't use a color wheel that much, I like to select color instinctively, but it sure can be usefull to know the theory behind it. I still believe that color is something personal though!

All in all : it was impressive to see so many knitters together, in a great atmosphere. I would like to see more opportunities to follow more intensive workshops (3 hour workshop, or even a whole day ?). But then they would need to make it a weekend event, instead of just one day !

Ik heb een beetje een fundamenteel probleem met de tweetaligheid van deze blog. Sommige onderwerpen worden echt te lang als ik het ook nog eens in het nederlands doe... Ik wil met deze blog communiceren met de brede breiwereld, en natuurlijk begrijpen er meer breisters Engels dan mijn moedertaal... Eigenaardig genoeg is mijn 'breitaal' ondertussen ook Engels geworden, dankzij het internet en de breilijst en een abonnement op Interweave knits. Hopelijk doe ik hier niemand tekort mee, laat maar via de commentaren weten wat jullie ervan vinden.
... In elk geval blijf ik wel in het Nederlands schrijven voor de kortere stukjes (en misschien hebben jullie ook al gemerkt dat het Nederlandse stukje niet altijd een exacte vertaling is van het voorgaande, dus op die manier hebben de Nederlandssprekenden onder ons toch een streepje voor ...)