Reopening Registration for Summer Seminar 2020

I am reopening registration for Summer Seminar 2020 – Diana Sullivan Machine Knitting Seminar.

After having so many people sign up early, I closed registration.  It really bothered me to turn anyone away, but with this being a virtual seminar, I wanted to make sure the new equipment worked well and that everyone would have a great experience. 

In the Summer Seminar private Facebook group, we have now completed two Facebook Live Video classes including a 3-1/2 hour Garter Bar session.  The sound and video were good, and participant feedback was excellent.  Everyone gets a look-over-my-shoulder view like the one in this screenshot! 

These existing sessions are recorded and available on the Facebook private group to participants for watch at their convenience.  Eventually, I'll take it down, but everything will be left up until at least September 8.  

Starting July 11 we will begin the regular seminar curriculum.  There will be four Saturday morning classes from 9:30-12:30 CDT with a variety of machine knitting demonstrations.  All the sessions can be watched live or watched later because they will be recorded.  Detailed handouts with a number of free patterns are included.  There are vendor discounts and specials just for seminar participants.  Doing the seminar virtually has allowed me to offer it at a very reasonable price. 

If you are interested, there are a lot more details at https://dianaknits.square.site/, and you can register there.

New Video for June - Review & Demo of New Comb for Ultimate Sweater Machine

Have you got a Bond, or an Ultimate Sweater Machine, or an Incredible Sweater Machine, or a Fashion Knitter?

These are 8 mm machines, that is, the needles are 8 mm from the center of one to the center of the next.  This is a different spacing from Japanese machines, a Japanese tools and accessories don't fit.

Kris Basta makes garter bars for 8 mm machines, as well as stoppers, and now she has a new product, which she asked me to review.  It's a cast-on comb.  At last!  I really wanted a cast-on comb for my Bond.




So basically my review is I just loved the thing.  I thought it was so wonderful that maybe I lost all objectivity.  I love that she manufactures things we knitters need and can't find elsewhere.  I love that her stuff is well-made and polished so stitches slip properly and your fingers don't get cut.  I love that the spacing is just perfect, and it's sturdy enough to not get bent easily.

If you're too busy to watch it, well, that's the executive summary. 

However, before investing in a set, you might want my up-close evaluation of how it was made.  You might wonder how best to use it.  You might wonder whether to screw the two sections together (I didn't - I like them separate).  You might even want to see what I did with it - I didn't film 100% of the cast-ons I did with it, but I did the quick utility cast-on, the e-wrap cast on, the latched cast-on, and the double-strand cast-on.  The one in the video was the double-strand cast-on, which I really like and think we could all use more often.  It's fast and easy, too. 

I chose that one because I wondered if the 8 mm knitting "community" uses that cast-on.  Besides, I'd love to draw them into my channel world where they can learn all kinds of MK techniques that work just fine on their machines.

Note:  you will need some elastic thread for this item, just as you do for the vinyl "hem" that came with your machine.   You can pieces of thread more than once, but you'll want to keep a spool of the stuff in your Bond things.

Closing Registration on Summer Seminar Wednesday June 3

The response to the Summer Seminar has been absolutely, wonderfully, overwhelming!

I have had a lot of discussions with my friends and family, about whether having more people will affect the seminar's quality for each person. Would having too many people mess it up? Probably not, because everyone will have a good picture and good sound. We are bringing in special equipment to enhance that. Will having a nice-sized group be fun? I think it will, the way we're using Facebook.

I had no intention of closing registration early; however, as the registrations continued to grow, I decided to be cautious, close early and limit the number of people this first time. This will allow me to focus on learning the platform, equipment, and software, testing everything, setting up the rest of the group features and events, getting all the materials and freebies posted, and then, of course, preparing to do a great actual event presentation.

Therefore, I'll close registration Wednesday evening.