We’re offering Yarn School and Felt School back-to-back again this fall. You can enroll for one or both, and if you sign up for both, you get a free overnight stay and meals Sunday night with a free bonus 4-hour dye lab session Sunday afternoon!
REGISTER HERE!
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?
Explore in to the wonderful world of felt! Get hands-on experience and create projects with five main techniques: wet felting, nuno felting, recycled felting, shibori felting, and needle felting. You’ll go home with your own needle felting tools, an assortment of glorious finished projects, and felting goodie bag!
Teacher: Classes will be taught by with Shannon Okey (aka knitgrrl), crafty maven and author of Felt Frenzy.
Fiber Animals: Free snuzzles from our own little flock featuring chocolate Romeny Fudgy the Whale and her white Romeny lamb Jayne Cobb; white Merino Agnes and her two black lambs Hokey Pokey and Ronnie; and Shetland wethers Mr. Shivers and Uncle Honeybunch, the attention hogs of the flock.
The $300 workshop fee includes EVERYTHING–2 FULL days of classes, supplies, equipment use, your room, meals & snacks & a great goodie bag. We’ve even included installment plans to help with your budget. REGISTER HERE!
Reboux hat by Shannon Okey
FELT SCHOOL FAQ
What experience do I need? All levels are welcome. We’ll explore several different techniques, and you’ll have time to practice your favorites in more depth.
What do I bring? Most importantly, bring yourself & a love of fiber.
You should also bring one or two old wool (or other animal fibers–angora, mohair, alpaca, etc.) sweaters to felt. Check thrift stores or ask friends for their dated cast-offs). 100% animal fibers are best, but we’ve had luck with at least 60% animal fiber-–as long as it’s not marked “machine washable”.
Optional: accessories, interesting fiber you want to try (we’ll have a generous fiber buffet to graze for our projects), knitted projects to felt, your own felt items to display in our gallery (take them home afterwards, of course), and any destashed or personal yarn, fiber, or equipment you’d like to sell, trade, or give away at the Swap Shop (an honor-system student store). If you want to shop, bring your checkbook or cash.
Shibori dimensional project made from recycled Fair Isle sweater.
Which airport should I use? Kansas City, MO (airport code MCI) if you want to take the shuttle. If you’re planning to rent a car, you can also try Wichita (just over 2 hours) or Oklahoma City (about 4 hrs).
Note: Several regional lines service MCI, so if you’re not finding good rates, check Frontier, Southwest, Midwest, etc. They’re not always listed on expedia, etc.
What’s up with the shuttle? We’ll have a limited number of spots going to/from the Kansas City International Airport for Fiber School. The shuttle is $30 round trip and reservations are non-refundable after the general registration deadline. Use the times below to schedule your flights. We’ll be arriving to the airport about an hour before the stated departure time, so your check-in time is already built in.
- YARN SCHOOL ONLY: Arrive by 3pm Thurs 9/30; depart after 3pm Sun 10/3
- YARN SCHOOL + DYE LAB: Arrive by 3pm Thurs 9/30; depart after 11am Mon 10/4
- FELT SCHOOL ONLY: Arrive by 10am Mon 10/4; depart after noon Wed 10/6
- YARN SCHOOL + FELT SCHOOL (w/ Free Dye Lab): Arrive by 3pm Thurs 9/30; depart after noon Wed 10/6
How far is Harveyville? About 2 hours from Kansas City or the Kansas City International Airport, an hour from Lawrence, 35 minutes from Topeka.
If you’re driving from farther way, please use our directions, as GPS/Google maps/Mapquest may route you down rough or impassable dirt roads.
Needle-felted embellishment on wool high-tops
ROOM OPTIONS
STANDARD DOUBLE ROOM This is the default Yarn School room included in your tuition. Shared double in a large former classroom. These rooms have two double or queen sized beds. You may choose your roommate, or we can assign. If you have more than two in your group but don’t want to share a group room or you all want the larger beds, we can give you adjacent rooms or reconfigure rooms with up to 4 full/queen beds.
PRIVATE ROOM (+$75): Just little old you. These are usually smaller rooms with singles or doubles.
FACILITY (MORE INFO & PHOTOS HERE)
ROOMS Most of the guest rooms are large (average 700-900sf) former classrooms charming schoolroom details (chalkboards, maps) and tons of natural light. Private rooms are typically cozier (former offices and teachers’ lounges). All of our beds have new, quality mattresses, cotton linens, and down blankets or comforters (cotton blankets instead on request).
BATHROOMS AND SHOWERS are shared (the original school facilities). Towels and washcloths are provided.
MASSAGE On-site massage is available by appointment from massage therapist and teacher June Jones. She has over 30 years of experience in a variety of modalities, from Swedish to pain management to prenatal massage. $35 for a half hour or $60 for a full hour.
MEALS
BREAKFAST is continental, so come early to chat and knit, or sneak back to your room with coffee and a little something if you’re not a morning person. Breakfast includes coffee and tea, fruit, cold cereal, yogurt, pastries, toast, etc.
LUNCH is served buffet style.
DINNER is served buffet or family style. As always, you’re free to enjoy the group or fix a plate and skip out, if you’d prefer a little solitude.
SNACKS (chips, popcorn, cookies, candy, fruit, etc.) are available free around the clock.
SPECIAL DIETS We can accommodate vegetarian and vegan diets–just let us know in advance.
If you’re bringing your own special snacks or beverages, you may keep them in one of the group fridges.
Cut felt & needlefelted flowers
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
MONDAY
Our first day will focus on unwoven wet techniques.
After the check in and lunch, we’ll dive in to wet felting. You’ll get an overview of the principles of what makes good felt, and a demonstration of wet felting using a bamboo roller blind. Then you’ll have a drum carding lesson and a session with the carders, grazing the fiber buffet of colored and natural wool, sparkle, sari silk, etc., to create one-of-a-kind fiber for your wet felting projects. Then make your own gorgeous felt scarf. Adventurous students can try shibori felting techniques.
We’ll break for a snack, then begin nuno felting, felting through silk chiffon fabric to create a delicate scarf or wrap.
After dinner, students can relax, knit, play, or just curl up with a good book in their room.
TUESDAY
Tuesday starts with recycling! Check out a great assortment of remade items and learn clever tricks and artful techniques to make the most of your abandoned woolens. You’ll make your choice of recycled items (bag, drink coolers, slippers, oven mitts, etc.), which you can choose to embellish later with needle felting.
After lunch, we’ll cover needle felting. Start with a monogram or simple design, then move on to a small sculptured piece (like a fruit or flower pin), then to a larger project, like a hat or doll.
After dinner, relax, knit, or continue with your needle felting projects.
(Students may check out after class Tuesday or relax and stay overnight for Wednesday morning checkout.)
WEDNESDAY
Wednesday morning, we’ll have breakfast, then say our goodbyes and head out with our new felted goodies. Folks planning to take the shuttle should book flights that leave at 11am or later.
Fine artist Betsy Timmer presents her work and demonstrates her techniques.
