This weekend I attended two Nancy Bush workshops at the Knitting Sisters in Williamsburg, Virginia. Nancy Bush is the author of a number of books, the latest being Knitted Lace of Estonia.
The first workshop was scheduled for three hours on Saturday and Sunday. The focus of the workshop was the traditional lace shawls made in Haapsalu, Estonia. The work shop was to cover the techniques of the traditional shawls by making a miniature rectangular "shawl" that includes Estonian stitch patterns (for example, nupps) and Estonian finishing techniques.
All in all, for me, the work shop was a disappointing exercise in frustration that achieved very little. The unfortunate part is that it did not have to be that way. A few changes in the design of the work shop would have made it a success.
The major flaw of the work shop was that the miniature shawl that was to be knitted was far too large to be created in the time available. Many people spent many, many hours after class knitting the center. I know that I got up at 1AM and knitted until 4:430 AM so that I would be at the point to begin knitting the edging. That's where we were supposed to be at the beginning of Sunday morning's class. However, because the center of the miniature shawl was so ridiculously large, it required knitting lots and lots of edging - too much edging to be knitted in the remaining time left Sunday's session in the workshop.
Even if you accomplished the significant amount of knitting that was required before Sunday's session, it only set you up for further frustration and disappointment. Sunday morning we were faced with the challenge of knitting a simple lace pattern, 121 stitches and 12 rows within three hours. If you finished (and only one person in a group of twenty or so did finish) you had no time for anything else.
The center of the shawl was SIXTY rows of the lily of the valley pattern. This links shows a slide of Nancy's sample. That is a significant amount of knitting to be accomplished in such a short period of time. Additionally many people had difficulty with the pattern. Each row has a yarn over either before or after a nupp. It was very easy to include the yarn over in the nupp when knitting the "purl" side. Nancy said that she selected that pattern because of that element. I believe that was a mistake. Too many people spent too much time trying to learn how to knit nupps within a tricky lace pattern. Furthermore, there was absolutely no reason why we had to knit sixty rows. It was clear insanity and only set people up for not being able to finish the edging - which meant that they missed one of the most powerful elements of the Estonian design - the sewn on edge.
Several times Nancy mentioned that the way she designed the work shop was the only way that it could be designed and that we needed more time, perhaps even a retreat. I disagree - the project needs to be redesigned, and such a redesign will allow individuals to focus on the techniques within a six hour work shop. The center design needed to be much smaller so that Sunday morning could be spent actually applying the Estonian construction techniques, not just knitting another lace edging pattern that was so extensive that nothing else could be accomplished.
I think the most powerful element of the Estonian construction design is the sewn on edging. Yes, I know it sounds kludgey but it has great potential. You could design a center rectangle and design a edging of any type and flawlessly attach the two. I think that capability is similar to the power and potential found in the discovery that rubbing two sticks together creates fire.
The traditional Estonian approach provides a formula so that you can figure out how many stitches you need for the edging. The formula is based upon the dimensions of the center piece. It would have been profoundly better if we simply knitted as much of the center as time/personal skill permitted (one or two repeats of the pattern would have been sufficient - and would have provided enough nupp practice- there was no need for five repeats), and then applied the formula to our center to determine the number of stitches needed for the edge. This would have been far superior and more meaningful than the insanity of knitting sixty rows and using a cookie cutter approach to twenty people who have different knitting speeds. We would have been able to actually APPLY that formula instead of simply accepting that sixty rows and thirty one stitches means that half of the edging requires 121 stitches.
I was very disappointed with Nancy's presentation on nupps. It was cursory and superficial. I asked additional questions regarding how to make them consistent and questions regarding how blocking effects them. I felt that my questions were only partially addressed and the answers were not very helpful. For example, I told her that someone has a project on Ravelry with exceptionally consistent nupps. She created them by using an additional dpn, held parallel to her knitting needle. Nancy's answer was that isn't it incredible that some people have all the time in the world to spend on things and that we should simply use our hands to make them consistent. I did not find this answer to be particularly helpful.
Members of the workshop spent a huge amount of time knitting nupps - the sixty rows of lily of the valley included FIFTY nupps - it would have been helpful had she examined our work and given feedback. I do not believe that given the amount of time people had invested that would have been too much to ask. Furthermore, there was time to provides such feedback while we were all on the hamster wheel to nowhere, knitting too many rows of lily of the valley and endless edging that will never be attached.
I have come to the conclusion that I will never knit a traditional Haapsalu shawl. Although they are very beautiful, I am enchanted with designs like Elizabeth Freeman's Aeolian because it has some of the construction elements of an Estonian shawl while it still has the potential to create something unique. IMHO the traditional Estonian shawls feel too stuck within constraints and “rules.” It seems that the Aeolian design is infinitely more expressive than a traditional Estonian shawl. Further, I felt that Nancy was trying to "sell" ideas that were traditional but absolutely not workable. For example, the material list included bamboo or little wood needles nine to ten inches in length. The primary reason to use needles this size, when circular bamboo needles would be much preferable, is because that's how a traditional Haapsalu shawl would be created - and created that way because these are the only types of needles that have been available. I find this type of thinking and such adherence to traditional constraints to be absurd and suffocating.
And finally, there is one last element of the work shop that has troubled me. Before composing this post I spoke to one of the owner's of the Knitting Sisters, the shop who hosted the work shop, about my general comments as well as the following. I had that discussion with the owner to ensure that there wasn't some information that I was missing, as well as to give her feedback. (As an aside, I will be sending Nancy my constructive criticisms of the workshop.) I was troubled with some inconsistencies. Nancy had mentioned twice in the work shop that she enjoyed helping someone who was using Knit Picks needles. She liked the construction of the needles but would never purchase them because she refused to support an on line company that under cuts local yarn shops. She mentioned this twice. By undercutting I assume she means that they don't have any of the overhead or infrastructure of a brick and mortar enterprise, and can do things that LYSs can't. In talking with one of the owner's of the Knitting Sisters she mentioned that one of the ways that Knit Picks under cuts LYSs is by being able to sell knitting books at deep discounts. Nancy's comments about Knit Picks was quite interesting in view of the following. During the workshop she was asked twice about what yarn would be preferable to use. Her answers were long and convoluted. In fact, so long that I can't remember any specific brand name mentioned. What I was hoping for was an answer such as, well here at the Knitting Sisters, this, this and this yarn would make a good choice. I think the best answer she finally gave was this - an all wool, lace weight that is worsted-spun. When I did an internet search on worsted-spun lace weight yarns I found a number of very well known yarns. I am wondering why she did not mention them.
In her book, Knitted Lace of Estonia, she only provides one yarn recommendation for each design. I find that very disappointing. Many designers like Anne Hanson will typically provide a significant number of yarn recommendations. Further, some of the designs in the book recommend yarns carried by Wooly West. I found this most peculiar. For example, the Peacock Tail and Leaf Scarf, the Leaf and Nupp and the Triangular Summer Shawl all recommend Wooly West Horizons Lace Yarn. I had never heard of Wooly West Yarn. I did an internet search and it appears that the only place that you can purchase Wooly West Lace Yarn is at Wooly West. Wooly West is not a brick and mortar shop - but you can order your yarn and needles from Wooly West. And who is Wooly West? Well, of course, Wooly West is owned by Nancy Bush. In the list of resources at the back of her book, Wooly West is listed. I therefore question, isn't Nancy Bush really an on line resource, just like Knit Picks, who has products and marketing strategies that LYSs do not have (such as writing a book that has designs which recommend one particular kind of yarn, carried by only one retailer, who is accessible only through a catalog or the internet), while not having any of the over head associated with a LYS?
I also attended a second work shop with Nancy Bush - Estonian Traveling Stitches. In contrast to the other workshop, this one was quite good. It was informative, well structured and doable. During the workshop Nancy provided a great deal of information about the culture and people of Estonia, while maintaining a relevant dialog with members of the work shop who had traveled extensively.
