Creative Course 2

The Creative Course 2 subscription covers innovative ways of manipulating knitted fabric during the making of a costume piece in miniature. For this project I have developed methods of working within knitting to produce pronounced and elaborate 3 dimensional shapes which I have turned into a highly creative decorative accessory. The Dùn cuff directions are provided in three sizes, please scoll down toward the base of the page for final measurements, materials and purchase information.

The main body of the cuff is entirely knitted, with the exception of one stitched top hemline seam. The shapes, textures and inside finishings are all created through knitting. The fluted ruffle is formed through shaped knitting and it is then hand felted and blocked to produce a firm and distinct finish which will hold its shape permanenty.

This course is entirely digital and contains no physical content. All course content is accessed online via our steek dot scot website so a computer and internet connection are essential to access the course. The workbook and colour template can be viewed online, but are also provided in a form that is suitable for printing on a home printer. You will also need to have materials on hand to use this course. You will find a list of required materials further down this page.

The Creative Course 2 subscription is open to you for a full year from purchase date so that you can learn at your own pace. To give an idea of timescale needed for the course you can make a single cuff in approx. 2-3 days. A year will give you ample time to make all the example cuffs and many more. The course contains 2 hours of comprehensive video tutorials. You do not have to watch them all at once – they are presented in small sections, allowing you to easily find and watch the videos relevant to whichever aspect you are working on. This means that you can focus your attention before moving on to the next stage.

During this course as you make a cuff you will learn how to –

• Make knots with a second colour on background colour.
• Work stranded and textured colour knitting.
• Make a neat and attractive knitted hemline.
• Increase stitches within a purl facing pattern.
• Knit perfect facings within a structure.
• Create padded bands
• Use your knitting as a guide when following a textured pattern.
• Pick up buttonbands along padded edges.
• Make buttonholes within a stranded and textured pattern.
• Work short row shaping
• Weaving-in colour ends as you work.
• Felt and shape a ruffle.
• Knit and felt buttons.

I also designed the cuff as an ideal template to use for your own colour experimentation. The small size of the project makes means that very small amounts of yarn can be used to create colour palettes. The cuffs can be made quickly and so you can easily go on to create an endlessly varied collection of cuffs which will extend your colourwork skills in a painless and joyful manner.  A variety of example cuffs are shown to give you an idea of the huge scope for creating your own colour schemes.

This course is designed for all abilities, but assumes that you can cast on, knit, purl and cast off. If you are a complete beginner you can learn all the basics in our free Video Tutorials section on the Virtual Yarns website. You will need to study the Cast-on Methods tutorial; the Knit & Purl tutorial; the Casting Off tutorial and the Tension tutorial for how to make and measure a Stocking Stitch swatch. Once you are comfortable and confident making a swatch and achieving an even tension you are ready to begin.

You can also buy a Creative Course 2 Yarn Pack from our Virtual Yarns website which you can use to experiment and make cuffs. You will need Creative Course 2 for the instructions and tutorials. You can find the Creative Course 2 Yarn Pack here.