Labor Day marks the unofficial end to the summer season - city pools are closing, lifeguards are abandoning their beach posts, white sandals are banished to the back of the closet, and students everywhere are heading back to school.

We've been very busy here at La Casita putting together a jam packed "back to school" fall schedule to help you learn the skills you need to take your projects to the next level.

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Beginning in September, we will be offering "bite sized" one hour technique classes designed for knitters who have mastered the basic stitches and are looking for ways to expand their skills.  These classes will be technique rather than project driven, but at the end of each class we will suggest project ideas that utilize the skills you just learned.

Classes will be held on Tuesday and Friday evenings from 7:00 - 8:00 pm, and will cost $25 for a single session, or $100 for a package of any 5 sessions.  Our  schedule for September/October is below.  Please view our calendar on our website for full class descriptions.

Circular Knitting A - Tue Sep 7 and Fri Sep 17
Increases and Decreases - Fri Sep 10 and Tue Sep 14
Cables & Elements of Arans - Tue Sep 21 and Fri Oct 1
Pattern Reading and Gauge - Fri Sep 24 and Tue Sep 28

Intarsia - Tue Oct 5
Circular Knitting B - Fri Oct 8 and Tue Oct 19
Fixing Mistakes - Tue Oct 12 and Fri Oct 22
Entrelac - Tue Oct 26 and Fri Nov 5
Short Rows - Fri Oct 29 and Tue Nov 2

Upcoming classes include:  fair isle, blocking, seaming, taking body measurements, crochet for knitters, and more.  If you have any class ideas that you don't see, please let us know.  We would love to hear your ideas!

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We are extremely excited to be bringing celebrated knitters Jared Flood and Shirley Paden to La Casita for a series of master workshops in October.  (Please note that the shop will be closed during the hours of the workshops but will otherwise be open those days.)

Shirley Paden is an internationally recognized hand knitwear designer whose creations and articles have appeared in Vogue Knitting, Interweave Knits, Interweave Crochet, and many other publications.  Shirley will be at La Casita on Sunday October 3rd to teach her comprehensive four-hour finishing class.  The workshop will be held from 4:00 - 8:00 pm, and Shirley will  also be on hand at 3:00 pm for a book signing.  The price for the workshop is $75 and class size is limited to 12 students. 

Jared Flood is another of the industry's best loved designers, photographers, and bloggers.  We are fortunate to have him at La Casita on Saturday October 23rd for a Jared Flood Double Header.  From 9:00 am - 12:00 pm, Jared will be instructing a class on Seamless Sweaters, where you will learn how to convert patterns that are designed to be knit in several pieces into a seamless pattern knit all in one piece.  From 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm, Jared will be workshopping his Koolhaas hat pattern, where he will teach you a unique way to create cables without using an actual cabling needle.  (Please note that the Koolhaas pattern must be purchased and the initial ribbing must be completed in advance of the class.)  The  price for the Seamless Sweater workshop is $75 and the Koolhaas Crashcourse workshop is $50.  Class size is limited to 16 students for both workshops.

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