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Now that we're into a new year, we're noticing increased interest in learning to knit and crochet. With the January and February classes up for booking on the class page, we thought it would be useful to talk a little about our beginner classes. We have regular beginner courses in both knitting and crochet, and they last over three weeks, at which time you'll be well-equipped to branch out in any direction you like. If you've never knitted or crocheted at all or dimly remember primary school craft classes, this would be a good place to start. The classes happen in the shop, where we've now got a dedicated teaching space. There's room for four people in each class, which means that you get lots of personal attention from the teacher. Over the three weeks of the knitting course, you'll be working on a couple of projects, which introduce you smoothly to the basic skills. Typically, you'll be working on this Mistake Rib scarf a couple of minutes into the first class: In the second week, you'll move on to knitting in the round, working on a simple (and rather stylish) hat. After that, the knitting world is your oyster. Once you can knit and purl, working flat and in the round, you can embark on anything - and our students do! Popular next steps are the Cute As One Button baby cardigan and the All Seasons cardigan - though the choice is entirely up to you, and students often come to the course with a dream project which starts at this point. The beginning crochet course also starts from zero. The first week typically covers holding the yarn and the hook and working the most basic stitches, with suggestions of suitable patterns - by the end of the course you'll be working both flat and in the round, so you'll be able to tackle anything. And our students do - again, the dream project takes shape. After that, it's up to you. You could move on to specific skills (Irish crochet or finishing techniques or stranded colourwork, for example) - our intermediate classes can help there. If you want assistance with one specific aspect of your craft, our project help sessions can be useful. And now that we have the teaching space, we can provide any class you want - why not gather a few friends and learn something new together? We'd love to help. And the very best testimonial we can offer is the work of our students - and you can see it on this Ravelry thread. It makes us proud.