We are excited to announce that we have partnered with Jacqui Fink to bring you a beautiful new project,
for Knit Stars Season 6. Jacqui will be teaching alongside 10 other amazing designers and Instructors in November 2021. The best part is that it's an online workshop, so anyone around the world can join the fun.
Online Workshop:
You'll get access to Jacqui’s lesson on a unique project called Heartstrings where she will teach you how to use colour and your emotions for the purposes of self-observation, awareness, and self-acceptance.
Your Heartstrings Knitting or Crochet Shawl Kit will contain a curated set of beautiful coloured yarns from our Glencoul, 70% Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) and 30% Cotton range, as well as visually stunning and meaningful digital files of a unique Heartstrings Journal and HeartSpace Worksheet set which are integral to the making of your Heartstrings Shawl.
Our Glencoul, 70% Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) and 30% Cotton DK yarn weight has the feel and subtle sheen of cotton yarn, but with the stretch and durability of wool. We spin RWS wool with cotton in a perfect proportion making the yarn well suited to all seasons it provides breathability and warmth and is easy care qualities.
Responsible Wool Standard is a standard that addresses the best practices of farmers and ensuring that wool comes from farms that have a progressive approach to managing their land, practice holistic respect for animal welfare of the sheep and respect the Five Freedoms of animal welfare.
Heartstrings Knitting or Crochet Shawl Kit
Earlybird special rate:
There's a special Earlybird rate available right now, that's $30 lower than the usual Knit Stars Masterclass Event rate. This special rate is only good through May 9, so now is definitely your best time to join in.
As an Earlybird, you’ll also get first access to this special project.
There are 10 other amazing teachers from around the globe making up Season 6 of Knit Stars, all experts in their field. Knit Stars is the world's biggest online knitting festival. And you own it, so it's yours to watch on your own schedule, as often as you like.
For more information on the Knit Stars enrolment.
talking textiles: jacqui fink
By Ingrid Keneally
Jacqueline Fink – Little Dandelion
Photo credit – Jacqueline Fink website
Hand-knitting ‘slow craft’ specialist Jacqueline Fink is using her creative vision to conjure up powerful exaggerated woolen textile works that maintain serious links to the natural world.
Her company, Little Dandelion, was founded in 2009 after an illness in her family inspired a change in the opposite direction - in her former corporate life Fink worked as a lawyer. Her works are stylistically unique and time-consuming.
And everything about the artist’s process is important, from the high-grade unspun Australian and New Zealand yarn, to her visually soothing shades, ensuring that each piece turns out with a distinctive character that resounds with an expanded earthiness.
How do you work with wool?
My particular form of knitting is quite conceptual. I don’t follow any rules and I make up my own patterns as I need them, through an extensive process of trial and error.
Wool, namely superfine merino wool, is at the heart of everything I make. I am focused on enhancing the natural beauty of this incredible fibre to ensure it is the main event of my creations. Essentially, the wool comes first and I consider my creative expression to be secondary to that.
Do you have a defining moment in your early career?
There have been so many and usually at the hands of my creative friends who have given me a guiding hand at critical stages of the development of my practice. Perhaps one of the most pivotal moments was when I was at the precipice of deciding whether to pursue my idea or not.
A dear friend, who at the time happened to be a magazine editor, said to me, 'Jacqui I see a lot of good ideas come across my desk every day but unless you do something to take your idea from A to B it will only ever be a good idea. Just start!’ That was early 2010 and I’ve never looked back.
Did anything in your childhood influence what you do now?
While I never considered myself to be particularly creative, I spent hours engaged in really menial pursuits requiring my hands and a great deal of focus and patience. Knitting was one such activity, taught to me by my Mum.
I never committed to learning the language of knitting, though. I’m not a fan of maths and the fact that knitting is very mathematical made it hard for me to learn. So, I just knitted simple stitches in straight rows, row after row after row.
I was aware, even as a child, that I was drawn to the therapeutic quality of the rituals and rhythms associated with knitting. It always made me feel calm and centered. I am better at maths these days and can now read a pattern.
What are the professional achievements you are most proud of?
This year I launched my new K1S1 extreme knitting yarn together with K1S1 Industrial needles. I started working on developing the yarn with a specialist mill in New Zealand in 2013 and it has taken a great deal of work and patience to get the yarn to this stage. I wanted a way to share what I do with other knitters and crafters so they too could know the joy that is extreme knitting.
Is there something you wish you’d known when you were starting out in wool?
No - not at all. I have no technical background in Fine Arts or textiles at all and so my learnings are essentially self-taught and borne out of a great deal of experimentation and mistake making.
What I don’t know has actually spurred me on in my discovery process. Not knowing the technical parameters means that I have been free to explore all possibilities and problem solve until I find a way of making a creative vision a reality. Of course, I have absorbed a tremendous amount of knowledge about wool since I started my journey back in 2010.
Why do you think wool/working with textiles is seemingly cool again?
Perhaps because they are often evocative of a timeless and simple beauty. Wool is an incredibly versatile fibre. Not only is it sustainable, I am convinced it has therapeutic qualities, too. It is chic, luxurious, comforting and calming and who doesn’t want a bit of that in their homes?
Do you have a dream wool project?
I am always on the lookout for projects that will allow me to satisfy my fascination with an ever increasing scale. I love to challenge myself physically to see that I can create with my two hands.
I have lots of plans in store for some large-scale installations, but some of the materials and natural colours I work with actually take a long time to accumulate and so the timing of some projects in entirely dependent on the sheep and the farmers I work with.
Which artists who work in the wool/textile industry have inspired you?
I don’t look externally to other people for inspiration for my work. My creative process is very intuitive and comes from some deep mysterious place within. What I do, however, is look to other creatives I admire from a variety of disciplines to help keep me motivated and energized.
When it comes to wool and textiles, though, I love Australian brand I Love Mr Mittens. Stephanie has single-handedly made hand-made knitwear impossibly cool. I greatly admire Wool and The Gang for their democratic and innovative approach to knitting. And the fibre work of the beautiful Beatrice Waanders of The Soft World in the Netherlands makes my heart skip beats.
What is an adored woollen item in your wardrobe, or home, and why?
We use and enjoy a couple of my woollen throws every day, especially in winter. In summer, they serve more as a textural element to a room but it is a rare sight not to see one of our pets on them.
The best beginner’s task from your point of view:
A scarf knitted in garter stitch is a gentle entry point into the world of knitting. I also think it is a little easier learning to knit with a larger needle (say a 10mm or 20mm) and chunky yarn.
