The spring make-along is behind us. So many new friendships were made and stunning projects completed! We tackled crochet, brioche and many knit their very first sweater. I'd love to keep that momentum going in the amazing community we've built with more making that surpasses just Knit Collage yarn and patterns. With this in mind, I'm excited to tell you a little bit about our Creative Knitters membership in the video above.

My hope is to inspire more knitters to take their knitting into uncharted territories and to lean into their creativity in a bigger way! If you've followed along here for a while you know that I am a big believer that knitting (and making things in any form!) makes us better in countless ways. My favorite being that it revives our inner artist.

Through my own journey of coming back to my creative self, something became crystal clear along the way and it’s the real reason behind why I continue to show up and do what I do here at Knit Collage. It’s all about coming home to your authentic, creative self and supporting you to just do you – whatever that may look like in your life. I'm here to stand up for your inner artist, maybe your suppressed artist, maybe you had a teacher who told you, you couldn't draw or you couldn't do art. Maybe someone even made fun of you when you tried to express yourself. Or maybe you've just been just so busy with life, being a mom or caretaker, or trying to make a living and hold everything together and you've just worked yourself to a bone.

What I know first from my personal experience and from our community is that we all have an artist within us. We all have the right to be an artist. It actually makes us all better humans – more free, more spontaneous, more patient, more happy, more fulfilled. So I'm here (along with the small yet mighty Knit Collage team!) to support and cheerlead your creativity so that you have the space to get to know your inner artist better! Maybe you diving into your craft in a deeper way sets an example for your kids, your grandkids or your community. It tells them that you value creativity and art. Maybe the sweaters you knit are your legacy. Our Creative Knitters membership is where this support and learning happens. I'd love to invite you to join in on a new, making journey with us where your inner artist shines.

Creative Knitters ties into our yarns and our make-alongs (think early access to the kits and a monthly $10 site credit) but goes way beyond our yarns to include a video vault of techniques as well as ways to get knitting and crochet help (on any pattern or any yarn) with expert teachers (all on zoom!)...not to mention learning-packed events and an inspiring, inclusive community ready to help you at every step! Our first all day virtual retreat kicks off at the end of July and comes included with your membership. 

Alrighty so here is what you get ~ it's a whole lot!

• A video vault – This is geared to all levels of knitters but will be especially beneficial to beginner knitters to start. The video vault is yours forever and hosted on teachable. Right when you join, you’ll get access to the 130+ videos tutorials - simple basics like – how to read a yarn label, what is the difference between yarn weights, our favorite tools, simple cast on and knit stitch tutorials. This is all the stuff that I wish I had known when I started knitting. I spent hours on youtube looking for tutorials – it was painful. This is a one stop place for simple, clear videos. You’ll also find more advanced tutorials on short rows, colorwork, lace, blocking, brioche, intarsia and more!

• Events - Each month we have one to two virtual learning events! We’ve learned how to add beads and sequins to our knitting with Brazilian teacher Paula Pereira, how to Tunisian crochet with Toni Lipsey and just last week, we learned how to make a macrame plant holder with Tayla David – the list goes on! Members from Knit Collage also lead us in events – Laurel taught us how to fix ALL the mistakes a few months ago and Cheryl recently led a class on how to add curly locks to a collar for the ultimate show stopping accessory. These are fun way for us to up our skills in connect as a community.

• Holiday Party - Every December we also host a fun holiday trivia party complete with a signature cocktail (or mocktail) recipe to follow, fancy dress (if you feel inspired!) and prizes. We gave out over $500 in trivia prizes last time, it was a blast!

• Virtual Events - We now host two virtual events a year and our next one is slated for the last weekend in July! This event will feature some celebrity fiber arts teachers, community members and Knit Collage team members who will teach us! The theme of this event is flowers and knitting. Class topics include, portugese knitting, pressed flower art, how to make a knitted planter, knitting tips and tricks, floral arranging and SO MUCH MORE!! I’ll lead a behind the scenes look into the the patterns and yarns we have coming out this fall. We’ll as lots of fun community hang out sessions too.

• Community - Making in community is just better. It’s about accountability and cheerleading and it’s just so much more fun that way! We’ll host our community in a private FB group and will encourage you to connect and cheerlead each other. Posts here can be about any project, any yarn. We love it all! We’ll host Zoom calls every week (sometimes twice a week) in addition to the monthly events. All of them are recorded if you would like to watch them later. We connect you by location and by your cohort of folks you joined with to foster a small group feel. If you want to meet up with folks that live near you in real life, fantastic.

This is a great place to say too – that all skill sets will be welcome. Expert knitters know that ripping is part of knitting. Even after knitting for 20+ years I still CONTSTANTLY make mistakes and it stinks but then I learn and grow. My hope for this community is that it is a place where any skill set will feel comfortable to share their wins and failures – because we’ve all been there and that is part of getting better.

Over on zoom, the team and I are always looking at how to make the zoom experience better for everyone too. We have some new call formats planned that we cannot wait to try out – this means different types of break out rooms and posing funny or thought provoking Q’s (centered around making) to foster connection.

•  Help - What happens when you realize you’ve made a seemingly fatal knitting error and there’s nothing else you can do?!!!!!! You need help or else the entire project may be tossed to the wayside never to be returned to again. When I started knitted this very problem led to many an unfinished project. We’ve come up with something really cool here for you to get the help you need, when you need it. If you’ve done our KALs before you might know Cheryl and Anne – our knitting guru/goddess/tech queens. They both help knitters out all the time in our KALs. But now they’ll be helping you with any yarn/any project – not just made with knit collage yarn and patterns. You’ll sign up for a thirty minute time slot to zoom with her and get any kind of knitting help that you might need. We’re going to have a process for doing this through sign up genius that will be simple and easy for you to use. Think of it like your virtual knit helper when you need it. My hope is that this will get you finishing more projects with anxiety!

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   Creativity – this is the biggest one for me but probably the least tangible. We will be encouraging you to embrace your creativity and freedom of self-expression each and every week. How can you push yourself creatively? I imagine this will be through our example – what we’re knitting at knit collage but also through community and highlighting your incredible work. We may embrace stash busting/yarn mixing unofficial knitalongs and other fun projects the group feels moved by. 

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   Early Access - The next thing and this is a big one – you’ll get early access to our knitalongs. In the past fall and spring KALS we sold out of some colors within minutes. This will give a leg up to make sure you get the colors you love. You’ll also get early access to other knit collage new releases – any new yarns, patterns and products that I don’t plan to always keep in stock as well as sale yarns. You will get first dibs.

   

  All of our yarn is handmade in India – not only is it time intensive to make, the virus has taken a toll on our leadtime lengths mainly because of the ongoing shipping crisis. The lead times we are working with keep getting longer which means I have to decide earlier and earlier what I need to order – it’s so tricky to say the least! Despite my best efforts, it is near impossible to guess each time correctly….which means getting that early access will definitely come in handy to ensure you get exactly what you like.

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   Surprises - The team and I surprise you with a fun gift of yarn around the holidays. You also get loads of free patterns and small perks like free shipping from time to time!  

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   $10 monthly credit - You’ll also get a $10 credit to use on the knit collage website every month. If you don’t use it one month, it will simply roll over to the next month. If you’re so inclined, you can save these all up to use towards our make-alongs.

   Ok so that is it, I think I covered everything! The cost is $42 per month- a cost that increases each time we open registration because we keep adding more to what you get.

•  Registration will be open for one week only. The next time to be able to join may be in about 6 months from now – Feb 2023. If we get a lot of interest right now we may not open it again for another year or so. This time around you have the option to sign up for a yearlong membership and save around $75 if you go that route.

   

  Registration will open on. July 20th at 10am ET and stay open for one week, closing on July 27th Then the fun begins. Right when you join, you get access to that video vault and the community.

  Right when you join, you get access to that video vault and community. Our virtual event kicks off July 28th evening at 7:30pm EST.

   

  If you feel your inner artist calling to explore and go deeper or if you’ve simply joined in our KALs and enjoyed the experience, I invite you to join me on a new, friend filled creative adventure. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions and if there’s one aspect of the membership that interests you the most. I’d love to hear it!