Knitting: Introduction to Stranding a Cozy Cowl
With Celeste Nossiter
De-mystify stranded color knitting, it’s easier than it looks!
Make a simple cowl using 2 colors of sock yarn, one multi and one solid. Students choose their own motifs with guidance. A fun way to learn knitting with two hands.
Must have basic knitting experience.
This workshop takes place across two afternoons.
Day 1 – January 4, 2026 from 1:00pm-4:00pm
Day 2 – January 11, 2026 from 1:00pm-4:00pm
Before the workshop, students will need to complete some homework. Using the solid color yarn, cast on 180 stitches, any method. Knit 2 rows without joining. Then, being careful not to get a twist, join your work and knit in the round for 5 more rounds.
- Skill level Intermediate
- Age appropriate 16+ (minors must have a parent on site)
- Students should bring 16” circular needle, size 2 or 3. 2 skeins of fingering weight or sock yarn. 1 solid color and 1 variegated skein with high contrast to the solid color. Students should also bring note-taking materials, a drink and a snack for themselves.
Instructor
Celeste NossiterAll my life the joy and mystery of color has been my motivating principle, first in painting and now in knitwear design. I have a BA from Brandeis University and an MFA from Pratt Institute but after being a starving artist and unable to get a full time college teaching job, I gave up that dream. Twenty years later I discovered Fair Isle knitting. In 2003 a knitting tour of Shetland, Scotland rekindled my creative juices and I began making my own knitted designs. That sparked an intensive learning period when I experienced that color in knitting doesn’t work the same way as color on canvas.
Since I love travel I started analyzing traditional textile motifs from different cultures and the trade routes by which they are shared across cultures. Several trips to Turkey inspired me to translate traditional tribal Anatolian and classical Ottoman motifs into knitted designs.
My greatest joy is sharing my passion with students: helping them translate their personal inspirations into knitted designs. That includes an experiential, hands-on approach to learning more about color so they can get their desired results. I teach beginning and intermediate classes in stranded knitting and a playful approach to color theory. My heart’s desire is to bring out the inner artist that exists in everyone through stranded knitting and color study.
I teach at yarn stores including Fiber Arts on 4th; The Yarn Store at Nob Hill and Village Wools in Albuquerque;Looking Glass Yarns in Santa Fe; Purl in the Pines in Flagstaff, AZ; Vortex Yarns, Taos NM; private studios and festivals including the Taos Wool Festival, Mt & Valley Fiber Festival in Santa Fe; On Higher Ground Retreat in Taos and Fiber Art Fiesta in Albuquerque.
