Wooly Weekend Retreat is back for Year 13!
Please save the date for our 2026 event, located at the Brown County Inn in Nashville IN. We’ll see you February 6-8. We can’t wait to see your smiling faces!
(This is a picture of a prior Goodybag- our 2026 Goodybag is still top secret!)
Registration Opening Soon!
There are 2 registration options:
Brown County (in person) and Wooly To Go (you get the goodybag and a selection of class videos, but we are unable to live stream classes for 2026. Please consider coming in person!)
Register here for the Brown County Winter Wooly! Not live yet
Register here for Wooly To Go! Not live yet
Note about meals: Traditionally, meals were included in the Winter Wooly Retreat package, but now you are able to opt out of meals if you prefer to go to the restaurant at the Brown County Inn or explore the wonderful restaurants of Nashville!
If you selected the meal package, you’ll be given a voucher for breakfast in the restaurant. You’re welcome to join us for breakfast, but you’ll need to pay your own way if you opted out of the meal plan. Thanks!
Questions? Comments? Please email PaigeShipleyDesigns@gmail.com.
Happy crafting!
-Paige
2026 Classes
Welcomer Dinner: Fried Chicken or Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, Tossed Green Salad, Biscuits with Apple Butter. Vegetarian Option Available - please note dietary requests in registration form
Friday Night Welcome Craft!
It’s a secret! Our first official event is a knitting-adjacent craft appropriate for all skill levels. The kit is provided in your Goodybag.
Breakfast: Breakfast Buffet in the restaurant
Saturday Morning Classes (Pick One)
Eloise L’Escargot
Curious about knitting toys? Baffled by short row shaping? Let’s tackle it together! We’ll be making a little snail with some short row shaping so that she sits up. We’ll talk about the basics of knitting toys (structure, materials, etc) and cover how to personalize your wee garden friend!
Teacher: Paige Shipley
Prerequisites: You should be comfortable knitting in the round with DPNs.
Needles and Notions: Size 5 DPNs. Other notions will be provided in class.
Mini Socks
You’ll be learning some big techniques with this bite-sized project.
Teacher: Shelly Hayes
Prerequisites: TBD
Needles and Notions: TBD
Tunisian Crochet Heart
By popular demand- we have a Tunisian Crochet Class! Tunisian Crochet is a unique technique that combines elements of both crochet and knitting,. resulting in a fabric with a distinct texture that is dense like crochet, but resembles knitting.
We’ll be making a heart-shaped coaster- this quick project should be easy to finish by Valentine’s Day!
Teacher: Bev Pleiss
Skill Level - Intermediate Crochet
Needles and Notions: Size 10/J Crochet Hook. Tunisian hook not required for this small project.
Spinning Yarn with a Drop Spindle
Take your love of fiber arts to the next step- learn to spin your own yarn! Please welcome Amanda of the Clay Purl to Winter Wooly- she will be showing us the ins and outs of drop spindling- drafting fiber, attaching fiber, using a leader, adding twist, parking the spindle - everything you need to make your own yarn!
Teacher: Amanda
Needles and Notions: Drop spindle and fiber provided in class
Lunch: Mediterranean Lunch Buffet
New!
Lecture & Demonstration: Reclaiming Yarn
After lunch, we’ll have a lecture from the amazing Susan!
She will discuss and demonstrate how to reclaim yarn! This short lecture will be followed with Q&A. There is no charge to attend, nor is there a project associated with this presentation.
Saturday Afternoon Classes (Pick One)
Color Structure & Theory
Teacher: Shelly Hayes
Prerequisites: TBD
Needles and Notions: TBD
Darn It! (With Flair!)
When your clothes wear thin, or wear through, you don't have to just throw them out. From denim jeans to knitted socks, mending is a great way to extend the life of a garment. The class will cover using a Speedweve-type loom to create a woven patch right over a hole or weak spot in fabric. We will also cover basic visual mending skills which can be used to cover a hole or tear, or just for fun!
Teacher: Heather Robinson
Materials Provided: Speedweve-type loom, embroidery floss, Size 3 Sharp Tip Embroidery Needle, Denim for practice
*Students can also bring a knitted swatch and scrap yarn for practice
Illusion Knitting
Note- this class is a repeat from 2023.
Illusion Knitting is a technique that creates an image that is only visible when the knitted fabric is viewed from a certain angle. It is one of the cooler knitting techniques out there, and if you can knit and purl, you can do it! Prior experience reading charts is very helpful, but we’re happy to help if that’s a new skill for you.
We’ll be making a washcloth in this class with an adorable secret sheep!
Teacher: Sarah Roth
Prerequisites: Confidently knitting and purling. Reading a pattern.
Helpfull Skills: Reading a knitting chart
Needles and Notions: US Size 6 Needles. We’ll be working back and forth, so circular needles are not required.
Intro to Stranded Colorwork
Paige loves colorwork, and you will too after this class! We’ll be designing and charting our own patterns with the help of Pacific Knit Co.’s Doodle Decks!
Teacher: Paige Shipley
Prerequisites: Knitting and purling in the round.
Needles and Notions: Size 7 24” circular needle
Demonstration: Embroidering onto Knits
Before dinner, we’ll have another demo from Susan! She will be showing us how to embroider onto knitted fabric- so much fun!
This short lecture will be followed with Q&A. There is no charge to attend, nor is there a project associated with this presentation.
Dinner: Traditional Dinner Buffet
Pot Roast, Fried Chicken and a Vegetarian Alternative, as well as veggies and starches
After Dinner: Pajama Party!!!
Sunday Breakfast: Breakfast Buffet in the restaurant
Social Sunday
There are no official classes on Sunday. It’s a great day to catch up with friends, get last-minute assistance from teachers or shop! Breakfast is served and we recommend grabbing a friend and enjoying lunch in beautiful Nashville.
Meet the Teachers!
Sarah Roth
quilts, (occasionally) crochets, and is a rare left-handed knitter—but not to worry, she loves teaching according to whichever way YOU prefer to knit. Her handknits have won top prizes at the Indiana State Fair in two consecutive years, and her illusion knitting patterns have thousands of downloads on Ravely. She loves puzzles, “mental gymnastics,” learning new techniques and tackling complicated patterns. Her favorite things to knit are anything with interesting texture and shape. During non-crafting (aka working) hours, Sarah is a clinical research coordinator and wrangler of her 9-year-old boy—who is a budding crafter too! She also volunteers as a community educator raising awareness about Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia.
Beverly Pleiss
is a Southern Indiana native. She has been crafting since she was young in Mount Vernon, IN, and is excited to share her knowledge with you! After being a recreational knitter and crocheter for most of her life, things ramped up in 2014 when her daughter opened a yarn shop in Huntingburg. Bev began teaching at Serendipity Fibers and has been the go-to person for many fiber crafters in the area when help is needed. She also loves embroidery and cross stitch, and trying new crafts! She lives near Dale, IN with her husband and gardening and spending time with her grandkids.
Welcome aboard, Bev! We’re excited to have you teaching this year!
Shelly Hayes
(aka Michele) has always loved color and the arts. She has been a Marketing Director, a Graphic Designer, and an Art Teacher. But, her dream was to open a shop in Nashville, Indiana where her family calls home. In 2011 the dream was fulfilled when she opened The Clay Purl. The Clay Purl offers beautiful and unique fibers, yarns, tools, spinning wheels and looms. In 2021 The Brown County School for the Fiber Arts was launched with a weekend of fiber-y fun! Classes are offered throughout the year. In 2023 she launched "Color County Yarns and Needle Felting"--a line of creatively hand dyed yarns inspired by the beauty of Brown County, Indiana and original needle felting kits. Shelly loves to create things, and loves the fiber arts!
Amanda Newlin
This picture is Brenda- we need pics/bio for Amanda
Heather Robinson
learned crocheting at 10 years old when she broke an arm (her own) and had nothing else to do that summer. She's never stopped crocheting since that summer, having now become addicted to making crocheted amigurumi. She later learned to knit in college when her character in a play was supposed to knit for income, talk about method acting! For two decades Heather has been designing and teaching knitting and crochet, but her heart lies in curating her yarn collection and buying fiber art tools of all sorts. Heather will never refuse a tasty cracker, chips, or anything crunchy. She also likes bread. Mmm... bread. Heather is co-owner of Brenda and Heather Yarns, as well as the creative genius behind their amazing creations, but don't tell Brenda she said so.
Paige Shipley
knits, crochets, spins and sews as often as possible. She began Good For Ewe Yarn in 2012 and designed, dyed, and distributed until 2021, when she decided it was much more fun to run retreats and teach classes. She will talk about Fair Isle knitting until you make her stop. When she’s not knitting, she’s working in environmental law and writing romance novels. She can often be found with her backside up in the air, muttering to herself and weeding the garden. She has a boisterous 8-year-old daughter, a very patient husband, most of a cat, the laziest dog on the planet, and entirely too many plants.
Vendors:
Massage Therapy by Grant Morrison- offering 15 minute chair massages, and longer massages by appointment
The Clay Purl - Brown County, IN yarn shop
BaH (Brenda and Heather) Yarns - dyers of gradient and self-striping yarns
Rebel Purl - Bloomington, Indiana yarn shop specializing in handpainted yarn in small batches
Wibbly Wobbly Crafts- Hand crafted toys, memory animals, dice bags, notebooks, etc.
Wooly Weekend Merchandise Table - leftovers from the goodybags, all proceeds go to booking the conference rooms for the following year