Wooly Weekend Retreat is back for Year 12!
Please save the date for our 2025 event, located at the Brown County Inn in Nashville IN. We’ll see you February 7-9. We can’t wait to see your smiling faces!
(This is a picture of a prior Goodybag- our 2025 Goodybag is still top secret!)
Registration Closes Sunday, November 17th!
There are 2 registration options:
Brown County (in person) and Wooly To Go (you get the goodybag and class videos, but we are unable to live stream classes for 2025. Please consider coming in person!)
Register here for the Brown County Winter Wooly!
Register here for Wooly To Go!
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
2025 Classes
Welcomer Dinner: Soup & Salad Buffet
Friday Night Welcome Craft!
Jen of Bur Oak Studio is putting together a fun Welcome craft for us! If you have a pair of pliers or wire cutters, feel free to bring them!
Breakfast: Breakfast Buffet in the restaurant
Saturday Morning Classes (Pick One)
Intro to Crochet
Helena of Oink Pigments will be your guide down the rabbit hole!
This class is intended for true beginners- if you’ve never crocheted before and are wanting to get a grasp of the basics - chaining, single crochet, etc, this class is for you! We’ll be working with a worsted weight yarn lovingly dyed by Oink Pigments.
Teacher: Helena Bristow
Needles and Notions: Crochet hook- suggested sizes are 5.5, 6, or 6.5mm. *If you order a hook at registration, you’ll get a 6mm.
2 Color Brioche
Take your brioche knitting to the next level! Learn how to work simple increases and decreases in Two-Color Brioche to create a stunning effect that is not as complicated to create as it looks! Knowledge of how to work Brioche knitting is needed, and Two-Color Brioche experience would be a help, but if you're willing to try it, so are we!
Teacher: Brenda Vanlerberghe
Prerequisites: Basic brioche experience. This class is tangy, and it should not be your first time with brioche.
Needles and Notions: Size 8 Circular Needle 24-32 inch long cable
FULL!
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
Perfect Fit Sweater Workshop
Note- this is a repeat class from 2019!
Paige has knitted a LOT of sweaters. Some of them are great- some, not so much. (This class could also be called “Lessons Learned the Hard Way”) We’ll cover everything you need to know to make your next sweater your best sweater, including (but not limited to) substituting yarn, how to research patterns, measuring and understanding your body type and easy pattern adjustments to make for a more flattering fit, and everyone’s favorite- gauge! What gauge is, how to get it, what to do if you aren’t getting it, and why you might not actually want to get gauge. We’ll even bust out the whiteboard and do some sweater math!
*Lecture applies to knit and crochet
Teacher: Paige Shipley
*There is not a project associated with this class. You’ll receive a booklet and a souvenir skein of yarn dyed just for you!
Lunch: Mediterranean Lunch Buffet
Saturday Afternoon Classes (Pick One)
Beyond the Basics- Crochet Level 2
Are you wanting to level up your crochet skills? This class is designed for crafters who have a couple projects under their belt and are looking for a challenge. Helena is going to show us the ins and outs of some advanced stitches and construction techniques.
Prerequisites include: Chaining, single crochet, double crochet.
Crochet hook- suggested sizes are 5.5, 6, or 6.5mm. *If you order a hook at registration, you’ll get a 6mm.
Full! Selbu Mittens - Intro to Stranded Colorwork
Sebu mittens are cherished in Norway and around the world as they embody Norwegian heritage and craftsmanship. The technique and patterns have been passed down through generations.
First created by a young teenager, Marit Guldseth Emstad in 1857. These mittens traditionally feature the distinctive Selburose - an eight pointed star motif knit in 2 contrasting colors, often the 2 colors were wound into a ball together. By the mid 20th century the small region of Selbu was exporting thousands of these handknit masterpieces all over the world.
Teacher: Shelly Hayes
Prerequisites: Confidently knitting and purling in the round. Ribbing, reading a pattern.
Helpful Skills: Magic Loop knitting, 2 color knitting, using a chart, increasing and decreasing.
Needles and Notions: For medium - 32 inch circular needles in size 2.5 and size 2, or DPNs. For large - 32 inch circular needles in size 3 and 2.5, or DPNs. I use DPNs in the larger size for the thumb.
Full!
Double Knitting
Double knitting is an intermediate-advanced technique that allows you to create two layers of fabric at the same time with stockinette facing outwards on both sides! The finished piece is completely reversible and twice as warm. Sarah has created an adorable sheep pattern for us to make! Your supplies will include 100g of white/undyed yarn and 2x 50g skeins in different colors so you have enough yarn to make 2 hot pads. Note- this is a practice run, we’ll be working with different colors!
Teacher: Sarah Roth
Prerequisites: Mastery of knitting and purling. Ability to read a pattern. Experience reading charts is helpful. Bonus points if you have time to learn the Italian two-color cast on so we can make the most of our class time.
Needles and Notions: US Size 8. We’ll be working back and forth so it doesn’t matter if it’s straight or circular. **If you order needles at registration, you’ll get a size 8 circular needle.
Intro to Cables - Pillow
Curious about Cables? We’ll be working three kinds of cables (with and without a cable needle) in this quick-to-knit pillow!
You should be able to knit and purl confidently in the round. We’ll cover cabling and chart reading in class. Cable needles will be available in class.
Teacher: Paige Shipley
Prerequisites: Knitting and purling in the round.
Needles and Notions: US Size 10 circular needle in a 24” length, 5 stitch markers, cable needle or a spare DPN. You’ll be provided with a cable needle in class.
Not included: pillow form. The pattern calls for a 12” square pillow form but feel free to use whatever you’d like!
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 Crafting Sunday
There are no official events 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 7-year-old boy—who is a budding crafter too! She also volunteers as a community educator raising awareness about Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia.
Helena Bristow
has been Vice Pigmentologist at Oink Pigments since its inception in 2010. She learned to crochet at age 4, and taught herself to knit when she started graduate school for the first time. She often jokes that “knitting stuck; grad school did not” -- Helena has now dropped out of two different graduate programs because she would rather be playing with yarn. Helena can usually be found driving all over the country in her yarn van, to fiber festivals and local yarn stores.
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!
Brenda Vanlerberghe
taught herself how to knit by watching an online video tutorial. She practiced with pencils as she didn't own knitting needles and wanted to make sure she liked the craft before she invested in any expensive supplies. Halfway through her first project, a wash cloth, she got bored with just the knit stitch and moved on to knitting a yoga mat bag adorned with cables. Brenda is a fearless designer, but also a thoughtful one because she never likes to rip out a project! Brenda learned to crochet so that she could make a toy, and to this day she's only ever crocheted in circles. You can bribe her with M&Ms, fancy coffee creamers, and the suggestion of pizza for dinner. Brenda is co-owner of Brenda and Heather Yarns, as well as the creative genius behind their amazing creations, but don't tell Heather she said so.
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 7-year-old daughter, a very patient husband, most of a cat, 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
Oink Pigments - lovers of pigs and puns, dyers of over 160 bright and playful colorways on over a dozen bases
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