Fiber to Fabric
with
Margaret Radcliffe
Class price:
$195
Session(s) per class:
4
From dependable sheep’s wool to tricky rayon, every yarn is individual. Each type of fiber, from a specific breed of sheep or other fiber-bearing animal, from plants like bamboo, hemp and flax, manmade or remanufactured, brings its own distinct benefits and challenges to a knitting project. Learn to evaluate the potentials of your particular yarn and approaches that ensure success in your hand knit garments.
We will cover the roles of garment architecture, fit and borders, ways to prevent sagging and biasing in inelastic fibers, and pattern stitches and seaming to stabilize garments. Class will be a combination of lecture, hands-on work, and discussion. Students will take away an understanding of fiber characteristics, yarn behavior in knitted fabrics, and an arsenal of techniques for best results. Note that homework will be assigned to be completed before each of the four class sessions.
Dates & Times
Next Available Class:
April 18, 2026
11:00am - 1:00pm ET
3:00pm - 5:00pm ET
April 19, 2026
11:00am - 1:00pm ET
3:00pm - 5:00pm ET
Meet Your Teacher
Margaret Radcliffe
Margaret Radcliffe is a renowned knitting author, designer, and instructor with decades of experience, celebrated for her expert teaching at major fiber events and her passion for heritage breed fibers.
Class Information
Skill Level
Intermediate through advanced. Students should be comfortable casting on,
binding off, working simple pattern stitches, increasing & decreasing, and picking
up stitches for borders. Students will find this class most helpful if they have
already finished several garments.
Required Materials
• One ball of each of the following yarns. Sport, DK or worsted weight preferred.
1. 100% fine wool (for example, Merino)
2. 100% longwool or coarser wool (for example, Icelandic, or Wensleydale)
3. 100% other animal fiber (for example, angora, alpaca, or cashmere)
4. 100% cotton
5. 100% linen or hemp (be sure to get natural which is stiff, not rayon)
6. 100% silk or rayon (look for a soft slippery yarn, rather than one that’s
been processed and spun to feel like cotton. Fine yarns intended for
weaving can be used doubled or tripled for knitting.)
• A small amount of stretchy fingering weight wool yarn (for example sock
yarn)
• Needles in the sizes used to knit homework, plus needles 2 and 4 sizes
smaller and 2 sizes larger.
• Ruler (12”-18” long)
• Calculator
• Optional: Wraps per inch (wpi) tool. You can also use your ruler, a narrow
piece of cardboard, a short dowel, or a pencil marked with a 1” or 2” length
using permanent marker.
• Optional: Tags for labeling swatches
• If you have one, a notably successful or a notably unsuccessful garment knit
in yarn from a single fiber (i.e. 100% wool, cotton, silk, angora, linen, rayon,
etc.). Forward a clear photo of the garment to instructor
<maggie0615@maggiesrags.com> at least 48 hours before class begins, with
notes on what worked or did not work in this garment.
• Basic knitting supplies (scissors, markers, cable needle, etc.).
Homework
• Knit 6 swatches, one from each of the yarns specified in the supplies list.
Use whatever needle size you normally would for each yarn, to create a
stockinette stitch fabric you like the feel and look of. Swatches should be 30
stitches by 42 rows. Begin each swatch with 8 rows of K2 P2 ribbing, then
continue with 26 rows of stockinette, and finish with 8 rows of K1 P1
ribbing. Bind off. Do not block. Keep a record of needle size used for each
swatch. Have swatches and remaining yarn available during class.
• Print a paper copy of the Yarn and Fabric Evaluation Table from your
handout.
• Print a copy of the handout.