Beth Brown-Reinsel's Twined Knitting Craftsy Class + Enter to Win!

This post contains an affiliate link, but you know that doesn't influence what I say, right? 

In this Craftsy class, Beth Brown-Reinsel teaches a wonderful folk knitting technique from Sweden, Tvaandsstickning. In English, we usually call it "Twined Knitting." The class includes a lot of techniques and a full mitten pattern in twined knitting.

I'm a sucker for a new-to-me cast on!

When I first started knitting again in college, my sister took up spinning. I stumbled across twined knitting early on - and so I asked Lisa to spin me yarn in the "opposite" way - with a Z-ply. It got her some strange looks from more experienced spinners, at the time! (If you don't understand more than 5 words of what I just said, don't worry, Beth explains it really well and there are also graphics in the class to help.) I made a pair of mittens, at the time, with the wonderfully unique yarn my sister made.

Even if you don't go full-scale into twined knitting (and, really, you could, it's fascinating), you could still get a lot of use out of this class.

The cast ons, cast offs and color work in twined knitting are absolutely fascinating. They really look more like magic than knitting, in a lot of cases. It's worth learning it for just those techniques. It would be fun to use them to make a really simple fingerless glove or even a dishcloth a little more fancy.

Beth shows an absolutely gorgeous sweater in the class that is mostly "standard" two-color knitting, but has lovely twined knitting at the cuffs, collar and bottom edge. Truly inspiring!

She's also a clear-spoken and relaxed teacher. I love her style. She's really good at breaking down complex concepts and making everything simple.

The pattern in the class is for a mitten, but since you learn how to increase, decrease, pick up stitches, cast on and cast off, you actually have a lot of tools here to forge ahead with your own designs. Hats would be easy, as would scarves and cowls knit in the round. A sweater isn't out of the question, if you have the will to try it!

Beth has offered to give one lucky reader of this blog a free enrollment in her class! Leave a comment on this post by 6/16/15 to enter. I'll notify the winner on 6/17/15. Good luck!