As a teacher, Sivia appeals to the creative spirit, and few can remain untouched by her verve and passion for her subjects. In her classes, technique, though important, is a means to an end, which is always the delight of following the joyful knitting muse wherever it may lead.
Sivia’s classes and workshops often are built around making a particular project, but only as a jumping off place for discussions on all sorts of related knitterly things. Students will often find themselves inspired to experiment outside the realm of the original project, sometimes coming up with highly original designs of their own as a result.
Sivia’s specialty is knitting with beads, which she has found to have a natural affinity with lace, and can also conjure magical effects in conjunction with cables and other textural elements. Sivia loves to explore the seemingly endless possibilities for embellishment resulting from the beautiful partnership of beads and knitting. Her classes will almost always contain some type of exploration of this partnership.
Sivia is also available for one-on-one tutorial sessions. Please for availability, or use the contact form.
Here are some of the subjects that Sivia is prepared to offer in class and workshop format, listed below in alphabetical order.
Aquitaine Beaded Cuffs
This class is a virtual cornucopia of beading techniques in knitting. The Aquitaine Cuff is an elegant piece with a heavily beaded hand covering that includes ruffles, lace and twisted stitches, and a slim, ribbed cuff that can be wrist or elbow length. The overall effect is Victorian charm. Up to four different beads are used and many design options are given from simple to complex. Students are encouraged to make their own modifications for a completely unique work of art!
Bead Whimsy!
Does bling make your heart sing? Learn how to put beautiful beads in any stitch pattern! This class is guaranteed to make you smile and bring whimsy into your life. While working a flat sampler, we will explore all potential beading situations: how to bead cables, lace, texture, or just plain knitting. You will emerge with inspiration and tons of ideas.
Beaded Treasure Bag or Felted Purse
This class is a crash course in knitting with beads. Three different techniques are taught and many bead effects and possible embellishments are discussed. The purse can either be made into a drawstring treasure bag or hand felted for use as a wallet.
Blossom Dearies
Knit a beaded baby sock that will be fit for a prince or princess. Exciting things happen when beads are introduced into small precious knitted items, and we will be a witness to this magical process. We start at the toe and make our merry way upward, employing the gusset/heel flap structure, finishing with a beaded picot bind off at the top.
Continuum Beaded Cabled Cuffs
Find out why cables and beads belong together! We will learn several ways to pretty up cables with beads, either by nesting beads within the cables themselves or by embellishing around the twists and turns. We will make a beaded cabled cuff, knit in the round just like a sock. This heavily embellished cuff will sit prettily layered atop any boot, knee sock, or as the start of a top down sock. A fun knit with a mixture of beaded twisted stitches, cables, and ribbing, it looks more complicated than it really is. The name comes from the center cable, a simplified version of the Tibetan never-ending knot, symbolizing the interconnectness of all beings. Beads are prestrung in order to take advantage of the many ways that prestrung beads can embellish cables and ribs.
Diamond Fantasy
Hone your lace knitting skills while making this popular tip-to-top diamond lace triangle shawl with a knit-as-you-go edging. Sivia provides many lace knitting tips and tricks along with advice on incorporating beads into your lace. An attached I-cord edging finishes the shawl, and blocking is thoroughly discussed.
Dué Amori Gloves and Scarf
This project incorporates many techniques – lace, twisted stitches, cables and beads. The highly embellished interplay between them produces delicately beautiful gloves or scarf. Students may choose either the short or long gloves which are knit in the round, or the scarf which is knit flat, as their class project. Strategies for keeping track of multiple patterns are discussed, as well as technical tips for working textural, beaded and lace stitches.
Fill a Triangle with Lace
Sivia gives you the tools to access your inner designer in this gentle and supportive workshop. You will learn all the skills you need to design your own top-down triangle shawl.
In this class, we examine the structure of the basic top-down triangle shawl and insert our choice of lace patterns to create an original design, with an eye to shaping, esthetics, and flow. Charting patterns, shaping lace in pattern, modulation from one pattern to another, and types of edgings will be discussed. Students receive the benefit of Sivia’s years of experience in designing innovative lace shawls and exceptional beaded lace. This workshop is the perfect blend of lace design skills, inspiration and discovery.
Fluency Gloves
A deceptively easy swirled rib pattern provides a fun (and secret) way to add beads. Sivia provides many glove knitting tips and tricks along with lots of advice about adding beads to your knitting. The gloves can be fingerless or fingered, and fingers are thoroughly discussed. Lots of techniques are learned in this class.
Gothic Beginnings
Lace is even more beautiful when knitted with beads! Don’t tell.. it’s a secret how really easy it is to add beads to your knitting with a small crochet hook. In this class, we learn simple lace stitches while working up the beaded Gothic Leaf Scarf. After learning the two bead techniques in this scarf, you will want to add beads to all of your knitting!
Harmonia’s Rings
The Harmonia’s Rings cowl, which uses Cat Bordhi’s Moebius cast on to achieve the mysterious spiral neck shape, features an easy and addictive self-pleating knit and purl stitch pattern that creates concentric rings reminiscent of ancient architecture. This class includes many techniques: the Moebius cast on, beaded picot bind off, knitting the texture pattern in the round, shaping within the Moebius structure, and ways to customize the pattern to fit any body type.
Heart to Heart Beaded Scarf
The Heart to Heart Beaded scarf is a charmingly sweet bit of lace. This crescent shaped scarf, fetchingly strung with beaded hearts, contains an easy garter stitch center section and a tubular edging, and is worked sideways from one point to the other. In this class, students will learn the usual along with some unusual lace stitches. Tips are given for reading charts, strategies for keeping your place and reading your knitting, and how to place beads with the crochet hook method.
Knotty Scarflet
The Knotty Scarflet is a small neck scarf that incorporates interesting, easy elements of bias and lace knitting. Sivia calls this a class on “the art of fudging: when, how, and how much”! Of course, beads are included, along with lots of advice about lace. A fun class for all levels.
Moebius Madness
A peek into the infinite possibilities of Moebius knitting. Students learn Cat Bordhi’s unique Moebius cast on and create at least two projects during the class, a scarf or wrap as the first project, and a bag, basket or cat bed for the second. Many edging and embellishment techniques are discussed, along with felting techniques for the second project. This class is guaranteed to inspire lots more Moebius knitting!
Moonrise Necklace
This class starts with a riotous bead swap and ends with a beautiful, heavily beaded necklace that has been compared to a luscious garden of beads. Students will use lace weight yarn and short rowed garter stitch to create a very special and unique, as well as fun and easy to knit neckpiece.
Norwegian Woods
A perfect introduction to shaped lace, this top-down triangle shawl features three easy-to-knit lace patterns that can be easily customized, resulting in a shawl unique to each knitter. Students learn a simple beading technique and we discuss blocking strategies for the shawl and its unusual scallop-shaped edge.
Ophidian Beaded Shawlette
The top-down triangle Ophidian Shawlette requires about 400 yards of fingering or dk weight yarn and is a perfect first lace garment. We start shaping at center back in simple garter stitch which gracefully metamorphoses into an easily memorized textured lace pattern. We delve into chart reading and intuitive ways to increase accuracy and speed in your lace knitting. The crochet hook add-as-you-go bead method is introduced as a perfect embellishment for lace, and we discuss how to choose the perfect bead for your project.
River Rock Scarf
This luxurious scarf uses oodles of beads that create the illusion of natural “rocks” made of nests of beads, embedded in a flowing “river” of ribbing. The structure of the scarf is 2x2 ribbing with a bit of lace at the edges, which provides the perfect backdrop for an imaginative bead treatment. Students learn how to manage large numbers of prestrung beads with ease and explore the creative possibilities of this technique of placing beads. Students can choose to either follow one of four charted designs or throw caution to the winds and do their own unique freeform piece.
Toe up Socks
An introduction into toe up sock knitting, suitable for beginner sock knitters. Students learn Judy’s Magic Cast On and make a traditional gusseted heel flap sock using their choice of 2 circulars or set of double pointed needles. Sivia provides a customized pattern in many sizes suitable for any gauge and any weight of yarn. Students will start with measuring their foot and learn to knit a perfectly fitted sock.