Take a class with us!
We are so happy you want to take a class with us! It is our hope that you will enjoy the community aspect of our classes in an inviting and comfortable space while building skills. Our talented and experienced teachers want you to have fun and enjoy being a student again as you learn techniques that can be applied to future projects. We’re here to support you every step of the way! Please read carefully before signing up for your class.
Class Registration: We recommend registering as soon as possible for a class in order to guarantee a spot. You can register and pay for classes here or in-store.
A minimum of three students is required to hold a class. If the class does not get a minimum number of students, we will refund your class payment. (Individual instructors may decide to proceed with fewer than three students, per their discretion.)
If you find you must cancel within 72 hours of the scheduled class, a store credit will be offered for a future class or products. There are no refunds or store credits for missed attendance. If you must miss a session of your class, we will help you convert your missed class to a private lesson. Please note that private lesson fees are separate from class fees and must be paid prior to the appointment.
All private lessons must be cancelled or rescheduled more than 24 hours before your scheduled time. If you cancel or reschedule within the 24 hour period, no refunds will be issued.
If a class is canceled by the instructor, a refund will be issued. If inclement weather or reasons beyond the shop's control affect a particular class session, the class will be rescheduled.
Supplies are not included in class prices unless specifically stated in the class description, but a 10% discount on supplies for the class will be offered if purchased through Dances With Wool.
Calendar
This class will introduce you to the process of dyeing up a skein of yarn. Upon completion, you will walk away with a 100 gram skein of beautiful hand dyed solid or variegated yarn.
While creating this cowl, you will learn basic cable techniques, as well as a lovely textured stitch called the Star Stitch. Both of these techniques are surprisingly easy to achieve.
This simple mitt pattern, with a thumb gusset, is knit the same for both hands. It uses 2x2 rib cuffs and plain stockinette stitch in worsted weight yarn.
Your choice of thirty minutes or an hour.
Click Here for Knitting or Crochet Classes with Pam
Click Here for Virtual Crochet Lessons With Penelope
Click Here for Spinning (only one hour lessons offered)
Click Here for Weaving (only one hour lessons offered)
Click Here for Circular Sock Machine Lessons with Barbara
Classes
Weaving Classes
- Feb 12, 2023 12:00 pm
Boost your rigid heddle weaving skills by learning hand-manipulated lace patterns!
Cost: $ 180.00 - $ 215.00
- Feb 13, 2023 10:00 am
Expand your Rigid Heddle Weaving skills and your creativity by weaving a clasped weft pattern scarf!
Cost: $ 180.00 - $ 215.00
- Feb 13, 2023 06:00 pm
Explore weaving with this beginner rigid heddle weaving class.
Cost: $ 200.00
- Mar 06, 2023 10:00 am
Explore weaving with this beginner rigid heddle weaving class.
Cost: $ 200.00
- Mar 16, 2023 10:00 am
Boost your rigid heddle weaving skills by learning hand-manipulated lace patterns!
Cost: $ 180.00 - $ 215.00
- Apr 03, 2023 06:00 pm
Explore weaving with this beginner rigid heddle weaving class.
Cost: $ 200.00
- Apr 05, 2023 10:00 am
Expand your Rigid Heddle Weaving skills and your creativity by weaving a clasped weft pattern scarf!
Cost: $ 120.00 - $ 155.00
- May 21, 2023 12:00 pm
Further your rigid heddle weaving skills by creating a scarf using a pick-up pattern! Pick-up sticks allow you to easily extend the capabilities of your rigid heddle loom without adding a second heddle.
Cost: $ 180.00 - $ 215.00
Our Wonderful Instructors!
Pam Winne
About 30 years ago, she took a beginner knitting class, during which she knit her very first sweater. Wanting to learn more, she took a second class where she created another sweater, this one with 3 different colors of yarn, intarsia, and cables. That was the beginning of her love of knitting, and it has only continued to grow.
Pam went on to start a knitting group while living in Wiesbaden, Germany for 3 years. The knitting group was made up of other Americans (both female and male) stationed in Wiesbaden, as well as several German locals. While living overseas, she sought out yarn stores in each country she visited with her family so that she could purchase yarn as her souvenirs. Those yarn souvenirs were lovingly turned into a “Paris shawl”, a “Prague scarf”, an “Amsterdam shawl”, and so on. Each time she wears these items, it brings back wonderful memories of those past adventures.
Pam has won multiple awards for her knitting at the Chesterfield County Fair and the Virginia State Fair, including Best In Show, 10 First Place ribbons, 5 Second Place ribbons, and 1 Third Place ribbon.
Pam has taught many friends and family members to knit throughout the years. She is a Craft Yarn Council Certified Knitting Instructor and truly enjoys sharing her love of knitting with everyone who wants to learn. Be sure to join one of her classes so she can share her excitement for knitting with you!
Penelope Maurakis
Penelope’s grandmother (Yiayia) crocheted every day and taught her how to crochet when she was young. Many years ago, Penelope inherited her Yiayia’s crochet hooks. With these “Yiayia’s Hooks,” she renewed her interest in yarn art. Crocheting and knitting are like meditating for her - a great way to relax. Penelope enjoys making gifts for friends and family and updating her wardrobe with new handmade items. She enjoys challenging herself with new techniques and stitches.
Over the years, Penelope has taught crochet to adults and children. Her goal in teaching crochet is to make it easy, accessible, and fun for all who wish to learn. Take a class with Penelope and discover how exciting, relaxing, and fulfilling it is to create your own crochet yarn art!
Ute Grzanna
Nicole Bunting
She has been teaching various weaving classes at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond since 2015 and taught Introduction to Textiles and Tapestry Weaving as an adjunct faculty member at VCU in the spring of 2019. Her favorite thing about teaching weaving is the passion that she sees in students when they discover just how amazing weaving can be.
Nicole is a full-time artist whose work is inspired by the correlation between how weavings are created, the formation of natural patterns, and the practice of storytelling. Her weaving style is rooted in traditional techniques with a strong focus on experimentation.
Keyser Glancy
About 15 years ago, inspired by a fellow playgroup mom, she picked up her knitting needles again. Head over heels for fiber she taught herself how to crochet, and when the world shut down for Covid she learned how to weave.
Keyser is looking forward to sharing her passion for color and texture with both shoppers and with her weaving students.
Jeff Suho
Jeff has been creating things his whole life. From helping his family build their house when he was 12 to his current obsession, dyeing up bold, bright yarns, he is always working on something. In fact, his high school classmates saw his creative potential and predicted that he would be living in New York City and selling his own brand of T-Shirts. He much prefers living in Richmond and dyeing up yarn though.
For those that don’t know, Jeff is one of the dyers behind the Dances with Wool shop yarn, Rich Hill Yarn. His wife Abbie, Storied Fiber Art, was his inspiration for joining the yarn dyeing community. They remain happily married even though they have very different styles when it comes to color combinations.
An elementary teacher by trade, he enjoys helping others learn new things and has an uncanny amount of patience for all of his students. He cannot wait to show you how much fun it is to dye yarn.
Erin Lowery
Twenty years later, she refers to her knitting as a “lifestyle” and is never without multiple projects on the needles. Several years ago another kit introduced her to spinning yarn, which quickly built into another beloved hobby. Now entire sheep fleece follow her home from festivals, and she adores all aspects of the fiber world!
Chris Schoen
Chris learned to knit after seeing a picture of his grandfather in a photo knitting his own socks in WW2. After seeing the picture his mom and aunt sat down and taught him to knit. Chris grew up in Richmond and attended James River High School and Virginia Commonwealth University. In 2016 he moved to Washington DC and received his Masters Degree in Arts Management and worked as the Patron Services Manager at the Washington Ballet. During the Covid shutdown he moved back to Richmond and started his own company, The Ursidae Workshop, selling hand poured soy wax candles and knit/crochet goods. He currently has a studio space at ArtWorks in Richmond’s Manchester district. When not knitting or crocheting, he is an AVID roller coaster enthusiast!
Barbara Drake
Barbara loves to knit and spin. After teaching herself to knit from a book in 2006, she took a class at a big box store only to be told by the instructor since she knit left handed, never to try knitting socks. That strengthened her resolve and a few weeks later returned to show the instructor her beautifully finished hand knit socks!
Lifelong learning has always stuck with her, and circular sock machines have intrigued her for years. She purchased one in 2019, and cranks sock tubes as a service to our customers here at Dances.
The pandemic hit right after she received the machine, so she taught herself to use it and jumped over the learning curve through online videos and zoom events. In 2022 she attended a weeklong class at the John C. Campbell Folk School to learn even more.
She loves wool socks and thinks everyone should have warm feet