Fission Knitting: Virtual Workshop with Mary Martin

Details Date: Friday, October 9, 2026 Time: Noon-2:00 p.m. Eastern time Location: Zoom—this is a virtual event. The class will be recorded, and participants will have access to watch and re-watch the video for as long as they like. Your order confirmation email will include a PDF download with the Zoom link, and we will send email reminders the week of the workshop. The Class Fission knitting is a reversible colorwork technique where the fabric is worked with two yarns held in a marl. The result is a unique fabric that has a marled middle layer and an overlaid design creating a different cable on each side of the fabric. A reversible cable is possible! In class,  you will work a small fission knit piece to learn the most-used stitches and cables. The emphasis will be on reading your knitting and applying the three rules of fission knitting. You will learn the properties of fission knit fabric, why the technique works, how to manage your yarn, and tips on choosing yarn and projects for the technique. Bonus! After class you will be ready  to take on Mary’s design, the Maia Scarf (pictured above). A coupon code for a free download of the pattern on Ravelry.com is included with enrollment in the class. What You’ll need Scrap yarn is perfect for learning this technique. You will need 2 contrasting colors of worsted weight yarn. Mary has kindly suggested Atlas, but any worsted weight you have on hand is absolutely fine. US 11 (7-8mm) needle; straight or circular Cable needle Removable stitch marker Hair tie or regular elastic and a small bag (such as a plastic sandwich bag) that holds both balls of yarn If you would like to knit the Maia Scarf after class, you will need 4 skeins of Atlas in contrasting colors. Mary’s sample uses 2 skeins of Lapis and 2 skeins of Leek. Our Workshop Leader Mary Martin is a knitwear designer based in Toronto, Canada, specializing in creating innovative fabrics. She has pioneered two reversible techniques: fission knitting and fusion knitting, and is developing a technique called woven knitting. Mary draws on her engineering background as she builds her fabrics. Her computer experience helped her develop flexible knitting notation to describe her distinctive use of cables. When Mary designs it feels surprisingly similar to her work building financial structures on Wall Street. Mary started designing when she was knitting chemo caps for a friend with breast cancer. She wanted to make a reversible hat for her friend but was unable to. This sparked her curiosity about whether it was possible to place cabled motifs on both sides of the fabric. Her designs reflect what she has learned about creating reversible fabrics.