Roosimine: Virtual Workshop with Aleks Byrd

Details Date: Friday, October 2, 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 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 Roosimine is an Estonian inlay technique that creates the appearance of embroidery through intentional floats in contrasting yarn on the right side of your knitting. Easier than intarsia, it’s the perfect technique to add some embellishment to your knitting. The name roosimine translates to “decorating with roses,” which comes from a style of short stitch embroidery done on the Estonian island of Muhu. Over the course of two hours Aleks will be teaching this unique technique in a practice piece worked in the round. Honestly, Aleks had us at “easier than intarsia!” BONUS: After class you will be ready  to take on Aleks’s cowl design Kallike (pictured above). A coupon code for a free download of the pattern is included with your enrollment in the class. By happy coincidence or good planning, MDK’s DK-weight Jane would be perfect for Kallike, and the colorwork would be a great use of Jane leftovers. What You’ll need Scrap yarn is perfect for learning this technique. You will need 3 colors of DK-weight yarn. Make sure all yarn is easy to pull from both ends of the ball for working with two strands at a time. Main color 20g Contrast color 1 10g Contrast color 2 1og US 6 (4 mm) needle You can use your preferred needle for knitting a small circumference with a minimum of 42 stitches (long circular needles for magic loop, DPNs, short circular needles or flexi needles). Stitch markers (minimum of 2) Tapestry needle Our Workshop Leader Aleks Byrd is a knitwear designer with roots in Estonia, Canada, and the USA. Revisiting little-known traditional techniques, Aleks designs modern, wearable designs to delight and engage all levels of knitters. Her portfolio includes individual patterns as well as those published in The Knitter magazine and Laine magazine. Her book Traditions Revisited:Modern Estonian Knits (Laine Publishing 2022) brings together her designs and teaching as an introduction to Estonian knitting, both traditional and tradition-inspired. Aleks teaches workshops all over the world to demystify the deceptively easy techniques used in her patterns, most notably with sold out workshops at Vogue Knitting Live in New York. Aleks believes that sharing traditional Estonian knitting techniques from Estonia can expand knitters’ views on what knitting can be.