Mending Made Easy: Virtual Workshop with Kate Atherley

With a bit of confidence and a repertory of basic techniques, we can mend our favorite knits, extending the life of handmade items that have become old friends and reducing the amount of textile waste in the world.

With Kate Atherley we are in good hands. A veteran designer, teacher, knitter, and wearer of handknits, she’s seen it all, and she is ready to share no-nonsense mending techniques to save our knits. With Kate as our guide, we won’t be intimidated by the holes being worn into our socks, because we know that we can mend anything with ease.

A sought-after teacher at knitting events all over the world, Kate will impart all this know-how with patience and great good humor. You’ll even look forward to the next time a friend asks you to mend the hole in their favorite sweater!

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Details

Date: Friday, April 11, 2025

Time: Noon-2:00 p.m. Eastern time

Location: Zoom. This is a virtual event. Your order confirmation email will include a PDF download with the Zoom link for the workshop. 

What to expect: Kate will teach us her most frequently used mending techniques through a series of demonstrations. After this workshop, you’ll be confident in repairing split stitches and snags, fixing a broken or snipped stitch, reinforcing thinning areas, making a woven patch, and more.

This will be a virtual event, held on Zoom. Due to the size of the group, participant mics will be muted, but the chat will be open. We will monitor the chat for questions and Kate will answer as many as time permits.

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What you’ll need: For this demo-style workshop, you need not bring anything. If you’d like to work along with Kate, we suggest bringing a stockinette swatch, bits of waste yarn, and a tapestry needle. Traditional mending tools such as a darning loom or darning egg are not required, but Kate will have examples of these to show, and if you have them, feel free to bring them along.

This class will be recorded. After the live session concludes, everyone enrolled in the class will receive a link to the video recording to watch at leisure.

Our Workshop Leader

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Kate Atherley is a triple threat: technical editor, designer, teacher.

Her biggest high-wire act is her exquisitely precise work known as technical editing. As Knitty.com’s Managing Technical Editor, she makes sure that a pattern actually works—the math, the wording, the stitch counts, the all of it. She’s also the co-publisher of Digits & Threads. External Link. Opens in new window.. External Link. Opens in new window., an independent, member-supported online magazine about Canadian fiber and textile arts, crafts and industry.

Also a seasoned knitwear designer, Kate creates designs with a special attention to detail. Her book Knit Mitts!. External Link. Opens in new window.. External Link. Opens in new window. captures the charm of mittens along with the puzzle of making them fit right. Custom Socks. External Link. Opens in new window.. External Link. Opens in new window. is a next-level guide to making excellent socks. And her technical guide, The Knitter’s Dictionary: Knitting Know-How from A to Z. External Link. Opens in new window.. External Link. Opens in new window., is a bookshelf essential.

Kate has published Custom Shawls for the Curious and Creative Knitter. External Link. Opens in new window.. External Link. Opens in new window. with co-author Kim McBrien Evans. Custom Fit Hats. External Link. Opens in new window.. External Link. Opens in new window. is the latest in her series on making knits exactly the way you want.

Kate teaches at knitting events around the world. The combination of her university degree in mathematics, professional experience in software development and usability, and training in garment and fashion design give her a unique perspective.