Experience Level: Beginner

Learn how to decorate cookies for for a fun occasion at Harry Potter Cookie Decorating on Sunday, March 29 from 2 to 5 p.m. in the Mansion Dining Room.

Learn to decorate Harry Potter-themed cookies with royal icing, crusting butter cream and rolled buttercream! Instructor Jennifer Holhubner will demonstrate and explain wet-on-wet technique, outlining and flooding and make flowers. Each participant will receive directions to decorate five cookies.

$75/person*. Register here by April 10. All sales are final.

*Students should bring a take-home container.

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Champaign-Urbana native Jennifer Holhubner taught herself how to decorate cakes when she was 16 years old and took up cookie decorating in 2019.

“Although they intimidated me, I forged on and got better with each order. I still have room to grow as we all do in whatever task we take on,” she said. “But I love to share the aspects of baking and decorating. I can actually now say, I am cookier!”

Jennifer also teaches decorating classes at Parkland College.

Experience Level: Beginner

Take wood boards and transform them into a decoration for your garden at a Wooden Planter Workshop on Saturday, April 4 from 1 to 4:30 p.m. in The Woodshop (located behind The Studio).

Instructor Lou Ann Koebel will help students build a small (20” x 9”) wooden planter from just a few boards of 5/4 treated deck material. The finished project will be suitable to hold pre-planted hanging baskets and designed to coordinate with any garden décor.

$150/person*. Registration will close April 15 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

*Students should bring:
— Safety glasses
— Cordless Drill

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Lou Ann Koebel has had a strong passion for woodworking since high school, and during the summer attends workshops at Marc Adams School of Woodworking in Indiana.

About The Farms

The Farms: An Allerton Folk School, offers classes, workshops, and gatherings focusing on art, health & wellness, history, nature & outdoor education, or science. All experiences value hands-on, experiential teaching and learning, and are facilitated by and for the members of the community.

Experience Level: Knitting experience required

Put your knitting experience to use at Knitting 201: Socks on Sundays, April 19 & 26 from 1 to 4 p.m. in The Studio.

In this two-week course, instructor Billie Theide will help students further their knitting skills by expanding on the Knitting 101 courses taught at The Farms.

Those taking part will gauge, cast on, work with stitch markers, knit rib stitch, increase, decrease and slip stitches; create a heel flap and gusset, read knitting patterns, repair mistakes and graft.

$95/person*. Registration will close April 12 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

Students should bring:

YARN
OPTION 1
— 1 skein - Malabrigo Ultimate Sock. This is a fingering weight yarn of 75% superwash merino wool and 25% nylon. There are 420 yards in the 100 gram skein. Avoid a dark colorway.

OPTION2
— 1 skein - Cascade Yarns Heritage. This is a fingering weight yarn of 75% merino wool and 25% nylon. There are 437 yards in the 100 gram skein. Avoid a dark colorway.

NEEDLES
OPTION 1
— 1 set 6” long double pointed needles in size US #1 (2.25mm)
— 1 set 6” long double pointed needles in size US #2 (2.75mm)
(Either can be Knit Picks, ChiaoGoo Natural Bamboo, Lykke Naturale or Clover Takumi)

OPTION 2
— 1 set 32″ long circular knitting needle in size US #1 (2.25mm)
— 1 set 32″ long circular knitting needle in size US #2 (2.75mm)
(Either can be Knit Picks, ChiaoGoo Natural Bamboo, Lykke Naturale or Clover Takumi)

Also bring:

— Pair of sharp scissors
— Laptop, iPad or smartphone
— Pencil

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Billie Theide is a former chair of the Crafts Program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she is Professor Emerita. Theide is a metalsmith, jeweler and ceramicist. Her work is in public art collections around the world including the Smithsonian, Museum of Arts & Design in New York City, Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City and the Racine Art Museum, among others.

She is the recipient of a Visual Arts Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and five Artists Fellowship Grants from the Illinois Arts Council. Theide has been recognized for her excellence in teaching and is a Distinguished Member and Past-President of the Society of North American Goldsmiths.

About The Farms

The Farms: An Allerton Folk School, offers classes, workshops, and gatherings focusing on art, outdoor education, science, storytelling, and wellness. All experiences value hands-on, experiential teaching and learning, and are facilitated by and for the members of the community.

Experience Level: Beginner (All ages; parents/guardians are not required to register with their children, but they are encouraged to be present for those 13 and younger.)

Create a unique piece of art out of locally sourced alpaca fiber at Needlefelt Frog on Monday, April 20 from 5 to 8 p.m. in The Studio.

Stephanie Block of Sundrop Alpacas will walk students through the needlefelting process to make a frog, which can be customized to make them look authentic, whimsical or anything in between. The class is perfect for those wanting to learn a new art form.

Take advantage of a fun opportunity to bring a friend or family member for a $10 add-on fee as you work together on a single project kit!

$65/person* + $10/person for add-on (limit one). Register here. Registration will close April 13 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

*A $15 discount is available during registration for those who bring their own needlefelting tools.

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Stephanie Block is the co-owner of Sundrop Alpacas near Bement. She has been producing popular yarn, needlefelt figurines, wet-felted hats and much more from her own alpacas since 2016. Stephanie’s spinning style is self-taught, and she is continuously learning so that she can share that knowledge with others.

About The Farms

The Farms: An Allerton Folk School, offers classes, workshops, and gatherings focusing on art, outdoor education, science, storytelling, and wellness. All experiences value hands-on, experiential teaching and learning, and are facilitated by and for the members of the community.