The Language of Crochet
A crochet intensive at Drawing Room
Transform a line to fabric to sculpture, one stitch at a time.
Crochet is built through repetition and rhythm. The same movement, over and over (chain, hook, pull through) until it becomes almost automatic. But small changes in tension, stitch, material, or direction can transform what grows from the hook completely. One gesture, endless fabrics and shapes, including 3-D sculptures, vessels, and more.
Unlike most textile processes, crochet still depends on the movement of the human hand. There is no machine version. Every stitch you see was made by someone holding a hook. This intensive treats that gesture as a vocabulary, and builds your fluency in what it can say.
An 8-week crochet intensive built around a growing library of samples.
Each week takes the technique in a new direction: shape, motif, openwork, texture, color. In the final weeks, you'll draw from your library to develop a personal project of your own.
Open to all levels, shared with a group of up to 16. Beginners get the foundations they need; more experienced makers use the framework to break habits and find their own voice with the hook.
Now Enrolling for Winter
“The Language of Crochet”
4 installments of $230
(or $890 upfront)
8 weekly sessions. Saturdays, 9:30am-12:30pm from Sept 12 to Nov 7 at our Midtown location.
Exact dates: Nov 21, Dec 5, Dec 12, Dec 19, Jan 9, Jan 16, Jan 23, Jan 30.
Enrollment closes 12pm on the day of the first session, or when the 16 available spots are all filled. Don’t wait to save your seat!
Sessions in this Intensive
“First Movements”
An introduction to crochet as both a technique and a repetitive gesture. You'll get familiar with hooks, yarns, and tension, and practice the foundational stitches (chains, single crochet, and the basic stitch family) that everything else builds from.
“Building Shape”
Once the basics are in hand, small changes start doing big work. This session explores how increases, decreases, and simple twists shift the final shape of the fabric, from flat squares to curves, cups, and free-form forms.
“Motifs”
Modular crochet: a single unit multiplied. This session works with granny squares, hexagons, and other small motifs, exploring how one repeated element joins into a larger composition. You'll experiment with variation, joining methods, and the relationship between the individual piece and the whole.
“Texture”
We move off the flat surface. This session works with raised stitches, clusters, bobbles, loops, and dimensional techniques that give the fabric depth. Several new pages join your library: samples that feel as different as they look.
“Openwork”
Crochet through negative space. This session focuses on lace, mesh, and airy structures, and the way changes in density produce completely different textiles. You'll practice building patterns where what's missing matters as much as what's there.
“Colorwork”
We introduce color changes and simple colorwork (tapestry crochet, stripes, intarsia) and start loosening the rules from previous weeks. This is where the intensive turns intuitive. You'll experiment with combining stitches, changing direction, and letting the work develop in ways the pattern didn't dictate.
“Your Voice, Part 1”
The final project begins. Using your growing library as a reference, you'll choose the techniques that interest you most and start developing a personal project, a piece that combines what you've learned into something that's yours.
“Your Voice, Part 2”
Continued studio time on your personal project, plus a closing group share where each person walks through their library and the piece they built from it. You'll leave with a physical record of the whole intensive: samples, notes, and one finished project made in your own voice.
Showcase at Drawing Room Night
We invite all intensive participants to showcase their works at our seasonal event, Drawing Room Night! Open to members, friends, and the public, it’s an opportunity to show off your work to a large, engaged audience. We’ll have food, drinks, and cake!
Your Instructor
Luisa (she/her) is a New York based Brazilian textile artist and Parsons MFA graduate whose crochet, weaving, embroidery, and natural dyeing translate themes of migration, memory, and transformation into sculptural forms that explore how people and communities reshape their sense of home.
What makes up an Intensive?
Dive deeper and build confidence
While Intensives are still open-level and beginner-friendly, we dig deeper and push ourselves to gain confidence, practice, and see improvement.
Intensives are great for when you know you’re really interested in pushing yourself in a particular area. It’s an opportunity to actively create and discuss the philosophy of creativity—exploring how we can weave the practices into our daily lives with intention and purpose.
Unique program design at a great value
Each Intensive is designed with intention and care for the Drawing Room community by professional working artists that reflect their own practice.
We focus on learning and deepening new skills while also connecting with the group over food, drink, and conversation.
Recurring schedule and accountability
Intensives are recurring on the same day for 8 weeks, made up of the same group of up to 16 people.
Build connections with your classmates over the entire Intensive program, see each other grow, and hold yourself accountable to your commitments.
Drawing Room as your campus
Intensive enrollment includes the Creative Flow Membership, giving you access to the Art Library and Open Hours. Just show your digital member card to drop by anytime the space is open—whether to keep practicing, co-work, or connect with friends.
Get 15% off everything else with the membership, too.
Workshop materials and supplies
All materials and supplies needed for your workshops are provided on-site and you take home the pieces you create.
Depending on the intensive, you’ll also receive storage space or take-home kits to work on your projects between sessions!
Office Hours with Instructors
Intensive students and alumni have the ability to schedule time with Instructors to receive additional support, access to class equipment, and ask questions as you work on independent projects during Open Hours.
Join the mailing list!
Want to be the first to know about an upcoming season of this Journey? Join this mailing list and we’ll send you an email before everyone else so you get first dibs.
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FAQs
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Yes, of course!
If you are already a member with a payment method on file, please use the same exact email we have on file for your membership.
Since the Creative Flow Membership is included for all Journey participants, you’ll be prorated for any days not covered by the journey, and these days will be added back at the end of the journey. This means you will not be charged again until you’ve used all the days you’ve paid for last, before signing up for a journey. (Don’t worry, we do the math for you).
Please reach out to our team at info@nycdrawingroom.com with any questions, or for help enrolling
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If you aren’t able to make one of the dates, we will be able to share the lesson plan for the day with you and encourage you to complete the assignment so that you will be prepared for the discussions in the subsequent session.
Unlike the Cohort Program, each session builds on the last, so it’s important to try to make each one! There are currently no make-up days available due to the nature of our programming availability.
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Yes! We offer interest-free payment plans via Klarna. Simply select that option on the payment page.
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Intensive workshops are not open to the public and are exclusive to your group.
You can expect to see the familiar faces of your Intensive members in each of these classes, and you'll get first dibs and get to sign up for any future journeys at Drawing Room.
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All enrollments are final. Please double check your calendar.
However, if you find you are unable to join us for the program for whatever reason after booking, you can let us know at least 7 days before the first session to get credits for a future program date. The credits cannot be individually transferred to events, they must be used in one go for the same program at a future date.
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Absolutely!
There’s so much to learn each time you participate in an Intensive, and they’re open level, so you are encouraged to work with the instructors to push yourself.
Plus, each Intensive is a new opportunity to make new friends and share an experience with a tight knit group of people!
If after an Intensive (or two) you find you’re ready to explore other mediums or want to dive deep into another medium, you can explore our other journeys – you’ll get first dibs!
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We’d recommend you take them one at a time! Each of our journeys are designed to be a comprehensive experience. While participating in multiple (Cohort Program AND an Intensive, for example) is not impossible, you may find yourself at Drawing Room a LOT!! Which, we’d love, but may be intense!
For context, through the Cohort Program you can expect to be at Drawing Room and average of 1-2 times per week, and the Intensive is an average of once per week.
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All levels are welcome and will find these sessions applicable! Whether you’re:
Super new to clay or have never even touched it
Just starting out, have maybe taken one Claydate or similar workshops elsewhere
More experienced and already have a practice
Intensives are designed to both be a great entry point but also offer a repeatable structure that emphasizes community and growth in skills among fellow creatives who love the medium. See you here soon!