Students learn basic skills and make their own cowls during Learn to Knit sessions; staff use 29-point checklist to tune-up sewing machines

• Expiration varies
• Limit 1 per person, may buy 2 additional as gifts. Limit 1 per visit. Valid only for option purchased. In-store only. Not valid for sale items.
• See the rules that apply to all deals.

• $15 for two two-hour Learn to Knit classes from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 26, and Thursday, August 2 (a $32 value)
• $29 for a complete sewing-machine tune-up (a $59.99 value)

During the Learn to Knit classes, students learn to cast on, knit, purl, and cast off, then apply those skills to create a cowl from a single skein of yarn. The staff begin each sewing machine tune-up with a sew test before they clean and oil the bobbin hole, align the stitch width, and complete the rest of a thorough, 29-point checklist. A second sew test is completed after the tune-up to ensure everything's in order, and calibrated machines are returned to their owners with an itemized service report.

Cotton-By-Post Quilt Shoppe has grown steadily since 1994, when it began as a mail-order service. Two years later, the owners opened a 700-square-foot shop, and seven years after that, the overflowing store took over an old bank, where the staff quickly filled the more-than-5,000-square-foot space with thousands of bolts of fabric, books, and patterns. Today, they've added on a shop to sell Bernina and Pfaff sewing machines, as well as a second Cotton-By-Post location next door.

Within a spacious classroom, instructors lead classes and workshops that range from free Friday-night Sit and Knit sessions to lessons in quilt-making techniques. Additional quilting and knitting events show even advanced crafters new tricks if they haven't already been inspired by the shop's treasure trove of yarns, knitting magazines, and batik fabrics. Staying true to their roots, the staff are also able to ship items worldwide or launch knitting kits to bored astronauts.