Distracted by Fair Isle

Last Friday, I attended a workshop at Knitting Temptations in Dublin, Ohio with Janine Bajus from California, a recognized authority on Fair Isle knitting and design.  I've been fascinated by Fair Isle design for many years -- proof?  I have owned Knitting Tams by Mary Rowe since it was published in 1989 (the best book written about designing and making Fair Isle tams according to Janine) and a large quantity of Shetland fingering wool. 

(Mary's book is out of print but you can find used copies HERE if interested.)

Two years - no, make that three years ago, I started knitting a massive shawl designed by Christel Seyfarth of Denmark (her website is HERE) in an effort to use all the fingering wool and thanks to Karen, the lovely owner of Knitting Temptations, I now have the information I need to clear the final hurdle to getting this finished!!

The interesting aspect of the workshop I attended -- Color Outside the Lines, Fair Isle Tam -- was the conversation about color and the fact that "value is more important than color" in organizing a Fair Isle design.  I wanted to jump up and shout "YES" -- exactly what I emphasize in my piecing workshops!!

We spent our "working" time laying out and knitting color swatches to understand our preferences and our options.  I finished one and a half in class and am continuing to experiment with ideas.

I'm cruising Ravelry and Pinterest looking at Fair Isle projects to help sort out my value preferences - that can be a bit challenging because color is always distracting me from my focus.

Just like my piecing, if I can sort out the value elements of a design, it helps me understand my personal preferences faster than making everything I see the is "pretty".

Understanding my personal preferences is the key to being satisfied with project results whether it be piecing or knitting!

I signed up for the workshop on an impulse and squashed it into my schedule!

What an excellent decision it was -- a mini vacation -- doing something that I've longed to try under the tutelage of an excellent teacher in delightful surroundings with lots of like minded gals!

Doesn't get much better than that.

I highly recommend Janine as a teacher and Knitting Temptations as a shop!

You can find Janine at the Feral Knitter HERE to check out her teaching schedule.

Knitting Temptations is on the north side of Columbus, Ohio in historic Dublin and their website is HERE.

Of course, I left the workshop with Janine's new book, The Joy of Color. It promises to be a good read and I'm looking forward to finding more connections with my piecing approach!

I've no idea how I'm going to squash knitting Fair Isle tams into my work time -- thank goodness, the garden is going to bed for the winter.  That's always the challenge isn't it -- how to make time for new ideas when you love everything you are doing right now!?!

Have a good week!!

Mary