Shetland Wool Week (Sept 25-Oct 3) is over, but it is having a lasting impact for me. I participated in two workshops, one for weaving and the other on color blending in Fair Isle knitting. Here is why I needed to participate in the color blending workshop:
I choose colors I like together, but I'm not good at organizing them so that you can actually see the pattern. The challenge is to have enough contrast, but also be able to blend the color changes so that they are not too drastic. This hat is a real mess!
In the workshop led by Tracey Doxey, we were encouraged to swatch. I'm not a fan of swatching, but I will admit that it is better than getting half-way through a hat that totally sucks.
So here's the swatch. I applied what I learned in the workshop to the same colors that I used in the failed hat, and the pattern is clear. I decided that I liked the different combination at the top of the swatch, which included the colors next to it. The key is to have ample contrast between the light and dark colors. Sometimes the actual color is deceiving, so that makes it tricky. We learned some strategies in the workshop for dealing with that.
So I got another hat started and decided to ditch the rose color. I didn't do another swatch, but it's looking rather good.
The workshop has given me a renewed enthusiasm for designing Fair Isle projects, and luckily I have accumulated a large collection of colors to play with. Plus, J&S Wool Brokers online shop is just a few clicks away!
I'm not the only fan of J&S. My assistant seems to be a big fan of shade FC46mix.
