I just came home after taking this class with Fiona Ellis, and I am so inspired! I knew how to do the mechanics of Fair Isle - when to twist the yarns, making sure the floats don't bind - that kind of thing. I wanted information on color. We discussed where to look for color ideas, how to evaluate tone and value, and the very important fact that if you have a Fair Isle design with 5 colors, for instance, the arrangement of those colors is very important and can change the whole look of the design.
If you change one contrasting color for another, not removing one but just exchange the relative places of the two colors, it can make your design look very different. Obviously, swatching is vital.
We had charts for some simple designs to try in class, and worked a few of those. Then we tried knitting the same pattern but changing one of the colors. The next time we changed the other color. Several people changed both colors.
Fiona had several swatches from designs she had made for a magazine or her new book in two different color stories and also using the same colors but with the positions of the colors varied (all the same design). It was hard to believe that they were the same design in some cases because the impression you got was so different. I would have been happy to sit there for another 3 hours to keep exploring, but that wasn't to be.
I head back to Baltimore tomorrw for some Market shopping and another class. I have to go finish my last homework swatch.
Have a great Sunday.
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