Thinking about colour: Fair Isle Cardigans

I had these two cardigans sitting like this the other day and thought it was worth sharing the photo. 

What was most noticeable was the difference the colours made to the overall patterns. I love them both and wear them frequently. I originally knitted the black and white one (2)  as a trial for the naturally dyed one. It was a trial in terms of getting the size correct and the pattern placement, however how the colours work with one another ensures the natural dyed one is very different from the black and white one. Initially I  decided on which colours to aim for in the dyeing  with Ground Elder. Then I spent many days knitting samples and playing with colour combinations, hanging them up and looking at them close too and at a distance  until I felt I had the combination that I loved! Somehow I know when the colours work for me. (By days I don’t mean whole days, I like to mull it over, do something else, come back to it, sleep on it etc. This is not something I can do in a hurry.) 

Recently, I saw mention of an iPad app ‘The interaction of colour’ by Josef Albers. The cardigans are a good example of the effect of ‘interaction of colour’ (3). I am enjoying this app greatly and his take on colour does not begin with a colour wheel or discussions on complementary colours, triads of colours  etc. He starts with working with colour and aims to help users develop an eye for colour. There is a lot in the app, I haven’t got to the end of it so I have yet to find out if he mentions the effect of a person’s colouring on the colours worn. But then that would make a good app on its’s own. I have seen several attempts at this but nothing I would want to recommend. 

1. I have previously written about the design and knitting of the Ground Elder cardigan beginning on 4 April 2018 
2. I call it my ‘black and white cardigan’ however the black is in fact ‘deep charcoal’ and the white is a ‘natural’  white, both from Jamieson and Smith . This combination gives a less harsh look for my light colouring. 
3. As I write this, the app is for iPad (not sure if there is an Android version), there is a free lite version, but the paid version is £13.99. It includes, text, plates, videos and has interactive activities to get you involved with understanding and working with colour. 

Shetland Wool Week 19: 16 Mood Boards and Machine Knitting

Friday Oct 4:Day 19 

Today I was taking my last class of wool week and like yesterday’s class it was one I had been hoping to take for some years. The American lady I chatted to from the table next to ours last night in The string had taken the class Thursday afternoon. She was very complimentary about it and if anything, over breakfast, I was looking forward to it even more. 

We were up and about early as M was going to drop me in the middle of Lerwick at 9.00 and then drive back and park at Tesco. He could pick up bits and pieces we needed and walk back to the Health Centre to have another INR  test. 

I took the opportunity to walk up the town (North) and spent some time looking in Tullock’s window. This was like looking in a Museum as on display were a selection of jumpers that had been knitted around the 1920s and 1930s and had been lent by Elizabeth Angus.They were very interesting as many were knitted in fine rayon, many had fantastic finishing details and many had won knitwear prizes and they were in great condition. (1)

The window, apologies for the reflection! 

One of the prize certificates. 

It is so lovely to see shop keepers getting into the spirit of wool week and pulling out all the stops. Again looking at these was free and something any visitor to wool week could do. 

My class was in Ninian in Joanna’s  upstairs workshop. This is quite small  and 4 of us sat round a table with Joanna standing. It was very much a workroom and it felt good being in there.(2) She is very enthusiastic about what she does and still had bags of energy left on Friday. 

What was great was that she had the whole set of Jamieson’s yarns for us to select from. These were in the Spindrift range- that is a lot of yarns and they weren’t just samples they had started as whole balls of yarn. (This is important, I have the shade card but having more of the sample colour makes such a difference.) Joanne wanted us to work outside our comfort range of colours- I found this the most difficult part of the class. 

She began by talking about her background in designing going right through to making the finished machine knitted product. She talked about  where this had taken her geographically and also gave real gems of tips. Then it was our turn! We started with a blank sheet of A3 paper and guidance as well as one to one encouragement and motivation to stretch our capabilities. Then there was the selection of a working palette. 

The final treat was to see these mocked up into a working design, using DesignaKnit which I had heard of, it is used by some machine knitters. I thought (wrongly) that it was just about designing shapes but was more interested in it when I saw how it could put colours together and then switch individual colours at the press of a button (or two). Seeing our colour choices  added into a charted pattern was great. The class ran over. The cake and drink were superb and the time went too quickly. It was a great class to end the week on for me. 

I met M who was anxious as I was so late. (I need to eat regularly and often to avoid migraine) so we drove down to Mackenzies, our usual second breakfast venue. Although  it was busy we managed to find a space to eat, along with other woolly minded people. The bonus was M got chatting to a birdwatcher and got details of  another place or two to add to his list to visit. My plan had been to go down to Bigton for lunch but we felt it would be too much of a rush. Another item for next year’s list....assuming they will continue to be part of Wool Week in the future. 

After lunch we decided to shop at Wilma’s as we hadn’t seen her or Irene all week.(3) It was good to have a chance to have a proper chat and M found a couple of jumpers he really liked, this is one of them and Irene and I talked about some of Wilma’s new designs for this year based an Mike Finnie’s artwork.(4)

Wearing the new jumper 

I think the other jumper  is very clever, it is in finer wool and has stripes and both the body  and each sleeve are knit in the round. As a machine knitter is it good to see different designs from those in my usual repertoire. 

Another great day finished off by sharing notes with Kate, who had been on the Whitling a Shawl Pin workshop and visiting St Ninians - one of the very special places of Shetland. 

1. They were all knitted by her mother or aunt. They best prize had been of £50.00 and had paid for a holiday in Edinburgh for their sisters and their mother in Edinburgh. 
2. As Joanna could only have 4 at a time she ran this class 8 times during wool week. I was there on the Friday and she showed no sign of it being her 7th time that week! 
3. Wilma Malcolmson is TerriLaura’s grandmother, we had seen them briefly at the Terri’s Creative Crew evening on Saturday. Wilma trades as Shetland Designer and M very much likes her jumpers. He likes to get a new one each year. 
4. Mike’s artwork can be found at https://www.redhouss.co.uk/

Shetland Wool Week 19: 14 Spinning for Fair Isle

Wed Oct 2:Day 17 

When I knit Fair isle I like to have naturally dyed the colours first, to me this helps make the garment special. Natural dyeing is a slow and very enjoyable part of the total project. If I am doing the dyeing I don’t usually spin the yarn - life is too short and there are so many other textile things I like doing.

I was looking forward to this class ‘Spinning for Fair Isle’ with Elizabeth Johnston as I would be taught how to get a coordinating range of colours by carding and spinning. Just like natural dyeing I could have my own unique  item - this is  a different way of ‘making the colours’. It was also rather special for me to have a class with Elizabeth as it was her who first taught me to spin on a drop spindle in 2000. Life changing at its best! 

It was a full day class at Hoswick, which is a lovely place to spend a day. There were just 6 of us  in the class and I believe I was the only British person there. However, I had already met Helen, from Sweden in Unst and I knew Suzanne from the USA from previous years at Wool Week. I had taken my Joy  wheel and also my own carders because I could! I was also able to spin with my wheel in Unst this year and of course I needed it for yesterday in Ollaberry. 

We started by preparing rolags in each of black and white and then from these a range of colours  in between. Elizabeth was keen to help those that she thought could make rolags more easily. I kept my head down and hoped my method met with approval as I had done carding, albeit for lace during a class, with Elizabeth last year. 

We had the chance to  repeat this with brown and white so we would have 2 naturally coloured ranges during the day. My carding certainly improved. I like to do things slowly but even my speed improved with all this carding. The aim was to get a range of rolags of different colour values. 

The afternoon was more experimental when we added colour into our initial mix of fleece and got great variations and I could see the endless possibilities of what we could achieve by these techniques. Careful notes were needed to know what I had done. 

Some of the class were spinning before lunch but I like to get everything prepared first! 

I was delighted with the results as I began to spin some of the rolags later in the day, but they were really too good  to spin! 

The day went so quickly but this is another wool related hole to fall down..... no spinner can ever be bored! 

I had been planning to go to the High School for the Knitting  night. I knew I had to give up on this idea in the interests of managing to get to my class, another full day, tomorrow. I guess the Knitting  evening will be on next year too. It is always nice to go and chat to friends who I only meet at wool week but if I got a migraine I wouldn’t be going anywhere tomorrow. 

So dinner and an early night for me! 

Mirrie Dancers part 2

Having finished Michael’s hat I set about choosing colours for mine. I took the same photo as inspiration (see previous post) and tried to make it more pink to match a jacket I had made for Wool Week. I wanted to  incorporate the purple as I would likely be wearing not my outer Berghaus most of the time, and I would also like to include the bright lime colour as well as some of my hand dyed yarn. 

These criteria I set myself nearly became too much. I decided I would over dye some of my Ground Elder base colour from last year’s Wool Week cardigan with indigo.(1)  This was the first challenge ....eventually after several trials I got a colour I was happy with. 

Then the issue of a suitable pink nearly proved insurmountable. I had lots of pinks dyed with cochineal, but these were either too warm or too cool in undertone. I tried my stock of J and S dyed yarn and couldn’t get a combination I was happy with. I then remembered I had some stronger pink left over from a fair isle ‘chair’ mitts project and the most shocking pink of this seemed to fit the bill. 

There was lots of sampling and some is shown  here. This is the only way for me to be sure that I have the colours correct.

Some sampling - the pale cool pink is ‘wrong’, trying others on the bottom row. 

I also made the decision to do the greens and pinks in the reverse order to Michael’s hat, so then I would have pink in the crown where he had the lime green. 

All was left then was the knitting, which would probably take no longer than the deciding on colours phase. I knitted the main pattern as before using the knitting machine starting and ending with waste yarn. I used dpns for hand knitting the crown. After this I would use the same dpns for knitting the ribs downwards. 

More sampling occurred to get the colour combination I liked best. 

Wrapping to get the colours in the rib to my liking

I knitted the ribs in my ‘normal for me’ way and cast off in rib.

I love the resulting Mirrie Dancers hat and look forward to wearing it. 

1. Photos of last years Ground Elder cardigan and details of the making of this can be found here in three posts of 4 April 18 and 6 April 18 
2. Apologies for the less than brilliant colour in this post and the last one, I was working in my travelling ‘home’ when I took the photos. 

Shetland Wool Week Day 12: Wonderful Haps and the Opening Ceremony

Wind was a dominant feature of today, it had been very windy in the night and unusually the van rocked a bit. We were very glad we were in a sheltered spot. It looked  as though it might be a weather dominating week. 

The plan had initially been to have a restful day after a full day yesterday, with just the opening ceremony. However, the restful part of the day was to be confined to the morning. 

The Ollaberry Haps Exhibition was closing on Wednesday so the only possible time for me to see it again was this afternoon when I could fit in a brief visit. I also found out I had to call at the Hub to get my membership bag so I had entry to the Opening Ceremony tonight. Then we needed to get to Cunnisburgh and get our campsite place sorted all before 6.30 when the opening ceremony started. It would work but I would need to limit how much chatting I did!

We decided to have lunch as the Ollaberry exhibition opened and as long as we spent no more than an hour there it would be fine. As before the spread was wonderful and we were easily able to chose some lunch. As soon as I sat down to eat I noticed a jumper board for sale that would fold up quite small. Well this was too good an opportunity to miss.  What was really nice  about this was the lady sitting at the stall was the wife of the maker, who himself turned up later so I was able to chat to him about it. It is very nice to envisage the maker of things like this that I buy. I did get chatting to the lady selling, who told me that she spent a few happy years in Norfolk as her husband had postings there in the RAF. So we chatted about Thetford, what a small world. 

Although I had seen Haps at Ollaberry last year, it was still an immense pleasure to see them. What was particularly good was seeing those made in Hap classes that had been held in the time since the last exhibition, what a great idea. Again it was lovely that there was such a good description and story available for the majority of these. I bought some other small things and chatted to people who have become friends. 

This one won a prize at Voe Show, had 3 rosettes  and noted it took 100 hours to complete. It was superb and priced at £500, underpriced in my mind. 

This is the jumper board when constructed. Apologies for the quality of the photo. This was taken in the evening back in the kitchen where we were staying.

I was really pleased that I had managed to get there but only sorry I could not have spent days examining them.... the skill and work that had gone into each demanded that really. So two days, two great exhibitions, what a treat. 

Then on to the Hub  to pick up my membership bag, a nice design again this year. 

I did chat a bit - this time to Alyssa Malcolmson who was wearing a magnificent cardigan that she had knitted. She is Wilma Malcolmson’s (1) niece  and a designer to watch. She is on Ravelry (LissyLooLoo) with at least one of her designs there. https://www.ravelry.com/designers/alyssa-maggie

The visit to the Shetland Museum visit was tinged with some disappointment as the shop still did not have Elizabeth and Hazel’s DVD. I made a new appointment for tomorrow- I would be at the Shetland Times Bookshop as early as possible, they MUST have a copy as they were publishing it (I hoped). 

A short drive down to Cuningsborough, where I met a machine knitting friend and her husband who were visiting Wool Week for the first time. Then a quick turnaround and off to Clickimin where the opening ceremony would be held in the Sports Hall again. 

We sat at a table near the front in the huge hall and had a lovely group for the evening. It was so lovely that Wilma Malcolmson came to sit with us, as well as Sarah and Jo (2) and Silvina  (3). As always the event was enjoyable. I felt it was too long last year but rather rushed this year. It was great to see items from New Designers in the Fashion Show but I was disappointed that established Designers were not represented. I wore my Ground Elder Dyed cardigan for the first time - there will be a separate blog post about this after the Shetland 2017 Journal series is completed. 

There were too many people to catch up with but I did have a brief chat with Hazel (3) Ruth(5) and Oliver (6) as the undyed wool for the cardigan was a cone of Jamieson and Smith Jumper weight and I know he likes to see products made from their yarn. 

Ground Elder Dyed cardigan. 

This was marked on the plan as a rest day! It had been another great ‘wool’ day but a rest day -not really. 

Notes: 

If you are into Wool you will know many of the people I refer too, but just in case I am giving more details. 

(1) Wilma runs www.shetlanddesigner.co.uk - her use of colour in Fair Isle is legendary

(2) Sarah Moran - we met in Cheshire when I was organising the first Maker’s Market for Alsager Music and Arts and have become ‘wool week’ friends since... and her impeccably dressed friend and  ‘all things needlework’ Jo

(3) Hazel Tindall, who changed my knitting life last year after the classes on using the knitting belt and knitting a yoke. Hazel has a great dvd on Fair Isle knitting - and also the one with Elizabeth (see later) which I  recommend. (www.hazeltindall.com)

(4)Silvina - from Brazil,  who I sat next to at the workshop in Whalsay the day before  -a keen knitter who is VERY keen to learn all she can about lace knitting and more

(5) Ruth Gough of www.winghamwoolwork.co.uk - Ruth and I go back a lot of years. She is great for spinning tuition, teaching the how and the why; great for equipment; great for courses. I have been to both Wingham and Borrowdale where I see they are doing residential courses again. 

(6) Oliver Henry of Jamieson and  Smith www.shetlandwoolbrokers.co.uk - this  website has to be on any serious knitters ‘favourites’ list in my opinion 

Gremista Bod & Shetland Textile Working Museum

Saturday was the day we said our farewells to Unst (until next year?) and moved to the Nesting area of mainland for a week.
It was a beautiful morning and during a morning in Lerwick I managed to visit the Shetland Times bookshop again buying ‘The Art of Fair Isle’ Ann Feitelson as essential reading matter for the week. *

After an early lunch I went to visit Gremista Bod in the north of Lerwick while Michael continued to stock us up on provisions for the week.
The Bod was built in 1780 and started life as a storage booth for dried fish and boat gear. The Bod building  itself is interesting as it was also  the home of Arthur Anderson the founder of P & O Ferries.

The Bod houses the exhibition of Shetland Weavers, Spinners and Dyers. On Wednesday and Saturday volunteer members were demonstrating and talking to visitors.

This jumper on on a stretcher frame outside the building signalled I was in the right place!

Downstairs was a marvellous display of a wide range of work (mainly for sale) from the Guild. Also downstairs was a donated floor loom that once had been used at Adies of Voe,  a Guild member was getting this going and we chatted. Accompanying this was a display of fine woven cloth from the loom.
One of the two upstairs rooms contained a display of organic wool, spun, knitted and woven by members of Shetland Croft Knits - this was very interesting.
The other room contained a small display of artefacts from Arthur Anderson and a display of fine knitted lace. fair isle items &  photos from the Shetland Museum collection as well as some associated accessories such as a quill knitting sheath.
I highly recommend a visit (or visits) to the Bod - even the postcards for sale were excellent.
It was excellent value my £2 ticket also giving me entry for the rest of the year.

Then it was onto our chalet for the week - on a working croft and this meant sheep - an 'old' type of Shetland and the owner is a member of Shetland Guild too!

* The author of the book seems to be based in USA, the book covers history, technique and colour (about half the book) as well as patterns. I particularly like the section on colour.

Finished red knit cardigan

It's finished!

I love it, it's beyond expectation:
Just the colour I wanted
It's very versatile and can look incredibly smart or smart casual depending on what it is teamed with.
A great style for my body shape
and also well made (compared to many bought ones!) and unique

... and now I've worn this one in public total strangers have asked me where I've bought it from - fantastic.
Now to order teal yarn from Yeoman's for another one of this third stage design. But my next planned knitting project is a Fair Isle jumper for my DH - much planning needed for this.

My favourite blue dress

Style and fit
Even when you know which styles suit you it can seem impossible
to find clothes that fit your body. This is not surprising as every body is different - we all know that! We all have different shapes, proportions and scales for one thing. One way used by clothing manufacturers is to make clothes loose and how stylish is that? When you're petite like me it's even tougher.

I'm going to devote my next few blog posts to style and fit.

Currently my favourite dress is this blue one.

Why? I love the colour, it fits brilliantly because I made it that way (more about this later), it doesn't crease, I know I will never meet anyone wearing the same as me AND I get lots of great comments every time I wear it.

Sales Shopping- 7 tips for making this successful

Sales shopping – 7 tips for making this successful
Given the current economic climate we all want to make our clothing purchases as cost effective as possible. Naturally we are drawn to anything that says ‘sale’. Peer pressure can play a part when friends tell us of amazing sales bargains, we naturally feel we are missing out but beware – you need to think about YOU in all this.
So here we go, top tips….
1. Quality – a bargain is not a bargain if it looks cheap and is poorly made.
2. Wish list – make a wish list of what you would like/need to increase the versatility of your current wardrobe. Think about items, styles, colours. Think what will go with what you already own- notes about this are useful. Try and carry them with you at all times – you never know when you might stumble on a ‘sale’.
3. Basics – think about basics that will co-ordinate with lots of items, this means thinking carefully about the shape, the colour and the quality. In this category you could think about layers, about underwear and hosiery. Items that don’t date and cross the seasons can be great ‘sales’ successes. Eg. If you need to wear a lot of formal shirts for work, then take time to look for these, or if you need black skirts for work then spend time looking for these.
4. Jewellery – some great pieces can be bought in the sales, again, having a list helps here. What are you really lacking – could it be a medium length necklace to go with a teal top? The greater the detail of your list the better.
5. Do not buy list – make another list of what you definitely do not want – it is so easy to come home from the sales with similar items to what you have in your wardrobe. If you definitely want a duplicate of an item – it should be on your wish list!
6. Just because it is cheap – avoid this as a reason for buying anything. It is not cheap to you (whatever the cost) if you can’t see if being worn when you get home.
7. Just because it is a good price reduction – again don’t use this as a reason form making a purchase unless it is really special and economic for you!

And last but not least keep an open mind- when you find something to buy, run through this list of 7 tips in your mind and if you are still convinced then take the item to the checkout. Remember though that even if it is a sale item, the shop will have a returns policy if there is a problem with the item. But beware ‘I changed my mind’ may not be a good enough reason for a refund.

If you need help with what clothes really suit you, or in sorting out your wardrobe to make it work for you then look at www.janetmajorimage.co.uk

7 tips for achieving glitz, dazzle and wow for Christmas parties

Wearing Black
Having been to parties recently most people – well ladies - seem to be wearing black! I've chatted to several about this and the reasons behind wearing the black seem to be related to ‘it goes with anything’ and ‘I wear this when I don’t know what to wear and often then follow this will ‘I know no-one should wear black next to their face’. Well the latter is not true! Some people look great with black near their face but for others this is not the best for them. If black is not your best colour next to your face and you still want to wear it then be careful about the fabric, add some sparkle, ensure it is lower cut style or try and put some colour by it. However, wearing black is likely to ensure you merge into the background.
Colour near your face
Part of the wow factor is wearing colour near your face. Getting the colour right will really make a difference to your overall look. There is a great misconception is that if you know if you have warm or cool toned skin then you know what colours to wear near your face. This is very simplistic and can land you still looking decidedly ill! Three factors are important when choosing this colour : the undertone (warm to cool), the depth (light to dark) and the clarity (bright to muted). Once you know where you sit in each of these ranges then getting a great colour is easy! That’s why a fully personal colour analysis is such a great aid for you.
Sparkle
There’s nothing like sparkle to add to the wow factor at the Christmas/New Year party time. Knowing how colours work for you will enable you to decide whether silver or gold is best or which sparkly colours will add the dazzle factor. Do think where you are adding the sparkle – sparkle and shine can enlarge and a bold sparkly cuff might draw attention to those hips that you have tried so hard to disguise!
Accessories
When choosing your outfit, don’t forget to include the accessories too. It is the overall look that will wow, so think about the bag, for example if you will be holding this all the time.
Warmth
With evening temperatures (and day time ones too) well below zero, keeping warm without compromising your overall look is important. A shawl /wrap/ scarf can be just the thing. You can gain added warmth but choosing one with a high percentage of wool/cashmere/mohair. Try and find a limited edition or unique piece to help you stand out from the crowd. My cobweb shawl weighs only 88g, is so fine it goes through a wedding ring and is SO warm – details of more of my unique quality items can be found at www.janetmajortextiles.co.uk
Overall impression
Aim to check your overall look the day before – this gives you time for some tweaking! Include the accessories too; then check from head to toe. Look in a full length mirror – where does your eye go first? Is this where you want it to go?
You
While you’re looking in the mirror, do you like what you see? If the answer is ‘not really’, this is the message you will be giving to others at the party! Your appearance can only say so much, your body language and how you talk will speak for you too! The final wow for you will come from ‘your energy’, if you have this too then perhaps you feel you would like to be with you! If this is so, others will too.
Have a great party! If you need help with your image- your appearance, your inner image of yourself or would like to learn how to develop a unique wardrobe, or purchase special pieces then contact me.
Happy Christmas to you all, the next post will be tips on making effective buys at the sales.