Design Your Own Fair Isle Workshop

This week, I served as one of the hosts of Janine Bajus's rich "Three-Day Design Your Own Fair Isle Workshop." Janine is a fair-isle designer based in Berekely, California. She also runs the Feral Knitter online shop. Janine had arrived in the Midwest to attend Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp. Janine graciously added several days to her Wisconsin visit so that we could stage the workshop.

I had knitted one of Janine's tams, and I was delighted to learn fair-isle design from a master.

Nine students attended the workshop. Some were from Wisconsin; others traveled from Iowa, Ohio, and Connecticut. Janine guided us through the process of selecting an inspiration for our work, choosing colors based on hues, value, and proportionality, and working swatches to test for color and motif.

This was a most rewarding experience. I am grateful to Janine for fitting us into her schedule. Thanks also to Amy Detjen, who assumed the role of organizer and financial manager. We all appreciated the catered lunches created by our lovely local yarn shop and café, The Sow's Ear.

Verona, Wisconsin, July 2012. Finished garments inspired us to explore design alternatives.

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Verona, Wisconsin, July 2012. Janine explains the process of her color and motif selections.

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Verona, Wisconsin, July 2012. It was fun to spend three days with such motivated knitters.