When I was in junior high school, an art teacher attempted to teach us color theory. I was hopeless! I could never remember what were primary colors and what were secondary colors. Was it a tint or a shade? Happily this is NOT what Brandon's class was about.
We scattered partial skeins of yarn on the floor. Brandon then
Next we formed two appropriately named Magic Balls--one of light colors, the other of darker colors. Using the Magic Balls, we knit the Persian Poppies pattern. Fair Isle. EEEEK! I'd never knit fair isle before and my fair isle is hardly the fairest of them all. But, after making some mistakes, magic happened and I got with the program.
Here's my pre-lunch swatch:
Brandon put the swatches on the board and it took me a few seconds to recognize mine. And this also is part of the magic! Brandon told us that we should always step back and look at our knitting. What looks wonky and weird close-up may actually be quite lovely when we step back.
After lunch, more Magic Ball and more Persian Poppies. Magically, we all seemed more confident. I know I better understood what Brandon meant about trusting our intuition when putting colors together. Even colors that don't usually speak to us shouldn't be dismissed if, when put next to another color, they make something pop or trigger an emotion.
Once again the swatches were pinned to a board and discussed. Brandon saw beauty in each one even when we saw our flaws.
And then, just when we thought we knew what we liked and didn't like about our swatches---Brandon turned the board upside down! And, like magic, there was something totally new!
12 comments:
Fair Isle. Whoa. And flat knitting, too. So you purled with two hands? That seems impossible for me. I LOVE these swatches. Very nice. Sounds like a great class and well worth it for you. What fun!
Wow. What fun!
I enjoyed reading your post this morning! What a wonderful class! I love the photos too!
Well, I'm impressed! I've only done a pattern with one extra color and it was in the round, so no purls.
Another trick I learned years ago in an art class is to hold your work in front of a mirror. Yet one more way to see things "new". I'd never thought about upside down.
Fun stuff!
Wow! What fun and you are sooooo talented. Love all the colors.
Just WOW!
Really great! You taught me something.
so cool! different technique than the class I took w/him. There, we picked a postcard from his table - all were paintings, some abstract some realistic, from museums. We picked colors from the pile of yarn that reflected the colors in our postcard and sorted into dark, medium and light. Then knit tumbling blocks w/the three tones. I struggled with "medium" - he tried to help me but I was always going too dark or too light somehow. He did the same thing w/swatches, putting them on a board, then turning it over. Such an eye opening experience. Walking outside after the class I felt like my eyes were going to pop, I was seeing new colors everywhere in places I'd never noticed them.
That is intriguing! I have a few magic falls wound and I'll give this a shot for sure. I loved the color-play in all the swatches. What fun!
KnittingKittens
Wow, this is so interesting. I hope to be able to do something like this someday, I need help bigtime with this!
Color AND fair isle. That's just crazy talk!
Both subjects that I would consider extreme weaknesses for me. I like what he said about color, though. I keep thinking about it. Maybe I just need to 'feel' it more...
That was magic!
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