Monday, April 21, 2008

Louisa Harding workshop

I went to my first workshop ever "Experimenting with Yarn Combinations" on Saturday. It was presented by Louisa Harding, a wonderful designer who has designed many yarns that are distributed by Knitting Fever. The workshop was at Colorful Stitches in charming Lenox, MA.

During the workshop we selected five of Louisa's KFI yarns and produced this little bag, or as much as we could knit of it.




One of the most interesting aspects of the workshop was looking around the room at the various combinations of colors. Since color and texture are the main attractions for me in knitting, this workshop opened my eyes to the way that Louisa uses her knowledge (genius, really) regarding color to design yarns that combine in beautiful ways. To see how each person found yet another beautiful combination was a thrill.

She encouraged play, which was a very good thing. I've seen so many knitters who are so involved with getting everything "right" that I think they miss much joy. So I'm hoping they have taken Louisa's message to heart as she offers her encouragement.

The final section of the workshop was Louisa's professional autobiography, and it was especially interesting to hear the life of a designer, from art school student to seasoned professional.

The workshop participants were very interesting and I wished I had time to sit with more of them and hear their stories as well. I was especially please to sit with a fellow librarian who has taken up knitting recently.

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