Tutor: Steve Foreman
Craft: Hand Knitting
Experience: Confident Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced
Summary: After this workshop you will be able to use a chart, plan your intarsia project, and knit motifs using intarsia when knitting flat. If you are experienced in knitting in the round and knitting flat intarsia there may be time for you to learn intarsia in the round.
Description
Say Gyles Brandreth or Michael Fish and most people “of a certain age” will think of jumpers featuring simple or intricate colour pictures. At the time, these were probably the best known hand knits in the UK, and were made using intarsia. Two of our patrons, Kaffe Fassett and Sasha Kagan, are well known for their use of colour and many of their designs are also based on intarsia. This workshop aims to build your knitting skills to let you tackle an intarsia project with confidence.
After a brief discussion of the different methods for knitting in colour, we will go on to look at different styles of chart that are often used in patterns for colour work. This will provide the background you will need to plan a colourwork project.
We than move on to a detailed exploration of how to work intarsia, concentrating on intarsia worked flat. We will knit a swatch with a simple design that aims to give you solutions to the most common challenges that people have with working intarsia.
After we have covered the main points and are practising what we have learned, participants who are already experienced in knitting intarsia will be invited to split into a separate group to work intarsia in the round. This group will work on a swatch that is knit in the round and that focuses on the issues associated with intarsia in the round.
Both groups will rejoin for a brief discussion of finishing techniques for intarsia.
About the tutor
Steve started knitting when he was working away from home as a way of “turning off” in the evenings. He always has several projects on the go – and always one that contains something new. In the past, Steve has “investigated” stranded knitting, lace knitting and steeks and created workshops for them, two of which have been given at previous Conventions. After having completed several projects that used intarsia, and prompted by questions from a Guild Branch, Steve decided that the time had come to do a “deep dive” into how the technique works. This workshop is the result.
