A PLEASANT WEEK-END

This week-end I was lucky enough to attend a Creative Design Weekend Workshop with
Louisa Harding at Rowan Yarns.

I have been to the Mill quite a few times now and really enjoy my week-ends there - the autumn is an especially pleasant time to be in Holmfirth. I cannot explain why though. Perhaps it is the scenery from the rear of the Mill.

They have undergone some major building work to the Mill that houses the showroom and there is a new entrance.

New Entrance

The works should offer great improvements at future workshops - a new kitchen for one. They also have a grand entrance hall - very empty at the moment but I am sure they have plans for the space.

Entrance Hall

The workshops tend to start around 9.30 but it is always a good idea to get there a little early to check out any readymades that may be on sale and any boxes of discounted yarn.

You can always count on Nancy for having a good rumage!

Nancy

There were no readymades on sale this time. Rumour has it they all went to Ali Pali last month and any remaining garments are off to Harrogate later this month.

There were some garments on show around the room from the latest Rowan and Jaeger brochures and Nancy settled for a closer look at these.

Nancy showing her partner David the latest Jaeger garments

Louisa Harding recently launched her Miss Bea pattern books for children. Louisa studied Fashion Textiles at Brighton University and a placement at Rowan Yarns resulted in two of her early designs being published. After univeristy she assisted a Canadian based Hand Knit designer in setting up her own Ready to Wear collection. On Louisa's return to the UK in 1990 she became an inhouse designer for Rowan Yarns, ultimately becoming the designer and brands co-ordicator for Jaeger Handknits. She now combines work as a freelance designer for Rowan and looking after her two children, Belle, age 4, and the inspiration behind the "Miss Bea" collection of books and Oscar, age 3.

Miss Bea books

Louisa knows she has found the perfect mix, family life combined with ongoing work for Rowan and freelance design.

The aim of the workshop was to help us unravel some of the mystery behind creative knitwear design and encourage us to translate our own creative ideas in to designs for a knitted garment. We discussed different elements of design such as colour, texture, motifs and pattern.

There are 3 stages of the design process which we explored over the week-end - inspiration, experimentation and design completion.

Rowan always prvide baskets of odd balls of yarn for use during the workshop.

An assortment of yarn

We were asked to bring with us a source of inspiration to use at the workshop such as a painting, postcard, flower or photograph. We then looked at how we could identify elements, such as pattern, texture and colour, from our chosen inspiration source to use in our design. I used a selection of magazines which Louisa had brought in to choose pictures revealing shapes, textures and colours that appealed to me. This helped me put together my mood board.

My mood board created on Saturday

We then looked at translating our inspiration source in to a design. We then had to draw out a section of our design on to knitters graph paper and knit a swatch, experimenting with different yarns and seeing how colours work together.

The emphasis of the week-end was to be as creative as possible, with no limitations to design and garment construction. We were encouraged to work at our own pace and enjoy being able to experiment with all materials provided - THINK CREATIVELY!

So what was my inspiration and what did I design and knit? I must admit the "D" word always makes me a little nervous - I am very good at following patterns and seldomn deviate to add my own little twist but now you never know what you may see!

I "designed" a scarf using 2 strands of Kid Silk Haze - a strand of Jelly and a strand of drab!

2 strands of kidsilk haze knitted together is lovely - so so so soft......

Week-end Scarf

The pattern is

row 1 - P2, yrn, P2tog repeated across the row
row 2 - k2, yfwd, sl 1, k1, psso repeated across the row

There is a border at each edge of k2

Fellow Rowanettes Nancy Martin and Liz Jenks were also at the workshop and we all had a great time.

Liz and Nancy were staying at The Old Bridge Hotel so David and I joined them for breakfast on both Saturday and Sunday morning. They do a scrummy bowl of porridge - sets me up grand for a day of knitting.

After the workshop on Saturday we paid a visit to Upcountry. You cannot visit Holmfirth without paying a visit to this quaint little shop. They have a big table in the middle of the first floor covered in books. Nancy usually covers it in yarn whilst she selects her purchases but on this visit she was very restrained. Just a few balls of Noro and a ball of Debbie Bliss Maya.

David and I stay with David's dad when I have my week-ends at The Mill. David's dad lives in Barnsley which is about half an hours drive from Holmfirth.

David came in and joined us on Saturday evening for a meal and we went along to the Italian restaurant, Il Fresco, in the centre of Holmfirth. The ladies armed with our knitting of course although the light was not really up to knitting - it was dinner by floating candles- after several requests for more candles to give us more light we were up to 7 but still not enough light to knit.

We left Holmfirth to head south mid afternoon on the Sunday. David and I broke the journey up by stopping at Meadowhall Shopping Centre in Sheffield. We arrived there at just before 4 which gave me an hour to wander round the shops before having something to eat.

The Christmas decorations were up and I couldn't resist getting the camera out.

Meadowhall Christmas Lights

And to round the week-end off I have 2 days off from work.

Happy Knitting....