The Kaffe Fassett Color Experiments
I love color. I love to learn about color. I love to knit, sew or bead with color. I love to see how the colors change when I place another color beside them. It was not surprise to me when I asked my friend, Dagmar, to go to a color class at Woolbearers yarn shop last weekend. I didn't realize that Dagmar didn't know about my passion for color.
The class at Woolbearer was a video class taught by Felicia of Sweet Georgia Yarns. Felicia had a good introductory video about color theory. Then Dagmar and I played with the color chips which were 20 yarns of yarn that is in the Sweet Georgia color schemes.
We made an analogous, complementary, split complimentary and monochromatic combination.Then we knit swatches with these color combinations. I knit some pretty boring stripe combinations. But as I was knitting these swatches, I remembered a color experiment that I started a couple years ago.
This color experiment started after a class at Woolbearers with Brandon Mably. Brandon Mably and Kaffe Fassett are known for their color works. Kaffe has been working with color for 50 years. I bought his book Kaffe Fassett's Pattern Library many years ago. I ogled at the beautiful swatches but I never really knit the patterns. After the class with Brandon, I decided that I would start knitting swatches as color studies out of Kaffe's book.
I started in the beginning with the stripe patterns. I chose the patterns that were charted only. When I started this experiment, I don't think that I read the text next to the patterns. I just jumped in willy nilly as usual. I decided to knit the swatches with Shetland wool because this wool grabs to itself and doesn't ravel out in a swatch.
The first couple swatches were a yellow, peach, blue and cream color combination.
Then I got daring and knit with some other colors in the swatches.
I got bored knitting the simple stripes and I jumped over to the zigzag stripes.
#14 Zigzag stripe is actually bright blue with gold and a purple with gold.
I was working full time when I started this experiment and I wasn't feeling the best. So, the samples got put away and I thought about them occasionally. This week I pulled out the box and started knitting swatches again. This time, I am trying to use my color wheel.
The first swatch was knit with the Sweet Georgia yarn. I wanted to try the Pale Ikat pattern in the monochromatic greens. Then I added the cherry red color in the second repeat. I think that this swatch is a little boring. I think that it is hard to see how the pattern would play out if it were a bigger swatch. I am not ripping it back but I will look at it again to see if I had any other ideas for the design. One thing this swatch did teach me is that I like to knit the swatches with Shetland wool.
The second swatch that I knit this week is called Earth Carpet. This time, I read the narrative and color guidance that Kaffe wrote beside the chart. OK. Calling this short description guidance is an over statement. It is about 5 short lines. Basically, it said to knit one motif in dark value yarn and the other in light value yarn.
I chose my light and dark value yarns. Next I cut off yards of yarn from each skein and attached them together to make a "Magic Ball" of yarn. I had two light balls of yarn and one ball of dark value yarns. I was then free to just knit. I knit the colors as they came up in the magic ball of yarn.
I love the colors and how the values change in this swatch. I am beginning to understand some of the color and value placement in Kaffe Fassett's work. This swatch is 68 stitches wide and 70 rows long. It is a big swatch. It feels wonderful.
I took the picture of the swatch and rotated it. I placed it top to bottom in a photo program to get an idea of how this would look as a bigger swatch. I would love to knit a vest in these colors.
I love the freedom of knitting small sample swatches. These color studies are fun and I am learning a good bit about the way the colors work when knit side by side. I cast on a new swatch this morning. This pattern is called Finnish Zigzag. This pattern takes a lot more concentration to knit than the Earth Carpet pattern.
I was so excited about color knitting again that I started a group on Ravelry called Kaffe Fassett's Pattern Library. I plan on posting my swatches on threads in this group and talking about the process. I have all my swatches on my project page on Ravelry. I am Goldthreads on Ravelry.
The class at Woolbearer was a video class taught by Felicia of Sweet Georgia Yarns. Felicia had a good introductory video about color theory. Then Dagmar and I played with the color chips which were 20 yarns of yarn that is in the Sweet Georgia color schemes.
We made an analogous, complementary, split complimentary and monochromatic combination.Then we knit swatches with these color combinations. I knit some pretty boring stripe combinations. But as I was knitting these swatches, I remembered a color experiment that I started a couple years ago.
This color experiment started after a class at Woolbearers with Brandon Mably. Brandon Mably and Kaffe Fassett are known for their color works. Kaffe has been working with color for 50 years. I bought his book Kaffe Fassett's Pattern Library many years ago. I ogled at the beautiful swatches but I never really knit the patterns. After the class with Brandon, I decided that I would start knitting swatches as color studies out of Kaffe's book.
I started in the beginning with the stripe patterns. I chose the patterns that were charted only. When I started this experiment, I don't think that I read the text next to the patterns. I just jumped in willy nilly as usual. I decided to knit the swatches with Shetland wool because this wool grabs to itself and doesn't ravel out in a swatch.
The first couple swatches were a yellow, peach, blue and cream color combination.
Then I got daring and knit with some other colors in the swatches.
I got bored knitting the simple stripes and I jumped over to the zigzag stripes.
#14 Zigzag stripe is actually bright blue with gold and a purple with gold.
I love how the #18 Mirage swatch knit up. I think this would be really great as a larger motif.
I was working full time when I started this experiment and I wasn't feeling the best. So, the samples got put away and I thought about them occasionally. This week I pulled out the box and started knitting swatches again. This time, I am trying to use my color wheel.
The first swatch was knit with the Sweet Georgia yarn. I wanted to try the Pale Ikat pattern in the monochromatic greens. Then I added the cherry red color in the second repeat. I think that this swatch is a little boring. I think that it is hard to see how the pattern would play out if it were a bigger swatch. I am not ripping it back but I will look at it again to see if I had any other ideas for the design. One thing this swatch did teach me is that I like to knit the swatches with Shetland wool.
The second swatch that I knit this week is called Earth Carpet. This time, I read the narrative and color guidance that Kaffe wrote beside the chart. OK. Calling this short description guidance is an over statement. It is about 5 short lines. Basically, it said to knit one motif in dark value yarn and the other in light value yarn.
I chose my light and dark value yarns. Next I cut off yards of yarn from each skein and attached them together to make a "Magic Ball" of yarn. I had two light balls of yarn and one ball of dark value yarns. I was then free to just knit. I knit the colors as they came up in the magic ball of yarn.
I love the colors and how the values change in this swatch. I am beginning to understand some of the color and value placement in Kaffe Fassett's work. This swatch is 68 stitches wide and 70 rows long. It is a big swatch. It feels wonderful.
I took the picture of the swatch and rotated it. I placed it top to bottom in a photo program to get an idea of how this would look as a bigger swatch. I would love to knit a vest in these colors.
I love the freedom of knitting small sample swatches. These color studies are fun and I am learning a good bit about the way the colors work when knit side by side. I cast on a new swatch this morning. This pattern is called Finnish Zigzag. This pattern takes a lot more concentration to knit than the Earth Carpet pattern.
I was so excited about color knitting again that I started a group on Ravelry called Kaffe Fassett's Pattern Library. I plan on posting my swatches on threads in this group and talking about the process. I have all my swatches on my project page on Ravelry. I am Goldthreads on Ravelry.
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