It was a rainy one!
I started the day with my Fair Isle Through the Ages workshop, taught by Janette Budge. This class began with a slideshow of the earliest known Fair Isle knits from the 1800s to more modern Fair Isle designs. We saw stages of design with more white space in between motifs and some with none. The colour palettes ranged from all-natural sheep colours and primary colours in the early days to more varied dye colours throughout the mid- to later 1900s. 
A differentiating factor between “colourwork” and Fair Isle, Janette said (with the caveat that others may state otherwise), is a focus on keeping the motifs clear. One of her slides showed a sweater she said was colourwork, but not Fair Isle. The motifs were lost a little by the colour choices, creating a somewhat stripey effect that overpowered the motifs themselves.
After the slideshow, we were challenged to create our own motifs to swatch. We had access to books of Fair Isle knit patterns and literally hundreds of colours of jumper-weight (fingering) Shetland wool. I didn’t tear off enough yarn, so my swatch will be small. We reconvene Thursday for part 2.
Jen and I met for a delicious lunch at Fjara, where we got a table with a beautiful view. We got to watch gannets diving into the water! I wish I’d been prepared to get photos when one was close to us, but I had a burger in hand, not my phone. 😂
We enjoyed afternoon knitting time indoors since so much was closed Sunday. (Remember those days? ❤️) Then we began our walk through the rain to get supper and attend the opening event. We ate at Magno Cafe, where, after our meal, a kind server let us know we still had 20 minutes of walking time (we’d got the wrong place in our heads and thought we were 2 minutes away, not 20!). We decided to walk the 12 minutes or so (booting it) back to get the car to drive to the Clickimin Leisure Centre. Boy, we got soaked!
I’m so glad we didn’t wimp out and stay home! I really enjoyed the opening event—the warmth of the Shetlanders who spoke and performed, the camaraderie of knitters, the displays of wool all made it worth being there.
And now our Wool Week has truly begun!
Hi Cathy and Jenn! What a beautiful start to your week and such an exciting adventure! Enjoy and keep blogging!