Island hopping Wool - Shetland to Mersea

Marie Wallin's Fairisle Club Three - Lerwick

::My beautiful box of wool has arrived and now there is a flurry of activity sorting it out, getting everything organised and starting a swatch for gauge::

 ::This is the inspiring Club design and it looked so inviting - so let's dive in!::

::All the scrummy, yummy wool in gorgeous Shetland inspired colours and a folder with the pattern inside and the canvas project bag::What a wonderful project this is going to be to improve my colour work technique and to learn new skills too::

::So the first thing I did was to start my organisation and in addition to my folder where I am storing newsletters, the pattern, and notebook, I decided I wanted to make some cards in which I could record the colour name and number and the pattern symbol for that wool and the number of balls for each colour::I also put in a few strands of the wool with it's name so that I could refer to it if the ball band went astray::

::I took my inspiration from the Quince & Co colour cards but obviously tweaked it so that they would reflect the information I wanted to store and also to keep the aesthetic of the Fairisle Club Three:: 

::Another reason for going a bit above and beyond was that I am trying to learn new computer skills and to develop my knowledge of pages on my mac::

::I think it will be good to have a reminder of this beautiful project in the years ahead::

::I have already learnt some more about swatching techniques::how to knit a swatch flat using circular needles::how to work out the number of rows and stitches you need for your swatch::

::Another Ravelry user, Anne, had a very interesting blog post here about "following the straight and narrow in stranded knitting" which makes very good reading::

::I am already seeing lots of knitting expressions coming up on the Ravelry forums for this project that I am going to have to explore::"taking up"::"throwing"::

 ::Here I am then all set to start Chart A for my swatch for gauge::what is it about a new ball of wool and that first row that makes a knitter so happy::simple things::simple living::bliss::

Marie Wallin's Fairisle Club 3

Tour de Fleece in July was very hectic and now it is all over I am happily signed up and looking forward to Marie Wallin's Fairisle Club 3. We will be knitting her new pattern Lerwick which is a stunning multi colour work edge to edge wrap cardigan. 

There is an active group over on Ravelry where we are all getting very excited in anticipation of our yarn Spindrift of Jamieson's of Shetland arriving.

I was lucky enough to spend a very happy time at Jamieson's on the first Shetland Woolweek holiday a couple of years ago. We had an excellent guided tour and were able to spend a long time choosing wool in the shop afterwards. I chose some beautiful tweed material and aran yarn. So I will be delighted to see the colours Marie has chosen.

In the meantime, I am putting together a few bits and pieces to make a Marie Wallin section in my craft room and to go with the Fairisle Club 3 "Lerwick" project. So far I have put together a folder for anything I print off including newsletters. I have found a notebook and a notions bag and when the wool is here and the project underway I have a couple of fun ideas to decorate my folder some more - it's the creative gene - it is difficult to keep it under control!

I have some shade cards from Jamieson's and have been spending time getting to know the colours and imagining how the wools for this project will look.

We start the knit along at the beginning of November and I have a colour work cardigan Amaryllis by Marie under construction which I would like to have completed by then.

I'm also gathering up some books to put in my Marie Wallin corner and getting ideas for even more projects.

So it looks like a Marie Wallin filled time ahead knitting-wise and that is going to be a lot of fun.