For my recent birthday, I treated myself to a couple of knitting and crochet books and DVDs. I’m going through these slowly as I am really enjoying spinning out the watching and reading experience in my brief moments of snatched time at the end of the day.
Knitlit recently posted on Amy Blatt and that inspiration plus my über fascination with Kaffe Fassett and my crazy Palette stash really got me thinking about intarsia and I ordered Inside INTARSIA with Anne Berk.
I am loving this DVD SO much. Anne Berk’s very cute enthusiasm, her mastery and communication of technical knowledge make intasia very fun and interesting. I am about halfway through the DVD at this point and just ran off to make a pile of yarn butterflies.
Anne is forthright about what works and what doesn’t work. I really laughed when she demonstrated spit splicing, I’ve never seen it done with such aplomb and in a way that make it look positively elegant! She has a really attractive speaking voice too, although this is something completely unconnected to the quality of instruction, I always find it so much more enjoyable to listen to an attractive voice.
I haven’t actually had time to cast on yet but I am really looking forward to the next part of the DVD where she’ll be demonstrating intarsia in the round. I’m also wondering if her technique might be adaptable to tunisian crochet in the round.
It’s not just the technicalities that make so intarsia so compelling – it’s also the idea that you can control color and design with this technique. I love color but have absolutely no clue about what makes things work, what catches the eye and how to combine color and graphics. I really am in awe of these master color artists and how they translate their visions into knitwear.
Posted by pascalenary 
