Fair Isle knitting sample
Since I started knitting I have felt the call of Fair Isle but thought it was a step too far for my technical ability.
But having balls of lovely wools is rather like handling a nice piece of linen and knowing you’re going to embroider it. So this week I settled down on a rainy afternoon and set to making a little Fair Isle sampler. I am now hooked and am going to do some more research, especially as to what is the best way to have 6 balls of wool on the go (do I grapple with full-sized balls or do I make little ones, hoping I guess at the right amount needed to complete the few rows in that colour?) How exciting, I feel a whole new world of fun opening up.
Fair Isle knitting sample
12 Comments
Well done! A taste of things to come!
To begin with I’ll pick a pattern with a narrow band of Fairisle and reduce the panic over balls of wool getting into a muddle to a dozen or so rows.
Welcome to the addictive world of Fair Isle knitting! With your eye for design and colour the world really will be your oyster.
The great thing about Fair Isle (unlike some other forms of stranded knitting) is that there are never more than two colours in use in any single row. I wouldn’t recommend making smaller sized balls of yarn – that’s something you might use in intarsia knitting, a completely different technique. You can carry the yarn not in use up the side of your knitting, if it is to be used again a row or two up. Otherwise simply break off the yarn and weave in the ends, either as you knit (there’s a technique for that) or on completion.
When choosing your yarn, I would definitely recommend using Shetland wool, or a similarly “grabby” yarn for your colourwork, and steer well clear of anything slippery or super-wash.
Thank you for your helpful advice and kind comment Debby – it’s the simple things that flummox beginners. At the moment I’m using up balls of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino left over from the things I’ve knitted over the last year but I think I’ll take heed of what you say and go with Sheltland after that.
Look forward to seeing what you come up with! In fair isle there are only ever 2 colours per row, so you don’t get too tangled!
A good reminder about the two colours per row. Now I think about it the small size of the sample I did may have made me more aware of wool tangling. With more stitches the end of the rows come less often – if you see what I mean!
Can’t wait to see what you make! X
Very keen to get started … but I must get on with other things first.
I am not sure that you will see this but Hazel Tindall has a downloadable video about knitting and fair isle.
Thank you Bev. – v. useful recommendation. I have had a look at the trailer for the video you mention and can see I could spend a lot of time glued to Hazel’s needles. V. good.
Now Mary, you have entered my favourite territory… fair isle knitting and design. I love fair isle, indeed I have nearly finished a little fair isle yoke for granddaughter no 2… this I will steek (cut, yes, cut) up the front after knitting it all in the round. The secret to fair isle knitting is to knit in the round, that way the right side of the fabric is always facing you which is much easier.
True fair isle only uses two colours per row, so, you will only have two balls of yarn on the go at a time. No need to wrangle with 6 colours then.
Hope you enjoy your knitting. In my case knitting has been my friend for around 55 years!!! Yikes! My favourite designer is Kate Davies – absolutely brilliant. Very best of wishes. Lydia
Thanks for knitting advice to a novice. I’ve been reading Kate Davies’ blog on and off for several years now and I too think her designs are beautiful. I think I’ve a way to go before I follow a pattern that suggests I take a pair of scissors to my knitting – it does sound very alarming (and I think I even remember Kate Davies finding it so too when she first came to steek – so much comfort there.)