Fair Isle February!

Hello Everyone! It’s Fair Isle February! Please see our newsletter for beginning and advanced hats and cowl kit.  The projects will take your knitting skills to new levels as you learn how to master Colorwork. When I first learned Colorwork, I was introduced to its history prior to picking up needles and yarn. The history is very rich and detailed and the following information provides an interesting background for this wonderful knitting techniques.  So what is Fair Isle Knitting? According to Wikipedia, Fair Isle is a traditional knitting technique used to create patterns with multiple colors. It is named after Fair Isle, a tiny island in the north of Scotland, that forms part of the Shetland Islands. Fair Isle knitting gained a considerable popularity when the Prince of Wales (later to become Edward VIII) wore Fair Isle tank tops in public in 1921. Traditional Fair Isle patterns have a limited palette of five or so colors, use only two colors per row, are worked in the round, and limit the length of a run of any particular color.

HRH Edward, Prince of Wales in a Fair Isle pullover

According to Wikipedia, Norwegian knitting has a long history starting from about the 1600s, where it has been speculated that it was adopted by knitters traveling there from Denmark. Knitted garments found in Norway have been dated as far back as the 1500s. The heritage of Norwegian knitting has been preserved, documented and translated into English language history and pattern books that are available to modern knitters, mostly notably by Annemor Sundbo. Some of the most well known sweater patterns attributed to Norwegian colorwork knitting are the setesdal lusekofte and fana cardigan sweater patterns. The region is also well known for their "Selbu" mittens, which first appeared as a vertical column of two snowflakes on the front side of the mittens, and which remains the pattern motif (selburose) most closely associated with the region. The origin of these mittens is attributed to a young girl named Marit Emstad who in 1857 attended church wearing what we now know as Selbu mittens, effectively sparking the imagination of knitters at the time who had never seen anything like it before. Today there are over 300 "registered" mitten patterns attributed to the Selbu region of Norway.

The selburose design.

^{An excellent resource is the following book from the Dummies website at http://www.dummies.com/crafts/knitting/designs-patterns/knitting-stranded-colorwork-explained/}

KNITTING: STRANDED COLORWORK EXPLAINED

Teach Yourself VISUALLY Color Knitting

By Mary Scott Huff:

"The secret behind knitting the beautiful designs in stranded colorwork is in the stranding. Using two strands of yarn at a time enables the knitter to create designs, or motifs, in the knitted fabric. It also creates fabrics that are warmer and more durable than single-color knitting. The vast majority of stranded colorwork uses only two colors in each row, and only one strand is used at a time. Here are some examples:

Fair Isle: Made famous by knitwear from Fair Isle, one of the islands of Scotland, the Fair Isle technique is one form of stranded colorwork. Fair Isle is typified by its use of symmetrical geometric motifs, two-ply Shetland yarn, and muted, sophisticated colors.

Scandinavian: Stranded colorwork originating in Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland) is very different from Fair Isle, though the knitting techniques are similar. Scandinavian colorwork is distinctive in its large, often asymmetrical motifs, three-ply yarn construction, and bright, clear colors."

Another detailed source of the history of the related knitting styles can be found at Beth Brown-Reinsel Knitting Traditions. For Fair Isle see http://www.knittingtraditions.com/knitting-resources/knitting-traditions/scottish-fair-isle/ and for Norwegian see http://www.knittingtraditions.com/knitting-resources/knitting-traditions/norwegian/.

Our projects for Fair Isle February bring together the different styles to progressively increase your colorwork skills.  Linda will be teaching the Scandinavian method of knitting colorwork. This is where we will knit using both hands, one Continental and the other English. In my next blogpost, I will share knitting of our three projects. I found some great videos and knitting hacks that will reinforce our newly acquired skills. Knit on! Lisa