Fair Isle
Whew. I have been struggling with an addiction for some time now (since the release of the winter knitty). I have been knitting nothing but Calorimetry's. I have a ton of them. I put little cables in some of them. I will post pictures of those later. I have managed to stop myself from knitting another Calorimetry and decided to teach myself something new. I have decided to devote the month of February to mastering colourwork.
Last night I tried to knit a Fair Isle star. It look horrible because I didn't know that you have to weave in yarn if passing it over more than 5 sts. I passed my yarn over 17 at one point. Needless to say my sad little star turned out very distorted. Here it is.
So today I decided to read about Fair Isle in The Knitting Directory by Allison Jenkins. The instructions were very helpful. I would recommend this book to knitters of all skill levels. It has 100s of decorative stitches and simple instructions. So anyhow, this book has several sample Fair Isle patterns. I made a few small samplers today.
SIMPLE FOUR STITCH BLOCK CHECK PATTERN
SIMPLE BLOCK CHECK PATTERN WITH CENTRAL SPOT
CONCETRIC SQUARE PATTERN USING 3 COLORS
ZIGZAG AND CROSSES
I can't believe how easy it is! I have been knitting for about 6 years and I have always been to scared to try colourwork. I am branching out now! I am going to do a sample of every Fair Isle pattern in the book, and after that I think I am going to try to design some Fair Isle leg warmers!
Every month from now on I am going to pick a technique that I don't know- or that I am not too familar with- and master it! No more living in fear! After this year I bet there will be nothing that I can't knit!
Last night I tried to knit a Fair Isle star. It look horrible because I didn't know that you have to weave in yarn if passing it over more than 5 sts. I passed my yarn over 17 at one point. Needless to say my sad little star turned out very distorted. Here it is.
So today I decided to read about Fair Isle in The Knitting Directory by Allison Jenkins. The instructions were very helpful. I would recommend this book to knitters of all skill levels. It has 100s of decorative stitches and simple instructions. So anyhow, this book has several sample Fair Isle patterns. I made a few small samplers today.
SIMPLE FOUR STITCH BLOCK CHECK PATTERN
SIMPLE BLOCK CHECK PATTERN WITH CENTRAL SPOT
CONCETRIC SQUARE PATTERN USING 3 COLORS
ZIGZAG AND CROSSES
I can't believe how easy it is! I have been knitting for about 6 years and I have always been to scared to try colourwork. I am branching out now! I am going to do a sample of every Fair Isle pattern in the book, and after that I think I am going to try to design some Fair Isle leg warmers!
Every month from now on I am going to pick a technique that I don't know- or that I am not too familar with- and master it! No more living in fear! After this year I bet there will be nothing that I can't knit!