Fair Isle (technique)

This article is about the knitting style named for the island in Northern Scotland. For knitwear made on the Danish island, see Faroe Island § Clothing.

1925 portrait by John St Helier Lander of the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) in a Fair Isle jumper

Fair Isle (/fɛəraɪ̯l/) is a traditional knitting technique used to create patterns with multiple colours. It is named after Fair Isle, one of the Shetland Islands. Fair Isle knitting gained considerable popularity when the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) wore Fair Isle jumpers in public in 1921. Traditional Fair Isle patterns have a limited palette of five or so colours, use only two colours per row, are worked in the round, and limit the length of a run of any particular colour.[1]

Some people use the term "Fair Isle" to refer to any colourwork knitting where stitches are knitted alternately in various colours, with the unused colours stranded across the back of the work, but this is inaccurate. The term "stranded colourwork" is applicable for the generic technique, and the term "Fair Isle" is reserved for the characteristic patterns of Shetland.[2]

Other techniques for knitting in colour include intarsia, slip-stitch colour (also known as mosaic knitting).

  1. ^ McGregor, Sheila (1981). The Complete Book of Traditional Fair Isle Knitting. London: Batsford. ISBN 978-0-7134-1432-5. OCLC 8064374.
  2. ^ Starmore, Alice (1990). The Fair Isle Knitting Handbook. London: Blandford. ISBN 978-0-7137-2206-2. OCLC 60047818.