The Art of Fair Isle

The Fair Isle technique of knitting is one that I have always wanted to learn how to do. There are so many beautiful patterns out there that use this kind of knitting, and I hope to someday be able to accomplish some kind of project using Fair Isle. However, some background information might be helpful, at least to me, and I also, being a history nerd, wanted to know how it came to be the respected tradition it is.

Fair Isle is part of the Shetland Islands, sold to Scotland in 1469 by Norway, and is the southernmost of that group of islands. The islands are known for Shetland sheep breed, which was the original wool used for Fair Isle knitting. Knitting as a trade was introduced as a way of getting food and other goods, and became popular in the rest of the Shetland Islands by 1910.

Originally, the term "Fair Isle" as a technique, referred to knitting with multiple colors, but never using more than two in the same row. This technique creates strands of yarn across the back of the piece, the strings you always manage to hook a toenail or fingernail on. But, the stranding makes a double layer of yarn, making for a warm and virutually weatherproof garment. The traditional Fair Isle pattern uses circular needles (no seams), and is usually symmetrical.

There are different theories surrounding how Fair Isle was spread into the modern world and how it evolved into the technique that it is today. One of those ideas is that visiting merchants brought their native textiles and weaving when they came to trade, and ended up creating a hybrid of the cultures. People living in the Shetland Islands were also known for travelling very far to find work, bringing back other patterns with them that were then incorporated into the already existing Fair Isle knitting. Each family had their own patterns that were handed down, and often evolved from the pattern being as little as two rows to as many as 30.

It's always interesting to me how knitting tells stories with patterns, and the Fair Isle knitting today is a technique that has survived to tell its story. Each family having its own patterns is similar to each clan or tribe having its own symbols that tell what they stand for, only knitting seems to have a much less violent connotation. Another cool thing about Fair Isle is that there are endless possibilities for making up a pattern, so we can add to that history ourselves. Plus, the double-stranding thing is nice to have when it's cold. I hope I can learn how to do this someday and attempt to make my own double-layered, two-color rowed project. And finish it.

Baird, Catriona. "Scottish Textiles Heritage Online." Scottish Textiles Heritage Online. Scottish Textiles Heritage Online. Web. 06 Mar. 2012. <http://scottishtextileheritage.org.uk/onlineresources/articles/articlesTem2.asp?articleNo=17>.