“If I were asked to contribute a brief definition of Fair Isle knitting to a comprehensive encyclopedia of needlework, (…) I would also point readers to an atlas of Scotland. They would find that in the group of islands known as Shetland, Fair Isle is the most southerly member, a tiny speck on the map, barely three miles long by two miles wide.
Just how this speck came to give its name to one of the best-known forms of knitting in the world is a fascinating study, part fact and part speculation. The development of this knitted art is reasonably well documented, but it’s origins are not definitely known. There are several theories of origin, but none of these is convincing. After carefully researching the subject, I have developed my own theory. However, before presenting it, I want to look briefly at the history of Shetland, since Fair Isle’s strategic location, trade and foreign contact have all played fundamental roles in the history of Fair Isle Knitting.” –Alice Starmore’s Book of Fair Isle Knitting
This book is much lighter on knitting history than Aran Kntting, but also it seems to me that there is far less historical buildup of bullcrap and half-baked theories based off anecdotal data for Alice Starmore to purge on Fair Isle than on aran knitting. Of course, Alice being Alice we get a history of Fair Isle, both the knitting technique and the island itself. She shows us examples of Fair Isle knitting from the 1920s, and uses them to illustrate how the patterns used in traditional Fair Isle have developed over the years.
“In Fair Isle knitting there is only one absolute rule about the use of color: Never more than two colors — a pattern and a background color — are ever used in any one row. The reasons for this rule and both practical and aesthetic. First, given that we only have one pair of hands, restricting the colors in a row makes the knitting easier and faster than if many colors were used. Second, carrying more than two strands in a row produces an uneven, bulky and unattractive fabric. ” –Alice Starmore’s Book of Fair Isle Knitting
By that notion, any color pattern using more than two colors in a row shouldn’t be called Fair Isle, and instead it should be simply colorwork knitting, but the terms now can be considered interchangeable to someone who hasn’t made it their lives’ work to straighten it all out. Please don’t tell Alice I said that, though.
The patterns themselves are full of carefully chosen color, depth, and nuance, and are timeless in themselves, but don’t expect much in the way of shaping. I get it, though. Fair isle is notoriously difficult to incorporate shaping to fit. Me, personally, don’t love the idea of investing so much time into a sweater project to have it fit me like a sack, but that’s where the use of slightly negative ease comes into play. Again, the fact that the gauge given for the patterns is so much tighter than my own loose gauge that it takes a little bit of math and gauge swatch configuration to be able to knit one of her patterns without much alteration, but that’s the price one pays to knit a heirloom piece.