Fearless Fair Isle Knitting [Paperback]

If you love Fair Isle knitting like I do, this is a must-have book for your knitting library. It contains thirty patterns of sweaters, socks, and mittens. The first chapter is on Fair Isle basics such as steeks, wet blocking, weaving in the ends, changing to double pointed needles, charts, etc. The rest of the book contains beautiful patterns.

Some of my favorite patterns are The Children's Cardigan in lovely shades of pink and green for a girl in your life. It is for child size 2 through 6. The floppy hat in yellows and oranges is great for ear warming and for fashion, perfect for men and women. The Women's socks are lovely in rose and blue. Though I'm not sure I'd go to the trouble to knit Fair Isle socks, they are beautiful to look at. There are lots of cardigans, mittens, purses, hats, pullover sweaters and even a dress.

When I purchase a knitting book, I ask myself three questions:

Is the book a good resource?
Will I knit the patterns in the book?
Are the patterns clearly written?

The answer to all three questions is 'yes'.

The book is definitely for more advanced knitters but it is beautiful to look at and any knitter will appreciate this. It is reminiscent of Alice Starmore books. I highly recommend it for knitters who have a background already in Fair Isle and want to expand their abilities.

A collection of attractive Fair Isle designs that remind me of the best contemporary knitting designs from Norway, as seen in Norsk Strikkedesign: A Collection from Norway's Foremost Knitting Designers and Poetry in Stitches: Clothes You Can Knit (both available now only from third-party sellers). The talented Kathleen Taylor's approach to Fair Isle knitting is to use patterned bands with geometric or nature-inspired motifs, stacked harmoniously, to create the fabric for a variety of largely unisex Fair Isle garments.

The "Fair Isle Basics" chapter has a wonderful discussion of steek finishing techniques that is illustrated with photographs showing crocheted, hand-sewn, and machine-sewn steeks both before and after cutting. The chapter also discusses a couple of intriguing technical innovations: (1) knitting Fair Isle sleeves two-at-a-time and sewing them in (instead of picking up the sleeve stitches around the armholes in the traditional fashion); and (2) shaping curved necklines after the knitting is off the needles by folding back a facing.

Unfortunately, the "Fair Isle Basics" chapter seems inadequate for novice Fair Isle knitters. For example, the discussion of placement of yarn balls--one color on the chair arm and one color on the lap--doesn't really communicate the need to knit the yarn colors (and floats) with one color always above the other color. The advice for beginners to knit one color at a time, as the easiest Fair Isle method, fails to mention that the knitter must skip the stitches to be knit in the other color when knitting the first color, and says nothing about spreading the unknit stitches or otherwise controlling the tension along the "twice-knit" row. Also, the chapter doesn't really explain how steeks relate to the rest of the knitting (the fact that extra stitches are cast on at an opening, which will be cut open later).

There are a couple of chapters that I really liked for their technical presentation. "Geometric Dazzle" includes three designs that use the same chart with different colorways, and clearly illustrates how dramatically color choices can change the total look. "Stripes, Checks, and Curliques" explains how to use self-striping and gradual-color-changing yarns to knit from charts and get a Fair Isle look from only two yarns, so that most weaving in of ends is eliminated. The book cover design is a two-yarn design.

Be sure to check the "Look Inside This Book" feature, to see whether there is a pattern included that you would like to knit. My personal favorite, the "Nordic Snowflake Dress" with a Fair Isle yoke, is not shown, but its close relative, the man's "Nordic Snowflake Pullover", is included. Another favorite of mine, also not included in the preview, is the Christmas stocking with reindeer, tree, star, and Santa-hat motifs.

I rate this book at 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 stars, because of the author's excellent ideas for "fearless" (somewhat simplified) Fair Isle knitting. Although brand-new Fair Isle knitters probably will not be able to knit the designs in the book by relying solely on the "Fair Isle Basics" chapter, they can get the additional information they need from online videos, or from either of the classic Fair Isle reference books, Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting or Ann Feitelson's The Art of Fair Isle Knitting: History, Technique, Color & Patterns.

I own many books on Fair Isle and this one is my favorite so far. The designs are beautiful and some are perfect for a beginner and yet the experienced knitter such as myself will love this too. The projects are "Knit Picks.com" yarn friendly. She uses their Palette line for some of the projects and that yarn is VERY affordable. In fact, I just ordered two of their yarns for two of the gorgeous sweaters in this book~ I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in fair isle knitting. It's a beauty!