Travel with me

To a tiny remote island inhabited with crofters, sheep and women who knit intricate patterns into their woolens.

Copyright Roy Longmuir Dreamstime.comThe actual Fair Isle is part of the Shetland Islands and boasts to be the most remote inhabited island. The maxim of 'more sheep than people' holds truth here. Most live on the southern half of the island because the northern portion is covered by rocky moorland and the western side drops off into cliffs 200 metres high (that's 660 feet for us Americans). A permanent bird observatory was founded in 1948 as the island serves an important point of migration for rarely seen species. While not the most populous of islands it does have a rather interesting knitting technique named after it.

Characterized by the the use of multiple colors to create designs, the traditional fair isle refers to certain patterns and motifs that limit the length of a color run and rarely use more than two colors at time. It can refer to any type of color work where the yarn is stranded behind across the entirety of the piece however. Fair Isle jumpers gained popularity when worn by the Prince of Wales in the 1920s and became the stuff of llaughter when worn by the Monty Python troupe for their Gumby characters. 

No matter how silly you look in wellies with a napkin on your head, one can't deny the beauty of a Fair Isle sweater, or the whimsy of a color work mitten. And that is why in this short month of February we are celebrating all things fair isle.

Love Bytes pattern by Grace Schnebly

I think I need to go look at plane fares to Scotland now. 

Unselfish Knitting

My dad does not send Christmas cards. He sends out valentines. Every year about this time I look forward to a heavily stickered envelope appearing in my letter box. He likes to send those little ones you get in the card board box in the drug store and they could be anything. One year it was Barbie princess fairies and the next it was Pixar's Cars. I picture him at the roll top desk (the one I used to hide under as a child) signing little messages and adding stickers at will. He inspired me to give my own valentine's. Not just to my husband but to my friends and anyone who just needs to be reminded that they are loved. I found a really cute one with a robot on it for my mother. She goes down to Florida every October and stays until about March. I don't get to see her much (read at all) during those months. So I decided not only was I going to send the card but also make the Dangercrafts Lovebot to accompany it. I figure she can put him in her car and he can be a little totem of luck and love.

He's about 8.5" inches from head to foot and made from Madelinetosh sock in Windowpane and a Wool Dispensary Oops color in a bright shade of pink. It was my first time doing duplicate stitch. Though I adore fair isle I possess poor intarsia skills so the Lovebot got stitched instead. I made him on size 1 needles in a day and a half of pure knitting bliss. Another unselfish knit dropped off my needles this weekend as well. He is for some friends in Philadelphia who just had (born yesterday) their second child, a little boy named Lucas Dean. I made a similar rabbit for the new big sister when she was born three years ago. 

Measuring 14" from ear to toe he is the perfect size for cuddling and a good excuse to use up some malabrigo merino worsted and malabrigo rios that was hanging around my stash. I used Ysolda Teague's Otto pattern and US size 5 needles. These two guys are ready to be packed up and shipped out to their respective recipient's. Though I won't get to see the looks of happiness as the boxes are opened I can imagine what they will look like. And that is worth every little stitch, every bit of finishing, and every yard of yarn.

Larger than Life

My Circus Showgirl shawl is finished. It was completed about a week ago and lay blocking as a friend came in the door. 

"Damn Gina," she said. "That's huge." 

"No it's not." I replied. "It always looks smaller when squished up on needles. I'll get the sample to prove it."

I trotted off to get the sample and lay it atop my blocking shawl. It looked something like this:

Only when wet it dwarfed the pink and blue sample all the way around. As it dried, the garter stitch scrunched back up and only the span of it stayed bigger. But I think it illustrates the different ways people knit. I used the same stitch count, the same needle size and the exact same yarn as Bree and got a slightly bigger result. Still I am happy with it. My favorite design elements about this shawl were the picot bind off, the no increasing in the border bit and the garter stitch. 

 On this chilly morning in the last bit of January I had my husband photograph a couple of other knitted items as well. My finished test knit of the Foster sweater for Ter of Ninja8Tofu Designs and the Thistle hat by Liz Abinante. 

Fair Isle February

In celebration of our yarn landing at Doodlebug and because I love everything stranded color work we are getting ready to kick off the first ever annual Fair Isle February. In most parts of the northern hemisphere February is a dreary short month that somehow manages to drag on forever. Why not liven it up by adding color? My favorite part of starting any project is picking out the yarn and colors its going to be worked in. Pairing up colors and finding unsuspecting combinations is what I live for. We will be running a couple of contests over in The Wool Dispensary group on Ravelry, complete with prizes. There will be categories for the following:

• Project using all Wool Dispensary yarn
• Project using Wool Dispensary with another yarn
• Project using another yarn entirely

Yes, I would love for you all to be using Wool Dispensary all the time in every project but I also know that there are lots and lots of other lovely companies and yarns. And if you're anything like me your stash is huge and we all want to knit down our stashes. So, in that spirit please come play along even if you are not using Wool Dispensary. (But if you haven't tried us yet, you might just want to give us a try). A Base Premise #1 update is also in the works to help you get your fair isle on. A soft springy single ply merino from Wyoming it's the perfect amount for a pair of stranded mittens or the contrast color in a hat. Okay plug time over.

Now on to what I plan to knit (aka start but maybe not finish) during Fair Isle February.

Useful Restorative in Tight Rope and Ogre Bogies, Victory Garden multi from Madelinetosh

• Narwhal Mittens by Ysolda Teague - using Wool Dispensary Useful Restorative for the outside and Madelinetosh Light for the lining
• Garden Gnome Hat by Betsy Farquhar - using Wool Dispensary Base Premise #1 and Useful Stimulant

Base Premise in Vexes & Hexes and Useful Stimulant in Circus Popcorn

• Kitsune Mittens by Betsy Farquhar - using Knit Picks Palette and Harrisville Shetland
• Octopus Mittens by Emily Peters - using Mama Blue and Madelinetosh Light
• Paper Dolls by Kate Davies - using Three Irish Girls and Craftsmeow
• Manresa by  Delia Rau Cholakian - using Shibui Baby Alpaca DK

Lining this all up I realize that with the exception of the Narwhal mittens in sport weight and leg warmers in DK my list is decidedly heavy on the fingering weight but your fair isle is not limited to small gauge yarns. There are plenty of patterns which work with Aran and worsted weights. Whether your a seasoned fair isle veteran or new to the world of stranded color work. Have no fear and come and play along! The Wool Dispensary promises to bring you a February filled with fun and color.

We are live!

The Wool Dispensary is proud to announce that Gayla at Doodlebug Yarn is now stocking three of our yarns! One is a familar favorite and two are brand new to us and to her. She will be stocking:

• Useful Stimulant- 460 yards of fingering weight BFL and nylon blend
• Useful Poison- 435 yards of fingering weight merino, cashmere, nylon
• Deadly Stimulant- 430 yds of fingering weight BFL and silk

Today the yarn went live and is available for purchase. I am very excited for her to be carrying The Wool Dispensary!

Deadly Stimulant in On the Back Lot, Georgia Building Castles, Tight Rope and Firebreather