Fearless Fair Isle Knitting: 30 Gorgeous Original Sweaters, Socks, Mittens, and More

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 .

This 2011 soft-cover book of 170 pages has a plethora of graphic-/ photo-intensive inserts on almost every other page. (Note: There are none of the customary black and white photos or graphics, which are usually found in pattern crafts books to save money in printing; every insert is semi-glossy color.) Taunton Press is the Publisher.Note that the keyword to this gorgeous book is ‘Color’.In fact, the subtitle of this book is: ‘30 Gorgeous Original Sweaters, Socks, Mittens, and More’. Are there ever!There are 2 pre-Chapter sections of this book: 1. ‘Acknowledgements’ and 2. ‘Taking the Fear out of Fair Isle’.Next, 10 Chapters follow: (Note there are various numbers of patterns in each chapter, starting with Chapter 2). Chapter 1. ‘Fair Isle Basics’; Chapter 2. ‘’Geometric Dazzle’ (5 patterns);Chapter 3. ‘Stripes, Checks, and Curlicues’ (3 patterns); Chapter 4. ‘Holiday Fun’ (3 patterns); Chapter 5. ‘Dakota Dreams’ (5 patterns); Chapter 6 ‘Nordic Snowflake’ (4 patterns); Chapter 7. ‘Genevieve’s Graduation’ (2 patterns); Chapter 8. ‘Prairie, Earth and Sky’ (3 patterns); Chapter 9. ‘In the Flower Garden’ (4 patterns); and Chapter 10. ‘The Dragon Ride’ (1 pattern).Looking carefully at Chapter 1, there are the following subheadings (skills): a. ‘Increases and Decreases’ (*This subhead begins by mentioning ‘beginners’ – but in the context of this book, it means ‘beginning-FI’ knitters – NOT beginning-level knitters. **Note also that in order to do FI knitting and create items of clothing, knitters need to be able to be competent in the skillsets in ALL of these subheads.); b. ‘Changing Your Colors’…; c. ‘Joining Same-Color Yarns’; d. ‘Yarn Dominance and Ball Placement’; e. ‘Knitting from a Chart’; f. ‘Changing to Double-Pointed Needles’; g. ‘Holding the Yarn Strands for the Floats’; h. ‘Weaving the Ends’; i. ‘Wet Blocking’; j. ‘Laundering’; k. ‘Steeks’; l. ‘Sleeves’…; m. ‘Tandem Sleeves’…; n. ‘Picking up Stitches’; o. ‘Shaping Necklines’; and p. ‘Fixing’.***This book does not contain an Abbreviation section, and it also doesn’t show how to form any of the stitches or procedures that are used in this book. Therefore (see * and ** in subheading a., above), this book isn’t for Beginning-level students. It would be for Intermediate/ High-Intermediate to Advanced levels.There are 3 post-Chapter-sections:A. Standard Yarn WeightsB. Resources (Yarns and Notions)C. IndexThis book is a perfect contemporary partner to Starmore’s more classic book. Both should be on all serious knitters’ bookshelves. (****Note that if a buyer’s knitting skills aren’t competent enough to make any of these patterns now, the book will still be an inspiration to nudge knitters up to these levels some day by constant practice with mentors or by watching internet videos.)To see how this more contemporary Taylor book in this review complements the more classic Alice Starmore’s Fair Isle Knitting, please see my review.

Honestly, I'm not afraid of Fair Isle (as a place or a technique), but I know that many people are. It looks intimidating, after all, especially if you've never tried it before.The author knows this and starts the book by saying, "Take a deep breath and repeat after me: `Fair Isle is fabulous. Fair Isle is fun. Fair Isle is easy. I am not afraid.' Yeah, you heard me: Knitting Fair Isle is easy. It's fun. And it can be fearless, whether you're using just two yarns or going wild with forty."Not surprisingly, the book begins with techniques--discussions on yarn dominance, how to "float" your yarn along the back, even how to cut a steek. Her idea of knitting sleeves in tandem, attached with a steek, is pretty clever, too. I knit sleeves in pairs all the time, but never thought about attaching them to each other to make the knitting easier (not to mention fewer ends to weave in).One thing I like is that each chapter more or less takes a single chart, a single idea, and then plays with it-so you see the same basic design in a child's cardigan, a man's hat and scarf set, and a bag for a yoga mat. They may be in different colors but all essentially the same basic Fair Isle design. Not very many books play the "variations on a theme" card because they're too busy showing you all their different designs, but sometimes it's helpful to see some of the possibilities inherent in one design, in one arrangement of stitches in pattern. Otherwise it's too easy to see a sweater and never think that you could use that same pattern for a scarf, or anything else.

There was nothing to dislike about this book, got it a lot cheaper being a used item but in great condition like new the saving was half the cost on new.

I got the kindle one by mistake but then thought it was so good that I got the book too

I'm delighted with these patterns

Les modèles sont beaux et colorés, parfaits si vous aimez faire du jacquard (niveau experte) et à la mode scandinave ! c'est à dire en circulaire et en coupant pour les emmanchures. Par contre, si vous voulez faire le modèle de la couverture, il nécessite d'utiliser 2 coloris de la laine "crystal palace yarns", qualité "mini mochi" qui a un effet jacquard. C'est un jacquard puisqu'il faut utiliser 2 fils (coloris "fireworks" et "feldspar" de ladite qualité indiquée précédemment), mais l'effet coloré est produit par le dégradé du fil (donc à mon avis, résultat non garanti identique). Cette laine est vendue sur les sites américains, au mieux britanniques, et il vous en coûtera minimum plus de 100 $ pour cette veste sans manches. Pour les autres modèles, rien à redire. Mais bon, c'est évidemment le modèle de la couverture qui m'intéressait donc un peu déçue. Sinon, explications en anglais, à l'américaine, donc sans schémas ni dimensions du modèle fini (par exemple, cette veste est indiquée zippée devant, sauf qu'aucune photo ne montre le devant (histoire de voir le résultat quand même...)). Par contre, on a les grilles jacquard en couleurs, donc, ne nous plaignons pas :-o

tolle Muster, gute Anleitungen, aber nur für Könner des Beidhändigem Strickens, dann sehr zu empfehlen , zu empfehlen ist auch, das Originalgarn zu verwenden