Adventures in Fair Isle Knitting
All Creatures Great and Small Scarf
For the last four months, I have been focussed on one main project. I have been learning Fair Isle knitting in order to create a scarf. In a mere 133 days (or just over 4 months), it is finally done.
Fair Isle Knitting
I have always enjoyed a 1970’s TV show called “All Creatures Great and Small“. It is based on a book written by a vet in the north of England (Yorkshire Dales) in the 30’s and 40’s. The main characters are veterinarians James Herriot, Sigfried and Tristan Farnon.
I watched the original back when you had to catch the show live, then found and re-watched when it was available to be streamed. I was nervous to learn that there was a re-boot of the series in 2020 but it is every bit as good (if not better) than the first series.
In one episode in the new series, James, who is Scottish, receives a package from his mother for his birthday. It is this gorgeous hand-knitted multi-coloured scarf. After some quick googling, I discovered it is made using a specific type of colour stranded knitting originating in the Shetland islands called the Fair Isle technique. I was fascinated! Shortly after that I came across a free pattern on Ravelry for this exact scarf.
I had to learn this and so it began.
Finding the Yarn
The recommended yarn for the project was, of course, Shetland wool, specifically Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift. The company is based in Shetland and does not ship directly to Canada or the US except through specific stockists. Turns out there was one here in Ottawa, but I needed 22 balls in 13 different colours. Two of the colours were out of stock and after waiting a while for the stock to be replaced, I opted to choose substitutes for those two colours. The wool is actual real wool without any treatments. It felt quite different from the usual soft merino wools I have been using. Rougher, but an authentic natural feel.
Working in the round, I found that the pattern repeated every 16 stitches. I saw comments saying the scarf was too wide at 9 repeats of 16 for 144 total stitches. So, instead I decided to go with 7 repeats of 16 and cast on 112 stitches instead. I made the holes for the fringe attachment and started into the first pattern. It was February and the weather was chilly outside and I thought how nice to have a warm scarf. When I finished 4 months later we were in the middle of a heat wave in July 1. What a journey!
No rush
Obviously I am a slow beginner knitter, but it required a lot of concentration too more on some patterns than others. I realized at one point that the “16-stitch repeats” didn’t always work and so the seam does not line up perfectly to the pattern. I used that as the side edge though and it is virtually unnoticeable. Believe it or not, I spent several hours nearly daily working on it too! Very slow indeed.
I initially tried to hold both colours of yarn in my right hand and knit “throw” style. It became so tedious dropping and picking up the other thread that I forced myself to use the “pick” style for the alternate colour. It worked so much better and was much easier to keep the threads from tangling. I even mastered catch long floats at the back. So satisfying and so supported by YouTube tutorials!
I eventually completed the pattern three times and then repeated the first 20 rows again. In total the scarf is 84 inches including the fringe. What a joy and feeling of accomplishment to complete.
