Fair Isle knits and patterns have been working their way fashion collections on and off the runways over the last couple of seasons, and it looks like the trend will continue this fall and winter. I have always had a soft spot for Fair Isle knits although they are a bit more difficult to work into my designs than some of the simpler knits. So what is a Fair Isle knit? It is a form of stranded colorwork knitting named for the tiny Shetland Island halfway between Scotland and Norway where knitters were known for their skill and technique. Traditionally two colors are used in a single row and the yarn that is not being worked is carried on the back of the fabric, creating a knit that is twice as thick as would be normally. Often more that two colors are used in the overall design, but if you look carefully you will not see more than two colors used in a row. The designs are distinctive, and you may recognize them from a warm sweater you have in storage at this moment, but the strands of yarn you see on the backside of the fabric will be the final clue if what you have is a Fair Isle knit
