Originally posted 2008-11-06 07:07:54. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
I have long been a fan of Fair Isle knitting (it must be the inner preppy coming out). So a couple of years ago when I saw a couturier sweater in Fair Isle patterns in the bright colors, I ripped it out of the magazine and vowed it would become a needlepoint someday. I finally did it, as a Twinchy for this month.
Looking for Fair Isle Knitting Patterns on the Internet found me mostly ones which were not charted. You want to find ones which are. The charts, a sample is below, look like cross stitch charts with the symbols in the grid squares. Stitch them over the intersections and it’s a needlepoint pattern.
In this type of knitting the background is one color and the motifs another, although the color used for the motif can change row by row. Far less common is Fair Isle with more than two colors in a row, although my inspiration sweater did that.
One cool way to adapt Fair Isle to needlepoint is to use an overdyed thread for the background, especially one which has shades of the same color. This adds a nice layer of texture similar to knitting with hand-dyed yarns. The solid colored motifs stand out nicely against it.
Here’s the chart for the Twinchy. To make it easier to see, I kept the background blank. The motifs are repeated on top and bottom with the glue motif as the center. Because these motifs are narrow, I made them all one color.
Fair Isle and related techniques are considered advanced knitting techniques because you are knitting with multiple colors in the same row. But for needlepoint, it is an easy technique.
There are lots of books of Fair Isle techniques out there. Some I like include this Dover book, Traditional Fair Isle Knitting
Fair Isle is one of a number of knitting traditions which use graphic elements in horizontal stripes to make sweaters. Fair Isles come from Scotland, but there are similar traditions in Scandinavia (here’s a book of those patterns I just bought Traditional Scandinavian Knitting
This whole piece was so fun and so easy to do, that I’m thinking about making some Christmas ornaments this way — I’ll keep you posted.
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Blimey, Janet – you are giving such great ideas for this month’s Twinchy, I don’t know where to start! I would never ever have thought of adapting fair aisle knitting to needlepoint, but isn’t the result fabulous. Ok, off to peruse my stash of knitting patterns…
Great idea, even if just for border inspiration. I have a few Fair Isle knitting books, I used to knit a lot.
Can’t wait to see your ornaments.
[...] Oh, my goodness. Janet Perry of Nuts About Needlepoint blog has come up with a way to convert Fair Isle knitting patterns to needlepoint. That chick can do anything! And she’s offering a free chart for this Fair Isle twinchy. See Janet’s post. [...]
Oh, I’m so glad you ripped that sweater pattern out of the Fair Isle patterns a couple of years ago because the resulting Twinchy we see here is exceptional! I love working with hand dyed yarns so I can imagine the effect of using the overdyed thread for the background. Nicely done! Thanks for this unique idea!
- Stella
[...] Converting Fair Isle Knitting Charts to Needlepoint I have long been a fan of Fair Isle… [...]