Hello everyone! Once this whole Christmas season is over, I’m on a mission: I want to make the most beautiful Fair Isle cardigan (for myself) that’s ever been created. Seriously.
So, I had been planning to do the Palette Fair Isle Cardigan from KnitPicks, which is gorgeous and amazing. But lately I’ve been getting really into Elizabeth Zimmermann, I’m wondering if it would be extremely cool to sort of just make up my own. It totally boggles the mind, to just invent my own sweater, but I really think that I could do it. And that would be amazing.
So, do you think that a Fair Isle sweater in worsted weight would be good, or do I need to do it in a smaller gauge? And do you think I should stick to a pattern, or create a la EZ? Thanks for your advice!
I totally think you could design your own!! I’d use a smaller gauge yarn because the finer the pattern, the more detail you can get into the design. Use graph paper and colored pencils to design your own pattern.
For sure… create you own!! You can add little symbols that are important to you, even names. Good luck!
A great book for this is “The Art of Fair Isle Knitting.” It has a whole section on design - color choices, the math involved, etc. I have not tried it myself yet, but I read through it and I think it’s useful!
The sweaters from the Philosopher’s Wool site are made with worsted weight. They don’t look like ‘traditional’ Fair Isle sweaters in person, but do knit up faster and are very pretty.
If you’re going to go through the trouble of making a Fair Isle out of the traditional weight yarn, seriously consider Jamieson & Smith jumper weight from www.schoolhousepress.com . EZ’s daughter runs it, and the colors are breathtaking.
The Palette yarns are the same weight, but are solid colors. the J & S yarns have so many beautiful, heathered colors. There’s no comparison.
Do you guys have any idea what the estimated amount of yardage it would take to make a mediumish-largeish sized cardigan in fingering weight? I’m only asking for a very rough estimate because I have no idea, if it would be like 500 yards or like 3,000 yards. Obviously, I’ve not a clue, and I’m kind of wanting to just prepare myself if I have to buy a TON of yarn.
Thanks, everyone! You guys are the best
