Fair Isle/ Stranded: Does anyone use the Philosopher's Wool weaving method?

I’m working on my first Fair Isle type of sweater and I’ve been using the weaving method from Philosopher’s Wool. Just wondering if anyone else had tried this and what you think!

Yes, that is the way I do it. I like it and it gets faster as you get used to doing it. Just like stranding though don’t pull too tightly.

Yes, love it!

I am [I]sure[/I] I learned about it through this forum too.

Last fall I made a stranded hot water bottle cozy and as many errors I made in planning that project (somehow it didn’t occur to me that I would be stranding up to 5 colors at a time until I was more than halfway through) I think I would have gone nuts if I didn’t tack down the unused colors along the way instead of weaving in even more ends and/or having too-long strands that would impede putting a water bottle in the bag at all. It ended up way thick in parts, but I choose to see it as enhanced insulation for the water bottle :wink: Still, I’ll restrict myself to 2 colors at a time maximum for a long time, I learned my lesson there.


I am nowhere near brave enough to tackle any sweater. The farthest I stray from rectangles and tubes are mittens, socks, and hats.

Have fun with your sweater.

The waterbottle cover looks wonderful.With all that practice, a fair isle sweater should move up in your list of to-do projects. Very nicely done!
Most traditional fair isle patterns are two color although I’ve made Dale of Norway sweaters that used more.)

I think it’s just a fancy name for it. That technique has been around for a long time. I do stranding in one hand using a Continental hold. The two yarns are held in one hand like you would if you were knitting two strands of yarn together. I pick up one color, rotate my left hand toward me, pick out the second color, and return the hand to original position. This automatically twists each color around the other one and there are no long floats.

Thanks for posting this link.
This will be a great help when doing this type of knitting.
Has anyone bought the DVD?
I was wondering if there was much more on it that she didn’t already cover.

This is what I have been trying to do. But I can’t seem to “get it” with this explanation for some reason. They stay twisted and I end up with both colors. Is there a video or somesuch floating around of this continental method?
Ive tried others (and used philophers wool one for awhile but I do it too tight no matter what I do) but this one sounds easier.