Books

A Blogtour with seven chances to win.  Starting today!!

 

Six designers who contributed to Fair Isle Style are joining together with me for more than a week of give-aways!

This book was something that I’m been dreaming of putting together for years. At last fashion has caught on to the charm and beauty of Fair Isle knitting. And at long last knitters by the droves are embracing stranded knitting and having fun with it.

Putting the book together was very much an affair of friends. family and neighbors.

The Valenzi Cardigan is what I’ve been grabbing these last few days where the mornings have been chilly. Here you see it worn by my daughter Sophie. We shot the book in Maine, hoping to capture some of the feeling of Shetland. The beautiful photographs are by my friend Chris Vaccaro. We had very little time to do the shoot. Only 4 days to pull it together and 2 1/2 days to shoot. The first day poured rain. The next two were windy windy windy! Hair flying everywhere! Thank goodness for makeup artist Cheyenne Timperio, who tamed that hair into beautiful braids and other do’s.

My Morroless Socks are a personal favorite. I  love the retro feel of them. They reflect the crazy use of color once aniline dyes became widely available and people were experimenting with bold combinations. Clashing brights are toned down by the warm sheep grey and wee bit of fawn. All pure Shetland Wool. I couldn’t decide about the heels, you’ll find one is yellow and the other blue, hence the name, Morroless, meaning unmatched in Shetland dialect.

Many of the project names contain words from Shetland dialect, a language still spoken in Shetland and wonderful to listen to. I bend my ears and try and understand. It reminds me of when I first moved to Maine, there were many more people who had thick downeast accents with interesting turns of phrase…I would follow old farmers around the supermarket just so I could listen and try and decipher what was being said. They would have said the socks are “the same only different”.

L to R: Reeva Hat by Lisa Shroyer, Mushroom Kelliemuffs by Spilly Jane, Lumesadu Gloves by Nancy Bush.

Leave a comment about your own fair isle adventures for a chance to win a FREE copy of Fair Isle Style. 

Comments will close Thursday September 26 at midnight Eastern Time.

Blogtour Dates

Friday, September 20: Carrie Hoge – Peerie Weerie Booties
Monday, September 23: Norah Gaughan – Mareel Shrug
Tuesday, September 24: Courtney Kelly – Fara Raglan & Kate Osborn – Scandi Sukkalegs
Wednesday, September 25: Gudrun Johnston – Bressay Dress
Thursday, September 26: Kat Coyle – Keltin Skirt
Friday, September 27: Kirsten Kapur – Hap-Lapghan

You’ve still got time to try for Ysloda’s Fair Isle Style Giveaway, her comments close tomorrow at midnight GMT.

Thanks everyone the comments are closed!

The weather is gorgeous and there’s an exciting weekend ahead. Things kick off tomorrow night, August 5th at 5pm with KnitMainea’s fourth annual fashion show. The $10 admission fee goes to New Hope For Women, and includes wine and cheese!  Mitten donations are encouraged for the Three Little Kitten Project, which helps keep Waldo county children warm. Both of my  pieces from Fair Isle Style are included as well as 4 projects from 150 Scandinavian Motifs. Lots of other local talent will be represented, look for Sarah Brand New, one of the KnitMainea gals and my friend Ellen Mason. The images above were taken just down the road from Searsport Shores where the event is held. Those garments, modeled on local Maine girls, are in the book but with their makers. Right to Left – Ysolda Teague, Gudrun Johnston, Courtney Kelly. Kirsten Kapur another contributor to the book will be teaching a fantastic hat design class. I took her Top Down Hats last year, she’s a really warm person and a great teacher.

 

 

Aw Heck…Here’s the press release for Fiber College…which I’m cutting and pasting because I tore my retina and I’m not really supposed to be on the computer…or do anything I like to do like knit, read, hike…it has been a hard 10 days but I should be good to go soon…

Searsport, ME, August 26, 2013: Searsport Shores Ocean Campground will once again host Fiber College of Maine with 50+ classes and 18 free demonstrations. The largest fiber education gathering on the East Coast, Fiber College will be offering classes in everything from spinning to weaving, quilting to embroidery and wood carving to fly tying. Instructors and students come from as far afield as Bali and New Brunswick and as close as Belfast and Montville. Pre-registration for classes is suggested but on-site registrations can be accommodated if there are slots available in the classes. (FMI classes here)

Saturday night the Searsport Historical Society will be providing a chowder supper to attendees followed by a beach bonfire and music performed by Mark Aubertin of Monroe. Prior to dinner authors of fiber books Gale Zucker, Judith Durant, Mary Lou Eagan, Katharine Cobey, Kristen TenDyke, Kirsten Kapur and Daina Taimina will be signing their books and showing some of the knit/crochet wear that fill the pages of their books.

On the grounds will be activities that do not require class registration. Dyer and designer Ellen Mason will mentor a dye tent and participants can either bring their own yarn, cloth, fiber to dye with inexpensive color shots or purchase material on site by the pound. “Shot glass Dye Jobs” were developed by Ellen so that first time dyers and experienced artists alike will have success with single color and multiple color projects. Ellen will be available for consultation on successful color combinations, techniques and application methods. Gale Zucker, professional photographer will be offering low cost individual sessions to those with a camera and an animal they’d like to photograph. Whether the camera is an i-phone or a high end digital device, Gale will share tips and techniques for capturing the perfect picture of the animal in your life. (FMI Zuker session here) In another tent, free demonstrations are scheduled every hour Friday-Sunday and include topics like Journey Baskets, Japanese Silk Stenciling, Fly Tying and the Revival of the Navajo Churro Sheep. (FMI Demonstration schedule here)

The Shopper’s Boulevard will highlight small fiber working artists and offer supplies and goods generally not found in traditional storefronts. Most of the artists make space in their booths for demonstration material and the opportunity to try new techniques and tools with plenty of help is readily accessible. Wood workers Bill Forbes, Gary Kitchen and Tom Cote will have their lathes and woodworking tools for on-going demonstrations of carving, fiber tool production and bowl turning. (FMI Vendors here)

Thursday at 5:00 the FiberMaine-ia Fashion show to benefit New Hope for Women will be followed by a cocktail reception and gallery opening of instructor’s works in the Art Studio. 100 % of the profit raised by the show will go to the Rockland shelter. (FMI: here)

Fiber College is an accessible event with handicapped parking and shuttle service when necessary. Please leave all animals at home (unless they are needed for a Gale Zucker photo session).

For More information contact Astrig Tanguay (207) 548-6059, director@fibercollege.org or visit the website http://www.FiberCollege.org

 

 

I’ll have some copies of Fair Isle Style for sale to sign on Saturday. Hope to See you there!

 

 

Check out Knitting Daily’s review of Fair Isle Style here!

Look what came to my house by courier! Advance copies of one of my new books, 150 Scandinavian Knitting Designs, the UK version and 150 Scandinavian Motifs: The Knitter’s Directory, the American version. You can pre-order your copy here or here! The reason for the different titles is because Americans would think that they get 150 garment designs if the book had the UK title. All my beautiful swatches came back too.

They’re saying the release date is August 15.

Sometimes you can get the book sooner if you order directly from the publisher,  Search Press in the UK and Interweave Press in the US. Interweave doesn’t seem to offer pre-ordering at the moment, so you might need super ESP skills to figure that one out. I’ll let you know if I hear anything.

In a way this book was a little harder to make than the last one ( 200 Fair Isle Motifs: A Knitter’s Directory  (US) and  200 Fair Isle Designs (UK) and many others, Latvia, Estonia, Netherlands, etc). With Fair Isle knitting the gauge is fairly consistent because of the fact that there are almost never more than 8 or 9 stitches between color changes, never more than 2 colors in a single round and the pattern designs are symmetrical. There is also a sensible and orderly progression based on row count and stitch count. For this new book, the number of stitches between color changes varies tremendously with each motif and the patterns are often not symmetrical, reindeer are a good example. Plus – many patterns have more than two colors in a round. So the gauge varied, especially the row count. We decided to “design each page” because there wasn’t a simple progression of row count and stitch count that made sense with the various designs from so many different countries and traditions. That meant that I had to plan a composed swatch, aiming for  the 22cm x 22 cm size of the page. Some of the allover patterns were fairly easy to memorize, but others were not. The patterns that are not symmetrical were especially challenging, just when my poor brain figured them out it was time to do an entirely new and different one. Now I know why knitters often choose to make the same reindeer mittens over and over again, by the second one you’ve got the pattern down and you’re ready to whip up another pair in a different color.

I love love love these pattern motifs though! Some are sooooooo cute it hurts! Others are simply elegant. The art direction is amazing – each page more beautiful than the last – such a joy and relief for me. Another thing about this book, there are 4 projects included in the book to get you started, mittens, a hat, a cowl and a darling pin cushion. And a secret….there are actually more than 150 designs, once you get the hang of analyzing the patterns -I show you how- you’ll discover patterns within the patterns – endless enjoyment!