Knitting

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Giveaway: The Very Easy Guide to Fair Isle Knitting

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fair isle giveaway

Melody is our winner!

I have been cleaning up my office recently and I moved my pile of giveaway books from one shelf to another and this book ended up on top, which is reason enough to give it away this week.

The Very Easy Guide to Fair Isle Knitting by Lynne Watterson is an easy-entry, step-by-step guide to getting stranded knitting, covering everything from yarn choices to working with two colors in a row, ribbing in two colors and classic fair isle patterns.

It also includes 11 patterns for things such as fingerless mitts, a beret, a bag and pillows, which you can work through to learn the concepts and design principles behind stranded knitting. If you used this book as a workbook, you would definitely get comfortable with fair isle quickly. And isn’t summer (or winter for that matter) the perfect time to learn something new?

If you want a chance to win this book, leave a comment on this post before the end of the day Sunday, June 28. I’d love to know if you have any big plans for the coming season, wherever on earth you happen to live. We’re holding out until the end of next month, then spending what’s sure to be a fabulous week in Florida.

Thanks for visiting, commenting and sharing, and good luck!

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Comments

  1. I have wanted to learn how to knit. My grandmother use to and it amazed me. As for the upcoming season, I just want to spend as much time with my kids as possible enjoying them.

  3. I have a trip planned to visit my parents in July. I haven’t seen them in over a year so it should be fantastic 🙂

  5. Fair Isle has been the bane of my life but I won’t give up! Friends from Italy coming over to UK so a chance to speak Italian again – what bliss!

  6. My goal this Summer is to learn Fair Isle. I’m sure this book would be a great help!

  7. I would love to receive it! Just looking the cover can we guess the beautiful patterns and pictures inside. Thanks!!

  8. Have started the season with the first of 3 reunion/wedding trips. Love being with family and old pals!

  9. Summer is being taken up by house remodeling Windows next week than finishing floors.

  10. Home, sweet home is the best place to be in the summer…where a cool swim is just a short drive away. Fathoming the depths of fair isle would be a wonderful summer diversion. Fingers crossed?!

    from ‘neath the bright blue skies of VT,
    the Vermonster

  11. fair isle has always interested me but it looks quite scary, maybe this book would set me at ease. We are having a lot of family coming this summer. What could be better? I live in Washington State in the country 35 miles out of Portland Oregon, It’s like living in a vacation spot.

  13. I am looking forward to our knitting guild first weekend retreat the last weekend in August. We have rented a cabin on the river which will sleep 15 people. We will be having classes on two color brioche and making stitch markers.

  15. My kids work in the corn fields of Nebraska through the whole month of July, so we are hoping to get a road trip in to Michigan (and maybe Canada) before school starts up again in August.

  16. No plans just trying to get by one day at a time. Hopeful that my cancer is not coming back. Thank you for this wonderful giveaway.

  17. would absolutely love to win this fair isle book, need to learn about doing it the right way.

  18. Just got back from road trip to Colorado. Had a wonderful time in Manitou Springs. It is beautiful there.

  19. We just have a camping trip planned this summer in Wisconsin. Thanks for the chance to win – I love fair isle but need a lot more practice in getting my stitches even.

  20. Have just returned from Dominican Republic for my daughter’s wedding, and will have to wait now till November when we are going to Egypt.

  22. We are traveling in July and August. We have to head home because my brother is getting married and I’m a bridesmaid in the wedding! I’m so excited!

  25. I would love to give Fair Aisle a try!!! I’m heading with family to Cape San Blas in Florida for a week on July. I have never been to that area. 🙂

  26. Just had major surgery on March 31 and now am healing and already scheduled for total hip replacement on October 5th. Going to be spending lots of time knitting over the next few months or so.

  27. Next month going to a conference on essential oils. Spending my summer raising frogs.

  28. I have a reunion coming up which includes a trip with my grandkids. I’m looking forward to that.

  29. I have no Big plans this summer. A whole summer to do whatever comes to mind. Gardening, small home projects and some much needed down time to organize my new Fiber Studio. Its awesome not having plans this year!

  30. we are camping for one entire week and being camp hosts at a National park in our area!!! It is going to be awesome!! I’m thinking that a knitting project would be perfect and winning this book would be fantastic!!!

  32. Just got my own apt after splitting with my husband of 25 years. Now i can do what i want when i want knitting here i come!

  33. No big plans, just lots of yard work and organizing the garage. And knitting, lots of knitting.

  34. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law will be visiting from Australia for 2 1/2 weeks in July. We are going to do all kinds of touristy stuff in our area and we are going to NYC and DC. 🙂

    Thank you for the giveaway. Fair Isle is my next big adventure so this would be very helpful.

  35. My goal thus summer is to knit a pair of toe up socks. Travel plans include a week with the grandchildren.

  36. I’ve wanted to learn Fair Isle knitting for a long time and this book sounds like a great one to learn from!
    We have a family wedding in July in Duluth MN and we are looking forward to seeing Duluth and the North Shore again.

  37. Fair Isle patterns are beautiful and one has to pay attention to the pattern.

    I love the idea of a challenge and this is one. I’m hoping to spend some quiet afternoons with friends working on knitting projects. And while watching our grandchildren

  39. My big plans for this summer are to knit several baby trousseaus. What I should be doing is packing, but what’s the fun in that?

  42. Looks like a lovely book. I recently started two color mittens and realized that stranded work is not as hard as I thought it would be.

  46. No big plans but taking my daughter to various Universities so she can choose where to spend the next four years!

  47. We are Americans living in China and we get to be back in the States for 6 months starting July 1st! I do a lot of knitting shopping while in the states, so,this give away would be a great jump start.

  48. Recovering from surgery, so vacation plans on hold. Home bound right now, doing lots of knitting.

  50. No big plans here. But we are so happy because my granddaughters are coming to visit us!

Have you read?

Felted Bag Knitting Patterns

I feel like felting is a knitting genre that deserves a resurgence. My first knitting book (which came out in 2008, eek!) was all about felting, but I don’t feel like there are a lot of felting knitting projects out there these days. I really like the technique as an easy way to make a thicker, more durable knit fabric, and it’s actually perfect for knitting bags.

The ZZ Bag from yamagara recently caught my eye and got me thinking about felted bags, and maybe remaking one of the bags that was in that book. This one has a fun zigzag pattern and is worked in worsted weight yarn. You can find the pattern on Ravelry.

A lot of the other knit and felted bag patterns I could find were older, but that doesn’t make them bad patterns. I’ve always loved the booga bag from Black Sheep Bags (the pattern is on their website but the photo is broken so you can also check it out on Ravelry). This is a fun one because you can use all your leftovers or a self-striping yarn (the original was made with Noro) to give it a colorful look that’s super easy to knit. 

An envelope purse is another easy shape to knit, and this version from Lavender Hill Knits on Etsy comes in different sizes for younger girls and teens or adults. The small version is worked with one strand of worsted weight yarn, while the larger uses two held together.

The Japanese knot bag is a classic, and a felted version is a lot of fun. You can find this pattern from Cindy Pilon on Ravelry and knit one for yourself using bulky yarn. I also love her bag The Curve, which is also on Ravelry and has a fun rounded shape and contrasting handles.

And there’s also the amazing stained glass bag from Knitting Dream, which also uses a Noro yarn, but you could use wool scraps on the different fans to give it a unique look. There are two size options to choose from and it’s not as tricky as it looks.