I love to knit Fair Isle patterns and often have the urge to incorporate some Fair Isle motifs into mostly solid projects that I am making. These include hats, sweaters, afghans and the like. This book is perfect for incorporating Fair Isle into your knitting patterns or developing a pattern of your own using one of the 200 motifs from this knitting directory. It is a wellstone of pattern possibilities. The author describes the book as "a knitter's directory of 200 Fair Isle motifs". Is is, in essence, an encyclopedic dictionary of most of the motifs you can imagine in the Fair Isle tradition.
"The directory is organized by row and stitch count. It includes a stunning, actual-size photograph, a black and white chart, a color chart, a color variation chart, and a suggested all-over repeat chart for each of the 200 motifs." There is a section on Essential Skills for Fair Isle knitting. For the purist, there is no substitute for Shetland wool. However, the author concedes that baby and sock yarns, Norwegian yarn, Icelandic wool, mohair, cotton, variegated and novelty yarns can all be used to create Fair Isle. The section on gauge stresses the importance of knowing gauge before starting the project. We all know this to be true but even I have knitted sweaters big enough to fit the whole state of Iowa into because I was lazy about gauge. There is a nice section about casting on and another about circular knitting. The author has a page on how to hold the yarn and another page on stranding. There is a section on weaving and one on increasing and decreasing. Steeking, a process that has always scared me, is covered as well. Color theory is addressed which is very helpful because the multi-colored basis of Fair Isle depends on color harmonies and choice. The author addresses design principles and ways to plan a project.
Excitedly, I turned to the section on Motif Selector and was gaga. There are so many motifs and so many beautiful ones. Each motif is shown in multi-colored possibilities. The photographs are close-up and beautiful. Interweave Press and Mary Jane Mucklestone have outdone themselves with this book, a resource any Fair Isle knitter (or knitter-to-be) can not do without. It is superb.