What is Fair Isle?
Learn all about this stranded colourwork technique
Fair Isle is a classic technique that involves stranding different yarn colours across the wrong side (WS) of the fabric. To try it out, continue with your practice piece:
Step 1 Work Row 4 as *2 dc in cream, 2 dc in pink; repeat from * to end. As you work, let the unused yarn colour dangle free at the back but remember to twist the yarns together when you change colour. On the WS, you’ll see that each time you change colour, the yarn travels across the fabric from where you previously used it – this creates a strand or float of coloured yarn across the WS. Don’t pull the strand tight because it could pucker the fabric, but don’t leave it loose either as the stitches could look baggy. At the end of the row, turn and the fabric should look like this on the WS.
Step 2 Fair Isle strands need to be on the WS, so on a WS row like Row 4, let the unused yarn dangle free at the front of the fabric and create strands in front of the stitches. Your finished Row 4 should look like this.
Step 3 Turn and continue to follow the chart using the Fair Isle technique. Your finished fabric should look like this on the RS…
Step 4 …and like this on the WS.