Quezi

Wrong side of patterned, stranded knitting with "unused" yarn forming a warm extra layer. (Photo by WordRidden - CC-BY)

Once upon a time the answer was always “No”. Strictly speaking, Fair Isle knitting is one particular kind of multi-colour stranded knitting from the Shetland Islands and nearby Fair Isle.

Nowadays the name is spreading and you may find Fair Isle, or fairisle, used to mean almost any style of stranded knitting. Click through to read about traditional Fair Isle knitting, or stay here to learn more about stranded colour knitting in general.

Stranded knitting, also called stranded colourwork, uses two colours in the same row. It’s not the same as knitting stripes where you only use one colour at a time. You can use it to build up patterns, and extra warmth as well since it creates a double layer of wool.

Fair Isle, Norwegian, and other kinds of stranded knitting mean the knitter is handling two different balls of yarn at once. Stitches in the same row are made in different colours. As you can see in the picture, while one or more stitches are knitted in black, the red wool has to be “stranded” so it runs smoothly along on the reverse side. And vice versa – when making red stitches the black wool is running along the back.

The photograph shows how this looks on the wrong side. (Click to see the front of the same knitting.) The stranding has to be neat, with the knitter holding the yarn at the right tension. Not too loose or it gets messy with long “floats” on the wrong side. But loose and stretchy is better than too tight, when the fabric puckers and won’t sit flat.

It can be fun to try out this kind of knitting, and you may enjoy creating your own patterns. Use coloured pencils and squared paper to try out designs based on two colours in one row. Any more than five consecutive stitches in one colour is a problem unless you’ve learned an advanced technique for weaving them together.

There are several ways of holding the different colours on one or both hands. If you know someone who can show you, there is no better way of learning. Otherwise look on YouTube.com for some helpful videos. If you can knit Continental style with the yarn coming from your left, try buying a small gadget called a strickfingerhut, meaning knitting thimble. You wear it on your left index finger and it has separate channels for each yarn colour.

It’s much easier to knit on a circular needle in the Fair Isle and Scandinavian traditional way. Then all your stitches will be plain, with no purl, and you can just carry on round and round.

Before starting any project, you really need to practise the technique. Arranging the yarn on your fingers and letting it run through at the right tension should be tried out on a test piece. The sample can be made into a small purse or doll’s sleeping bag if it comes out well.