Sunday, January 06, 2008

EZ's Fairisle Yoke sweater



After I'd had DH take the shot of me in Elizabeth Zimmermann's Fair Isle Yoke Sweater from The Opinionated Knitter, page 11, I realized that I had not yet blogged about this project.

The pic of the sweater by the pond and the 4 o'clock flowers was taken when the sweater was finished in September 2006.

There is a similar Fair Isle in Knitting Around, but my notes tell me the fair isle patterning is from TOK.

When Knit Picks first came online, they were giving away a $100. gift certificate to a lucky monthly winner if you signed up to get their emails. I really didn't think that I'd have a chance to win, but I signed up. The very next month, I won! I just was happy dancing all over the place! Then the question was what would I use my gift certificate on? I had been wanting to do a fair isle;so, without one in mind, I ordered the yarn you see in this sweater. Picked out some other things, too, of course.

After my Camp 2 in 2006, I knew I wanted to attempt my fair isle. It took me a total of 6 weeks from planning to finish. I looked through all my books, including Knitting Around, but I really liked the patterning in The Opinionated Knitter better. Out came my colored pencils and graph paper. Then I read all suggestions in both KA and TOK plus the Fair Isle video (now part of the DVD). Cast on with joy and anticipation! It was so very much easier than I thought it would be and the plain cinnamon stockinette just flew off the needles.

This is one of my favorite sweaters. Soft. Comfy. And not at all scratchy like that red cardigan with fair isle/nordic yoke patterning from my youth.

7 comments:

handknitter said...

Beautiful!

And now I'm dreaming of Spring and gardens . . .

Anonymous said...

And it Really is okay to include your pretty face when modeling your sweaters.....really.

Anonymous said...

It looks great! Nice job!

Linda said...

Kool! Is it done with Palette?

LP, who can't spell yet

Nancy said...

It's knit with Merino Style...Palette wasn't available yet! Speaking of which, I have the Palette sampler from when it first came out which I haven't touched.

Anonymous said...

Nice sweater, in your colors. Yes, could include picture of smiling ear to ear as you did a great job and colors blend well. Something to brighten the day and stay warm with.

Birdsong said...

I can see why this is a favorite! Great colors, perfect fit, how can you go wrong with making an EZ? I am envious...