Scottie Fair Isle

The DH just amazed me this time. I asked him to take pictures and he did a wonderful job. No wonder he keeps getting commercial work.

This is the Scottie Fair Isle I mentioned two posts ago. I have to state up front that it was a blast to knit...I couldn't put it down. And then I have to tell you that this is a raw version. I have yet to pick up the provisional cast on and do the liner, then it should be washed and blocked. I couldn't stand to wait that long to show you. :->

The first chart consists of bones framing Scottie profiles separated by hearts. You can tell my tension isn't perfect - I needed to get better about not pulling the floats too tightly. But since this will go over my head, it'll be stretched.

Next the symbol of Scotland, the thistle. Guess where Scotties come from, boys and girls? Liz was so generous, selecting all the colors I love best.

Now we have little wheaties marching toward us. Scotties are black, wheaten, or brindles, which can run a gamut of colors. My mom's brindle, Raffy, looks like tiger stripes when he's clipped. His dad was a reddish wheaten.

More hearts here too, because we love our Scotties! I love the way Liz used the background color to frame their faces. Or, since it was Liz who is Scottish, colour.

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Following more bones, we have these Scotties, in the perfect stack position you'll see in dog shows. Note the smaller dogs you can just see above.

This was my only goof other than just not being used to Fair Isle yet. I should have changed from the light green earlier, but I didn't dislike it once I realized, and I hate to frog my knitting! So it's my design variation. Yeah, dat's it.

Bones are our next motif...I love the variations on a theme Liz created. Hope she thinks I did them a bit of justice.

The last charts were small, of course, and have a rows of Scotties coming and going, and one larger Scottie at the top. The white in it is a bit blown out but you can still see him.

I could have finished off with a bobble end, but I'm more a tassle kinda gal (don't go there!) so I did that.

And voila'! A hat any chickie would love. LOL. This was SO MUCH fun! I cannot wait for Liz's workshop to start. Now I'll learn everything I did wrong.

Let's have a hand for my beloved DH...he really outdid himself, didn't he?

Look Ma! Two hands!

Yes, most of us do two hands for knitting, but not everyone can do Fair Isle knitting...or colorwork...or stranded knitting. I know the terms are not all interchangable, but I don't completely know what the difference in them is...yet.

I've mentioned Liz Lovick before with admiration and gratitude, and today's no different. After Liz designed a Fair Isle hat just for me to knit, it occurred to me that it would wonderful to ask her to teach her workshop to the EZasPi knitting group. Liz is no stranger to teaching, and has done a Shetland Lace workshop and a Gansey workshop for us before, as well as designing an Orkney Pi for the group.

Knitting will begin on this on January 30th, but if you're interested, I suggest joining the group now to get a list of items you'll want to start gathering. Trust me that Liz is an excellent teacher, and the opportunity to learn FREE from someone of her caliber is incredible. Something my Scots blood couldn't pass up for sure. :-) I hope you'll join us.