Wednesday, January 03, 2007


The fair isle sweater "Marina" is done!! I had time yesterday afternoon to rip out the button band bind off and bind off again with size 3 instead of size 2 needles. Worked great this time and the button band laid flat. The buttons are on and we had bright sun this morning for a picture.

I've learned so very much from this sweater, ideas that will be transferred on to other knitting. Spit splicing is a true marvel, two handed color knitting, rewriting charts to "see" the colors and patterns how I like, and the real joy of watching those Shetland colors come to life in a Fair Isle.

We keep our house around 64-65 degrees and I'm used to wearing fleece or Aran sweater tops. I will say that Marina is not as warm as I thought it would be. The sweater is basically two layers of yarn since you always carry one color behind the other. It is very light in total ounces when you pick it up. I just thought it would be warmer to wear. It still needs to be washed and blocked and perhaps that will fill up some of the air holes.

I need to put making more Fair Isles aside for a bit until I finish up Beadwork, Shirt Tail Hemmed (well that is a fair isle but is already way under way) and an Aran. Course I did knit "Oregon"'s bottom rib over Christmas and ....... sigh.....

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is Laura Walker from the FI Yahoo group. This is one amazing sweater! I applaud you! The knitters on this group are so inspirational. You quilt too! HOORAY!

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous! I love a project that teaches so much.

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous! I suspect it will fill in the spaces when you block it.

Hm, you are enticing me into Fair Isle!

Angela said...

I've always loved Marina, and yours is a beautiful rendition.

sillyewe said...

Just gorgeous!!! Congratulations on a job well done. ;0) I found my Mary Tudor to be exceptionally warm when I took her to Germany last Christmas. Perhaps a little blooming will make things better. Also, could be the low v-neck that makes it feel a little less warm. Anyhow, she's beautiful!!!

Anonymous said...

Marina is lovely. Yours is so much prettier than mine. I am going to re think a solution to make mine shorter.

Congratulations. Not an easy task, finishing a Fair Isle like Marina.

It has been awhile since that happened to me. You have encouraged me to finish my NW Vest. Yes. Such a feeling of accomplishment. No other like it.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely gorgeous, Anne. Looks marvelous despite the lack of blocking. I do find that the yarn blooms a bit and fills up any holes.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely beautiful! I just got the DVD from Philosopher's wool. The sweaters in there are lovely too.

Anonymous said...

It's stunning! You really did a great job on this one

Anonymous said...

What a work of art! Such a beautiful sweater! Don't you find that even though FI knitting supposedly takes longer, it's a much more interesting trip:)!

Congratulations and Well Done!!!
Joan (from the KBTH yahoo group)

Franklin said...

I just stopped in from the KBTH list - and your sweater took my breath away. I wish you as much joy in the wearing of it as you took in the making of it.