Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift, shades used:

Gold, Old Gold, Verdigris, Wood Green, Slate, Surf, Caspian, Stonehenge, Ivory.

Pattern/mods: (wonderful, as usual, from Marie W)
I’m knitting the back and fronts together to the armholes (all else, including the sleeves, I’m working flat). I’m going to splice colours as I go as this means I have a much reduced task ahead in terms of weaving in ends: however, it does take an age and means stop/start knitting… there’s no quick fix with fair isle, I’m afraid!

Body knitted to 39cm before armhole shaping (about 1” longer than the pattern).

I’m using KFB for the increases.

General notes: there’s no necessity for long floats in this pattern, but I always catch in the floats every 3 sts. Also, as an English knitter, I hold both yarns in my right hand, twisting them as I alternate colours. This, I know, isn’t the easiest/most logical method of knitting fair isle, but it suits me best!

Choosing alternative colours: a lot of people have asked me about this - ie how I choose a totally different colour palette in a fair isle pattern - so here are a few pointers. I think of a general colour palette that I’d like to use (eg in this case, my starting point has been blue and mustard): and so I’ve chosen a range of different blues and mustard/gold shades (no bright yellows though). Then I’ve picked a few other shades (often used sparingly in the pattern) which will stand out/contrast with the blues/mustards: ie in this case, I’ve used black and cream. Then I’ve chosen a couple of shades which are heathery and feature an amalgam of the main shades (eg Wood Green has blue/yellow/greenish shades; and also Verdigris, which kind of ‘blends’ the blues and yellows). I don’t spend a lot of time procrastinating about this, or knitting any swatches. I look at the pattern chart and run though the colours in my mind to check there isn’t anything too glaringly wrong. Sometimes I don’t get it quite right: I bought too many blues in this case and swapped one of them; also the dark grey isn’t quite right, but not enough for me to change it! And one of the pattern sections doesn’t work well enough (imo), but again, not crappy enough to change! Overall, with this many shades, fair isle will usually look pretty OK whatever colours you choose… imo…

Notes to self: body to pattern row 36 (WS), casting off for armholes on row 37. Sleeves: begin on row 49 of the pattern. Front bands st pick up: 161 sts as mine is longer in the body.

30.12: I am at that breathless moment when all the fair isle is finished … I’m now about to begin the (much-reduced-due-to-splicing) end-weaving in, the damp press of all the pieces, the seaming and then the corrugated rib neck and front bands. Then a wash and block and I’ll be there! …oh, and the buttons!

2.1.18: all done, now a wash and block…. and a huge sigh of relief! I was slightly worried how the front band pick ups would look as there was a lot of splicing along those points: hm, there is a bit of lumpiness here and there, but I can live with it. The seaming was a breeze, just matching up the pattern, though I did have to do a bit of easing in at the sleeve tops. Yardage: I used the amounts suggested in the pattern for the S size, even though I made mine slightly longer in body and sleeves.

Overall: fab pattern: amazingly well thought out and comprehensive - I can’t fault it. The fit is really good - overall absolutely thrilled with it