On a recent sunny Saturday morning Kristin Nicholas shared her joy of Fairisle knitting with a group of knitters assembled at the Lenox Library. Gathering around a hand-carved wood table Kristin soon set each student to knitting a two-color Fairisle tube from a chart she provided. For some students this was an opportunity to learn how to knit with two hands. The tube included a steek that would be machine stitched and cut when the tube was finished. After capturing the start of the workshop on camera I slipped out leaving Kristin and her students in amiable conversation.
Returning to the Library in the afternoon I found most students close to completing their tubes and Kristin demonstrating how they could design their own Fairisle charts. She caught my attention with her explanation of how to center patterns when stitch repeats won’t fit evenly with stitch counts. The garments and accessories she brought to show served as multiple examples and inspiration.
But now the time had come for each student to cast off and baste a line of stitches in a contrasting colored yarn along the center of their steek. Using Kristin’s sewing machine each in turn sat down to run a zigzag line of stitches along the sides of their basted line.
Without hesitation each student took scissors in hand and cut their tube open. It was then back to the sewing machine to run two more lines of stitches along the outer edges of the steek.
With time left Kristin showed how easy it was to attach a knit border to the folded-back steek.
Though Kristin fully explains Fairisle knitting and steeking in her latest book, Color by Kristin, for the students her words came easily and successfully to life in her workshop.
