There’s not as much progress as I’d hoped due to a false start and one major fix. Also since I’m not using “fresh” yarn, I have straighten out the previouisly ripped out otherwise stitches would tend to have a puckered look.

Until this week I straighten yarn by hand washing it gently and letting it air dry overnight. This week, while waiting for a few balls to dry, it dawned on me that I could get quicker results by just steaming the yarn.

I just wind the balls into small skeins then put a kettle of water on the stove and when steam comes out the stout I pass the skein back and forth over the steam being careful not to burn my hands. In just a few seconds the yarn is no longer kinky and is ready to knit.

On another note, have you ever wondered what designs are in The Scottish Collection? I finally got a look at this elusive book. Here’s what I found.

Allover – Traditional Fair Isle diced pattern in 2 designs; a button down vest in browns and light blues or a pullover in pinks and oranges.

Azeri Jacket – It’s the one on the cover.

Brocade – Vest or pullover with large pink and purple flowers outlined in gold, regularly staggered on a black background. Also has a large zig zag motif around the bottom edge in same color scheme as the flowers.

Catriona – Tradition Fair Isle cardigan with main motif being vertical Nordic stars alternating with traditional X motifs in light turquoise, purple, pink and blue on a white background.

Cold Duck – In this picture it’s the one she (the designer) is holding. She’s wearing the Oregon cardigan. Instructions for either a cardigan or pullover.

Entrelac – Designed by Carol Lapin. Jewel toned pullover with large entrelac squares.

Five Triangles – Designed by Nancy Marchant. No instructions included just a picture. Originally appeared in Threads Magazine Aug/Sep 1992.

Luskentyre – Pullover in yellows, golds and pink.

Mara – Cardigan or vest

Mardi Gras – Cardigan or pullover

Marina – Cardigan or pullover. Photo in the book has a very dark background compared to other versions I’ve seen.

North Country – Designed by Nicky Epstein. Pullover with large  white silhouettes of bears, reindeer and trees in rows that alternate with snowflakes on a black background. Between the large rows there are smaller ones with abstract motifs in red and black.

Oregon – Cardigan or vest

Plaid Jacket – Jacket with either red or orange/yellow background. Stripes are grouped in threes with each group being several inches apart.

Quartz – Vest which is very similar to Mara but in  blues and reds that are more toned down. Large border pattern has flower type motif.

Rannoch – Traditional Fair Isle pullover in green, brown and oranges. Large border pattern is same as in the Quartz vest.

Squares and Diamonds – Designed by Nancy Marchant. Large squares with diamonds in the corner where the squares meet. Has two color ways; blue or red.

Thoroughbred  – Vest with Nordic stars running vertically down center and trellis on either side.

Tokyo Rose – Large abstract roses in an allover pattern with gold lines that link them together. Reminds me of tiles.

The more traditional designs are made with Shetland jumper weight yarn which I gather means J&S. Some of the motifs in these designs look very similar to ones in the book “Charts for Colour Knitting”. Of course the most popular ones are available as kits from Virtual Yarns.

Here’s the vest neatly packaged into small plastic bags by row motif. This might disturb the faint of heart, but yes it’s as bad as it looks. I ripped out the whole vest yesterday just as I was about to start the steeks.

I did a trial fit and realized that it would turn out much too large, even though it was a medium. Normally that’s the right size for a sweater that sits at my hips but got thinking about how short this vest is. It will sit well above the largest part of my hips so I can go ahead and make it a few inches smaller to fit the bust area better.

I’ll just add that this is my first vest ever so it’s been a little hard to tell what would be a good fit.  I’m sure the second time around it will knit up just as fast and I should be able to show some progress next week.

Lots of progress on the vest since last week. All the pattern changes are so interesting and fairly easy to remember that I can’t seem to put it down. So far changes between colors is no longer than four stitches which makes it darn easy to knit.

The weather here has been gloomy so it’s hard to get a good shot in natural light. The colors are much deeper and appealing in person. I love this update take on a traditional Fair Isle.

As you might have noticed in the photo, I went ahead and started off with the garter stitch border. The down side of working from a kit is that you only get enough yarn for a specific design, making it hard to do any significant adjustments. I suppose I could have done an invisible cast on, knit the patterned part and then added a corrugated rib later if I enough yarn was left over.

… on Fair Isle knitting.

I just casted on stitches for the swatch.

This one should be a snap; no arms and no buttonholes.