Alice Starmore's Book of Fairlsle Knitting

Back in 1988 Alice Starmore wrote the Book of Fair Isle Knitting and it was considered one of the premier books on the subject. The book has been available through used outlets and Ebay, at premium prices, but now this fabulous book has been reprinted by Dover Press and is once again available at reasonable prices. (For editorial honesty, I own two copies of the 1988 version which I purchased, not realizing I already owned it, and I’ve purchased at least two others to give as gifts, and Dover Press sent me a copy of their new soft cover version.)

The Book of Fair Isle Knitting traces the history of FairIsle knitting and then Starmore proceeds to interpret it in a modern and wonderful way. There are many experts in Fair Isle knitting and there are a lot of practitioners, and Starmore is the reigning queen. When I first took up knitting 20 years ago, I was blown away by this book and it inspired me to become a Knitter with a capital K. I thought if I could knit anything close to what was in this book, I would really be a knitter.

The updated version of this book has improved photos and those photographs show the beautiful colors Starmore has selected to put together. The colors just pop off the page and show her genius. She explains how to choose pattern bands to make your own designs and she offers many complete patterns for you to make yourself without designing. In addition, the book has a comprehensive section of techniques to actually knit the patterns or make up your own pattern in the fair isle style. The only draw back to this book is that the sizes are not very large, the largest finished size in the book is 47 3/4” or 122 cm. through the chest. If that is not a problem for you or those you knit for or you do not own any fair isle books this book is the one book every knitter interested in the topic should own. I think even if you need larger patterns, the section on designing your own will allow you to adjust her patterns.

I realize that knitting is a lot of things to a lot of people, experts and novices alike. And one never has to knit Fair Isle to be a knitter, but the book is eye candy for the knitter and a celebration of the art of knitting. Ms. Starmore is at the top of her game with this book and this edition should open the eyes of knitters new to the craft since it was first published. It has brought me joy just reading the book.

Happy knitting!