What is it about Fair Isle?

Really!?  What is it about fair isle that makes it so addicting?  When I start a fair isle project, I simply can’t put it down.  My fingers could be cramping, my back hurting from sitting in one place to long, and I’d still sit there and knit some more.

I think it has a lot to do about watching the design emerge, almost like magic, as the two colored strands loop around eachother row-by-row.  Suddenly a few rows of nonsensical color-switching begin to form a design – checkers, flowers, snowflakes.

Pattern: Selbu Mittens from Folk Mittens
Yarn: Cascade 220 (in Black and Christmas Red)

That’s the beginning of my new mittens.  To be specific, that’s my new left mitten, and love it already.  That was one evening’s worth of knitting.  Even though I’d promised myself I’d take a nap or go to bed early, I just kept knitting away at it.  I couldn’t help myself.

I’m really in love with the Folk Mittens book also.  I highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in fair isle mittens.  I’m a huge fan of traditional Norwegian and Latvian patterns, and this book has some great examples.  I have a feeling this is just the beginning of my foray into fair isle this winter…