The minute Oogy informed me that July Gift was coasters made with left-over yarn, I knew what I was going to make.
Over the years I have accumulated a large quantity of Shetland wool for various Fair Isle projects. This process began when I was in grad school when a pal and I got addicted to making Alice Starmore projects. Her typical Fair Isle sweater has at least 10 colors, often more than that. With that many colors in one sweater, you can imagine that there was often left-over yarn in at least a few colors. I’d make a little ball of each one and stuff it into a basket or bag with left-overs from the last project. Over the years the little balls waited for their final destiny, and for some that was just revealed a few weeks ago.
Every knitting tradition has a long list of interesting facts in its history and practice. One reason that Fair Isle projects often have so many colors is that Shetland knitters waste nothing. When I visited Fair Isle way back in 2018 my host showed me a portion of the South Lighthouse that she was setting up as a knitting café, where folks could meet and work on their knitting and drink some coffee. There was a cupboard filled with small quantities of yarn of various colors and weights that she had accumulated over the years. Soon she had friends sending her their left-overs, and the cupboard was filled beyond capacity. She was planning to invite anyone who visited the café to make use of anything in the cupboard—a sort of community yarn stash! Just a few months ago I found a used book called Knitting Fair Isle Mittens and Gloves, and Carol Rasmussen Noble described how the typical Shetland yarn stash gets built: there isn’t much time in the summer to knit because the croft work is endless, so any yarn that was used in the previous winter, or is otherwise acquired during the rest of the year gets stored in a cupboard. Then, when it’s winter and there’s nothing else to do but spin and knit, the contents of the cupboard get some action.
It’s far from being winter here, but I decided to use Fair Isle techniques and a vessel of little leftovers to make the July Coasters. One of the most important techniques in Fair Isle knitting is to make a sizable swatch to test the color combinations and make sure that whatever pattern motifs you’re using actually work together. Fair Isle knitting is usually done in the round, and the swatch is done by knitting across the row, and then pulling the yarn around the back to begin the next round. Once the swatch is done, you cut through all the long strands that connect the end of the row with the beginning, making it possible to lay the swatch flat and determine if all is well. I got in the habit of saving these swatches, trimming the strands on either side, and using them as a buffer between indoor plant pots and furniture.
For my coasters I would essentially make a swatch that would be wide enough to work easily in the round. I used steeks to separate the coaster portions so that I would be able to make the frayed edges on either side later by cutting the steek-knitted portion. Unlike a normal swatch, these were going to be intentionally felted.
I cast on 160 stitches, used 31 stitches for each of 4 coaster portions, and 9 stitches for each steek. I started with a peerie border pattern and developed each OXO pattern on the fly from there. It was so much fun! I enjoyed recalling that the pink yarn was from a very early Starmore project, so it had been waiting in the “cupboard” for nearly 30 years. The purple was left over from a Webcam hat, as was the burgundy, orange and yellow. The greens were stash occupants for decades. I had a sneezing fit when I started using the few little scraps of teal in the final border pattern and was reminded that it was left over from yarn I brought to a motel in Maine in 1995. The motel room reeked of cigarette smoke, and it was still in the yarn 25 years later!
Once all the knitting was done it looked like yet another cowl! I took it for a hot, soapy, turbulent swim and after much time and agitation it emerged appropriately dense. Once it was dry I used the sewing machine to zigzag the side edges of each coaster portion to prevent any unexpected unraveling. Then, time for the scissors!
The felting process was more complete than I expected, so the edges are not fraying at all.
