Travelling to Fair Isle

Sweet Jeebus, I just got the best package in the mail. My very first online yarn purchase ever. I decided to go for the best right from the start.


Oregon Vest
by Alice Starmore, Virtual Yarns
Spring Colourway


I was inspired by the brilliant Danceswithwool and her incredible Henry.

I think Alice Starmore is a knitting genius. One of the first knitting books I bought was Aran Knitting, followed by The Celtic Collection and Fisherman's Sweaters (how I wish I also had a copy of her Book of Fair Isle Knitting). I've knit a few of her arans and ganseys, but no fair isles, mainly because the yarns outlined in her books are discontinued and it's really tricky finding substitutes.

The other problem with her designs is that I find the sweater shapes to be too boxy for my body type(if anyone knows how to rework these patterns to be more flattering, like changing them to raglan and adding waist shaping, please let me know). Many of the sweaters I saw on Virtual Knits fell into the "boxy" category, but this little vest caught my eye, and Alice did all the work picking the colours.


The kit far exceeded my expectations. This is simply the most beautiful heathered wool I've ever seen. And the colours, there are 17 different colours in this vest!!! The yarn is also incredibly soft. I cannot wait to knit this. My (kookoo) goal is to have it done by Rhinebeck. Come on, it's totally doable, as long as I quit my job and give up trivial time-wasters such as sleeping, eating and bathing.

It was so easy typing in those magic credit card numbers. Waaaay to easy.