Fair Isle sweaters

[Matt Deckard]

Why are they so hard to find?

 

[nightandthecity]

You get quite a lot of them on ebay UK, both vintage and recent. In fact I'll be listing one myself soon, small size unfortunately.

 

[scotrace]

I got one for Christmas last year, had never seen one, didn't care for it, exchanged it.

Started kicking myself about March when I looked into it.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

They sell out quickly. J. Crew blew through theirs in a matter of a week.

However, if you are looking for vintage 30s and 40s, I know a place that has a wall full, though they are pricey and do not do Internet orders; Bobby's from Boston.

 

[Salv]

True Fair Isle sweaters are only knitted on Fair Isle in the Shetlands, and not many are produced. This real one comes in various styles

and can be bought at Thistle And Broom or Spirit of Shetland.

This one

can be found at Old Town.

 

[Nick Charles]

I'm waiting on these

bottoms tag say shetland wool made in Scotland.

 

[Matt Deckard]

Those are awsome.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

They are great.

Here are a couple of mine. Neither is vintage.

 

[Nick Charles]

I like the double RL one. very Bertie Wooster-ish

 

[Mike K.]

I don't know how authentic they are, but L. L. Bean has them...cotton and wool versions. I received one last year for Christmas and it is my favorite sweater.
www.llbean.com
Just type 'fair isle' in their search and you'll get all the mens & womens

 

[Matt Deckard]

I don't care if they are made in the right place, just that they have the cool pattern.

They are just rare.

Who else is makign them now?

 

[Salv]

I don't care if they are made in the right place, just that they have the cool pattern.

They are just rare.

Who else is makign them now?

But if they are not made in the right place then they are not Fair Isle sweaters; just sweaters with a cool pattern.

 

[BellyTank]

...some people just can't get their heads around that, I guess.

They're rare because they're unpopular, Mr. Deckard.

B
T

 

[herringbonekid]

fair isle tank-tops have a bit of a male-frumpy-stigma over here. associations that proabably go back to old men in postwar england sitting around allotments smoking pipes. and 'did your auntie knit that for you?' sarcastic comments.

i still wear mine however.

 

[Matt Deckard]

I'm all about the male-frumpy look. Ask any of the people who attended the last Queen Mary event.

Cjampaigne is only from Champaigne and Fair Isle is only from Fair Isle... though they still make white wines.

Where are my frumpy male sweaters?

 

[Salv]

I'm all about the male-frumpy look. Ask any of the people who attended the last Queen Mary event.

Cjampaigne is only from Champaigne and Fair Isle is only from Fair Isle... though they still make white wines.

Where are my frumpy male sweaters?

The image isn't helped by Spirit of Shetland calling theirs the Grandad and illustrating it with this picture of a balding, white-haired geezer holding a violin:

 

[herringbonekid]

exactly. some (young) people think they are purely a 70s thing too which is even worse.

 

[nightandthecity]

The image isn't helped by Spirit of Shetland calling theirs the Grandad and illustrating it with this picture of a balding, white-haired geezer holding a violin:

He's a Shetland fiddler. Which makes him seriously cool in my book. The Shetlands are as famous for their fantastic fiddle tradition as their knitwear.

I don't mind that frumpy image. When I was young I always liked the old men sitting around allotments smoking pipes. And as I grew older I also realized that they had once been cool young men.

But a lot of people do seem to have a problem with Fair Isles (all right, Fair Isle STYLE sleeveless pullys). Mrs Night, God bless her, likes me in them, but even she draws the line at Fair Isle CARDIGANS.

I should have some pix on file of ones I've sold over the last 6 months or so, I'll go check...

 

[herringbonekid]

here's a long sleeved one i had made for me....
'inspired' by Charlie Bucket's jumper in the Tim Burton 'Willy Wonka' film.
not that i'm a fan of the film, just the jumper.

 

[nightandthecity]

that's really nice HBK. And not at all frumpy. Just wait till you're 70 though.....

Here's some sleeveless pullys, the first two I'm selling at the moment, the others I've sold recently. They range from 1940s to 1980s, Fair Isle patterns to solid bodies (and one Argyle), home hand knitted to commercial machine knitted.

I should have kept no 3. I was tempted to keep No1 but Mrs Night talked me out of it.....