Prize Dimwit

I feel a bit of a fool. I got it into my head that I really, really, needed to own an Alice Starmore book to create a gorgeous fair isle. I moved heaven and earth to obtain one. Scouring book shops, scouring Amazon, bidding on e-bay until finally I tracked one down and had it shipped from America. Don't get me wrong, it is a stunning book and I am very pleased with it but if I had done my research a bit more thoroughly I might have unearthed the fact that most of the yarn used in the book was discontinued more or less as they were printing the book. Add to that some sort of war that has been going on about yarn substitution and copyright that makes it nearly impossible to recreate the garments. Thank goodness that someone outbid me for the last one I bid for on e-bay. Lesson learned. This, The Alice Chronicles should be compulsory reading before bidding on e-bay.

Comments

[Pat. S.]

Happened upon your comments on my way to The Alice Chronicles. I do wish she'd finish them, and do hope the author is not in chains. I think The Fair Isle book is the only one that is worth anything like the money it fetches, but that is questionable. I had a brand new one (which I got at a decent price from the UK) and it was so pretty I was afraid to crack the spine. So I bought a beat up paperback copy for a lot less money, and sold the hardcover on half.com for a reasonable price. I couldn't bring myself to jump into the ebay feeding frenzy! But a hint to people who really just want to learn Fair Isle knitting, Anne Feitelson's book is beautiful, and(I think) just as informative. And widely available. If you want to get into Fair Isle work slowly (larger yarn) and need larger sizes, look into Anne Bourgeois' "Fair Isle Simplified". It is essentially one (traditionally tubular) sweater with a variety of patterns to use. Nothing a creative mind couldn't figure out, but it gave me the courage to try, and it uses a bulkier yarn. I had no trouble whipping up a gorgeous sweater quickly with my own handspun/hand dyed yarn, and I think I could go on to using shetland yarns now. (Email me privately for more about your yarn problem.)