A perfect yarn for Fair Isle knitting

I’ve been selling Shetland Spindrift to my students and at yarn shows for a few years, as well as using it in my designs. Students who come to my Fair Isle knitting workshops will know that I love using Shetland Spindrift for stranded colourwork. Finally, I’ve added 46 colours of Spindrift to the Being Knitterly webshop.

Why is Spindrift so good for stranded colourwork?

Spindrift is light and ‘sticky’ which makes it perfect for Fair Isle knitting. The fabric produced by stranded colourwork techniques, such as Fair Isle knitting, has a layer of floats on the wrong side. These floats make the knitted fabric thicker than usual for the yarn weight. So, a light yarn keeps the fabric light enough for garments and accessories. If you have tried to knit stranded colourwork designs in a smooth yarn, such as cotton, you will know that the floats can sag which distorts the stitches. The tiny fibres on ‘sticky’ wools cling to each other. This helps the floats stay in place, making the stitches more even. It comes in a large colour range which includes natural undyed shades as well as dyed colours.

This yarn has great provenance. Jamieson’s of Shetland, who make Spindrift yarn, buy fleeces of the native Shetland sheep from crofters on Shetland. They carry out all the processes required to produce yarn at their mill in Sandness, Shetland Isles.

I’ve used Spindrift for several of my designs, such as Painterly shawl, Guinevere fingerless mittens, Striated cowl, Doodle cafetière cosy and Hearts, Flower and Star lavender bags.

I love the colour range and am sure you will as well. You will find Spindrift in 46 beautiful colours in the Being Knitterly webshop. To celebrate this milestone, I’d like to offer you a discount of 10% on all purchases of Spindrift. The coupon code is “all the colours” and is available until the 31 December 2019. Additionally, if your delivery address is in the UK, you can select free postage on any order over £30.00.

Have fun choosing your colours!