MDK Field Guide No. 2: Fair Isle

MDK Field Guide No. 2 is all about easy entry into the world of colorwork, with four projects that come together fast.

In putting together a new Field Guide, the hard part isn’t coming up with ideas. The challenge is to pare down the list. When we began thinking about Field Guide No. 2: Fair Isle, there was no end of possibility. Stranded colorwork is a vast, colorful sea of beautiful things to make. Overwhelming when you first dive in.

Our aim is to provide a mix of patterns that make it possible to play with stranded colorwork at whatever level you’d like to try.

Easy. Easier. Easiest.

Working with our Creative Director Melanie Falick gave us the chance to create some pretty stunning Pinterest idea boards. What surprised us was the way that certain motifs and colorways and shapes kept catching our eye.

A colorful yoke.

A modern Fair Isle pattern.

Socks with something happening.

Through great good luck, we were able to work with three designers whose designs we have admired for years. They took our ideas and surpassed everything we had hoped for.

Véronik Avery.

Ann Budd.

Michèle Rose Orne.

The three patterns in Field Guide No. 2 are as elegant in construction as any we have offered, thanks to the talent of these designers. These are juicy, delicious, addicting patterns.

Véronik Avery’s Hadley Pullover is the perfect mix of fit and ease. Michèle Rose Orne’s Asterisk Hat and Dot Cowl allow you to play with color and pattern as you like, to cheerful effect. And Ann Budd’s Après-Anything Socks, worked in worsted yarn, can be made so fast that they’re a candidate for Kwik ’n’ EZ Handknit Gift of the Year.

And Sara Remington’s photographs remind us that knitting is a beautiful thing.