Fleet Knitting Club: June 2016 - Talk by Linda Newington "Fair Isle to Scare Isle"

Saturday, June 11, 2016

June 2016 - Talk by Linda Newington "Fair Isle to Scare Isle"

There are two knitting shows next month. The Stitching, Sewing and Hobbycrafts Show is on at the NEC, Birmingham, from the 1st to the 3rd of July. Fibre East is the 30th and 31st of July, in Ampthill, Bedfordshire.

Show and Tell

Janet and Sandra have been hand-knitting a collection of baby clothes to donate to the Farnborough Sands Charity in the baby unit at Frimley Hospital. Sandra had also knit a child's brown striped pullover. Tannis was working on a colourful brioche stitch shawl. Liz had completed more felt balls from the February meeting, and had made them into a necklace to donate to The Royal Marsden fundraising shop.

Speaker

Our speaker this month was Linda Newington, who is the Head of Library and Archive Collections for Art and Design at the Winchester School of Art Library, University of Southampton. Linda presented a personal and thought-provoking presentation entitled "Fair Isle to Scare Isle" which promoted some interesting discussions and tangents. Linda supplemented the presentation with part of her personal collection of Fair Isle gloves and mittens, which the club members were eager to look through and discuss.

Fair Isle is a very small island between the Orkney Isles and the Shetland Isles, known for both knitting and ship wrecks. Evidence has been found of human habitation going back 5,000 years. There is no hard evidence of the origins of the famous Fair Isle knitting patterns and colour combinations, and it is of continuing interest to both academic historians and new fashion students.