• 

What better way to greet the new season than with a burst of colour! Banish grays and dreary hues, pick up your needles and knit yourself a new mood. With so much talk of knitting being dropped from the school curriculum in the Shetland Islands, I thought this would be the perfect time to seek out new designers who are reworking and reenergising the traditional Fairisle technique. Luckily for me, I saw Anna Wilkinson's work at a consumer show and promptly fell in love with her vibrant take on the classic patterning; I immediately commissioned two projects for "Scottish Eccentrics", one of which appears on the cover of the magazine.

When I posted a preview of the cover on my Facebook fan page, I was delighted by the response from readers who told me they couldn't wait to tackle technique they hadn't tried in years. A number of retailers in the U.S. and the U.K. were so inspired by Anna's sweater that they added colourwork classes to their autumn/winter workshop schedules. Read Karin Strom's fascinating interview with Anna, this issue's "My Knitting Friend".

Also in this issue we have "Casbah Chic", with projects using one of my favourite yarns, Fez, a camel/extrafine-merino blend. The four designs celebrate the variety of fabrics you can make in the knit stitch, with horizontal cables, diagonal stockinette stitch and boldly patterned intarsia. For a less exotic, more wintry feel, there's "Rural Retreat", with generous cozy into knits perfect for country weekends.

For those looking for a gentle return to knitting after a project-free summer, there's "Mister Softy", featuring two simple knits that are sure to earn you brownie points from the men in your life who moan that you never make anything for them. (Yes I do speak from experience!)

I hope you like this issue, and fingers crossed that the hue and cry that greeted the news about dropping knitting classes in Shetland schools has a positive impact.