Shetland lace expert Elizabeth Lovick reviews this new stitch dictionary of fine lace patterns
by Carol Christiansen
SHETLAND FINE LACE KNITTING
TEXTILES CURATOR at Shetland Museum, Carol Christiansen is a leading expert in Shetland’s knitting traditions. Her new book is the result of a three-year project undertaken by the museum to assess its collection of 400 pieces of knitted Shetland lace, and it presents more than 80 traditional stitch patterns which can be enjoyed by modern-day lace knitters.
First, the two most important things about this book. It is printed in black on white paper, in a size of font that even old eyes can read, and the author knows her subject intimately.
This is a stitch dictionary, and there are no complete patterns. Instead, there are a large number of Shetland lace pattern elements all taken from pieces in Shetland Museum’s archive. The elements are grouped by use – centres, borders, laces – and it is easy to flick through the different elements to find suitable stitch patterns for your shawl, scarf or garment.
Every pattern has a clear chart drawn using Stitch Mastery charting software, along with row-by-row written instructions, a clear photo of the original museum specimen, and one of the new sample knitted for the book. All the samples ar
