Giving a speech on Fair Isle

[redheadrachel]

Hey everyone! I'm in a Speech Communication class at my university here, and I'm giving an informative speech, like three to five minutes long, on Fair Isle knitting...
lol And obviously, this topic is of HUGE interest to me, but possibly not every university student is fascinated by knitting techniques. :D

So, I don't want to bore them to death with a subject they may already think is boring. In fact, I want to prove them wrong and show just how fascination and amazing it is.

So, do you guys have any really neat/interesting little tidbits of information I can include? What do you think would be some really universally interesting points to cover?

Thanks :D

[knitgal]

Wow...ambitious topic for a class, eh? Can you use a Powepoint presentation or something? I think a lot of visuals would help. I love history, especially knitting history, but that may be in the boring field...hmmm....I don't think I'm much help...

[redheadrachel]

Haha, no he doesn't want us to focus on visual aides... But I am bringing in two hats I've made just to show exactly what Fair Isle knitting is - it will take a lot less time to just show instead of trying to explain...
But come on - three to five minutes? It won't be boring!!! Theres got to be enough stuff to talk about!! lol Just wondered if anyone thought anything was really really worth sharing.

Thanks for your reply :D

[kristinw]

I think the history of it is interesting. Maybe discuss the difference between fair isle and intarsia. Sounds like you don't have to talk for too long, so I think the history alone will suck up alot of that. I just read that the Prince of Wales popularized fair isle when he wore a fair isle sweater at a public event in 1921. Interesting stuff!

[cando]

I think a little history is a good idea too. You don't need to be interested in knitting to enjoy it. There's some interesting fair isle history in the Alice Starmore book, you can check the book out at the library. Why it's called Fair Isle, for instance.

Also, in addition to the hats I'd take a big blown-up picture of an intricate fair isle sweater like one of Eunny Jang's designs - it's very impressive to think of 10 colors being used so harmoniously. Or if you can't, then talk about it. Mention the color wheel and that knitting is all about various combinations of just 2 sts. That's kind of neat when you think about it, no?

To my mind, all of knitting is about the tactile and visual. And fair isle is mainly about the visual so it would be kind of missing the point without good visual aides

Good luck, sounds like it will be fun!

[Songbirdy]

perhaps tie in the emotional quotient...

about how you feel like being enveloped in a when wearing a project... about gifting other's with that feeling through your FO's...

about the 'zen' factor of being a 'creator' and how creative you get to be.

As much as history is good... I'd go for the emotional pull first. I'm sure many of the students can understand the basic concept... how many of us have created a placemat of woven strips of paper? That is simplistic idea but the concept of creating with just a string and sticks is huge!


You could even go metaphorical... about weaving in strands... how its like life... each colour... the meaning and significance... how the creator of the piece weaves in thoughts, emotions and even bits of themselves (aka hair?) into the project... about how the wearer may not be aware of the gift and yet there is an energy of the gift.... that other's see and reach out... and Fair Isle allows for that connection with both the knitter, the wearer, and the eye of the beholder walking by casually glancing...

About the voyeuristic sense... the 'thrill' of being seen KIP-ping... or meeting another knitter. The code language...


Oh... can I come too? I wanna give a speech now!