During 2022–2023, I lived on Fair Isle, the historic birthplace of Fair Isle knitting, and the most remote inhabited island in the United Kingdom. A total of 44 people live on Fair Isle, many of whom are knitters, including me. This paper will present insight into my life on Fair Isle and the knitters there, told through the lens of Fair Isle knitted fisherman’s keps. Long associated with Fair Isle, fisherman’s keps are caps or hats of conical shape and colourful design. Fisherman’s keps are an interesting way to weave the history of knitting with today’s modern knitters of Fair Isle.
Fair Isle is situated in the Shetland Islands, a Scottish archipelago between the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. Fair Isle is a small island, approximately one and a half miles wide by three miles in length. Approximately 1,000 sheep including pure Shetland sheep and other breeds dominate the landscape and are an integral part of island life. Today, sheep on the island are primarily raised for meat, not wool, but remain an ever-present reminder of the connection between Fair Isle, the wool industry, and knitting.
Fisherman’s keps are associated with Fair Isle and the Shetland Islands, yet keps are also worn by people from other places. As fishing and sailing were nomadic pursuits, there was a constant sharing of textile cultures as fishermen and sailors visited different ports of call and interacted with others. Today’s knitters on Fair Isle continue the tradition of knitting fisherman’s keps and selling them to visitors. This paper will highlight key knitters on Fair Isle and their kep designs.
Fisherman’s keps provide an intriguing design concept, then and today. Once considered a necessity for survival at sea for fishermen and sailors, keps are now considered an entertaining and interesting way to display the knitter’s skill for design and colour. Keps offer an infinite number of knitting pattern and motif combinations, with local and international design influences. Yet, fisherman’s keps remain easily identifiable through the long conical shape and myriad mix of Fair Isle stranded colourwork.
(Please note that the recording of Jennifer Daley’s presentation will be available for one month only.)