In this best-selling, well-regarded book, writer and designer Kate Davies unravels the tale of one of the Twentieth Century’s most distinctive sweater styles - the circular yoke. From Shetland and Iceland to Canada and Sweden, Kate’s essays and conversations take you on a journey around the North Atlantic, exploring the yoke’s intriguing and often surprising regional narratives.
A garment with unexpected national and political resonances; an important marker of personal and cultural identity; a fashionable barometer of trends and technical transformations from the 1920s to today, yokes have connected the lives and livelihoods of many different women. In this book you’ll hear the voices of those women, from designers to artists, from knitters to entrepreneurs. You will read about Elizabeth Zimmermann’s seamless innovations, learn more of Kerstin Olsson’s knitterly aesthetics, and discover the fascinating influence of the Greenlandic nuilarmiut.
The essays and conversations are accompanied by a collection of eleven signature yoke patterns. Featuring a wide range of design elements from colourwork and cables to beads and texture, Kate has created a yoke for every knitter.
So take up your needles, open up this book, and discover the story of the sweater that changed the shape of modern knitting.
