Sometimes one person’s slip can cause decades of error. This is definitely the case with the two separate and different Shetland patterns. Feather and Fan is NOT the same as Old Shale. It never was and never will be. Someone, somewhere, about WWII made the slip and it went to the States to be handed down from generation to generation. No one seems to know who first made this error (and it was before the maverick who, in the 1950s, brought knitting to the fore but never let the truth get in the way of a good story!!).
I have been meaning to do a swatch to show the difference for ages, and as the topic came up on the Traditional Knitting Yahoo group I have done one! I have deliberately done it in thick yarn so that the structure of the stitches is seen more easily. Note that there are 2 repeats worth of stitches for each pattern:
If you look at the two patterns (we will come to names in a minute), you can see they are not very much alike at all (apart from the fact they have holes in rows!) The left hand one gives a very definite VVV shape, while the right hand one gives a wavy line, with no sharp changes. The left hand one has more holey rows and has definite columns of holes and solids, whereas the right hand one is more diffuse.
Now the names – the left hand one is Feather and Fan, the right Old Shale (which is really called old SHELL – shale is how the Shetlanders pronounce shell – the dialect form is probably shael) The wavy lines of Old Shale look a bit like the pattern on a clam shell, while in F&F the solid decreases look like a feather and the open bits like a fan. (The latter is more noticeable when worked in fine yarn.)
This difference in shape is caused by the way the stitches are decreased. In F&F, there are TWO decreases for 6 yos – k4tog and k4togtbl. In other words you have columns where you are stacking up a load of stitches on top of each other, and this results in the V shape. The stitch between the two decreases is (usually!) a purl, and that forms the spine of the feather. F&F is a 2 row/round pattern so has holes on every odd numbered row/round:
In OS, you have SIX decreases for 6 yos – k2tog six times. This gives the long sweep of the curve. The pattern has 4 rows/rounds, with only one holey row, so there are fewer holes in OS:
The actual way the pattern is written depends on whether it is being worked in the round or knitted to and fro. It also depends on whether you are knitting up the way or down.
BASICALLY, Old Shale has an 18 sts, 4 row repeat. Feather and Fan has a 2 row, 14 st repeat.
Old Shale:
Looked at from the RIGHT side, there is a row with holes, and BELOW this as used is a row of PURL BUMPS. Above the row of holes there are TWO rows of ‘plain knit’
SO… if you are working it as a shawl edging from the INSIDE out, in the ROUND, you work 2 knit rounds, one holey round and 1 PURL round. Working it TO AND FRO gives k 1 row, p 1 row, holey row (k) and KNIT the 4th row (forming the purl bumps on the right side. If working from the BOTTOM UP, however, (are you concentrating?!) you would work the purl bumps, the holes and the two ‘knit’ rows/rounds in that order.
In this sample I was working from the bottom up, and to and fro, so what I actually knitted was:
row 1 knit
row 2 knit (ie purl bumps on the right side)
row 3 *k2tog three times, [yo, k1] six times, k2tog three times. Repeat from * as required
row 4 purl
If you are working OS as the border of a hap shawl (where it was usually used) you would be working from the top down and in the round. In this case the pattern would be:
round 1 knit
round 2 knit
round 3 *k2tog three times, [yo, k1] six times, k2tog three times. Repeat from * as required
round 4 purl
This is the classic Old Shale – 18 sts giving 6 holes per repeat. But on corners you can increase to 24 or 30 sts, giving 8 or 10 holes per repeat.
Feather and Fan:
The holey rows are every alternate row and the ground is stocking stitch for thicker yarns and garter stitch for thinner ones. The basic pattern is the same whether you are working up or down.
The usual pattern repeat is 14 sts and if worked in garter stitch would be:
row 1 *k4tog, yo, [k1, yo] five times, k4togtbl, p1. Repeat from * as required
row 2 k
I was working to and fro in stocking stitch, so my second row was
*k1, p13. Repeat from * as required
This gives a line of purl bumps up the centre of the ‘feather’.
So that is the Shetland version. You will, however, never convince folk who have never been to the place that this is ‘correct’ and they are wrong…!!
Liz, thank you for such a clear explanation with pictures of the differences in the patterns. But I was still a bit confused because Sharon Miller, who I’ve always considered an authority on Shetland lace, reverses the names and says that her F&F (your Old Shell) is a variation of Old Shell. So I checked Mary Thomas’ Knitting Patterns and the J&S reprint of Shetland Scarves and Shawls. Your are right (aren’t you always?!). J&S calls their scarf, though, Fan and Feather (just to be a bit contradictory). Guess Sharon Miller isn’t such an authority after all….
By: Katherine on March 12, 2010
at 1:50 pm
Thank you Liz for the feather and fan/old shale explanation. For the first time ever it all makes sense!
Loved reading about your cruise too. Most interesting and the stash looks fab!
By: Giuliana on October 5, 2010
at 3:57 am
Hi Guiliana,
Glad to clear that one up! I have a sweater to finishe before I can get on with Nigel’s Norwegian sweater – can’t wait!!
Liz
By: Elizabeth Lovick on October 5, 2010
at 7:48 am
This really is interesting. I still did not have the correct pattern for Feather and Fan in the shawl I’m making for my daughter.
I have a shortened version of “Old Shale” (12 stitcthes). That is the one I am consistently finding online.
Now the Feather and Fan one I learned from my Great Aunt, who immigrated from Norway. This one is very similar to “Old Shale” except that it is a 4 row repeat, just like “Old Shale” The difference between this one and “Old Shale” is that the Feather and Fan I learned had 3 rows of stockinette st between the lace row.
I shawl I’m making is too wide for my daughter, so I am going to have to restart it. I think I can take the two actual patterns and alternate them in the restart so that the differences will show up side by side better.
By: Cathy Anderson on March 12, 2010
at 2:08 pm
WONDERFUL!!!!
Thank you so much for this post.
By: Kat on March 12, 2010
at 3:09 pm
This is very interesting to me. The first “lace” pattern I ever did was called F & F from a book that my knitting mentor showed me. The pattern was 23 stitches: K2 together 3 times , with yo, k1 6 times in the center and doing yo once before repeating the K2 together. Then 3 rows of stockinette so there is never a ridge of purl bumps on the public side of the fabric. Thank you. You have taught me so much over the years and I can never thank you enough for sending me that lovely yarn from Orkney.
By: Sherry in Idaho on March 12, 2010
at 3:40 pm
Katherine, I think you are mistaken. I checked in Heirloom Knitting and Sharon Miller does not reverse the names. Sharon and Liz agree on which pattern is Old Shell and which is Feather and Fan, although the pattern Sharon gives for F&F is a little different from the one Liz gives. Sharon’s pattern is a 15-stitch repeat with two stitches between the decrease stitches instead of the one stitch that Liz gives in her 14-stitch repeat, and Sharon’s variation is a 4-row repeat instead of a 2-row repeat. The extra stitch and the difference in the row repeats gives Sharon’s F&F a different look from Liz’s. Sharon’s F&F bears a stronger resemblance to Old Shell than Liz’s 2-row repeat version.
Sharon says that F&F is a variation of Old Shell where the decreases have been compressed into one decrease on each side of the increases instead of three decreases on each side of the increases in Old Shell. Liz words this differently, but the meaning is the same.
I’m not trying to start an argument; I’m just pointing out that Sharon and Liz are not really at odds here and both recognize that Old Shell and Feather and Fan are fundamentally different.
Most lace patterns have variations and many go by more than one name. Thank you, Liz, for pointing out the fundamental differences between Old Shell and F&F. It’s unfortunate that so many knitters use the names interchangeably because although these patterns can look very similar (just compare the Old Shell and F&F pictures in HK), they are quite different patterns.
By: Pinko Knitter on March 12, 2010
at 6:13 pm
Hi!
. In the light of a comment left here perhaps it will help if I add the following to clarify.
Liz’s detailed explanation has been forwarded to me with the responses to date and it is so wonderful to see the interest and painstaking research now being done in this area – lovely work Liz
In Heirloom Kntting I clearly write on the confusion of local names and I make it clear that the pattern that Liz is describing as Old Shell here is exactly as mine (page 51 HK) and that the stitch width /row count has many different configurations but so long as the decreases are single, I think it fits broadly speaking, under the description of Old Shell. I certainly agree that the Shetland Name is Old Shell, a previous poster here was mistaken in that. Here’s an extract covering this (page 14 HK):
“Pattern Names
It is generally held by those who collect knitting patterns that the linking of names to patterns is a nightmare. Commonly, there are local names for patterns made around the world, and so the same
pattern can easily turn up with at least two different names. Throughout the work for this book, I
have found a similar degree of confusion over the naming of Shetland lace knitting patterns. One
reference calls Spider Lace by the name Bird’s Eye; another calls it Lace Holes; yet another source
gives the Lace Holes pattern the name Dewdrops. Similarly, Old Spanish Lace is the name I have
found given to two different patterns – Madeira Wave and Madeira Cascade. The Fern motif has
also been variously named as Small Tree, Madeira, Leaf and Fan. A ‘Fern Stitch’ pattern didn’t
result in the Fern motif expected but in a pattern well known in collections as ‘Candlelight’.
“Although it seems generally agreed among knitting experts that Shetland lace pattern names
originate from naturally occurring forms, there is still confusion here. One evocatively describes
Old Shell as Old Shale, deriving from the tracks left by the sea on a pebbled shore; other affirm the name to be Old Shell – the native dialect being misunderstood by the other expert as Old Shale.
“These problems probably arise from the oral based culture of the Shetland and the skill of the
knitters themselves, who easily learnt patterns from watching others or by working them out from
knitted pieces – as well as freely creating patterns themselves. There was no need to have the
patterns in written form and so unfortunately for us, the certainty of original names, if there ever were any, seems not to exist from this source. The earliest knitting manuals from the 1830s (e.g.Mrs Gaugain, Mrs Beeton), gave directions and ‘receipts’ for knitting Shetland shawls but again, as common at that time, no actual pattern names were recorded.
“Mrs Elizabeth Henry – born in MacDuff, educated at St Andrew’s University and later the Vice
Principal of Sheffield Training College – visited Shetland in the 1890s. She stayed with the
Sutherland family and wrote that Mrs Sutherland* and her two daughters knitted lace for a living,
were string players in Lerwick Orchestra and sang old Norwegian songs as they spun. The farsighted
Mrs Henry was probably one of the first to note down some of the Shetland lace patterns
that she saw being knitted and she did record names for them. Interestingly, these reflect the
romantic names of knitting patterns of the time – Queen’s Lace, Irish Lace, Coburg Lace – rather
than names from nature. This could indicate the continuing cross fertilisation of European patterns
with the Shetland Islands, which was always an important link in the chain of Western mercantile
trade.
“As far as possible, I have given the most consistently used names of the the patterns. I note in the text accompanying the pattern, the alternatives that I have found. Where patterns had no names
recorded at the time of their collection, I have tried to identify the main known motifs in their
design and named them accordingly – simply for the sake of expediency. Where I believe I have
made a new pattern (such as Field of Flowers) or created a variation, I will say so in the text.
“All patterns have arisen from experiment. Feather and Fan is derived from Old Shell; Leaf pattern
from Horseshoe pattern; and as a final thought, it’s interesting to wonder at what point a variation becomes an accepted new pattern in its own right.”
I stand by my consistent viewpoint that there is not necessarily a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ in this or in any knitting practice: stitch patterns and their families are a melting pot – to throw in the mix as an instance: Old Shell is not exclusively Shetland it is known as Peacock’s Feather on the Continent well before Shetland Lace Shawl knitting took off in the 1840s seen frequently in bonnet backs of the 18th century (Mary Thomas). What we need to do as a good practice is to example (as Liz does here) which pattern we are referring to. I do stand by my claim though that Feather and Fan is derived from Old Shell, and the reasoning is this:
As a knitter inteerested in varying sts,it’s more true to nature to think (to my mind) “OK, lets do as a pattern row(4/6/8 etc) consecutive ‘make 1, knit 1s’ followed by (4,6,8 etc) consecutive decreases” ……and then to be pleased with that effect and think “OK, what happens now if I cluster the decs together?” and hey presto Feather and Fan!
The consistent variation that I note from a study of Shetland haps is that both the following are termed Old Shell (Shell)
# increases followed by # single decreases eg ’6 make 1, knit 1s’ followed by ’6 k2togs’
&
# increases followed by #/2 single decs knit 1 #/2 single decs :
eg ’6 make 1, knit 1s’ followed by ’3 k2togs, knit 1, k3togs’.
Hope this helps
Very best wishes
Sharon
By: Sharon on March 12, 2010
at 6:48 pm
Yes, Sharon, you got in before I did! We ARE in agreement!
An added bit to throw in the mix is that even within Shetland there are occassional knitters who use different terminology – hap shell is another term I have heard used for OS….
One not unrelated aside – from the English version of the Estonian book I now know that in Estonia Candle Light is called Lilac Leaf. Fine to call it that when doing Estonian lace. But I would be wrong to use that pattern and say Shetlanders called it Lilac Leaf…
Liz
By: Elizabeth Lovick on March 12, 2010
at 7:58 pm
Hi Liz!
Aren’t names fun? I agree with you that it’s wisest to call the pattern by its local name in a local knitting piece, I’m sure you’ve noticed how similar some of the Orenburg lace names are to the ones in Shetland such as Cat’s Paw and if memory serves me right Leaf. I do like the ‘Hap shell’ one too, it’s so descriptive!
Picking your brains now: How frequently do you see old (say pre 1930 – invention of circular needles broadly speaking) haps knitted Borders Out*? BTW – they’d have had to be done on 4 needles, I don’t really think the borders outwards method ever caught on in Shetland. What do you think, and how much of Orkney knitting got sold in or as Shetland do you think, or didn’t it much matter? I’ve got old images of Orcadians knitting and wearing haps and it makes me wonder.
Do you know of any appreciable differences between Orkney and Shetland knitting in technique or pattern? You are exactly the right person in the right place to get a note of this sort of information before it’s too late. Sorry, it’s not as if you haven’t got enough to do!
*For any unsure of how to tell the difference, I identify the two border making methods this way: if the line of laceholes in Old Shell arch up like a bridge after the edging then the shawl is made inwards – if the line of laceholes are cupped like a bowl at the edging then it’s outwards.
brIdge = Inwards
bOwl = Outwards
By: Sharon on March 12, 2010
at 9:10 pm
Now, there is a lot there…!!
As you well know, Shetland knitters have their ways and if you get a group of them started, they will argue on for ever!! In or Out is one such topic…!!
There are pix of circs in use in Shetland before 1900. I suspect it was uncommon, but most knitters will say they remember grannie/a friend of grannies with circs. My GUSS, and it is only a GUESS is that people did which ever suited them best – down to the vital ‘ecomonic imperitave’ again…
Orkney does have a fascinating knitting tradition of its own. The one thing Orcadians are NOT good at, though, is blowing their own trumpets. So the world doesn’t know much about it. I am gradually collecting patterns etc mainly using archive photos. But occassionally I find actual garments/shawls etc in the heritage centres round the islands. The lace patterns have similarities with Shetland, but are not the same – there are, for example, more Estonian links here – there were two or three patterns I had found here which I had never seen in Shetland. Then when I got the Estonian lace dictionaries there they were!
As well as its own distinctive lace, it also has stranded knitting similar to, but not identical to that of Fair Isle and Shetland; and a set og gansey patterns I have seen nowhere else.
I am collecting the info for a book. All I need is TIME!!
Liz
By: Elizabeth Lovick on March 12, 2010
at 9:52 pm
Oh Liz!!
Goody Goody Good! That’s one book that’s the top of my ‘To Get’ list and it’ll be worth the wait, now let’s campaign for more research / knitting stuff and less housework…..
I’ve never hear of circs before the Aero Twin pin of pre WW2 vintage – they were very unwieldy things with stiff wired rope cables – I’d have thought the five dpns would have been preferred back pre 1900..Oh…Did the Orcadians call their ganseys just that or ‘frokes’ as on Shetland?
Write when and if you have time and I promise I will now stop badgering you but it’s one huge interesting lucky dip of a topic.
By: Sharon on March 12, 2010
at 10:10 pm
I’m sorry I posted the above in error, and I stand corrected, but I’m delighted that I provoked the above comments. Sharon, if you’re still reading, I love your books; my HK is dog-eared. I will say, though, that your picture of FF looks a lot like Liz’ Old Shale. I should just have read the text and charts a bit more carefully.
By: Katherine on March 13, 2010
at 2:19 am
WONDERFUL information and responses. So much great information. Thank you to all.
By: Rena McClain on March 13, 2010
at 11:14 am
Extremely interesting write up. My great granny came to Canada from Shetland at the beginning of the 20th century. She taught Mom some of her lace patterns. She called 3 different ones Feather and Fan, including Old Shale. But I think in her case it was a matter of the first name that popped into her head to get the kid out from under her feet. I’ve wondered about the names, and this clears it up. (Any stranded pattern that was the least bit geometric was named “Fair Isle Pattern”, every single one had that name, and that name only!)
On the circs. and dpns. She brought her “knitting pins” from Shetland when she emigrated. To knit in the round, for sweaters at least, she put all the front stitches on one needle, all the back on another, and knit with a 3rd. This gave a wee ladder up each side, but as she said, “It comes out in the wash”.
By: Barb Brown on March 13, 2010
at 2:42 pm
Although I have stumbled upon this late in the year, I’m fascinated! I had always thought that Old Shale and Feather & Fan were one and the same, since I always saw the names used interchangeably. Thanks for the clarification. I love “Old Shale.”
I have a Shetland knitting belt; I really like using it! (although I haven’t been knitting in quite a while, since we moved this year, my stuff has been in storage and not unpacked). When I first learned to knit (and I consider myself a real beginner), I found myself naturally sticking the LONG right needle into the belt line of my pants to hold it. Crazy but it worked for me (sort of)! Then I discovered the Shetland knitting belt!
I have the book the Principles of Knitting, and in there are the basic instructions for “Shetland style knitting in the round” (using the 3 dp needles). Which I tried… but there were those little ladders on the sides! I thought I was really messing up… but I guess not! Perhaps if you knit with tiny needles, those really will come out in the wash. I was trying it with larger yarn, sport weight or dk, I think. Thank you Barb, for that interesting tidbit about your great granny knitting like this!
I like to knit with bigger needles; I had to buy the only larger size dps I could get for my Shetland knitting belt… they are German-made, and have a non-stick kind of finish. I believe I have sizes 6, 7, 8, and 10. There are not very many dp needles that come in the lengths you need for a Shetland knitting belt… I guess you could make your own, or have them made by someone, which I have considered doing.
Thanks for the facts, info and tidbits. Everyone I know knits with circulars if knitting anything longer than a very narrow scarf (width-wise). No one I know knits with a Shetland knitting belt! LOL!
Kristen (Frisco, Texas)
By: Kris Barndt on November 12, 2010
at 9:36 pm
I too like long needles and I lodge the end in the elastic of my knickers!! Always have. I sometimes use a belt, but usually prefer to use spns in my waistband.
You can get the long needles from Jamieson and Smith in Shetland – they have them on their website – http://www.shetlandwoolbrokers.co.uk/epages/BT2741.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/BT2741/Products/%22Needles%20-%20Steel%20Double%20Ended%22/SubProducts/%22Steel%20Double%20Ended%20Needles%22
Liz
By: Elizabeth Lovick on November 13, 2010
at 8:59 pm
I first read this discussion on Traditional Knitting and assumed that the pattern I had knitted 20 years ago was F&F but imagine my surprise to see it was OS instead! Thank you for the clarification.
By: Barbara on March 13, 2010
at 3:15 pm
Fascinating sequence of comments. Makes me wonder about the names for Aran knitting patterns. When in Ireland I paid only passing attention to the aran knitting tradition, apart from appreciating it and wearing it. I do know that one tradition has it that the body of a drowned fisherman washed ashore could be identified according to his sweater pattern.
Janet
By: Janet on March 13, 2010
at 5:56 pm
This is a fascinating and wonderful discussion. Thank you!
By: Lia on March 13, 2010
at 6:02 pm
Thank you so much for that information Liz at long last I know the correct names of the two patterns.
I have been knitting Old Shale with the 2nd row purl and the 4th row knit so now will start knitting it correctly!!!
Thank you again Liz – am enjoying the discussion.
Patricia (in New Zealand)
By: Patricia on March 13, 2010
at 10:36 pm
Thank you for the visual..
After looking at the two.. I like the Old Shale the best.. I was just about to start a top which I thought was feather & Fan but now I see its Old Shale
By: penny on March 14, 2010
at 12:47 am
What a fascinating discussion!
Thanks, Liz for the initial info. I too have fallen in the trap of misnaming Old Shell/Shale.
I hope you get some time to work on your book, we’re all waiting.
By: Lou on March 14, 2010
at 9:46 am
Oh, Liz, when that book is written, I hope to know immediately. It is already on my list!
By: Sherry in Idaho on March 14, 2010
at 3:58 pm
I would like to hear more details of the pre-1900 circs. I once saw a pair of circs at a yard sale that were connected by an actual chain made of links; I didn’t buy it and I’ve kicked myself ever since.
By: =Tamar on March 15, 2010
at 3:49 am
I have some old circular needles. One has a chain for a cable–it looks just like the old, flat, gold chain that my grandmother wore and one is the old Aero circular with the twisted wire cable. I bought them, years ago, for collectibles from eBay.
By: Sherry in Idaho on March 15, 2010
at 1:32 pm
Hi Tamar,
I spent some time yesterday trying to fin the photo of the lady sitting by the fire using a circ. They tended to be thin wire – I have seen them in museums – usually the small heritage centres. I have no idea how common they were, but they were fairly well known up here it seems.
Liz
By: Elizabeth Lovick on March 15, 2010
at 9:33 am
What interesting information. I made a hap shawl with OS (outward) and absolutely thought it was F&F. I have a OS dishcloth pattern that is also misnamed F&F. And I will say that I think shell is a better name than shale for the lovely shell shaped design in the OS pattern. Thanks for taking the time to thoroughly discuss this. I feel like I know something many other people don’t know just because I read this discussion
S.
By: Susan Fox on March 18, 2010
at 1:07 am
The confusion was after Mary Thomas (1938):
Mary Thomas’s Knitting Book, page 191, Fig.187,
photo of Shetland knitting stitches, shows
#7 Spout or Razor Shell (looks like Feather&Fan)
#8 Old Shale (the correct form)
Her 2nd book also has it right: p.173 gives Feather pattern (no fan) but no k4tog, only a narrow solid column, as a version of Chevron.
page 182 gives Old Shale correctly again, but with the many variations that MT collected.
I read her books first but still always thought of Old Shell as Feather&Fan because it looks more like that name than the Razor Shell/F&F pattern does; are the fans supposedly closed?
By: =Tamar on March 18, 2010
at 5:22 pm
Kathleen Kinder found a description in Gravenor Henson that she felt was a 1770s version of Feather and Fan or Old Shell; it was called Trico Berlin, and done on the hand frame, producing something Henson said had “the appearance of net ornamented with feather work.”
By: =Tamar on March 19, 2010
at 6:02 pm
I’ve read this wonderful and informative discussion but I am still puzzled…Are there two patterns called Old Shale/Old Shell: one with all knit rows, one with one purl row?
By: Alberta on September 10, 2010
at 12:25 pm
The ‘classic’ Old Shale has 2 knit and 1 purl row, plus the patterned row, in the repeat. On odd occassions, people do Old Shale in garter stitch – ie 3 knit as well as the patterned row. Both are still called Old Shale… Liz
By: Elizabeth Lovick on September 10, 2010
at 1:25 pm
[...] http://northernlace.wordpress.com/2010/03/12/feather-and-fan-versus-old-shale/#comment-836 [...]
By: BFL Yarn Loves Lace… try Old Shale! on November 13, 2010
at 8:01 pm
Hi, you did such a good job of explaining the difference. I’m looking for a pattern that is similar to the fan and feather from the late 60′s . Can I send you a photo? Maybe you could tell me what the pattern is. Thanks so much, Sue
By: Sue on May 8, 2011
at 3:08 am
Ive sent you an email! Liz
By: Elizabeth Lovick on May 8, 2011
at 7:47 am
Fascinating! Thank you for this clarification. It seems there is always more to learn about knitting.
Cheryl
By: Cheryl on July 4, 2011
at 11:09 pm
Thanks for the clarification! Never could figure out where the feather was in the pattern. Always thought it looked more like a fan or a shell. I guess I have been knitting Old Shale/Old Shell. I love the pattern.
By: susan on August 26, 2011
at 7:56 am