Ancient crafts · Modern makers · 80 traditions · One club

Your nan
knew this
stitch.

For 300 years the patterns of the Shetland Islands were never written down. Passed grandmother to granddaughter. By memory alone. We are keeping that alive — one stitch, one month, one maker at a time.

Start 7-day free trial — $6.99/month Cancel anytime · First patterns arrive instantly · Win a trip to Shetland

"She put her phone down. Her nan taught her something 300 years old. Now she's trying to win a trip to the island where it all began."

Scroll

Fair Isle Knitting Sashiko Stitching Kente Weaving Hardanger Embroidery Kintsugi Aran Knitting Ukrainian Vyshyvanka Moroccan Zellige Korean Pojagi Temari Balls + 70 more traditions

✓ Free today

Start learning right now

One free pattern.
One real story.
One honest tip.

We do not believe in hard sells. We believe that if you see the beauty of these traditions — really see it — you will want to learn. So here is your first lesson. Free. No email required. Just read.

Free Pattern · Fair Isle · Beginner

The Peerie Border — your first Fair Isle stitch

A "peerie" is a Shetland word for small. This 5-stitch repeating cross motif is the foundation of every Fair Isle garment ever made. You can work it in 90 minutes. Materials: DK weight wool in two colours, 3mm needles. Cast on 24 stitches. Row 1: *K2 MC, K1 CC* repeat 8 times. Row 2: *P1 CC, P2 MC* repeat 8 times. Row 3: plain in MC. That is your first Fair Isle row. The whole pattern is in your free bundle — download it below.

Download the free starter bundle →

Story · Shetland Islands · History

The island with 55 people that shaped global fashion

Fair Isle sits between Scotland and Norway. Storms. No trees. In the 1920s the Prince of Wales wore a Fair Isle sweater to golf. Within months every aristocrat in Britain wanted one. The patterns had never been written down. They still almost disappeared.

Hack · Tension · Beginner tip

The one thing YarnPal never tells beginners

Fair Isle puckers because beginners pull the carried yarn too tight. Before you pick up the second colour, spread your stitches apart on the right needle. Give the strand room to breathe. That is the entire secret. Your work will lie flat.

Members only

9 more patterns this month. 10 new ones next month.
Community. Voting. And a quarterly trip to Shetland.

$6.99/month · 7-day free trial · Cancel anytime · First bundle downloads instantly

Unlock everything

Free to watch · No signup needed

Watch. Learn. Then decide
if you want more.

Six videos. Real knitters teaching real techniques. Free. No email. No signup. Just watch — and see why millions of people are returning to Fair Isle.

Why 211,000 people watched this — and started knitting Fair Isle

10 min · Shufladka Handmade · 211K views

A First Introduction to Fair Isle Knitting

Susan Crawford Vintage Knitting

What Makes Fair Isle Fair Isle?

Heather Storta · Stranded colourwork explained

Fair Isle Knitting — The Technique

Step by step for beginners

Fair Isle Colourwork — Beginner Tutorial

How to carry yarn and manage tension

The Shetland Knitting Tradition

The culture and history behind the craft

Ready to go further?

10 validated patterns every month.
A community. A competition. A trip to Shetland.

$6.99/month · 7-day free trial · Cancel anytime

Start free trial

Why we exist

300 years old.
Still the most beautiful
knitting in the world.

After 30 years of fast fashion and screen time, something strange is happening. People everywhere are returning to making things with their hands. Fair Isle searches are up 400%. Sashiko is exploding on Instagram. Kente weaving is on the Paris runways. The world's traditional crafts are coming back — and millions of people want to learn them.

"The patterns were never written down for 300 years. Passed from grandmother to granddaughter by memory alone. The last generation who learned that way is in their 80s now."

We built OldCraftNew to digitise these traditions properly — with validated patterns, plain English instructions, and a community that actually cares. Not an app that spits out AI slop. A club that honours where these crafts came from.

Every platform we build has one prize: a trip to the homeland. Shetland for Fair Isle. Kyoto for Sashiko. Accra for Kente. Because the best way to keep a tradition alive is to go where it was born.

The collection

10 traditions.
10 homelands.

Each craft is a separate club. One subscription per tradition. Each with its own prize trip.

Live now 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Fair Isle Knitting

Shetland Islands, Scotland

✈ Win a trip to Shetland

Coming soon 🇯🇵

Sashiko Stitching

Kyoto, Japan

✈ Win a trip to Kyoto

Coming soon 🇬🇭

Kente Weaving

Accra, Ghana

✈ Win a trip to Accra

Coming soon 🇳🇴

Hardanger Embroidery

Bergen, Norway

✈ Win a trip to Bergen

Coming soon 🇯🇵

Kintsugi

Tokyo, Japan

✈ Win a trip to Tokyo

Coming soon 🇮🇪

Aran Knitting

Aran Islands, Ireland

✈ Win a trip to Aran Islands

Coming soon 🇺🇦

Vyshyvanka

Kyiv, Ukraine

✈ Win a trip to Kyiv

Coming soon 🇲🇦

Zellige Tile Art

Marrakech, Morocco

✈ Win a trip to Marrakech

Coming soon 🇰🇷

Korean Pojagi

Seoul, Korea

✈ Win a trip to Seoul

Coming soon 🌍

+ 70 more traditions

Every continent · Every culture

One machine. 80 homelands.

The quarterly prize

The best pattern
wins a trip to
the homeland.

Every quarter, our members vote for the best pattern submitted that season. The winner receives a fully funded trip to the island, city or region where that craft was born. For Fair Isle members — that means Shetland. 55 people live there. It is one of the most remote places in Britain. And it is where this all began.

Every

Quarter

Winner

Homelands

Join and enter the competition

"Dramatic cliffs. Stone cottages with warm lights. The North Atlantic. This is where your patterns come from."

— Shetland Islands, Scotland

Simple. Beautiful. Worth it.

Join for $6.99

Monthly subscription. 7-day free trial. Cancel anytime. Instant access on signup.

Get 10 patterns

New bundle every month. Validated patterns in plain English. Beginner to confident maker.

Knit and submit

Make your favourite. Submit it to the community. Each submission earns +3 competition entries.

Win the homeland

Quarterly community vote. Winner flies to where the craft was born. This quarter — Shetland.

Membership

Join Fair Isle
Craft Club

^$6.99

Per month · Cancel anytime

10 new Fair Isle patterns every month
Plain English instructions — complete beginners welcome
Access to full back catalogue instantly
Community voting and pattern sharing
Submit your own patterns for +3 competition entries
Quarterly prize draw — trip to the Shetland Islands
7-day free trial — first bundle downloads immediately

Start free trial — join now

Secure payment · Cancel anytime · No hidden fees

From the workbench

Things worth knowing

Technique · Fair Isle

Why your Fair Isle keeps puckering (and how to fix it in 30 seconds)

The most common beginner mistake is pulling the carried yarn too tight across the back of the work. Spread your stitches apart on the right needle before picking up the second colour. The strand needs room to breathe. This one change will make your work lie flat every time.

Story · Shetland Islands

The 300-year tradition that was almost lost forever

For three centuries Fair Isle patterns were passed from grandmother to granddaughter by memory. Never written down. In the post-war era fast fashion nearly killed the tradition entirely. Today it is being revived by makers around the world — many of whom have never set foot on the island.

Buying guide · Yarn

The best yarns for Fair Isle knitting (and what to avoid)

DK weight 100% wool gives you the best stitch definition for Fair Isle. Avoid acrylic — it lacks the elasticity you need for colourwork. Authentic Shetland wool from Jamieson's or Jamieson & Smith is the gold standard. A 100g skein covers most beginner projects.

Your nanknew thisstitch.