Fair Isle Knits

Fair Isle is really common in basic patterned knits. Essentially, two yarns are carried throughout each row of knitting, but only one yarn is knitted in each place on the row. The other yarn passes along the back of the fabric and creates a loop effect on the back side. Here is a picture of the front and back of a Fair Isle Knit.





I want to experiment with printing on sweaters with this construction before de-knitting them. I am hoping that if I print with a light layer of pigment, perhaps through the use of the heat press or a light layer applied through a silkscreen, I can keep the dye from reaching the back layer of floating fibers. This, in affect would preserve the original fair isle design when the garment was de-knitted, as only the parts of each yarn that were on the knitted layer would receive pigment.