The pottery created by the artists from the Nine Northern Pueblos in New Mexico is some of the finest in the world. Indigenous potters (like many knitters) span the space from craft to high art, drawing upon centuries-old traditions and techniques to push their craft in exciting, modern directions. The Fair Isle-style pattern on the yoke of Sky Isle was inspired by a pottery style created by artists and craftspeople from Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico. Many Acoma pots are painted in black-and-white patterns that expand and contract to follow the shape of the vessel. I have tried to recreate this effect by designing a two-color pattern in which the yoke shaping is accomplished with increasingly smaller designs that echo the shape of the largest motif.

Sky Isle is a bottom-up, seamless cardigan worked in the round in a lovely, durable Donegal tweed, a woolen yarn that gives a weathered appearance to the sweater. The body and sleeves are worked separately, then joined to form the yoke. Once the neckband has been completed and bound off, the sweater is steeked and cut up the midline and the steeked portions are secured to the sweater body. Stitches are picked up on either side of the steek to form the button band, which joins the collar at a mitered angle.