As part of this year's Tall Ships race, the knitters on Fair Isle brought an important part of their history to life by hand knitting Fair Isle fisherman's keps (hats) and trading them for Norwegian goods with the crew of the Norwegian full-rigged ship Sørlandet. Only a handful of keps were knitted, each one is unique and could be considered priceless! Fortunately, besides those used for barter, there are a few available to help raise funds for the Fair Isle museum extension - and you can be part of this historic trade with Fair Isle - without a sailing ship!
All knitted in Fair Isle by masters of their craft , the keps have been on auction for the past few weeks and now 5 have been sold. The final one (pictured left), for which bids end on Sunday, was knitted by Annie Thomson, neé Wilson, born in Springfield, Fair Isle in 1922.
To find out more or to place a bid, click here