The Beatles still have countless fans all over the world—and I’m one of them. I’ve been a devoted fan since childhood. When I was nine years old, I started listening to NHK Radio’s Basic English. One day, a few episodes in, they played Yellow Submarine by The Beatles. I still vividly remember the shock of that moment. Until then, I had only been listening to Japanese pop songs, but from that instant on, I became completely absorbed in Western music. Without that encounter, I’m not even sure I would have kept up with Basic English at all.
I immediately pulled out a Beatles greatest hits record from my father’s collection and played it on repeat all day long. I still remember my family telling me, somewhere around the tenth time through, “Okay, that’s enough already.”
Among posts from knitters overseas, one image I see pop up again and again is this Fair Isle sweater worn by Paul McCartney. Apparently, Paul owned several Fair Isle sweaters, and there are photos of him wearing other sweaters and vests as well—but this particular image is probably the most famous one.
The moment I saw it, I thought, “I want that.” And of course, I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. On Ravelry, there’s even someone who has painstakingly recreated the chart for it.
Link here
It’s a free pattern, but it’s not written in English, so I can’t actually read it, and I’m not even sure whether there’s any size information included. But honestly, if you have the chart, you can make it work. The rest is just a matter of finding yarn in similar colors, right?
And once you start searching online, you’ll find so many people who’ve knitted this sweater themselves—and then posed for photos in the exact same way. It’s charming, a little ridiculous, and completely delightful. I can’t help but want to join the club too. There are currently 48 projects on Ravelry. Fair Isle isn’t exactly a quick or casual undertaking, but this is definitely one sweater on my someday list. Preferably sooner rather than later.
Photo credit © PAUL MCCARTNEY/PHOTOGRAPH BY LINDA MCCARTNEY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.