Carol Christiansen’s Shetland Fine Lace Knitting is a thorough and engaging book. It was produced as a result of the Shetland Museum’s efforts to catalog and fully assess their collection of Shetland lace knitted items.

Although the book does include pictures of quite a few full shawls and garments, the focus is on motifs and motif combinations. The motifs are gathered into sections, different variants of each motif shown. For each motif, there is a picture of the original and one of a modern sample. Then each pattern is charted and written out. So whatever type of pattern you like to work with, this book has you covered.

In addition to the many, many motif patterns, there is also quite a bit about Shetland’s knitting traditions, history, and economy. Come for the patterns and stay for the textile history!

I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Shetland lace knitting. Whether you want to just use some of the motifs in a project or create a full-blown Shetland lace item, this book has what you need.