Alice Starmore

Alice Starmore (née Alice Matheson) is a professional needleworker, photographer and author of books on needlework, born in Stornoway, Western Isles, Scotland.

Growing up in a traditional Scottish fishing community with Gaelic as her native language, knitting was one of the skills she learned at an early age, already creating her own designs by the age of five. She decided to make it into a profession in 1975, when she produced a collection which was sold in London boutiques. In 1978, she was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship and travelled to Norway, Sweden and Finland to study their textile traditions. Her books are widely considered to be one of the authorities on Celtic and Fair Isle design and technique. As well as her books, she has written articles for Threads and Vogue Knitting magazines and now markets her own lines of threads and yarn.

In 1991 she founded Windfall Press, which started as a specialist publisher and producer of knitting titles but which is now known for its expertise in the design and production of books in Scottish Gaelic.

Her professional career has widened from knitting design into the sphere of fine art. Her first major solo exhibition, Mamba, was shown at An Lanntair, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis during Summer 2008. She makes occasional appearances at textile and knitting events, including recent presentations and worksops at the official Dutch Stitch 'n' Bitch Day (Rotterdam, 2006) and at I Knit London's Weekender (September 2009).

Her photographic work is now focused on the natural world, particularly birds and insects, and she contributes to publications of the British Dragonfly Society. She is regarded as an authority on Scottish moorland habitats, and is employed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) as their Education Officer for the Isles of Lewis and Harris.

Her daughter, Jade Starmore, is a professional needleworker and artist, and has published her own books.

Published works

Starmore's book Aran Knitting (Interweave Press US, 1997), (expanded reprint 2010), has reached much popularity and renown amongst knitters.

Bibliography

• Scandinavian Knitwear (Bell & Hyman UK, 1981)
• Knitting from the British Islands (Bell & Hyman UK, 1982)
• Children's Knitting From Many Lands, (Bell & Hyman UK, St. Martin's Press US, 1983)
• Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting, (Taunton Press US, Blandford Books UK, 1988) (Also published as: The Fair Isle Knitting Handbook, Blandford Press UK, 1990)
• Sweaters For Men (Ballantine Books US, Pavilion Books UK, 1988)
• The Celtic Collection (Anaya UK, Trafalgar Square US, 1992)
• The Scottish Collection - pattern book (1992)
• Charts for Colour Knitting, (Windfall Press, UK, 1992)
• Fishermen's Sweaters, (Anaya UK, Trafalgar Square US, 1993) (Also translated into Swedish and published as: Fiskar-Tröjor, Raben Prisma, Stockholm 1995)
• A Scottish Garland - pattern book (1993)
• Celtic Needlepoint, (Anaya UK, Trafalgar Square US, 1994)
• American Portraits - pattern book (1994)
• In The Hebrides, (Windfall Press US, 1995)
• Stillwater, (Windfall Press US, 1996)
• Aran Knitting, (Interweave Press US, 1997; expanded reprint 2010)
• Pacific Coast Highway, (Windfall Press US, 1997)
• Tudor Roses, (Windfall Press US, 1998)
• The Children's Collection - with Jade Starmore, (Interweave Press US, 2000)
• Road Movies Volume 1, (Windfall Press UK, 2008)

References

• The Alice Starmore Website
• Mamba: An Exhibition By Alice Starmore
• Virtual Yarns: Alice Starmore
• Windfall Press

External links

• Virtual Yarns by Alice & Jade Starmore
• Submerged oviposition behaviour in the Large Red Damselfly Pyrrhosoma nymphula (Sulzer) on the Isle of Lewis: a paper by Alice Starmore
• The Alice Chronicles