Archive Entries for October 2006
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Tuesday October 31, 2006
Christina: Old gansey
As this gansey project is obviously going to be ongoing for quite a while I thought I'd include this old gansey photo that illustrates our previous exchange of comments. I could not find an exact photo of a very wide ribbed welt, but many of the ganseys have some kind of wide "belt" around the middle, formed as part of the pattern.
Posted by Christina at 11:11 PM. Category: Ganseys
Saturday October 28, 2006
Christina: Whitby Gansey - All plain sailing
I have used up my first 100 gram ball of wool; that is: all bar the last 6 inches as a moth seems to have chewed through the thread very near the end. Little to report except lots of plain knitting.
I am purling only one stitch at each side, and Alison's gift of lovely bead placement markers are really coming into their own. I hardly have to concentrate at all - though this has lead to a dropped stitch, which I had to pick up some half a dozen rows down. The knitting is so tight on the fine needles that the extra tension has not distorted the fabric at all noticeably.
I never understood the stuff about dropped stitches; when I was young, it seemed to be a major topic for knitters and a key indicator of knitting incompetence. Growing up, I thought you would have to be a real ninny to (a) drop a stitch in the first place, and (b) not be able to easily correct it. Lately, I have knitted a couple of vintage 3 and 4 ply patterns where the instructions "cast on 328 stitches" is not so uncommon, my eyesight is not so acute, and I am a little more humble. Going to the trouble of counting your stitches, finding one short, and having to examine the stitching to find out where it might have gone is .... well... needles and haystacks spring to mind.
Posted by Christina at 2:16 PM. Category: Ganseys
Sunday October 22, 2006
Alison: Caister Gansey - It's a start
I have completed the 20 rows of the welt and started the body of my sweater.
It's slow going, especially as I keep poking myself with my needles. The knitpicks circular needles are really nice, especially the cord which is much more flexible than Addi Turbo needles, but they are very pointy. I don't think I could manage with a less pointy needle though because the gauge is so tight.
Other than all that winging, I really like the knitted fabric. It's nice and firm, just like a real guernsey!
Posted by Alison at 7:48 PM. Category: Ganseys
Monday October 9, 2006
Alison: Caister Gansey - the start
I have chosen the Caister Gansey from The Traditional Sweater book by Madeline Weston. Here is the work so far - my wool and swatches. Result of the swatching means that I need to use 2mm needles - so part of the reason for selecting the Caister Gansey is that I can actually get the correct tension.
The wool came from Frangipani, who provide a sample pattern - but with a tension of 36 st to 10cm and, even on 2mm needles, I really couldn't get close. The Caister Gansey is 28sts which I can achieve on the 2mm. I also wanted a fairly plain guernsey pattern as I cant really see my Father (planned recipient) wearing anything more complex or patterned, lovely though they are; I might even leave off the cables on this pattern and stick to a knit/purl pattern, which think is more traditional.
Posted by Alison at 8:15 PM. Category: Ganseys
Friday October 6, 2006
Christina: Whitby Gansey - the start
This is Mrs Laidler's pattern from the book "Fisher Gansey patterns of NE England" by Michael Pearson; this is a lovely booklet, now out of print but sometimes seen on eBay. The patterns in this book are described rather than written in detail, and there is basically only one size quoted (differs by pattern) - you can adapt the sizes but for some of the patterns this is difficult. I chose this pattern because it is knitted in the round, and has the traditional features of saddle shoulders, and under-arm gussets.
The wool (Creskeld - now called British Breeds 5 ply) knits up to 27 sts to 4 inches (10cm) on No 12 (2.75mm) needles. So far I have "cast on 300 loops", and started the welt.
Posted by Christina at 2:07 PM. Category: Ganseys
