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Last year my husband bought me a book called Visserstruien - there's an English edition too. It offers patterns used in several fishing towns, including the one I was born. My grandmother used to knit ganseys by the dozen for my uncles and cousins, but never for my brothers as my mother did not like "working clothes".
The book brought back a lot of memories and I used 8 of 20 balls of this yarn I had in my stash to create something with the patterns I remembered.
So now to knit something like it a size larger for the brother of the boy who got this one.
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Comments (12)
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by
sandralane
04 May 2017
+5✽
It is nice to see traditional designs still around, you have done a terrific job with your gansey. I am sure it will be well worn for many years to come. Sandra.
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Thank you. My home help is Armenian and loved it for her son. I like to stick to my gran's variations.
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I don't think there is much of this type ( handwork) of stuff done anymore, beautiful job.
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dragonflyer
04 May 2017
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What memories...so glad to see older patterns still being used...
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Excellent - I had foolishly thought these were a very British tradition. More research is needed on my part! I have never knitted one of these, but I've done a lot of the cabled Aran designs.
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My granfather used to fish for herring, so they stated near the Shetlands and during the year followed the shoals down to the channel. They did land their catch in harbours like Lerwick and Aberdeen - no refrigerating in his time. And all wore knitted sweaters. So they must have influenced each other.
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asterixsew
04 May 2017
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I had always thought the name gansey came from Lancashire. I remember stories in my youth that each family had a different pattern and if sadly a fisherman died then they were identified by the gansey pattern. I have only knitted one for one of my daughters when small. Its on the 'to do' list for a grandchild but the rate I'm getting through the list they will be grown up. I have a friend who's family hail from Shetland and she had a number of garments knitted there years ago. She has donated them to a museum there. I will look out for this book in my library and have fun knitting the next one.
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On my ramble sown memory lane I forgot to say what a super gansey you have knitted
Here they were more village related than family, but each knitter had her pride and invented variations. I recently saw a BBC program (it was in Coast I think) in which they showed a few that included initials, something that was never done here as far as I know.
In Scheveningen they had a formula: start the pattern halfway up and start with a small horizontal border. Other villages had all-over patterns. And they all stood for something.
In my case: waves, the vertical seed stitch could be sand,
the top pattern fishing nets.
In my case: waves, the vertical seed stitch could be sand,
the top pattern fishing nets.
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by
crafter2243
04 May 2017
+3✽
Beautiful sweater. You do such great knitting. I had never heard of gansey but was familiar with guernsey so I did a quick check and this is what it says.
A guernsey, or gansey, is a seaman's knitted woolen sweater, similar to a jersey, which originated in the Channel Island of the same name, sometimes known as a knit-frock in Cornwall.[1]
Learned something new. It kept the seaman warm
A guernsey, or gansey, is a seaman's knitted woolen sweater, similar to a jersey, which originated in the Channel Island of the same name, sometimes known as a knit-frock in Cornwall.[1]
Learned something new. It kept the seaman warm
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There were a lot of fishermen in both my father's and my mother's family.
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kustomkuddle
04 May 2017
+3✽
How thoughtful of your husband for the wonderful gift!. Beautiful work!
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vickiannette
04 May 2017
+1✽
A great post, enjoyed reading it. And beautiful knitting [had a bit of a laugh at your mum not wanting work clothes, wonder what she'd think of our fashions today??]