Intro to ganseys
A gansey is a sweater worn by fishermen all around the coast in the UK and some near-by coasts. It was designed to be a warm, close-fitting and hardwearing garment. It is knit using 100% wool, on 2-2.75mm long-length double-pointed needles. This produces a garment with a close weave, water-repellent and helps regulate body temperature. Perfect for fishermen.
Wives, daughters and sometimes even the fishermen themselves produced ganseys, knitted in the round, using a set of 5 long double pointed needles. Often, a knitting belt was used, to help stabilise the needles and speed up the knitting, and gansey knitters today still use this set-up.
Ganseys were a single colour, commonly dark navy, with motifs knitted into the garments. The motifs were representative of a fishermans port, local area or specific to individual families. Knitters shared techniques as they moved around the coasts with the fishing fleet and motifs can be seen replicated in different areas.
There are several projects which have traced the history and motifs, so I will not replicate this excellent work here:
Scottish Gansey (and Knitting the Herring Project)
Norfolk Ganseys
Ganseys are a knit-to-fit garment and there is no single definitive 'pattern' for a gansey. They do, however, share common features such as false side seams, underarm gussets (to allow free movement), shoulders joined often with a strap/saddle (but sometimes simply grafted together). They can also include neck gussets for increased comfort. Once the shoulders are joined, the sleeve stitches are picked up and the sleeves knitted in the round down to the cuff.
Further reading...
Michael Pearson, Traditional Knitting: Aran, Fair Isle and Fisher Ganseys (Dover Publications)
Gladys Thomson, Patterns for Guernseys, Jerseys & Arans (Dover Publications)
Alice Starmore, Fishermen’s Sweaters (Collins & Brown)
Beth Brown-Reinsel, Knitting Ganseys (White River Press)
Mary Wright, Cornish Guernseys & Knit Frocks (Polperro Heritage Press)
Di Gilpin and Sheila Greenwell, The Gansey Knitting Sourcebook (David Charles)
Want to make your own gansey?
If you want to know more about knitting your own gansey, then check out the resources in my Knit Your Own Gansey page.