The Gansey Diaries (ep 9)
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It's week 9 and time for another change.
I have completed the first half of the gusset! Doesn't that look lovely? I do love a nicely formed gusset.
And yes again, I do the sleeves two at a time as well. That's almost worse because of the bulk and weight the gansey now will be. If you're brain allows you to do one at a time, go with it!
Stay tuned for me getting in a tangle!
Top Tip!
I mentioned last week that I would have a tip for you when switching from knitting in-the-round to knitting flat. To some of you, this may be obvious, to some, completely unnecessary. For me, painful experience has taught me that I need to pay attention to that first wrong side row, especially when I have cables. I MUST start on an odd number row, so that there is absolutely no chance whatsoever or me ending up having to twist that cable on a wrong side row!
New here? The Gansey Diaries follows the construction of a traditional gansey from the first stitch to the last. You can find earlier posts here.
Wrinkle : Whitby Goth Weekend and Halloween
It's now time for the bit I like least; splitting for the back and the front. This means that I'm no longer working in-the-round, and for me at least, that means a shift in my thinking, which doesn't always go as smoothly as I'd like.
We started at St Mary's Churchyard. Wrinkle was in her element! Naturally, she was the only witch in attendance.
There were far too many tombstones to count, and Wrinkle insisted on checking each one for suitability. "This'll do," she said eventually, which was oddly polite coming from someone whose main hobby is judging knitters from afar.
She spent a suspicious amount of time atop this particular headstone. I'm going with "scenic view" rather than "claiming territory." Though, knowing her, it's probably both.
You might be fine doing that, but I would rather not. If you feel the same then calculate when you're next twist will be, and add an extra round if you need to. And make a note of that, so when you come to knit the second side, you do exactly the same.
Unless, however, you are like me in finding ways to totally overcomplicate the knitting of the back and front flat. Rather than do one side at a time, I join in a second cone of yarn, and knit them both as the same time. Bear with me, and I'll try and explain.
I've turned the work, and have knitted the first wrong-side row (not round!) of the first side, let's call it the front. Instead of turning again and working the right-side row of the front, I drop the front yarn, and work the first wrong-side row of the second side, let's call that the back. THEN, I turn and work the right-side of the back, followed by the right side of the front. And so on.
So there you have it. The gansey isn't finished, but Wrinkle's had her adventure. She's already talking about next year's costume, which I take as a win.
Then we hit the Abbey. During the day, it was properly atmospheric; grey stone, blue sky, that classic ruined church vibe. But come evening? They'd lit the whole thing in magenta. Which, honestly, Wrinkle approved of.
And finally, the beach. Where Wrinkle stood very still and stared out toward the horizon. I asked her what she was doing. "Looking for the Demeter," she said, like it was obvious. Fair enough; I suppose if you're a seaside witch with a grudge against ships, that's your natural habitat.
Also, it was quite windy in Whitby. The hat barely stayed on. She kept threatening to hex the wind. I advised against it — we've got enough gale-force drama without adding magical retaliation to the mix.
Along the way, she met some friends. I'm told they're "very friendly." I think she threatened them with the broomstick. She seemed happy with them at least — probably because they couldn't argue back about stitch counts.
On the way back, we did a spot of shopping too. Wrinkle was delighted by this particular shopkeeper. She thought his outfit needed a bit of a lift and was delighted to oblige.
Yes, I sometimes get myself all in a tangle, and you can probably tell that this stems from second-sock syndrome. I knit socks two-at-a-time-toe-up and you cannot persuade me otherwise.
If I were to advise you, I would say do one at a time. Doing both at once is unlikely to save you much, if any time.
But for me, the thought of going back to the gusset and working the second side, in the same way as the first is just too much. It's how my brain works and I'm not sure how to change it!
Kudos to W. Hammond Original Whitby Jet Shop for this fanastic Halloween 'statue'. Frightened the living daylights out of a lot of people!
The Wrinkled Thistle
Heritage Ganseys | Modern Knitting
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