The Gansey Diaries (ep 2)
It’s starting to cool and there’s a faint hint that autumn might be getting ready to creep through the land. I absolutely love autumn. The dusty, dry heat of summer is slowly replaced by cooler, fresher air, moist and leaving droplets on plants to glisten in the gentle sunlight. It’s time to turn to those beloved woollies again, the cosy ones, which wrap you up like a hug. And the colours. I wonder if the colours will be even more magnificent this autumn, given the summer drought?
I’ve even consulted Wrinkle again. She tutted and told me to stop faffing and get on with it.
Needles in hand. Time to make sure all that planning translates into the garment that I think it will. My trusty pot of stitch markers will hopefully help me manage the 300+ stitches I'm going to cast on, and not twist when joining in the round, of course 🫣. I’m going in.
Regardless of whether there are differences between pre- and post-blocked gauge, I know I need to use the post-block gauge to calculate my numbers, Therefore, I’m trusting my swatching and blocking process; the post-block gauge is what counts (literally) and I’ve measured and remeasured that.
Time for the next stage. The numbers. Out of the frying pan and straight in to the fire!
Going to need a large mug of tea for this one. This is where it gets a bit mathy and/or spreadsheety.
And that is why The Wrinkled Thistle tag-line is: Heritage Ganseys - Modern Knitting!
After several repeats — I do not trust my maths — I arrived at the same number several times. I even remembered to add on the false seam stitches and ensure the whole lot was divisible by 4, so my 2x2 rib would be perfect.
Cast-on number locked in. It’s in my spreadsheet.
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So I will be using circular needles. It might not be traditional, but I have full respect for the women who not only knitted using DPNs, they were likely thinner than the 2.25mm needles I'm going to use AND to top it all, they knitted while walking around fetching and carrying and doing other jobs.
Wrinkle, always on hand with advice, sarky or otherwise, was muttering about ease. Traditional ganseys would not have had any, but as this is a comfortable jumper, we don’t need that kind of figure-hugging going on! Ease duly added to chest measurements. And voila, a cast on number appears.
My gauge swatch has been roaming around the house with me; I’ve been viewing it in different lights and locations, like suddenly one of them is going to produce a lightning bolt which will give me all the answers.
I took my blocked gauge and had a proper sit-down with a calculator and a spreadsheet.
Now, ganseys are traditionally knit using long double-pointed needles (DPNs). I do not, however, get on well with DPNs. I worry about having to explain why I have multiple puncture wounds in my torso, arms and hands. And that's just the small ones I've tried to wrestle with in the past. I don't think I should be let loose with the long ones.
The Wrinkled Thistle
Heritage Ganseys | Modern Knitting
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