Froggy went a Fishing

Here onn Good Old Rocky Top Froggy went a courtin' to bring his Lass a handknit gansey pillow, but halfway there he fell into the Frog Pond and had to be fished out! What did froggy learn?

1. You can't knit the top half of the 1st gansey pillow pattern by simply repeating the written pattern once more while maintaining the continuity of the center section. Following this direction will result in the hearts and triangles landing in strange places. OK. So I reckon that one simply continues each section at the same spacing interval established previously (4 rows between triangles and 6 rows between hearts). That shouldn't be hard, right? I just need to read my knitting as I do when knitting lace and forget about the chart which would be inaccurate. So I put the chart away and knit on into the night. Guess what I learned next?

2. It takes more concentration to accurately knit 3 distinct patterns which repeat at different intervals than I have late at night (esp. after being mind-numbingly sick for several days). About 10 or 12 rows into the upper half I realize I started knitting the triangle 1 row too soon and I added extra rows to the heart so it doesn't match all the other hearts. Things do not look good. I toss the knitting aside and go to sleep.

3. I did have enough sense to wait until this morning before frogging back all those rows and picking up those squirrelly k/p/k stitches. I retrieved the chart from it's notebook and did some cross-eyed counting before starting the upper half of the pillow again. Let's not talk about all the twisty yarn piled up on the bed.

4. Gansey knitting resumes. I knit a few rows, starting the triangle on the correct row and putting the proper number of stitches in the heart. I pause to admire my work when what!!! Oh noooo! I messed up the moss st. border on one edge about 3 rows back. I guess it's back to the frog pond. Poor froggy!

5. BTW, I ditched the stitch markers at the half way point of the pillow. The good news is I managed to successfully keep all the patterns in their proper columns so at least that worked :-)


I think frogs and moss and ponds get along pretty well. Hopefully everything will get better soon.

Gansey Education Continues

So my gansey knitting education continues today with a few more insights. I am now up to row 36 on the 1st pillow pattern and here's what I've figured out today:

1. Crushed raspberry frangipani yarn really does look quite smashing once knitted up. Smashing...did you get it.... LOL (boo hiss, moan groan). Ok, I need humor because I've had an awful day so forgive my feeble attempts.

2. Frangipani yarn doesn't seem nearly so scratchy once you get going knitting it. The feel of the pillow top isn't at all unpleasant. So another reason to not pass judgment on a yarn by what you see and feel in the ball and wait until you've tried it. I'm still not knitting a sweater out of it for myself, though.

3. Black dots that don't look at all interesting on paper can surprise you. I wasn't at all impressed with the 2-row stairstep sequence in the center of the pillow. It was one of the reasons why I intended to knit the other pillow first. But hey, once knitted this pattern looks amazing! I love the texture. The bottom line, a) you can't trust the chart to tell you the truth about a stitch pattern and b) ya gotta swatch it first before passing judgment on a stitch pattern--you might just be surprised!

4. I really dislike k1, p1 knitting. I avoid 1x1 ribbing and have never done moss stitch because I hate the constant manipulations required for throwers to do k1, p1 knitting. But golly gee, moss stitch sure is superb way to knit borders. Nice texture, no curling, maintains its width without the sucking in of ribbing. Moss stitch is cool! I'm getting better/faster at knitting k1, p1 sequences and will no longer look away from a pattern because it is done in moss (seed) stitch.

And one last observation which is independent of ganseys, knitting is wonderfully soothing when it's cold and yucky outside and you're having a really sucky day. A warm fireplace, a good movie, and a lap dog also help :-)

Reelin' Me in a Gansey

I'm reelin' me in a gansey! "Reeling" you ask? Why yes, because reeling in is what you do to fish after you've hooked them and fish because the guys that did the reeling in the UK were the ones who wore Ganseys. Gansey Sweaters (Jumpers) that is. And I'm getting quite an education participating in Liz Lovick's Gansey Workshop on the EZasPi Forum. The above scan is of my second class project, a pillow comprised of stitch patterns used in Gansey sweaters. I am using the authentic, from the UK, spun from pure new wool, 5ply Frangipani Yarn and 3.25mm needles for my pillow. Here's what I've learned thus far:

1. Black dots on the pattern are the bumps on the right/front/public side of the knitting. The bumps are made using purl stitches--but only if you are knitting on the front side. You have to make a knit stitch on the back side to get the bumps to show up in the right place on the right side. Got it? Oh, and you have to be adept at reading from right-to-left and from left-to-right because a pillow is knit flat and you don't want your bumps to end up on the wrong half/side of the pillow. Now I'm sure you've got it!

2. Frangipani yarn is spun differently from most yarns used over here "across the pond". One is "woolen" and the other "worsted" spun. Don't ask me which. It's very tight and *very* twisty. Like tatting cotton tight and twisty. So you have to pull out long lengths of yarn from the ball in order to give the fiber space to twist up on itself and then chill out again before you wrap it around your needles and knit those little bumps. In tatting when the thread is too twisty you just drop your shuttle and let it untwist itself by spinning around in the air. Trying to do this with knitting is not so easy. Hanging on to yarn up near the ball while letting a metal needle with a point and some fabric hanging from it spin in front of you is, well, potentially dangerous. At least when it's going on midnight and I'm in bed with the dog it's dangerous. I decided to leave this untwisting technique to my tatting. You just gotta learn to love the twist in the yarn and somehow, once it's knitted up, everything looks just fine.

3. Stitch markers are your friend. I generally avoid stitch markers as they are more of an annoyance than a help in my lace knitting. In Gansey knitting they are your friend. They help you keep the different stitch patterns in their proper place. And sometimes, in the plain sections, they allow you to just knit across to the next marker without counting like a crazy woman. This is a good thing. That is unless you think you're in a plain section when you really aren't. For that problem see #1 about the bumps.

4. If you are a blue blood with sensitive fingers, do not use Frangipani yarn. It is rough and scratchy. Not icky scratchy. Just scratchy in a rustic kind of way. But then it doesn't take much for this I-don't-have-a-clue-about-fleece-and-spinning-and-wool-except-that-
I-can-go-to-my-LYS-and-buy-something-all-ready-to-knit city slicker girl. While I am hopeful that a shampoo and conditioning treatment will help soften things a bit, I know this is not a fiber I want next to my skin no matter how cold it is outside. I will not knit a sweater from Frangipani. Oh, and a good hand lotion treatment before knitting sessions is helpful :-)

5. Do not decide to cast-on and start knitting a pillow at 11:00PM. You will grab the right yarn, the right needles, cast-on the right number of stitches, and start knitting the wrong pillow pattern. I really intended to knit the one with the anchors on it. You see I'm doing this doctoral dissertation on HOPE and the anchor is one of the symbols linked to HOPE and so I thought it would be timely to knit the pillow with the hearts (love or charity) and the anchors (HOPE) as a part of my adventure in learning. What I learned is to go to bed and turn off the lights and cast-on the next day when I'm awake and lucid.

6. It's a good thing I purchased 2 balls of Frangipani from Pat at the Yarn Barn so I have enough yarn to knit both pillows. Oh, and I also learned that the "Sea Spray" is a perfect shade of aqua blue and the "Crushed Raspberry" is a little dark for my taste. I'm glad I chose to buys 2 balls instead of 1 cone. Hmmm, maybe I should have tried the Herring Girls Pink. Next pillow, next one.

Getting an Education

So classes are officially underway for the spring semester on Rocky Top and what am I doing? I'm getting an education, not in nursing, but in the fishing communities of Victorian England and Ganseys, the sweaters knitted and worn by those who live by and made their living from the sea. Fascinating! I got into this through my camaraderie with the knitty folks at EZasPi where Liz Lovick is leading an online workshop on Gansey Knitting. So instead of going to the University Bookstore and buying textbooks (Thank God I'm past that point) I went to the used bookstore to snoop through the knitting and craft books. And guess what? I hit the jackpot! I found the top 2 out-of-print (OOP) books Liz recommended for reading about Gansey Knitting. The 1st is Michael Pearson's Traditional Knitting: Aran, Fair Isle, and Fisher Ganseys (c 1984) and the other is The Complete Book of Traditional Guernsey and Jersey Knitting by Rae Compton (c 1985). And in keeping with my lace addiction I also came across a multi-technique lace book called The Gentle Arts which includes both knitting and tatting patterns among its many offerings. It's a good thing I don't need any more yarn for awhile since I just splurged on all these books. While the prices were more than reasonable they still add up and my trade-ins only defrayed a part of the outlay. The sacrifices one has to make for education!