Victory!

It sounds wonderful! Congratulations on completing the task, and thankyou for such an informative review.

Makes me wish I had someone out here to teach me how to use the tools you mentioned.

I have been thinking about writing a book, but now I think a DVD would be better. Do you think you could learn from a DVD or do you think you need a teacher right there in the room?

How about interactive video over the internet?

Aaron,

I would be happy with a video!

Dennis

Either would be great. I have taught myself many skills from books, but I still learn best by watching.

Any chance of a picture of the "great gansey"? I would love to see it.

VP

I'd like a video or DVD or book, ideally a DVD with book. Once you have the product *sigh*, you could begin teaching your technique. Maybe even at Stitches?

=Tamar

My knitting always gets dirty in the makiing, even the smallest item. Do't worry about it :-)

I thought that the fisherment knitted them!

You must remember that they didn't need to spin and knit all the time, how many ganseys and shawls did they ned after all? Fashion was unimportant, utility was.

Nor were they distracted by what most people are today. Seeing to provision of food and other basic family requirements was all important, not entertainment. It's amazing what you can do when you don't use the pc :-)

Mary

In the islands the men did the knitting.

Seamen and fishermen did knit, but the bulk of gansey knitting was done ashore by wives, daughters, and professional knitters. After 1600, many merchant seamen, whalers, and navy seamen wore machine knit woolens. Fishermen sailing from North American ports such as New Bedford, Glouchester, and Monteray wore machine knit woolens. However, hand knit ganseys with "fancy stitches" were much warmer. If you want your husband and sons to live through the tempest, you make sure that they have the warmest possible ganseys. British wives did.

snip

Fishermen wore their ganseys every day, and even the best gansey would wear out in a year of constant use. The ganseys had to be in good condition to prevent the fisherman from perishing of the cold. Thus, fishermen needed a new gansey every year. A woman might be knitting ganseys for her husband, and for any of her sons that were old enough to fish, but not yet engaged to be married. A girl might knit ganseys for her brothers, uncles, father, or her fiancée.

Making a lot of unwarranted assumptions I would estimate many women in Old World fishing communities knit 40 ganseys between the time that they started knitting at age 12 and age 42. That would be in addition to untold numbers of socks, kids clothes, and whatever else they knit. It is also clear that some nimble fingered young women went "pro" and knit 20 or more ganseys per year.

Lace could also be sold, and was an important source of hard currency for many fishing communities. (Which is not to say that the knitters were not being terribly exploited.) If you are selling lace, then you need to know what the current fashion among the rich is.

If you do not have heat, you knit in bed. And, if you do not have electric light, you learn to knit in the dark. Think about the implications of losing a thin sharp DPN in a shared bed with no light until dawn. It would teach excellence in needle control. : )

Aaron

I have a lovely account by a diplomat's wife of being taught gansey knitting on one of the Channel Islands, in the days just before WWII by the last old woman on the island who knew the traditional gansey pattern for that area. The old women did not want the pattern to die with her. No island native was interested in learning, so the old woman taught the pattern to a stranger. This story documents a tradition of island fisherman's wives knitting ganseys for their fishermen.

However, during the Napoleonic wars, both the French and English Navys' were buying ganseys knit on the Channel Islands from Yorkshire wool, machine spun on the new "Spinning Jenny." This provides ample documentation of hand knitting as a profession on the islands. Look at the old Admiralty Records, and the conclusion is -- men were THE knitters. Who did Patons ship yarn to? Men! Men delivered the finished ganseys to the Admiralty. Men signed for payment by the Admiralty. Many academic historians would take that chain of evidence as -- proof positive that women did not knit! I take it to be evidence that the women stuck to their knitting and child care, while the men were looking for an excuse to get out of the house and pass by the pub.

Knitting by women was taken for granted and not recorded. Women were not a party to the commercial transactions which form so much of our historical record. And, so many historians have been men. Men, that did not look beyond the recorded documents to the social reality of the period of study. They would go to their office in the university, and they might not even know what is going on in their own home during the day. Moreover, many of the British historians were "upper class" with no knowledge of how fishermen actually lived. Thereby, women's contributions to the industry have been neglected.

Perhaps a better statement would be, "Islanders knit."

Aaron

Where did you find it? And, more important, did she write down the pattern? Or was it lost with her?

=Tamar

I have seen very old pictures of men knitting.

I wear a mock-turtleneck under my gansey, but my sweater isn't nearly as bulletproof as yours is ;D Add my temperature control issues (cursed thyroid!) and I need something around my neck if the temp is much below 70, especially if there's a breeze.

I will say that on a point-for-point comparison my gansey is warmer than my Aran. The gansey is knitted more tightly than the Aran, but I expected the Aran to be warmer because the yarn is semi-woolen and much fatter, plus all those cables ought to be good for something...

But it isn't the case - on cold windy days I reach for the gansey, on warmer or less windy days the Aran is my sweater of choice.

Quite apart from your admitted assumptions this is all very interesting. I assume you have authoritative sources - would you share them?

Mary

Ophelia , you are right there are many pictures of MEN knitting , women were far too busy with kids , sewing , washing cooking taking care etc,,,, men had TIME to knit ,,, mirjam

Mary thank you !!! for explaining to the other writer , that assumptions are very neat , but they should be authenticated... All books i read siad the the sailors and fishermen who spent long time on boats used their off duty time to knit ,, since their wives at home USED all their times for the according to the other writer to the unimportant things in life ,,, child care , house cleaning etc,,,

When was the last time you had no heat, knitted in bed without light ,, Did you ever iron with a coal iron cooked food and heated clothes to be washed on a small petrolium oven ,,, while the open door covered with Juta lets in all the cold winds and rain ,,, mirjam

I laughed at the idea of them going to the pub! In the islands there were no pubs.. Only ceilidhs in each others cottages.

Note that some of the Arans in Gladys Thompson were knit at 7+ spi from yarns that were heavier than gansey weight.

The fancy stitch work provided ventilation between the sweater and the rain gear. This removed body moisture that condensed on the inside of the rain gear. Not so much a problem in TX compared to the Finnish Sea. This was a sophisticated clothing system.

Please see *Cod* by mark kurlansk. They did not knit on the fishing boats. Visit the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic. The women knit while the men were at sea.

See the section on contract knitting in Mary Wright. Everyone knit.

Aaron