Knitted Ganseys - A Fisherman's Friend
I’ve always had it on my list of things I’d like to knit; a Gansey (or Guernsey) - a Fishermans sweater knitted in the round, complete with underarm gussets and shoulder straps, with unique motifs and my initials on the side! Many moons ago Paula Chew of West Coast Ganseys came to Northern Yarn and taught a fantastic gansey class, then a new arrival at the shop - Baa Ram Ewe - Skipper 5 ply Guernsey yarn made from 100% British wool and spun in Yorkshire, has been the catalyst to get me started. I have swatched and tried Inverness Diamonds and trees and I think I’m settled on a colour; a traditional dark navy blue. Knitted on 2.75mm needles it’s not a project for the faint hearted or the impatient, I’m thinking this is likely to take me 12 months at least to complete. But that’s a small price to pay for a sweater that’s going to last me a life time; I’m making a weatherproof (not waterproof) garment that will be warm, comfy and will hopefully look as good as new after 10 years of wearing.
Gansey wool is traditionally worsted spun, which is where after scouring (washing) the fibre is combed and the short fibres are brushed out and the long ones aligned so that when spun it creates a strong, dense, flatter yarn. Then 5 plies are spun with a high twist then plied together in the opposite direction, again with a high twist. Beth Brown-Reinsel explains that due to this high twist not only is the yarn extra durable, but also the patterns show up much better because the light bounces off the yarn at more angles (due to the 5 plies) and so all the hard work you put in with the cables and motifs are more visible. Knitting this gansey is going to be more than a new project - it’s an event! (Literally; we are going to hold a Gansey knit-along!)
I had always held on to the myth that the particular designs were linked to specific villages or towns, so that men who died at sea could be reunited with their loved ones if their bodies were to wash ashore. But having done a bit of research this seems unlikely. (Please note that this is just my opinion.) Esther Rutter, author of The Golden Fleece, spoke to Gansey guru Deb Gillanders of Propagansey in Whitby, who visited the graveyard of nearby Old St. Stephen's and found that of the 800 graves of a community shaped by the sea - only 4 bodies had been brought back for burial. In the event of a disaster at sea, I guess it would be highly unusual to recover the bodies and if they did end up on the shores of another town, unlikely that the inhabitants would know the patterns of a particular place and then transporting the dead back for burial would be very expensive, probably unaffordable for seafaring folk living hand to mouth. A photo of five brothers show five different gansey designs that would not have been easily identifiable as a family, never mind a town. I hadn’t really thought about it that way - Deb Gillanders definitely felt that women were not making personalised shrouds for their men folk as they knitted these beautiful but hardy work clothes. It wouldn’t have been an incentive at all! More likely is that patterns were passed down and shared, admired and developed through women enjoying making distinctive designs and as we do now, adding particular motifs that would make that gansey unique to the wearer. Teams of herring ‘quines’ or fisher lassies would follow the boats up and down the east coast from Scotland to the south of England gutting and curing the fish then packing in barrels ready for export - and of course they brought their knitting with them - their ‘whiskers and wires’ (knitting sheath, belt and needles) and would no doubt look for new fancy designs to try out!
It brought to my mind something that happened a few years back. I was walking home from the shop and noticed a beautiful but sodden, woolly mess on top of a public dustbin. As I approached (cautiously!) I started to recognise the intricate stranded colourwork and realised this was a jumper that belonged to a knitter in our group! I lifted it up and woodlice and other fast moving insects scurried away to find new homes. I had always loved this sweater and was excited to have found it for Beccy. It must have been there a few weeks but after a good wash it was as good as new and Beccy was very happy to be reunited with it, and thought it must have fallen off her bike one day! Beccy’s unique knitwear was returned to her as I’d recognised the patterns she had made. Before fisherman would follow the migrating herring down the British coast, and accidents happened closer to home, maybe souls that perished at sea were sometimes reunited with love ones at home via their ganseys. I’m sure it has happened - but after a bit of research (and a lot of help from reading other peoples research!) personally I don’t think this was the reason for creating particular designs.
Beccy wearing her lost and found 'Stranded Sleeves' by Theresa Ehlers
How ganseys came to get their name is also a contentious subject. In Beth’s brilliant book Knitting Ganseys, she suggests that the name wasn’t given because that’s where the style of sweater originated from, but that the name for knitted stockinette fabric had become known as Guernsey or Jersey since Elizabeth I created knitting guilds on the Channel Islands for the production of hosiery. Some believe the name is derived from the Old Norse word for tunic - or the Norwegian ‘genser’ - Garn, yarn - we may never know the exact origins, but I have really enjoyed diving into the many possibilities!
A sampler gansey designed by Beth Brown-Reinsel and knitted up by Ruth Matthews, before embarking on a full sized version.
Other names are knit-frocks, fisher shirts and fisher-ganseys. Often designed to be close fitting, the knits and purls created bumps for air to get trapped in creating more warmth where the sailors needed it - on their chest and over their hearts, keeping their core warm. Sleeves would be short so not to chafe when pulling nets in and the bottom half would often be plain to make repairing easier. Men would have dark colours for work and sometimes cream or lighter colours for Sunday best. Women would knit with whatever they could, not always 5 ply gansey wool and garments have been found with marled yarns too. Deb at Propagansey has a huge collection and attends exhibitions to show these ‘Fisherman’s irons’ each with their own story to tell.
I think I’m ready to start swatching again, I want to knit my own bit of history. I’ve no plans to start a life out at sea, but I’d love to think if I did leave my gansey somewhere around Lancaster, it would find it’s way back to me!
I'll post more details about how to join our knit-along soon!
Kate xxx
I have loved reading about ganseys and there are brilliant resources available - I have been reading:
The Gansey Knitting Source Book by Di Gilpin & Sheila Greenwell
Knitting Ganseys by Beth Brown-Reinsel
The Golden Fleece by Esther Rutter
N.B. Frangipani in Cornwall make excellent gansey wool also, we did stock this but are unable to at the moment. You can buy directly or from other stockists such as Propagansey.