… “I was too far out all my life And not waving but drowning.” Stevie Smith, Not Waving But Drowning So, what is “swaving”? In the words of the oft-quoted passage from William Howitt’s ‘The Rural Life of England’ (1838): “…As soon as it becomes dark, and the usual business of the day is over, […]
Category: ganseys
22nd Dec. 1801 Tuesday 22nd Still Thaw. I washed my head. Wm [William] & I went to Rydale for letters, the road was covered with dirty snow, rough & rather slippery… As we came up the White Moss we met an old man, who I saw was a beggar by his two bags hanging over […]
“Guernsey…. A thick, knitted, closely-fitting vest or shirt, usually made of blue wool, worn by seamen. 1851.” The Shorter Oxford Dictionary Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in traditional knitting. Ganseys or guernseys are being knitted, worn and enjoyed, by a whole new generation. Ganseys are jumpers knitted from 5 ply, unoiled, worsted-spun […]
“Mary Murray, an Irishwoman, aged 30, was indicted for stealing a woollen frock, and other articles, as books, shoes, a comb, and various small groceries, the property of Jeremiah Long, mariner. Jeremiah Long deposes that he lodges at Mr. Metcher’s, in Westgate-street; on Saturday night the 26th of June he locked up his room and […]
Have had a knitting filled week or two; from documenting the 1846 Dales glove up in Grasmere, to figuring out how to knit an 1860’s child’s stripey sock, to putting the finishing touches to our inland waterways ganseys and Yorkshire Dales knitting projects for the book. I’m even dreaming in knitting at the moment. That’s […]
My first ever piece of traditional knitting wasn’t a gansey. It was ‘Miss Flora Campbell’s cardigan’, a 1930 Fair Isle cardigan, the pattern worked out in the classic (soon to be re-published!) ‘Traditional Knitting’, by Michael Pearson. Pearson’s book came out in 1984, and I must have clocked it within weeks of it landing in […]
Here’s Lewis Harding’s 1870 (ish) image of two little Polperro girls, Mary Jane Langmaid and Elizabeth Joliff, knitting. This is the iconic photo for people interested in the history of traditional knitting. A couple of people used it in their presentations at Ganseyfest, and folk wondered if the photo was staged. One or two even […]
I’ll be presenting a talk at Ganseyfest, the International Gansey Seminar, in Inverness, on Saturday. Details here. Better still, am hoping to learn from other people’s talks and workshops, and see some interesting Scottish ganseys “in the flesh” (wool?) Will be talking about the Yorkshire inland ganseys but also how to use basic genealogical techniques, […]
One woman didn’t stand for the chauvinistic Anonymous’s poem, and gave him a reply with both barrels blazing. Interesting to note, she was not even a knitter, herself. I hope she took up the needles afterwards. I had a quick look on the 1851 Census for a Katharine/Catherine or Kitty West. No real likely candidates […]
It looks like I’ve been neglecting the knitters for the genealogists here, so I wanted to post today just for the patient knitsters. Here are the famous Hawes knitters from ‘The Costume of Yorkshire Illustrated By A Series of Forty Engravings Being Fac-Similies of Original Drawings’ By George Walker, 1814. I do so love a […]
PENELOPE HEMINGWAY 