CREDIT: All photos (except the blurry one) taken by Nate Hunt. Last weekend saw the now annual event, Propagansey. Gansey collector and expert Deb Gillanders fills the old St Stephen’s church in Robin Hood’s Bay with ganseys for a weekend, in September. Some are from her collection and many are loaned by local people. One […]
Category: Knitting
Now look what I’ve gone and done…. http://www.family-tree.co.uk/ In this month’s ‘Family Tree’ magazine (October issue), an article about tracing your knitting ancestors. If you have any ancestry in a fishing port, or along the rivers and canals and inland waterways of the UK… this may be for you! I took a stroll (metaphorically) through […]
Few scholars, costume historians or keen students of knitting history seriously believe for a minute that English ganseys (or any knitted jumpers for seamen) existed a long way prior to the back end of the 18thC. But the myth does get promulgated, occasionally on places like ‘Ravelry’, and neophytes may get taken in. And I like to think of myself as a kind of iconoclast…
So many new spinners are only used to spinning bought commercial dyed tops, that they feel daunted when the time comes to actually become a ‘real’ spinner, and take it from raw fibre to finished product. This is the basic guide to wool-sorting I wish I’d had in 1983!
Wondering about the discussion elsewhere re. fancy sheaths, I had a quick trawl of the 19thC Newspapers archive from the British Library. And I found this, for Darlington (Teeside, bit further North of Yorkshire) about an agricultural show and its prize categories, several times in the 1870s: Middleton-in-Teesdale Floral, Horticultural, and Industrial Society held its […]
Filey, yesterday. This time we parked up at the country reserve and walked down, which meant crossing the Ravine on the lovely Church Bridge. Nice because this brings you in to the town via the old fishermen’s cottages: From there, it’s a short walk to the Museum. Passing this: I did spare a thought for […]
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Wensleydale and Malhamdale
The Adderback glove pattern is now out! Yarn Forward 26: Also an article on the history of Yorkshire Dales knitting. ‘Yarn Forward’ have done us proud with the lovely layout and choice of images to go with the article. After the article was written and the pattern finished, the magazine wanted more pictures so we […]
The myths around traditional knitting are worth exploring. One new one seems to be the idea that Tudor, even medieval, sailors or fishermen wore a forerunner of the gansey. I’m going to explode a few myths in a forthcoming book, so should keep my powder dry – but here’s a few thoughts and woolgatherings that […]
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Adderbacks
Here follows a chart in PDF form with the alphabet for the ‘Adderback’ gloves which you can see back in one of the January posts.. 7 row alphabet caps chart Here’s some fun I’ve been having with a lightning pattern (right hand side) from a pair of gloves in the Dales Countryside Museum, in Hawes. […]
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Yorkshire Dales Gloves
Based on some of the gloves in the Dales Countryside Museum, at Hawes. They are knit in Wensleydale Longwool Sheepshop’s DK – any two colours with strong contrast would do the trick. Will upload the pattern and charts here after it’s published. Gansey research is coming on well – lots of museums and archives now […]
PENELOPE HEMINGWAY 