I still need to tuck in the ends and block it, but I am excited that it's done and want to write about it now instead of later. I know I've written about it before and thus this might be repetitive, but too bad! It's my blog and I'll bore if I want to.
This started with me being intrigued by the Appledore Gansey in Rae Compton's Complete Book of Traditional Guernsey and Jersey Knitting. I liked the plainness of the gansey, livened by a bit of decoration on the shoulder straps.
The traditional Appledore gansey is a plain gansey with all the trimmings -- a side seam in purl, underarm gussets, one-piece knitting of a drop-shoulder design with the sleeves picked up and knit down after the shoulders were joined, and shoulder straps. I'm not 100% sure what the traditional range of patterns for the shoulder straps would encompass. Betty Martin (often rig and furrow strips then betty martin strips, alternating) and seed stitch are what I see in modern patterns and most old photos. A lot of old photos are fairly indistinct so aren't too discernable in the books and websites I have available to me, so I don't really know what other shoulder strap patterns were used by the Appledore knitters.
There's also a photo on page 2 of Beth Brown-Reisel's Knitting Ganseys that shows a plain gansey with only rig-and-furrow on the shoulder straps. The photo is from the Sutcliffe Studio, and I have no idea if those ganseys were a specialty of anywhere in particular. Google searching for the photos has not yet led me to any more info, alas, though I suppose I could email BB-R and ask her.
I wanted to use stash yarn for my version, and in particular, handspun. This meant that I needed to reconfigure the pattern for my new gauge. Also, my handspun is not uber-smooth like traditional gansey yarn, so knit-purl patterns aren't necessary going to show to good advantage, especially with the not-so-fine gauge.
So, it's gansey-ish rather than a classic gansey made with the traditional fine machine-spun yarn. And it's Appledore-ish since the shoulder strap pattern is rig-and-furrow rather than a documented knit/purl design like betty martin or seed stitch.
For those who care, Rig and Furrow is a name for stockinette and reverse stockinette stripes. Purl-knit-knit-purl for a 4-row pattern repeat, though one can adapt for all kinds of variations. Seed Stitch is alternating knit-purl on one row with purl-knit on the next. Betty Martin is 2 rows of k2p2 followed by 2 rows of stockinette, with the k2p2 blocks usually but not always aligning with each other.
My first attempt was several years ago. I got to the point where back and front would split and decided I didn't like it. I had put in a reverse-stockinette horizontal ridge just about the ribbing and decided it looked really stupid. Plus the yarn was pink and, well, it was a bit TOO pink for my current tastes. So I took it apart and returned the yarn to my stash.
My second attempt was sometime in 2025. I tried a different batch of handspun. After a few inches, I decided it wasn't quite right and unraveled that, too.
My third attempt began last September, with a batch of dark forest green handspun that was roughly Aran weight. I don't have a great photo of the yarn, alas, or I'd inflict it on y'all. Maybe later.
A family member wandered by during my planning and swatching and expressed interest in receiving a handknit sweater, so I declared them the Intended Recipient and took their measurements.
Rae Compton and Beth Brown-Reisel and Gladys Thompson (Guernsey and Jersey Patterns) all have extended discussions on gansey construction and patterning. BB-R also has percentage charts for adapting the gansey idea to one's own gauge and measurements. Elizabeth Zimmermann's percentage system and the templates with percentages in Priscilla Gibson-Roberts' Knitting in the Old Way also helped me figure things out.
There are some great online resources, too. I don't remember all of them, but I'll call out Gansey Nation (http://www.ganseys.com/) and the info and links from the Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon (https://barnstaplemuseum.org.uk/ourstories/dressed-for-chill-the-appledore-gansey/) and also photos and write-ups of Josephine Sim's pattern from the booklet by John Whitlock and her, even though I don't own it (yet), Prangs, Tacks and Frocks, which can be found scattered throughout the internet. Places like Propagansey and other specialty websites, various other museum sites, and the Ravelry gansey forum (Guernseys, Ganseys, Knit-Frocks - Fishermans' Sweaters) were also helpful and inspiring.
Armed with schematics, percentages, and technique tips, and a probably-lying gauge swatch, I cast on. Then measured my real gauge, unraveled, re-calculated the numbers, and cast on again.
It went well. Knit knit knit. Then I had to make some decisions and put the knitting down. It sat for several months. Well, who needs a warm sweater when it's summer?
A few weeks ago, we got our first taste of autumn. I was inspired to pick up the knitting again. My subconscious had made all the decisions I had dithered about earlier. And I knit knit knit until it was done. YAY!!!!!
It fits the intended recipient.
It's a little big in the upper arm area. It might be better for someone with burlier shoulders. But also, when I came back to it this month, I ended up making the above-underarm area a bit deeper than I had initially planned. I had started the underarm gussets a bit early so the sweater was a bit too short for the intended recipient's preferences, and thus I added more above the underarms to get to the total desired length. I didn't feel like ripping it all the way back to the start of the gussets.
But other than that, I'm very pleased with it.
The neck opening before the final ribbing was also kind of enormous, since I added more length to the upper body after I'd started the front neck shaping. But amazingly and wonderfully, the ribbing took care of that. I reduced a lot of stitches after picking up for the collar/edge and it didn't pucker or gap or anything, yay.
Dunno if I could have or should have done something similar for the upper sleeves. I'll consider that for next time, though.
Something interesting I noticed: Usually, there's a small gap between the body and sleeves when everything is joined up or picked up and knit down or whatever. I use the yarn tails to close up holes. With the underarm gussets, there was no gap at all, no loose spots or holes or anything.
I used almost exactly 900 yards and still have 350-ish yards of the yarn left. That'll return to my stash for some future project.
Hmm, what sweater do I want to make next? And who shall it be for?
For ganseys, I like the very common seeds-and-bars design, so that's a possibility. But maybe I'll do something with cables. Or an Elizabeth Zimmermann design. Or something else entirely, of course. I haven't done a Lopi sweater in a while, for example, and someone is willing to buy the yarn if they get the sweater.
I'm close to done with my traveling shawl project, too. Soon I'll have to come up with a new travel project.
Other than that, I'm doing charity hats and will probably knit some house socks for a friend. I need to go through my stash to see what I have that would be suitable for thick-and-quick socks. The friend wants the socks to felt a bit with wear, so that will also be taken into consideration.
I should do some spinning. And do a write-up on another of my rescued spinning wheels.
The friend who took some of my handspun to try weaving with has made a truly amazing and gorgeous wrap. That too will be in a future post.
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