A warm welcome to Ganseys.com, a blog celebrating the traditional hand-knitted pullovers worn by the fishermen of the British Isles.
Ganseys, or Guernseys (the two terms are interchangeable) are remarkable garments. They feel heavy when you pick them up but sit easily on the shoulders and are surprisingly comfortable to wear; knit very fine in a tough, fine wool they resemble a kind of satiny chainmail, tight enough to keep the wind out while the distinctive underarm gussets offer considerable freedom of movement. Each gansey is only ever knit in one colour, traditionally navy blue or cream, but nowadays in just about any colour imaginable.
But the real attraction – the reason I have never graduated from ganseys to another style of knitting (Fair Isle, or Arran, for example, or anything other than pullovers, come to that!) – is the inexhaustible range of intricate patterns recorded from around the British Isles. The fine stitch gauge makes some truly stunning patterns possible, like a kind of monochrome Persian carpet.
Quite simply, they are beautiful garments, and a lifetime is not enough to fully explore all the diversity of the collected patterns that exist from Cornwall, East Anglia, Yorkshire, Northumberland, round the north and east coasts of Scotland and the Islands – at least my lifetime isn’t going to be long enough!
I’ve been knitting ganseys for over 25 years now – ever since Margaret my wife taught me to knit while I was “summering” on Cape Cod shortly after our wedding and I picked a gansey-style kit from the rack to start with, because I “liked the look of it”. I still do.
Margaret and I live in Edinburgh. Until fairly recently, I had limited time for knitting as I was working full time (I’m a qualified archivist and records manager). However, a few months ago I decided to take a career break, see if I could perfect my artisan baking skills and make a successful sourdough loaf, and then go into business for myself as a heritage and information management consultant.
I created this blog to share my enthusiasm for gansey knitting, to offer a forum for discussion, and hopefully to encourage others to give ganseys a go – after all, if I can do it, anyone can!
Gordon Reid
Hi! I just stumbled upon this site as I am thinking of knitting my mum a guernsey for her next birthday. I’m about the opposite of you, I have knitted just about everything you can think of (right down to underwear) but never a guernsey. I want to gather as much information as I can so I can design my own but in a traditional design. So thank you for putting this together!
Hi Sarah,
How nice to hear from you! Though the thought of knitted underwear is going to give me some sleepless nights… There is obviously a huge amount of flexibility in gansey designs – whether you choose to use traditional designs in new and original combinations, or create your own – after all, someone must have come up with the designs in the first place!
I’d be interested to see what you decide to go with in the end – please keep in touch, and with all good wishes for 2012,
Gordon
Hello Gordon,
I too just stumbled upon your website. Wonderful!
I’m knitting an afghan for a very sick friend. Time is of the essence, so rather than heading down the laborious, (critical old aunties surveying all) Irish, route, I thought I’d try squares of Scottish fleet patterns. I launched into an approximation with some faux “fisherman” (from the states) wool. About 19 squares later, I figured I better check with the pros, and found you.
Great website. You are extremely good. Your wife rocks. Does she feel over-shadowed now? Also, how’s the bread coming along? Almost nothing is better than real bread… with high-fat Irish butter of course.
I’ve known only Irish knitting since childhood. In the old days, they used small needles and smelly, earthy, oiled, hearty, fresh sheep’s wool. Now, it’s so commercial that larger needles and fast yarn are the norm. Not the same. Thus, I was delighted to see you working in the round with small needles and good, oily yarn. Nice work. Extremely good!
I also like the design of your website and the page header photos you share – and your stories.
I’ll follow your posts.
Gracie
Hi Gracie,
And thank you for the kind words. (I like to think of myself not so much as a pro, more of a con!). I’m struggling with the oven in our new house – can’t seem to get it hot enough. I may have to think about building a bread oven out the back…
Alas, modern gansey yarn isn’t really oily any more – it tends to be more like just very thin regular yarn. (Aaron’s Fisherman Knits blog has lots to say on that subject – me, I just knit.) Anyway, hope you continue to enjoy the blog, and feel free to drop in with any observations you may have anytime!
Best wishes and thanks again,
Gordon
Hello Gordon,
My interest in ganseys as rekindled after a weekend reading a novel about someone researching ‘ganseys’ that was so fraught with inaccuracy I had to run to my bookshelf. The cover showing a small white top-down sweater should have tipped me off, but I slogged through the thing, periwinkle skies, lavender mists, perilous rescues, precocious children, Finding True Love, et al. Never again. At any rate, this grim experience sent me your way in my Search for the Truth.I knitted a gansey over 20 years ago, so dug it out, along with a half done one for my husband, and the charts I drew for it in the early ’90′s. I am going to finish it, which says a lot for my husband’s ability to still be the same size at 60 as he was at 40. Your site is an inspiration, and I look forward to becoming a gansey knitter again.
Please excuse my typos. I am typing in a teeny box on an ipad where it’s kind of tough to edit.
Hi Linda,
Go on – name and shame the book!
Great to hear from you, and thanks for the kind words. Best of luck with your “gansey revisited” – some of us can only dream of being the same size at 9pm as we were 7am, so 20 years is pretty good going!
Cheers,
Gordon
The title is Casting Off, and it seems to have won some sort of new fiction award. It is set in what is obviously the Aran Islands, and the protag is an archaeologist (!!!!) doing research on ganseys which sure seem to be arans to me. I have some knowledge of these things, having traveled, knit and collected books over the years, though I am certainly not an expert. What do you think? Is it a white top down gansey I am picking on just because I am getting crabby in my old age, or what? I own Thompson, Pearson, Compton and some others.
Hi Linda,
I’m no expert, but no, I haven’t come across traditional ganseys knit top down. I had a look at the book and the reviews on Amazon, and I don’t think I’ll be ordering it for Christmas! Sounds like your reaction was entirely justified to me.
(Mind you, i also have a deep aversion to the sentimental, romantic, dewey-eyed portrayal of Irish people in so much fiction these days; if only James Joyce had written about pullovers…)
Gordon
I am so pleased to find a fellow gansey fan! I am looking forward to slowly reading through all your information. I have been searching in vain for someone after Gladys Thompson to read.
Hello there!
Nice to hear from you. I hope you find the site of interest, and keep in touch.
Looking back, this blog is turning into a sort of time-lapse of my life—very scary thought!
All the best,
Gordon
What a great site! Thank you! I stumbled upon it whilst looking for instructions for making gussets. I could see the advantage to having them, but for some reason, making them was an elusive mystery. No longer. I will bravely make my first attempt after a few more (boring) inches of stockinette. This is only my second gansey “by the numbers”, so you can be sure I’ll be bookmarkin this site for future visits!
Hi Natalie,
Glad we could be of help! And glad you like the site. Best of luck with your project, and remember, if you’ve got any questions along the way we—or our more knowledgeable commentators—will always be happy to try to help.
With all good wishes
Gordon
Hi Gordon
I have just set up a small knitting group in Port Seton where we are knitting the Gansey for this area. Some are knitting the different patterns and some the gansey. We are lucky to have a local woman who remembers the Port Seton & Cockenzie pattern as passed down by her mother so she is keeping us all right. We hope to have a little exhibition of what we have achieved in the summer so will keep you posted. Love your web site.
Good evening, Fiona,
How splendid to hear from you. What are the main pattern types for the area? What a shame I don’t live in edinburgh any more or I’d pay you a visit!
Best of luck with the project and I’d love to hear how you get on.
Best wishes, and thanks for getting in touch,
Gordon
Dear Gordon
I have just found your informative website – was actually trying to find some 5 ply wool to make a cardigan having knitted one Gansey sweater and in the middle of another ( both patterns from “Traditional Knitting from the Scottish and Irish Isles” by Debbie Bliss).Both garments were started about 10 years ago ( rescued from the loft!) and the 5 ply wool used for them was from John Lewis who unfortunatley no longer stock 5 ply.My next project is a cardigan but I am trying to find a purple,heather colour for it.WIll try the stockists you list-can only find limited colours in the London wool shops unless you know of a London shop that does stock lots of colours?
Thanks and regards
Nicola
Eeek – Nicola, I’m so sorry to have not responded to your post before. Usually I get a notification when a comment is made so I know to reply, but something seems to have gone wrong with the system this time.
It’s probably way too late for you, but no, I don’t know any stockists in London who stock a range of colours—even online, most are the usual handful (navy, cream, red, green, black). Frangipani definitely seems to have the widest range and the most fun colours, including a nice heathery purple if memory serves, so I’d seriously consider them if you haven’t already.
You’ve probably knit half a dozen cardigans by now, but on the offchance you haven’t (and aren’t mortally offended): how’s it going?
Best wishes,
Gordon
You must have a favorite yarn, right? Supply is meager in the states. Thank you for sharing your skills and knowledge. I am slowly going through your blog. Primo
Hi Mark,
Thanks for the kind words!
I did have a favourite yarn that Margaret brought back from the States a decade or so back, it was gansey 5-ply but knitted up nice and soft (some yarns can knit up a bit hard—they didn’t call gansey wool “fishermen’s iron” for nothing—the only wearable garment that you can scour pots with) but when I looked for it again it had been discontinued. Very annoying!
I don’t have a favourite from the existing yarns—Frangipani has the widest range and I use it a lot, but it is a bit finer than some of the others and knits up tight. Wendy’s is nice and soft in the ball but isn’t so finely spun and the threads can fray if you have to unpick any stitches. I’m looking forward to trying some of the others, such as the Island at the Edge yarns, next up.
Cheers,
Gordon
Hello Gordon,
Not quite sure how I found this site, but it is a treasure! Wonderful references, books, and great work. I have been knitting for some years now and have recently been enamored with all things Starmore! So of course that led me to Fair Isle, guernsey’s and Arans, I guess it was a matter of time til I found your great site! Will be checking back often, so much to read through and learn from. Big Thanx!!
Hi Christopher,
Good to hear from you! And thank you for the positive feedback—much appreciated.
You can’t go wrong with Alice Starmore, I think, she has some really great designs. Also check out Liz Lovick, who’s now selling her patterns through Frangipani gansey yarn’s website, and has a very fine website herself. Also, have you checked out Ravelry’s gansey group? The great and the good of the gansey world circle there like lions round a water hole, and if you ever want knowledgable informed comment, that’s the place to find it!
With all good wishes, and thanks for getting in touch,
Gordon