“C’mon, Pete, it’s time to get up!”
“Don’t wanna. Let me sleep . . . zzzzz.”
“They’re waiting for you, Pete!”
“Don’t care. It’s cold out there.”
poke poke poke
“All right, all right, I’ll get up. mumble mumble . . . Crikey, it’s bright out here! Where’s my breakfast?”
This scene, oft repeated, could easily apply to any teenager throughout the land on a Saturday morning. But this time, it’s that poor groundhog, Punxsatawney Phil, and all his fellow weather-casters – Ms G in Massachusetts, Stonewall Jackson, Essex Ed and Otis the hedgehog in New Jersey, Malverne Mell and Great Neck Greta in Long Island, Staten Island Chuck in Staten Island Zoo, French Creek Freddie in West Virginia, and many others – who have been disturbed from their winter’s sleep to predict the coming of spring.
St Fergus’ through the hawthorn
The tradition originates in German-speaking areas of Europe, where Candlemas – the Christian feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple – was marked with a ceremony similar to Groundhog Day called Dachstag. The luckless predictor in this case was a badger, or Dachs. German settlers in the US, particularly the Pennsylvania Dutch, continued the tradition, substituting groundhogs for badgers.
Alas, these rodents are not particularly reliable. Punxsatawney Phil’s success rate is 39%, and only 30% over the past ten years, according to NOAA. Perhaps a young person would be more accurate. Potomac Phil, in Washington DC, changes it up a bit. A taxidermic groundhog, he also predicts six more months of political turmoil and gridlock, as well as predicting the coming of spring. The politics in Washington is probably easier to predict than the weather.
Gorse
To roughly coincide with Groundhog Day, I’ve started the next gansey. This one is for one of the museum volunteers, and is in the cheerful hue of Frangipani Crushed Raspberry. It’s a shade of deep pink, and will probably look more red when it’s knit up. The pattern, which will be on the yoke, after 4.5 inches of ribbing and many inches of plain body, will be Donald Thomson of Thurso, from Rae Compton.
How do I know all this? I knew who the next recipient was, and that the colour and size had been worked out, but where was this information?. I looked high and low, under and over, and finally found Gordon’s rough notes for it. Honestly, it was like finding the Holy Grail. The sheet contains everything I need to know to get started – the pattern, the measurements, the length of ribbing, and most importantly, the number of stitches to cast on.
And casting on should be simple, correct? In my case, no. It did not go to plan. I could not believe it when a couple of rows had been completed, only to find that there were 50 – yes 50 – fewer stitches than needed. There had been a twist in the join, too. To rectify the cast on, I unpicked it back to the starting stitches, added the 50 stitches needed, untwisted it, and counted multiple times. The moral is to avoid anything that needs brainpower after 8:00 p.m.
Hawthorn
I’ve learned through lost notes, scraps of paper, backs of cards and the like to keep one project book specifically for ganseys. It’s useful in that I can check if I’ve done one that size before so half the working out is done for me.
Love that colour. I’m doing Navy again, I wish someone would order a coloured one!
There is a project book, but these notes hadn’t been written up into it yet. The project book is already proving useful for sizing etc. though.
Here in eastern Canada, there is agreement between groundhogs Wiarton Willie in Ontario and Schubenacadie Sam in Nova Scotia, that it will be an early spring. They were joined this year by a new guru, Lucy the Lobster, who agreed. .???
My own resident groundhog, who lives under my garage, never even showed his nose. I’m inclined to believe him.
Yes, I’ve found that when projects go south after about 8pm and the count seems off I need to just put them in time out and pick up the nice, boring sock-on-the-needle and come back fresh in the daylight. Alas, it’s taken me years to learn this bit of wisdom after much gnashing of teeth and unladylike language.
Let’s hope this doesn’t signify anything in a groundhog/Swithin/badger at Candlemas sort of way .. 🤔🤞😁
Lovely outdoor photography. Can I please ask what your preferred cast on method is?
Hi Caroline
For my own knitting, it varies – for socks, which I knit toe-up, I’ll use Judy’s Magic Cast-on; for other things, a long-tail cast-on or a knit cast-on. Gordon used a cable cast-on for ganseys, and I’ve done that here as well. It’s flexible and gives the edge a nice finish.
With the continuing wintry weather a haiku by Basho
The first snow falls
the leaf of a daffodil plant
bends a little
はつゆき/すいせこのたの/たわねもまて
Tho’ if the wind continues, it will only serve to blow them into summer.
Looking forward to your further updates and thank you for the photo of the double rainbow,🌈 it is lovely.
Am interested to know what measurements were taken to ensure the correct size. I am knitting a gansey for my son and never manage to feel confident about sizing, despite taking chest, arm length, back length measurements. And adjusting for guage. I think it is something about the dropped shoulder which confuses me. I am using 5ply gansey wool from Caithness yarns and knitting the Dunbeath Gansey. I love the connection between the wool created by the grandson and the pattern worn by the grandfather. I noticed a couple of people wearing them in the picture taken at the celebration of life.
I am a fairly recent convert to reading the blog and look forward to each instalment. Thank you for such lovely thoughts and for the wonderful photos.
Hi Janet
The technique we developed over the years was to get the recipient to measure their favourite sweater, one than fits them well. This way there’s no guesswork on the ease needed.
The Dunbeath gansey – the one that Caithness Yarns uses for display – was being worn in that photo by the woman standing 2nd from the left.
HTH!
I love that raspberry color, Margaret! And thanks for the interesting background on Groundhog’s Day!
Thanks, Beth. It is a lovely colour – but then they all seem to grow on you the more you look at them!
Hi I’m looking for a traditional gansey pattern for the town of Thurso Scotland and came across your website! Do you know where I can find a traditional Thurso gansey pattern? My family is originally from Thurso Scotland and it would be nice to have a gansey in that pattern. Thanks for sharing your knitting journey. Lovely to read!
Hi Vashti
The only fully-written pattern I can find is in either Rae Compton, The Complete Book of Traditional Guernsey and Jersey Knitting, or Rae Compton & Henrietta Munro’s They Lived by the Sea. Both are out of print and second-hand copies are pricey. However, using the charts here: http://www.ganseys.com/gallery/gordons-ganseys/scotland/caithness/thomson-of-thurso/ and here: http://www.ganseys.com/gallery/gordons-ganseys/scotland/caithness/thomson-of-thurso-ii/ and the other information on the site, you should be able to knit your own.
Thank you so much for the references! I’ve been looking for the recommended books but as you noted they are pricey and hard to find in Canada. Thank you for the web links! Very much appreciated!