Well, as Sam Gamgee says at the end of the Lord of the Rings, I’m back (though in my case I return from my first week at the National Archives in Edinburgh, not from watching a bunch of elves, a wizard and a hobbit depart from the Grey Havens; otherwise the similarity is very close).
If you look at this week’s photos you will no doubt be wondering why I bothered, since I’ve only managed half an inch in the 10 days or so since my last blog. But in my defence, though it may only be half an inch, it’s an important one. Let me explain.
First of all, I’ve reached the dividing point between front and back. So the gussets are half-done, and will be placed on holding yarn until I’m ready to pick them up again when I start the sleeves. I’ve made these gussets slightly longer than in previous ganseys, so they span 25 stitches across at the widest point, not my usual 21-23 stitches. 23-25 seems to have been the traditional width; I always start off with the intention of making them slightly longer but end up leaving it too late! (The reason the gussets aren’t on holders yet is simply because the yarn I use for the purpose is in an unopened box in Edinburgh, along with the rest of my life.)
Secondly, I’ve decided to stick to my original intention of completing the gansey in this pattern, and not chickening out and switching pattern just because this pattern isn’t working out the way I’d hoped. I finally managed to take a picture that shows the effect I’ve been describing in this blog over the last few weeks, but which previous photos haven’t picked up. (Forgive the slightly blurry monochrome quality, but it was taken with the camera in my iPhone.) This was taken with the knitting on my lap and a lamp shining over my shoulder, giving the effect of uplighting. Now, I know it doesn’t exactly replicate Henry Freeman’s gansey the way I’d hoped, but it’s not half bad; and if the finished, blocked gansey looks anything like that I’ll be content, or as content as one can be in this fallen world.
I’ll say more about life in Edinburgh in the next blog, which I’ll post after Easter Monday before I go back. Sigh. If only modern airlines gave their customers the sort of consideration that Gandalf, Galadriel and co. received on their final voyage! (Or, worse, what if it was the other way round? “This is a boarding announcement for passengers to the Undying Lands. Wizards and elves who’ve purchased speedy boarding, or elderly hobbits in need of special attention, please board at departure gate 7. All other passengers in boarding group A, including any ring-bearers suffering from depression, remain seated until called for…”)
Happy Easter!
I can just see the puzzled look on Gandalf’s face if confronted with such a situation! Then there is the fact that the rest of the troupe is hung up at security for refusing to remove their cloaks or relinquish their waybread to the scanner.
What we all really need is a set of transport rings.
The gansey is coming along nicely. You did well to stick to your pattern choice in a time of upheaval. A person needs at least one constant amid the chaos!
Whew, thanks for posting. I was getting worried. Never mind the waybread and cloaks, what about the swords? Let alone the armor.
Hi Suzanne and Tamar,
Ha! Yes, I hadn’t thought about airport security, or Aragorn’s reaction to the question “Any sharp objects?”! And then Frodo has to put the phial of Galadriel in a little plastic bag or they’ll confiscate it… It’s a bit like the end of Monty Python and the Holy Grail where the police swoop and arrest all the knights and shove them in police wagons, just before the sudden end as it all blacks out. (And, by the way, has there ever been a more rubbish end to a great movie than that? Even Eric Idle has admitted they only did it because they ran out of time and money and couldn’t think of a way to end it properly.)
Meanwhile I’m enjoying putting my feet up over Easter and bonding again with my hifi, and getting quite a lot of knitting done into the bargain.