I’m really struggling to find something to write about this week, for, as usual, not much has been happening. Last Monday was a Bank Holiday in Scotland, which left those of us who don’t follow the news scratching our heads as to why the shops were shut. The holiday was to celebrate Scotland’s win in their first match in the World Cup. They haven’t competed in the Cup for 28 years, so it was a big thing. I have not been following the competition. The summer’s sports coverage is underway now – tennis at Queens is on at the moment, quickly followed by Wimbledon. While the World Cup is avoidable, with most of the games taking place several time zones away, Wimbledon is harder to avoid, as both main BBC channels cover it.
Grasses in the wind
There is, of course, always knitting and talking books instead. Related to this, I returned to the museum last week after a hiatus of a few months to chart ganseys. It had got to a point where my files and database were in such disarray that I didn’t know what to work on next. After several migraine-inducing days at the computer, the path ahead is clear. Last week’s photo had three fishermen in ganseys. Two of these were machine-knit, with a simple pattern of 5K 2P ribbing. These were noted but not charted. The third, also machine-knit, was more of a puzzle. It has a yoke of diagonal lines which appear to consist of tuck stitches, also called ‘blister’ stitch. This can be hand-knitted in two ways. One way is to slip a stitch for three or four rows. Another way is to knit a stitch three or four rows below. Gordon did a gansey a few years ago with this technique where the blisters were arranged in horizontal bands. Arranging the stitches diagonally will be more of a challenge, and will need to be swatched.
Today’s word is ‘moniker’, which I found myself using and then wondering where it came from. The Oxford English Dictionary says the origin is uncertain, although there are theories. It first appeared in print in 1851, in a book by Henry Mayhew titled London Labour and the London Poor. For the next 90 years, the citations are in predominantly Australian publications. After this, it would seem to be a mostly British word. Thus, disappointingly, it has no interesting origin story.
Front yard orchid
In this week’s photo of the gansey, you will spot some stitch markers randomly placed in the front yoke, which mark the mistakes I found last week. One, where a purl stitch was in the wrong place, has been corrected. These two, so far down that I couldn’t face laddering to correct them, are where purl stitches were omitted, and will be fixed by darning. With the error correction pushed forward, it has meant I could progress to joining the shoulders, knit the neckline ribbing shoulders, and start the first sleeve. The pattern band on the sleeve will finish at the elbow, more or less.
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