Wick (J Nicolson): Week 2, 1 September

Today is the start of meteorological autumn, and the weather seems to agree.  It’s been rather nice this past week, some would even say glorious.  Temperatures have been around 20 C, light winds, nary a cloud.  The trees are starting to shed their leaves, and there’s a hint of a chill in the mornings.  Several times there’s been condensation on the windows.  Definitely summer sliding into autumn weather.  And there’s been some rain too, which is much needed.

Rosebud

While the sun has been taunting, “It’s beautiful weather, go for a walk”, I’ve been immured indoors, still concentrating on the sewing project.  It’s had its ups and downs this week.  On the plus side, I’ve figured out how to attach the removable sleeves, using ribbons on the sleeves and loops in the body’s armholes.  The sleeves, their linings, and the ribbons have been sewn together at the top, leaving the lining seam at the cuff to be sewn later.  On the minus side, I thought I’d attached the shell and body lining together correctly, but due to a lack of foresight, it was then impossible to turn the garment right side out.  The stitching needed to be unpicked and resewn from the right side.  But when that’s done, there’s only the back vent, hem and the buttonholes to complete.  And there’s lots of buttonholes, all of which will be hand sewn.  The end is in sight.

Today marks the discovery of the RMS Titanic in 1985.  Two groups of scientists, from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the French National Institute of Oceanography, worked together to locate the wreck.  While finding the ship had been the aim of the project, a second purpose was to perform sea trials on new sonar and camera equipment.  In December that year, the same equipment was used to explore more of the mid-ocean ridge system in the east Pacific.  In twenty days, they were able to nearly equal the previous twelve years’ discoveries.  The mid-ocean ridge system is a chain of sub-sea mountains spanning 45,000 miles and is the earth’s largest geological feature.

(c) Wick Heritage Society. Used with permission.

There’s gansey news too.  The blue gansey has been relieved from its torture on the blocking wires and has been tried on.  It could fit better – the body is baggy which in turn makes the sleeves longer.  The body is also long, but if the welt is flipped up, it’s about right.  These cavils aside, it’s very satisfying just to look at.  Perhaps I should source a long pole and display it.

Ripening plums

With the current gansey, I’ve been yomping ahead.  The ribbing is complete, and the full-body pattern is starting to show.  It’s a simple pattern of small chevrons alternating with ribbing, chosen as a relief from the complexity of the previous gansey.  In the original photo, the chevrons are seven stitches wide, but in order to fit the garment, they’ve been modified to nine stitches wide.  With this small change, there are the same number of chevron panels as the original.