A Fisherman Knits

 Rumpelstiltskin was an imp or goblin that could spin straw into gold, quickly and earn a huge reward for doing so.  Hand spinning is still difficult, and modern experienced, good, fast, spinne...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2023/08/rumpelstiltskin.html

Every serious hand spinner knows one can spin excellent fingering yarns on Scotch tension or bobbin lead flyer-bobbin assemblies! On the other hand, spinners that are competent with Scotch tens...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2023/08/spinning-fingering-yarns-with-scotch.html

 When I first thought about hand spinning yarn for a Sheringham gansey, I assumed that the long wools that I had been using for Yorkshire style ganseys would be the right fleeces for yarns knit ...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-path-to-handspun-fingering-weight.html

 I have gone off the deep end.  Now that I have really good fingering knitting yarns, I have stowed my fat needles (e.g.,2.3 mm), and all my knitting bags and project boxes are stocked with 1.3...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2023/08/needles-for-fingering-yarn.html

 I try to live a life without regrets. This week I have a regret. I have an old Clemes drum carder. It had been getting a bit cranky.   Last week I cleaned her up and put a new drive belt ...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2023/08/regrets.html

 I have been interested in Sheringham Ganseys since I bought Gladys Thompson circa 2007. By then the fine yarns needed for such fabrics were not common, and I was learning to spin yarns for Yo...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2023/08/sheringham-ganseys.html

 I learned several different ways to knit using handheld needles prior to using a knitting sheath.  Everyone said, that circular needle were best, and I got circular needles and practiced. I wo...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2022/02/learning-to-use-knitting-sheath.html

 It turns out that it is perfectly possible to hand knit (with no knitting sheath) with flat tipped "knitting pins". It takes learning the knack, and being careful about the orientation of sti...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2022/02/clarifications.html

"Craftsman" is a traditional term referring to  people of all genders that make fine objects and materials. The craftsman sets out to make the "best" (aesthetics, durability, functionality) ob...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-craftsman.html

 As usual, I have a sweater in progress. It will be about 100,000 stiches.  It is a worsted weight yarn, knit on 2.3 mm needles knit at 7.5 spi /10 rpi, so it is a nice firm fabric, but not wea...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2022/01/planning.html

 When I came back to knitting, circa 1999,  I was told a lot of things - circular needles are faster, Continental knitting style is faster, pointy needles are faster, gansey needles are faster,...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2022/01/knitting-fast-revisited.html

A while back, I read an account of a Master Knitter who required his apprentices to "knit" for 5 years before he allowed them to purl anything. Of course from a modern viewpoint that seems extr...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2022/01/just-knitting.html

 I have been working on crossed stitches for a while now - there were little swatches, some approaches did not work, some sort of worked. So, I stared doing bigger swatches to see if the approac...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2022/01/more-crossed-stitches.html

 I am trying to learn to knit cross stitch. I had done a few rows - I thought I would test myself by knitting cross stitch while watching the evening news.  I was using 1.5 mm blunt steel nee...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2021/12/cassandra-said-beware-of-knitting-in.html

 It is perfectly possible to knit cross stitch / twisted stich / plaited fabric with blunt needles (and a knitting sheath.  It can be done as flat knitting or in the round. Just try every possi...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2021/12/as-usual-when-i-try-something-new-i-get.html

 Since taking Gladys Thompson as my primary teacher some 15 years ago, I have focused on uncrossed stiches. Neglecting crossed stitches in knitting gear for outdoor gear has been  a serious err...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2021/12/statement-of-errors-again.html

 I use  differential rotation speed (DRS) control of twist insertion as I spin. It is a well known technology - both Henry Clemes and Alden Amos made such systems - and had to take them all bac...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2021/12/how-i-got-ply-twist-on-sheringham.html

I find knitting crossed stitches to be like walking through cave -- it is an adventure. One never knows what one will find. Left over right Eastern crossed knit stiches can be knit with blunt n...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2021/12/walking-through-cave.html

  Knitting “Sheringham” fabrics has been a goal since I first picked up Patterns for Guernseys, Jerseys, and Arans by Gladys Thompson some 15 years ago. From Cod by Mark Kurlansky, we know...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2021/12/notes-from-sheringham.html

  4" by 4" swatch of latest sock yarn. One of the most elastic yarns I have ever spun and one of the most elastic fabrics I have ever knit. It is so elastic, I did not think it would be wea...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2021/10/swatch-knit-from-handspun-6-ply-1700.html

 Consider the explosion of exports of English worsted textiles in the 16th and 17th century, the so called "New Draperies". It has been explained in various ways. see for example:   https://do...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2021/10/new-draperies.html

 Look at paintings of the Tudor Court (Henry VIII ==> Elizabeth R). Now, sit down and spin threads and weave samples of fabrics that match what you see in the paintings. Track your productivity ...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2021/09/tudor-textiles.html

 If the fine yarns the Sheringham ganseys were knit from had/have the beauty of the yarns I am spinning, then I can very much understand the fascination with Sheringham ganseys as objects of  a...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2021/09/sheringham.html

 As I began producing these finer yarns, I had a problem matching singles twist to ply twist.  This was resolved with a new drive band between the accelerator and the flyer/bobbin assembly. ...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2021/09/bias.html

 I start by spinning worsted singles at 17 tpi and between 11,000 and 14,000 ypp.  In an hour, I can spin about 300 yards, using about 10 grams of fiber.  For the BeeHive replica (4-ply, 2,5...

http://gansey.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-economics-of-yarns-i-am-making.html