Last Monday I had the pleasure of being filmed by BBC Scotland talking about ganseys—though pleasure may be stretching it, my feelings beforehand being much like those of a medieval astronomer who’s noticed the Earth going round the Sun, and who’s just been told a couple of chaps from the Inquisition are downstairs and would like a word. But actually it was a lot of fun. The whole crew were professional and charming—I got the impression they’d done this sort of thing before—and I became relaxed enough to hear my mouth spouting the most godawful nonsense while my brain searched frantically for the chloroform. (This is perfectly normal for me, of course; but then I’m not usually being filmed for broadcast television.)
Blooming grasses
The programme is called In Our Town, and the presenter, Ian Hamilton, a quite lovely man, is blind. Any nerves I felt going in vanished immediately when I met Ian, who put me at ease at once, and his patient guide dog, Major (I shall in future insist that every tv interview I give must include a friendly dog). The filming took place at Wick Museum, upstairs in the gallery with the Johnston photographs and all my ganseys. I’ve been filmed for tv before, and the experience is a bit like finding yourself being interrupted by a SWAT team in the middle of making breakfast. So I was prepared to move my chair an inch to the left, hmm, how about to the right—your right—tell you what, just stand up a minute, I’ll move it—and doing different takes of the same answers. Ian, who is a good sport, had a go at some knitting, and if we’d had longer I think he’d have cracked it. Though given the fact that I’m effectively down to one working eye, the phrase “the blind leading the blind” has never felt more apt.
Taking in the view
Out of the limelight, my latest gansey has exploded into life this week: the front finished, the shoulders joined, the collar done and the left sleeve started. The original features Betty Martin as the sleeve pattern, but while I’m a huge fan of Betty I do prefer the look of having the body pattern mirrored at the top of the sleeve. So I’ve abandoned tradition for a change. The pattern on the sleeve is exactly the same as on the body.
Hawthorn blooming in the hedgerows
Back in the museum there was one camera, so I was the sole focus of the actual interview. They then filmed the reverse shots of Ian repeating the questions, so they could splice those shots into the footage of my answers (oh, I thought naively, so that’s how they do it). Then I was free to go. They were up here filming all week for a 30-minute programme, so who knows if I’ll even make the cut. Not that I plan to watch it; I don’t think I could bear it. The producer told me the programme was likely to go out maybe in October. Perfect, I said: that gives me just enough time to change my name and start a new life in another country…
Always welcome the emails that arrive with your posts. They are always my smile for the day, such as this one…Happy knitting from Alaska.
Hi Dotty, great to hear from you. I did think of starting my new life in Alaska, but I fear even that may not be far enough away from BBC Scotland!
I wonder if someone else did the original sleeves. I’ve looked at pictures of the knitted relic purses kept at Sion cathedral, and I see evidence that at least two were knitted by two different people, or at least that someone totally lost track of the pattern one day and didn’t bother to go back and fix it.
On the other hand, maybe the gansey knitter was just tired of cabling.
Anyway, I like your design choice.
With any luck they’ll choose the best pithy observation you made and show the presenter knitting.
Hi Tamar, I’ve seen a few pictures of Yorkshire ganseys with Betty Martin on the sleeves, so maybe it was just the style down there. Though now I come to think of it, the ones I’ve seen do feature cables heavily – so maybe you’re right, the knitters had just had enough by then!
While you are in hiding, I will be looking forward to the show! The gansey looks wonderful and it’s fun for me to see this great color, as I tend towards less interesting colors and this makes me feel more adventurous.
Hi Betsy, like you I’m very conservative in my preferences – I still instinctively think a gansey should be navy or cream or red or blue or conifer, because those were the only colours back in the 1980s when I started. But every time I knit a different colour – and Frangipani have a stunning range – it always looks great.
It’s ok – from one old hand to another – they’ll whittle it down to a bland 7 minutes & then repeat it ad lib over the years. People will recognise you, but will only have retained about one thing you said.. glad you enjoyed it, I agree an affable dog enhances things immensely.
Cheers Deb, though I still plan to fast-forward through my bit if I make the cut! The challenge for everyone else will be to see if they can spot the times where my stunt double was used for the action scenes…