Wick (D Gillies): Week 3 – 17 February

For some forgotten reason, I recently researched ‘what is celebrated today’ on the internet.  There are some interesting ‘awareness days’.  We all know that 14 February is St Valentine’s Day.  But what about St Trifon Zarezan?  In Bulgaria, he’s the patron saint of viniculture.  It’s the day that marks the first vine pruning of the year.  In the country of Georgia, it’s the festival of Lamproba, where birchwood fires are lit after dark to celebrate the end of winter.  There are many heart health and emotion-related awareness days on 14 February, but some of the others are:  National Cream-Filled Chocolates Day, League of Women Voters Day, National Ferris Wheel Day, and National Library Lover’s Day.  Some groups need a bigger slice of the year, so there are awareness weeks and months:  Random Acts of Kindness Week, Real Bread Week, National Hero Week, International Week of Black Women in the Arts, Pickle Time Week, Love Data Week, National Jello Week.  The list is lengthy.  February is National Goat Yoga Month.  I did not make that up. 

Rushes

But it is fair to say that all of these, apart from Valentine’s Day, have gone unnoticed here in the far north.   It’s been a week much like the last, with the notable events being a haircut, and attending the Net Loft Thursday evening Zoom, where gansey knitters get together to show their progress, ask advice, and chat.  My regular weekly visit to the museum to work on charts from gansey photos was aborted early when the power went out.  It flickered on and off for ten minutes, teasing us into thinking it was on permanently, and then went off.  At least I hadn’t even started so didn’t lose anything.  I set aside that afternoon to do some charting at home and have been doing a bit more during the week.  The weather has been conducive for that – cloudy, cold, windy.

First Crocus

I’ve been working steadily on the gansey, aided by some springy bamboo needles.  I am occasionally concerned that an end will snap, but given that the grain of bamboo runs lengthways, it would probably take more force than mere knitting. The dual dilemmas of the chart and ‘yarn chicken’ have been resolved.  The chart only needed to be widened slightly, so there will be two open diamond panels instead of one.  For the yarn, I searched a well-known auction site and found 5+ balls for sale, and I await its arrival.

More rushes

I neglected to mention last week that as well as thinner yarn, I’ve also gone down a needle size to 2mm.  It isn’t much of a difference in size, but the swatch felt a bit ‘boardy’ and I didn’t want to go any smaller.  The k1 p1 ribbing is about 2.5” now and should be finished in a day or two.  Then the body, which will also be ribbed up to the yoke – k5, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1.  This style of body is not uncommon in the old photos.  I wonder if the knitters then dreaded it.  It will be both mindless and very mindful.