It’s been a tiring week. Again, I’ve gone down to Northants to attend to affairs. There’s not much to say – two days of long drives leavened by stopping overnight with a friend in Edinburgh and finding that audiobooks really do help with the tedium. We’ve listened to audiobooks in the car for years, but it was always when Gordon was at the wheel. Thus it was a very pleasant discovery, and something I will do more of in future.
I am sure Gordon wrote about the ‘War of the Orange’, but some recent posts on Facebook by the Caithness Archive have reminded me of it. Over the past week, they have been posting the day-by-day entries from the Harbour Master’s logbook.
On 27 August , what started as a minor scuffle over an orange between a local lad and a Highland lad became a full-scale disturbance with 300 people involved. The Riot Act was read, and constables sworn in, which only served to fan the flames. Tension eased slightly on 1 September, when some of the Highland crews left, but serious fighting broke out again on the evening on the 2nd when it was reported that four men had been stabbed. This time, the military was deployed, supplementing the 270 special constables. By 5 September, it was over, when the bulk of the Highland crews cut their fishing season short and headed for home.
I wonder what they were wearing …
As I’ve been knitting the gansey, I’ve been thinking and re-thinking about the design. The longer it gets, the more positive I am that the original was likely a yoked design, with a plain or wide-rib body. As you can see in the photo posted last week, most of the garment is hidden underneath a waistcoat, so it is impossible to know for certain. This presumption is based on the sleeve, which is patterned to the elbow only. I’m considering knitting the sleeves plain from the elbow down, but think it would look odd with the full body patterning.
There was not much progress last week, but I have come to the point where I Have To Decide what the shoulder treatment will be. I haven’t definitely decided yet, but the favourite possibility is to work half a fishbone on each shoulder, leaving a gap for the neck. The other half of the fishbone will be on the front, and a two-needle bind-off will form the ‘spine’.
Good luck with the sleeves Margaret. I’ve been doing too much driving lately. So, you have my sympathy. I’m just not organised enough to sort out audio books for my journeys.
Thank you for the beach photos. They are lovely and the sky matches your yarn color. The pattern works very well for the yarn color – both seem cheerful. Maybe some sleeve patterning, but not all over? Thank you for the postings. I enjoy them so much.
Hi, Margaret, when I first saw the Gansey you were knitting I thought it looked like a Dutch gansey pattern. I am sure that Wick would have had visible Dutch visitors as a major port for the Herring trade. So, why not as you have knitted. One of the designs for Inverness I have knitted has 3 horizontal panels, some with knitted ladders on the body. One I did had pattern for Leith and other Scottish Fleet patterns on the body. Newhaven, ( between Leith and Portobello) has horizontal bands. You are probably not so far off the mark when you knit the bands. Your interpretation and it is a distinctive Gansey. A good example of a gansey nevertheless, so go for it and enjoy. Best regards and happy knitting.