Sometimes, it seems that there is a theme that permeates the zeitgeist and at the moment we are seeing a lot of knitting patterns that feature fish in one form or another. It may be that I am noticing it more because we are planning a knitalong of the fabulous Halibut Sweater by Caitlin Hunter, (starting on 6 September), but I thought I would bring it to your attention as well.
Halibut is not a new pattern – it has been around for a while and I have seen several different versions of it, including a lovely black and white one knitted by one of my talented customers. It is knitted in the round with the fish decorating the yoke in a traditional Nordic way, but obviously with a less than traditional pattern. Halibut are flat fish and they work very nicely in the design. Subsequently, and perhaps because not everyone likes Halibut, the designer has also come up with a King Salmon version with the heads towards the neckline rather than facing downwards. It requires a DK yarn in contrasting colours – Mandy is going for West Yorkshire Spinners Colour Lab DK, while I am leaning towards The Croft DK but am being indecisive about the colours. We are offering 10% off the yarn for the jumper to anyone joining in this project.
Mandy was not sure about the Halibut (although she has come around so far that she has even done a tension square now), and did a bit of a search for alternatives, coming up with the Shoal of Fish Sweater by Ferdigstrikka, a Norwegian designer, where the fish are swimming around the bottom of the jumper rather than on the yoke. There are in fact three versions of this sweater and they are all lovely. Mandy has also knitted the gorgeous Gone Fishing shawl by Jem Arrowsmith (Under the Olive Tree), which features a shoal of fish made out of beads and is knitted in a laceweight. I am in awe of her talent – I cannot even begin to imagine incorporating beads into my knitting, although no doubt I will take on the challenge some time!
The conversation about the fish really arose, though, because one of the people who attends our Social Stitchers sessions is knitting a gansey for her husband in a Sheringham Gansey pattern which features fish. In this case the pattern is not in different colours but relies on different stitches to create the image. Traditional ganseys were knitted for fishermen and it is said that there were individual patterns for ports or fishing villages so that the bodies of drowned men could be identified. Knitting a gansey is a proper labour of love as they are knitted in 5ply (relatively fine yarn), in small guage needles so that you end up with a tight, waterproof and windproof fabric. Not only that, but the usual colour is a dark blue which can be tough on the eyes! The Sheringham Gansey pattern is available from the museum in Sheringham.
So, if you have noticed a lot of fish about in hand knittted garments it is because there is a ‘moment’ going on. I look forward already to the next thing – cats? dogs? I recently had a customer in who was knitting a jumper featuring corgis…..