I’m fairly bursting with knitterly news this morning –

a) I failed to get that VKB on eBay. The final price was extraordinary.
b) I finished knitting the three pieces of the shrug, and am now seaming it; everybody’s favourite chore.
c) The KTBH group pointed me to a book about ganseys which I’ve never heard of, “They Lived by the Sea”. I’ve ordered it.
d) A wartime VKB is listed on eBay. It’s missing its cover (like many of mine) and the seller doesn’t know the precise date (namely, autumn, 1943) and just says “1940’s” – so maybe I’ve got a chance, this time.

VKB's on eBay

a) This time yesterday the highest bid was mine, £1.99, and I was feeling sorry for the seller. (This is the spring, ’46 VKB we’re talking about.) But when I got back with the car after its MOT test yesterday afternoon, I found that someone had sat down and bid right up to, and beyond, my “killer” bid. So I outbid her.

Then, over the next couple of hours, I thought hard about it, and went back – although I was still the high bidder – and put in a nuclear bid.

I wasn’t there at the end (thank goodness), but when I sat down half an hour later, I found that a third bidder had come in in the last five minutes, and out-nuke’d me. It went to her for £26.15. My bid was £25.10. That’s totally ridiculous. That’s about twice what a dealer could ask for it, judging from Abebook prices, and therefore at least three times what a dealer would pay. And my own behaviour was fully as ridiculous as that of the happy purchaser, no doubt about that. I had a look at some of her other recent acquisitions: mostly very cheap; a lot of vintage crochet patterns. This seems to be her first venture into either VKB-buying or the Big Spender league, and I hope it will be her last.

The shrug

b) The shrug pattern seems to want me to knit the ribbing flat and seam it, but I don’t see the point of that. I’ll start with the cuffs on dp’s. I think the main part can be done in the round. I’m not very good on 3-d geometry, however, so I approach the experience with caution. The pattern says to put some ribbing on the bottom of the back, then do the side seams, then do the rest of the body ribbing back and forth on a circular needle. Suck it and see.

I’m struggling with mattress stitch, and am fairly pleased with my first underarm seam. You can’t really see it. I’m sure the judges will zero in on seams.

Gansey-knitting

The KTBH writer, as well as recommending the book mentioned above, says that Gladys Thompson says that knitters on Guernsey knit ganseys tubularly, and cut the sleeveholes open (just like Fair Isle). This interesting prospect needs full consideration, the next time we are in the country where the Thompson book currently is, and I get back to work on Ketki’s gansey. I’m pretty sure you’re right, Jean-in-E., that gauge will change if I switch to working back and forth.