This pattern is taken is taken from a gansey knitted by Mrs. Phoebe Carr of Thorne. Mrs. Carr was one of the last knitters of keelmen’s ganseys, and was well known for the quality of her work. This pattern was given to us by the Keel and Sloop Preservation Society, and we reproduce it with their kind permission.

Mrs Carr’s idiosyncrasies include an ingenious two-purl seam stitch (so when you start the gusset, it arises very naturally between these two stitches) and paired decreases inside the gusset, but not along the rest of the sleeve seam. (Not mirroring decreases or cables was the ‘traditional’ way for many knitters.) The shoulder was bound off on the outside of the work, to give a decorative ridge. Mrs Carr also carried a purl stitch down the centre of the gusset – it was only when figuring out her pattern that I realized that feature wasn’t just ornamental, but served the practical function of signalling the start of rounds on the sleeve.

NB: This will soon be available as a separate download and in a second edition of the book.