Guernsey Style knitting

It’s ages since I did any serious knitting, in fact I’ve done very little in the way of crafting since we moved house almost three years ago. So I decided to get stuck into some knitting – a jumper for Jack, and if you think that the word jumper is weird and unknown to you, it’s also known as a sweater or jersey, presumably that word jersey is originally from the Channel Island of that name, just as Guernsey or gansy as they are sometimes known – is.

Knitting

I think this knitting pattern is called Guernsey style because ‘real’ Guernseys are knitted using a circular needle, that’s something I’ve never used so I was happy to tackle this one which uses the two needle method.

Well, I say happy but to tell the truth I was a wee bit daunted by the pattern because it is set over twenty-four rows and I wasn’t at all sure that I would have the concentration to tackle that, but it turned out to be fairly easy to do. I’m quite pleased with it so far, but I’m not really looking forward to knitting the sleeves, keeping the pattern right at the same time as increasing the stitches might be a wee bit tricky!

12 thoughts on “Guernsey Style knitting

  1. Handknits always look so stylish. What kind of yarn are you using? I agree with Peggy, that yarn looks so soft.

  2. I started using circular needle years ago when the yarn shop didn’t have a straight needle in the size I wanted, and I’ve never gone back. I use them for flat and circular knitting — you never lose your needle and it’s so much easier to have a large number of stitches, they don’t all bunch up on one end!

    • Karen K,
      Maybe one day I’ll go crazy and give a circular needle a go then. I can see it would be an advantage with loads of stitches to cope with.

  3. Nice! Are those cables up on the shoulders? Knitting in the round is super easy to do but easy to get lost in if you lose count of the rows or track of the pattern.

    • Stefanie,
      Yes they are cables and the top part is very much easier as it’s just double moss stitch and cables. That’s exactly what has put me off from using a circular needle – a fear of getting confused by it. Guernseys were knitted by the wives of trawlermen and I think that that cable is supposed to look like the top of a pair of dungarees/overalls.

  4. Oh, how lovely it is to find another knitter who prefers the “two-needle method.” I have never warmed up to the circular needles–not yet anyway. I’ve been thinking that this must make me terribly old-fashioned. Do you think? I think perhaps not, because there are still scads of patterns being produced for two-needle people. The texture of the pattern you’re knitting is very interesting.

    • Judith,
      I get so annoyed when I see a pattern I like and then discover that it’s knitted using a circular needle. I think I might be too old a dog to learn new tricks!

  5. Circular needles are an acquired taste! Though I prefer two I can do four quite easily. The pattern looks good, it is one if those that is easy to do once you get going on it.

    • Jo,
      Yes, it looked daunting to begin with but I got into it quite quickly. I’ve never tried knitting socks or mittens so I’ve not tried four needles – yet.

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