I finally started something! It’s been a couple days of spinning my wheels and not quite getting anything new started, but I finally got something going. That something is the little sampler exercise for the full size gansey I’m planning.

I am working my way through making a gansey based on the lessons in Beth Brown-Reinsel’s Knitting Ganseys (the updated version). And I wanted to get going on it, because as soon as I finish the sampler, I’m casting on the actual person-sized one for me. My first actual holdup was fishing appropriate yarn out of my stash. It needed to be worsted weight that I had enough of already in hand. I wound up with some black yarn, which is not ideal for this particular type of sweater, but I do have plenty of it.

Next, I had to do a little calculation. I decided to make this sampler big enough that it will fit on Delores. Because if I am knitting tiny clothing, why wouldn’t I make it for my sheep doll? So I did the accursed math and then messed around with the pattern a bit until I came up with something that will work and hopefully look good.

Finally, I had to learn the Channel Island cast-on. Well, I didn’t have to, but it looks cool and is specific to this type of sweater, so why not? Fortunately, there are plenty of videos available on this topic, as you would expect. Including one by Beth Brown-Reinsel herself! If you are interested in learning this cast on, here is the video. It is not as hard as I would have expected!

So, after all of that, here it is so far…

It is hard wearing because it involves three strands of yarn, and looks like a beaded edge, though it’s just knotting worked into the cast on edge. So learning new things already!

How are your projects going?