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"Right," I said. "I've reached the bit with the gussets. That'll get me to 300-odd stitches a round."
M looked puzzled. He apparently beleived that gussets only figured in pants and couldn't work out where they'd go in a gansey. ("Where they Go in a Gansey" ought to be the title of ... something ... rude ... in a music-hall sort of a way ...)
"Think about the patterns for tunics for re-enactment costumes," I said (thinking guiltily how I owe him a new Middle Earth-ish tunic, but hey! I'm knitting him a gansey), "and what a gusset actually does."
A pause.
"Extra room," I said. "Under the armpits."
Anyway, this got me thinking. Lansallos has features that make it seem more like a woven fabric garment than a knitted one. The underarm gussets, for one. The almost smock-like appearance some of the stitches give it. It makes me wonder how the features of knitted garments may have developed from sewn garments that preceded or were contemporary with them.
Also, "gussets". "Ganseys". Why do they both sound so rude?
Almost as bad as "district nurse" or "stocking tops" or--deep breath--"black and white kitchen darwers". (Gosh! That felt really naughty ;-)
M looked puzzled. He apparently beleived that gussets only figured in pants and couldn't work out where they'd go in a gansey. ("Where they Go in a Gansey" ought to be the title of ... something ... rude ... in a music-hall sort of a way ...)
"Think about the patterns for tunics for re-enactment costumes," I said (thinking guiltily how I owe him a new Middle Earth-ish tunic, but hey! I'm knitting him a gansey), "and what a gusset actually does."
A pause.
"Extra room," I said. "Under the armpits."
Anyway, this got me thinking. Lansallos has features that make it seem more like a woven fabric garment than a knitted one. The underarm gussets, for one. The almost smock-like appearance some of the stitches give it. It makes me wonder how the features of knitted garments may have developed from sewn garments that preceded or were contemporary with them.
Also, "gussets". "Ganseys". Why do they both sound so rude?
Almost as bad as "district nurse" or "stocking tops" or--deep breath--"black and white kitchen darwers". (Gosh! That felt really naughty ;-)
