A Grimsby Fisherman's Wife Mrs Ethel Richardson

                                                                 

                                                                Fishermen wearing the Guernsey sweater
 

 

Dear Reader,

The dependable cable knit jumper is ever present with us unlike style trends which are ever-changing. 

Boasting a rich, albeit elusive history in the 19th century Celtic and Gaelic fishing communities, the cable design has featured in the varying forms and in multiple materials yet has remained timeless nonetheless.

Legend has it that the design dates back to the 'Aran Sweater' of the 1800s with different Celtic clans having a unique cable pattern.  This, in turn, was said to provide a way of identifying the bodies of fishermen who drowned at sea.  And although this is romantic, it is now recognised as a mere tale.

The sweater was most likely crafted by a group of Aran women predominately for export purposes in the early 1900s, and has since become associated with Irish culture.  In fact the cable design appears just as much in the Gansey jumper worn by fishermen on the east coast of England in the Victorian era.

                                                                                   

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From Samuel Pepys   1667  January 1st in London

'Lay long, being a bitter, cold, frosty day, the frost being now grown old, and the Thames covered with ice'.

From Thomas Hardy 1886  January 2nd in Dorset

'Cold weather brings out upon the faces of people the written marks of their habits, vices, passions, and memories, as warmth brings out on paper a writing in sympathetic ink.'

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A Grimsby Fisherman’s Wife

Mrs. Ethel Richardson

 

 

 

During the day she knitted

her life into rough wool sweaters.

Fear of north east gales,

- more forecast -

fear of no return,

and Friday night beatings,

were turned with a collar,

stitched with sober wools.

Knit one, purl one.

 

Men known to her, sea-taken;

the grief of loss for

a babe or two; and

winter storms and

treacherous rocks that

albatrossed a fisherman’s life,

were knitted into sleeves,

into polo necks.

Knit one, purl one.

 

At night from her narrow bed,

she knitted dreams of exotic places

warm from the southern sun.

She danced on beaches, cockle-free

and knitted love

into her dream sweaters,

with wools, brightly coloured;

corals, blues, pinks, and red.

By night she knitted pumpkins.

Knit one, pearl one.

 

 

 

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A very happy New Year to you all,

With very best wishes, Patricia