When in Doubt, Crochet Cassie's Gansey
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What it feels like for a yarn shop owner with a project problem and a Madonna playlist.
The Problem With Owning a Yarn Shop
Sunday. Coffee. Madonna's Confessions 2 on in the background — obviously — and I am sitting in the middle of what I can only describe as a creative crisis.
I have finished Flora's Fauna. Which is wonderful. Genuinely wonderful. I am proud of it. It is beautiful. It is done. And now I am staring at my project bag like it has personally offended me, because it is empty, and I have absolutely no idea what to make next.
This is, I should point out, a deeply ironic situation for someone who owns a yarn shop. I am surrounded — surrounded — by yarn. I have more patterns than I will ever realistically complete in this lifetime. I have needles in every size, hooks in every colour, stitch markers I don't even remember buying. And yet here I am. Paralysed. Staring into the middle distance while Madonna tells me to get into the groove.
I am trying, Madonna. I am trying.
The Shortlist (Which Was Not Short)
I did what any reasonable person does in this situation. I made a list. Then I made a longer list. Then I abandoned the list and went to look at Instagram for forty-five minutes, which did not help but did give me seventeen new patterns I now want to make, so in some ways it made things considerably worse.
I considered a shawl. I always consider a shawl. I never make the shawl. The shawl remains a theoretical object, existing only in my imagination and my Ravelry queue, which at this point is less a queue and more a monument to optimism.
I considered something small. A hat, perhaps. Something quick and satisfying. But I have just come off a big project and I want something with substance. Something I can really get my teeth into. Something that will keep me company through the summer evenings and the Knit and Natter sessions and the inevitable moments when the shop is quiet and it's just me and the yarn and whatever Madonna album I'm currently obsessing over.
I want a project.
Enter Cassie Ward
And then — as these things tend to happen — the answer arrived in the way answers usually do: completely sideways, while I was thinking about something else entirely.
I was looking at the work of Cassie Ward — our guest designer for the Welcome to Autumn Retreat, if you haven't heard the news yet, do go and read this week's blog immediately — and I found myself completely stopped in my tracks by her Gansey jumper design.
Now. A Gansey. For those who don't know, a Gansey is a traditional fisherman's jumper — structured, textured, deeply satisfying, and with a history rooted right here in the coastal communities of the British Isles. There is something about a Gansey that feels right for a yarn shop owner in Lowestoft. We are, after all, a fishing town. It feels almost like destiny.
Cassie's design — from The Missing Yarns — is a men's Gansey, and it is, frankly, stunning. The texture. The structure. The sheer ambition of it. This is not a quick project. This is a commitment. This is a relationship. And I am absolutely here for it.
David doesn't know yet that he's getting a jumper. He will find out when it's finished. This is how it works in our house.
The Yarn Decision
Once the pattern was decided, the yarn question answered itself almost immediately, which is either a sign of good instincts or the fact that I have been thinking about this colourway for weeks without admitting it to myself.
I know. I know. It's bold. It's green. It is not what you might call a subtle choice. But hear me out: a Gansey is a textured stitch pattern, and textured stitch patterns need a yarn that shows them off. Life DK is smooth, it has a beautiful stitch definition, and Kiwi is — I'm just going to say it — an absolutely gorgeous colour. It's fresh. It's confident. It's the kind of green that makes you feel like something good is about to happen.
It is also, I will admit, the kind of green that Madonna would absolutely wear on a world tour. So there's that.
So. We're Doing This.
The yarn is wound. The pattern is printed. The playlist is ready — Confessions 2, obviously, with a bit of Ray of Light for the more meditative stitch sections.
I am making Cassie Ward's Gansey in Stylecraft Life DK Kiwi, and I am going to document the whole thing right here — the progress, the decisions, the moments of triumph, and the inevitable moments where I have to put it down and walk away and come back with fresh eyes and a biscuit.
If you want to make it with me, Stylecraft Life DK is in the shop — and Kiwi is waiting for you.
Let's go.
Adie
Over The Hook
