In the beginning

 In the beginning, I hoped others would read my explorations with wool and help me find the path.

It did not happen. I have walked alone, as folk that still think Queen Victoria produced great textiles, shout insults.

Therefore, I recorded my steps and missteps. If I found steps forward, I posted them, without going back and changing previous posts, because I saw wool as a complex system, and if the final result was wrong, I was not sure where or how the final result was wrong.

Consider pointy needles: Early on, a speed knitting champion told me that I needed very pointy needles to knit fast. In her technique, that was true. It was the conventional wisdom since Weldon's Practical Knitter in the Victorian era. All of that presumes that one is not using a knitting sheath.

It took me 15-years work out the techniques with a knitting sheath so that I understood that because of the leverage, knitting sheaths can knit faster with flat tipped needles.  Now, I know that if the "speed knitter" and I each set out to knit a hundred good weatherproof ganseys (as fast as possible), one of two things will happen: 1) Her ganseys will be rejected because they are not knit tight enough. Or 2) she will need wrist surgery after she has knit only 2 or 3 ganseys. 

Moving to flat tipped needles doubled my knitting speed. All of a sudden, I was almost as fast as speed knitting competitors, but I was still knitting fabrics much tighter than anything the speed knitters were knitting - and I was an old man with chronic Lyme Diease. 

When I started, I thought there was some secret of yarn and knitting pattern that resulted in warmth. After a few thousand swatches, it was clear that the critical factors were distance between wool fibers and oil on the wool to help make the wool hydrophobic. Distance between wool fibers was the result of type of fleece, how the wool was spun (woolen or worsted) how tightly it was knit, the thickness of the fabric, and how the fabric was finished (fulled).  Together, these factors outweigh Alden's and Judith's simplistic rule that fine fleece,  spun woolen is warmer.  My rule is that worsted spun, yarns with more plies are warmer and more durable. Oh, a lot more effort, but warmer and more durable. Another of my rule is that finer fleece can result in higher warmth to weight ratios, but are less durable than coarser wools so over years, the difference is not worth a cup of fresh piss. (Stale piss has more value for fulling wool.)

After school, I was rather adventuresome, and had some unpleasantly cold experiences.  As I got some money, I bought some fancy synthetic adventure clothing.  Then, I got to wondering how the seamen out on damp, cold ships stayed warm. I started exploring wool.  

My mother asked me to prune her apple orchard - I knew the weather would be brutal - so I brought the fancy adventure gear, and my hand knit wool.  I froze in the fancy gear, and the wool saved my ass.

Then, my mother wanted all the tree prunings burned - I got caught in the flames. If I had been wearing the synthetic fabrics, I would have been toast - and it was an hour to the nearest hospital, and 3 hours to a hospital with a burn center.  The flames took my facial hair and the hair at the nape of my neck, but my glasses protected my eyes. The fire burned all the pills off of my wool, leaving it smelling singed, but looking pristine.

Wool is not one solution, but a wide range of solutions. I really believe that it took thousands of bright-eyed, nimble fingered folks looking for ways to stay warm, thousands of years to work out all the textile solutions available circa 1750 - prior to the Spinning Jenny, but long after the knitting frame.

Many of the solutions are very practical, but details matter.

1. A  thick, very tightly knit sweater, with plenty of wearing ease and an "Irish Boat" neck, will keep one warm and even let one nap in a snow bank, but standing up and  warm will vent out the neck, allowing one to go into the pub and have a pint without over heating - it does not need a zipper.
2. A gansey knit snugly will allow one to go into the top rigging, perform acrobatic work without getting hypothermic and losing coordination. Horizontal stitch patterns protect one from banging against spars, while reefing sails.
3. A finely knit gansey can be worn under a uniform coat, and lend distinction and authority to a ship's officer, and keep him comfortable below deck when he is not wearing his uniform coat.
4. A thick gansey with vertical patterns could protect a fisherman hauling hundred pound cod over the rail in a heaving sea.
5. The Lizard Lattice was excellent for men that spent a lot of time rowing small boats - either in near-shore fishing, rowing to and from boats anchored in the harbor or in off-shore whaling.

Each of these objects has a different function, but may be produced in a multitude of styles and patterns. The yarn used, the shape of the garment, the density of knitting, and the style affected how well someone could perform a particular job function. Wear a fisherman's gansey into a pub to do some horse trading, and you will be sweating long before you can come to a deal. Wearing a shepherd's gansey to reef the royals, and you will not be able to keep up with the other top-men, earning you a torrent of abusive language.

You can buy raw fleece for $20/lb, and a gansey is a couple of pounds, so a whole fleece is enough for several ganseys including sampling and swatching.  (With DRS) in the time it takes to binge watch Gilmore Girls, you can spin the yarn for a couple of ganseys and in the time it takes to binge watch Gray's Anatomy, you can knit a gansey. If you must watch old black and white movies like It happened One Night and the room will likely be darker and you may not see knitting mistakes.

I found that I preferred skiing in a wool gansey (in California, often in shorts.)  I prefer sailing in a wool gansey. If the weather is cold, I wear a gansey gardening in the winter.  I wear a gansey fishing. In the winter, I wear a gansey walking in the hills. I admit to wearing synthetic vests in centrally heated environments. I admit to planning on knitting myself some new ganseys that are not as warm.