Norfolk gansey patterns

Winterton

Winterton was a village that knitted commercially for outfitters in Yarmouth. It was also the home place of Casey Goffin, who was taught to knit by his grandmother Goffin. He was a grocer in the village but a great source of information on gansey knitting to Michael Harvey during his researches on the Norfolk coast in the 1970s and I have interviewed him too in the 1990s. A jovial man with a rich Norfolk voice, and spoke very fondly of the old Winterton knitters like Riah Bowson and Suzanna 'Tring-Trong', who knitted so fast that sparks would fly off her needles (he exaggerates!). He had a prodigeous output himself, knitting for all kinds of people, working in the round with a shield and all the correct details in the structure but in my experience was fond of producing patterns found from anywhere around the British Isles - tree of life, for instance - but not indigenous Winterton or even Norfolk patterns. He would sometimes work patterns Suzanna 'Tring-Trong' and using old football pool coupons for graph paper. One of his quests was shared by Michael Harvey - to discover the 'Caister flowerpot' design and he had several goes at knitting swatches, trying to emulate what he could see in an old photograph.

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Under construction

Martin Warren, The Northfolk Project
11.10.2023