Barbara's story of the Fisherman's Sweater...

"A Fisherman’s Sweater for a Royal Baby

Barbara Smith

There are many wonderful examples of design and handiwork in the Guild’s collection of knitting and crochet.  One of the most special is a sweater for a very small child, knitted in fine wool, possibly 3-ply, in an oatmeal colour.  There are vertical panels of cables and blackberry stitch on the back and front, with a central horseshoe cable, while the sleeves are in double moss stitch. It fastens with three buttons along one shoulder seam.  It is beautifully knitted, and in such fine yarn represents many hours’ work. 

The sweater was acquired for the collection in 1994. Its index card dates it to the 1940s, and says that it was made from a pattern in the Daily Telegraph, by Irene Wilkinson, and collected for the Guild by Anita Schuetz.

After I had read that, serendipity played a part in my investigations.  I typed “Daily Telegraph knitting patterns” into a search engine, in a fit of idle curiosity, and by a huge stroke of luck, found someone on eBay selling copies of the pattern for our sweater.  Even more exciting,  the pattern was for a “Royal Baby’s Fisherman’s Sweater”. 

Of course, I bought a copy, to add to the documentation for the sweater.  The front of the pattern confirms that it is constructed like a traditional gansey, as can be observed in our example.  “The main part of the sweater is worked in rounds instead of rows, so there are no side seams.  The work divides at the armholes and is worked in rows from there.  The sleeves are picked up round the armhole and worked in rounds, so there are no sleeve seams.”   The yarn specified is Mountain Maid St Ives 3-ply, and it requires size 12 and 14 Aero circular twin pins. 

I thought that the Daily Telegraph would like to know about a pattern of theirs for a Royal baby, especially this year.  I contacted Lisa Armstrong, the Fashion Editor, who was indeed interested but naturally wanted to know which Royal baby it had been designed for.  I suggested that if the sweater was indeed knitted in the 1940s, around the time of a Royal birth, then it might be Prince Charles (born 1948).  The pattern is not dated, but presumably there was an associated feature in the main paper, telling readers that they could send off for the pattern.  I hoped that the Daily Telegraph might have a searchable archive, but evidently not – you send an intern to look. And unfortunately, the intern did not find any reference to the knitting pattern in the 1948 editions of the paper.  

So we have a pattern apparently issued at the time of a Royal birth, but no date.  Late 1940s seems plausible to me, and we have Mountain Maid pattern leaflets dating from that time. But were Aero twin pins available then?  If any Guild member has any further information, please get in touch.  

(495 words)"