Record number GP90         Identification           Simple name gansey pattern         Full name diamonds & double moss & vertical & indigenous         Other name Eliza West's meshes and double moss gansey # 2         Named collection           Classified name 4.151.721             System SHIC         Brief description Gansey pattern, meshes and double moss gansey, knitted in Sheringham probably Eiza Tabitha West         Association           Nature wearer         Person fish merchant : West, Henry William (Harry Billy) (?)             Dates 1870 =             Address Woodbine House, Cliff Road, Sheringham         Place & Sheringham & Norfolk         Activity fishing         Date 1900 = 1939 (estimate)         Production           Method hand knitted         Person knitter : West, Eliza Tabitha (née Little)             Dates 1876 = 1949         Date 1900 = 1939         Place & Sheringham & Norfolk         Technical data 12 spi, 18 rpi             Note3 tension             Note3 Tension counted over 4 inches of plain knitting = 48 sts = 12 spi and 72 rows = 18 rpi Aspect ratio by counting stitches = 0.67         Note Not knitted by Mrs Annie Bishop, wife of Henry Bishop as it is too small to fit him (information from Jenny Payne née Bishop). Comparing aspect ratio with SHMMT : 2020.1.2: this gansey GP90 has an aspect ratio of 0.66 and GP38 is 0.61. Given the differing aspect ratios, not likely to have been knitted by Mrs Bishop, wife of Robert ~Tar~ Bishop. . Twelve joins in the wool visible inside, so she was using small lengths of wool, perhaps odds and ends. Date uncertain but could be early 20th century. Knitting errors: none that I could see. It is an extremely good piece of knitting.         Note Now recognised as the work of Eliza Tabitha West. See pattern chart for evidence and justification behind this attribution.         Note Two wavy light brown hairs (of the knitter?) knitted into the fabric; one on the left breast of the ~front~ yoke near the left shoulder, third mesh down; one in the right body seam below the gusset. One short white beard hair (wearer?), firmly lodged in the yoke below the neck at the ~front~.         Preproduction           Simple name gansey         Full name           Reference number           Note Private collection.         Photography           Type digitised image       GP90.jpg         Reproduction           Type sampler         Corporate body for :         Person knitted by :         Date requested           Dimensions           Reproduction           Type pattern chart         Person charted by : Warren, Martin         Person swatch knitted by :         Date requested 3.5.2023       GP90_chart.jpg         Description           Condition excellent         Part:summary : Small amount of fading at the neck. Five small points of damage, two 8 mm holes in one gusset that look like moth (mirror imaged, repaired by darning in black wool), one 4 mm hole in the other gusset (not repaired), one 3mm hole in a diamond (third row down below shoulder strap, visible inside, repaired by darning in black), one nick on a cuff and one nick on the welt. Otherwise, perfect. Proof it is original and it has been worn.         Part:dimen:reading : weight : 577 grams         Part:dimen:reading chest : circumference : 35 inches         Part:dimen:reading welt : height : 1 ¼ inches (k2 p2)         Part:dimen:reading body below rigs : height : 9 inches         Part:dimen:reading           Part:dimen:reading           Part:dimen:reading           Part:summary : Rigs 2 rounds purl, repeated 3 times; 3 rounds of plain between rigs. Pattern starts immediately (no plain row(s) above rigs). 11 columns of double moss 6 sts wide; 10 columns of ~double moss~ diamonds, eight diamonds high. Height of pattern = 9.75 inches. Eight meshes x 24 rows = 192 rows. Tension by calculation = 19.7 rpi. Two rounds plain. Divide for neck: four columns of diamonds (4 x 13), 3 columns of double moss (3 x 6 sts) = 52 + 18 = 70 sts. Shoulders: 4 columns double moss (4 x 6 sts), 3 diamonds of double moss (3 x 13 sts) = 24 + 39 = 63 sts. Total yoke width = 63 + 70 + 63 = 196 sts. False seam : 2 garter stitch 2 stocking stitch, 2 garter stitch = 6. Extra sts beside seams = 2 x 2 = 4 front and back. Height from top of body rigs to the shoulder graft 11~.         Documentation group           Class pattern chart         Reference number GP90_chart.pdf         Recorder Warren, Martin :         Documentation group           Reference               Note3           Link shering.html         Admin status           Status2 validated         Date           Notes           Note Not knitted by Mrs Annie Bishop, wife of Henry Bishop as it is too small to fit him. Might have been knitted by Mrs Bishop, wife of Robert ~Tar~ Bishop. Comparing aspect ratio with SHMMT : 2020.1.2 Mrs Bishop~s gansey GP90 has an aspect ratio of 0.66 and GP38 is 0.61. It is feasible that it was knitted by Mrs Robert Tar Bishop (Christian name not known). Twelve joins in the wool visible inside, so she was using small lengths of wool, perhaps odds and ends. Date uncertain but could be early 20th century. Knitting errors: none that I could see. It is an extremely good piece of knitting.         Note Two wavy light brown hairs (of the knitter?) knitted into the fabric; one on the left breast of the ~front~ yoke near the left shoulder, third mesh down; one in the right body seam below the gusset. One short white beard hair (wearer?), firmly lodged in the yoke below the neck at the ~front~.         Note The gansey was gifted to Mrs Snell, along with the 1969 edition of Gladys Thompson and a copy of Fishermen Knitting by Michael Harvey, by her next-door-neighbour Jenny Payne (10 New Street). Her mother was Audrey Chapman, née Bishop. Jenny~s father was Henry? Bishop and we might suppose that this gansey was his but it is too small. It is exquisitely knitted in a Real McCoy 3 ply worsted (examined via a loose end inside) on fine needles and it is in excellent condition. It must be one of the top handful of extant Sheringham ganseys, ranking with GP38 Mrs Bishop~s and GP39 Esther Nurse~s. Tension is 12 spi and 18 rpi and the pattern is columns of diamonds touching tip to tip in a kind of moss stitch similar to that used by Esther Nurse in her hoop nets, alternating with columns of 6 sts of double moss. Whilst similar to some others it is a novel pattern to me. Information from Jenny Payne indicated that it was seen by a researcher in the 1960s or 1970s (who I presume was Michael Harvey) and he took it away to study and returned what she thought was a reproduction had been knitted as a replacement but evidently it was actually the original. It appears to have been worn but only for best I think.         Note         Note         Note