In the book Fisherman’s Sweaters Stella Ruhe describes sweaters from 40 Dutch fishing towns. The writer made an entire project of collecting tall stories and the patterns, which she collected in a book. The knitting patterns are also included, so that the sweaters can be knitted. That happens a lot because the fishermen’s sweaters are popular for a reason; they look nice and nice and they are nice and warm and knitting is fun to do. The book was presented in the Katwijks Museum.
Recognizable fisherman jumpers
- Warm fisherman’s sweaters
- Knitters at work
- Each village has its own sweater
- Cheap wool
- Provenance known
- Stella Ruhe
- The book
- Other books on fisherman’s jumpers
- Fisherman’s jumpers 2
Warm fisherman’s sweaters
Fishermen wore warm sweaters from the 19th century to the mid-20th century. The Dutch fishermen wore them as underwear, with a smock over it. Encounters with, for example, Shetland fishermen who wore beautiful sweaters, made the Dutch fishermen long for such knitwear as outerwear. They asked the women back home to get the knitting needles. The mothers or wives extended them with four or five knitting needles and incorporated beautiful patterns into the sweaters that were otherwise simple and practical. Stella Ruhe collected knitting patterns from Dutch fishermen from the period 1875 to 1940. She collected photos and drew the motifs into patterns. The oldest photographs, those from the early twentieth century, which were still taken with glass plate negatives, were razor-sharp. Each stitch could be seen and the pattern could be counted out. The later pictures are not nearly as sharp and from those pictures it was more difficult to distil the pattern. It worked with study and help.
Knitters at work
Ruhe had knitters knit the patterns and thus got a nice collection of sweaters. Contemporary models show the sweaters in the book against the background of old black and white photographs from before the war. The sweaters were knitted with geometric motifs. Every fishing village had its own specific knitting pattern. As individuals the fishermen did not want to distinguish themselves, as a collective they distinguished themselves from other villages. The patterns were not written down, the women did it by heart and also varied if they liked it. The women looked at who was the best knitter and followed her example, with their own accents and variations. The sweaters are made in a simple model: the T-model. They are knitted seamlessly with four or five knitting needles. Nowadays the circular knitting pen is used for this.
Each village has its own sweater
The stitches used are knit and purl in variations and different order. The body is straight and only increases and decreases at the sleeves. The sleeves are worked in from the shoulder, so that they can be taken out from the hem. This is practical in case the elbow is worn out. The knitter can then take out half a sleeve and sew it on again. The sweaters have short necklines, sometimes with a drawstring to prevent overgrowth. Pompoms were attached to the cord to prevent overshooting. Those pompoms have been left out in the patterns.
The patterns that are knitted in are:
- cubes;
- ladder;
- lightning;
- chain;
- diamond;
- god’s eye;
- diamonds;
- herringbone;
- flags;
- waves.
God’s eye
The God’s eye is an old motif that occurs in many cultures. It’s an all-seeing eye. The eye of God appeared in the sweaters of Pernis and Urk. In IJmuiden, the motif was given a different twist: it would ensure that the men behaved properly in foreign ports.
Flags
The sweaters from Urk and Scheveningen have flag motifs. Flags were very important in fishing, because they were communicated with.
Waves
The wave motifs symbolized the waves of the sea. They come in many variations, especially in Vlaardingen sweaters.
Cheap wool
At the time, the women used cheap wool, sajet, from Texel. In the wool, the lanolin was not completely washed out, so that the wool remained shiny. The sweaters were black, dark blue, mid blue, gray or natural. The knitters who processed the patterns into sweaters for Ruhe used contemporary types of wool, because sajet is no longer available.
Provenance known
The book contains knitting patterns of fishermen’s sweaters from De Koog Texel, Den Helder, Egmond aan Zee, IJmuiden, Zandvoort, Noordwijk aan Zee, Katwijk aan Zee, Scheveningen, Pernis, Vlaardingen, Maassluis, Zwartewaal, Middelharnis, Stellendam, Goedereede-Havenhoofd, Ouddorp , Bruinisse, Brouwershaven, Tholen, Arnemuiden, Terneuzen, Terschelling, Harlingen / St. Jacobiparochie, Wierum, Paesens / Moddergat, Oostmahorn, Zoutkamp, Wieringen, Kolhorn, Enkhuizen, Volendam, Marken, Bunschoten-Spakenburg, Harderwijk, Elburg, Urk and Hindeloopen . The place of origin of the skippers was immediately recognizable by their sweaters.
Stella Ruhe
Stella Ruhe from Amsterdam was a Textile teacher and teacher supervisor for the National Pedagogical Centers. For many years she was a textile editor at the Cantecleer publishing house. She gives the digital magazine for visual education Image at Hand from. In addition, she has written many books on textile techniques. In 2012 she started her search for sweaters and patterns from forty Dutch fishing towns. She made contacts and visited archives and museums. She found dozens of largely unknown sweaters, worked out the patterns and recorded wonderful stories about fishing. The book begins with an explanation of the tradition of knitting and wearing fisherman’s sweaters. In addition, Ruhe writes about fishermen and fishing and about life ashore. An English version will also be published: Dutch Traditional Ganseys.
The book
- Stella Ruhe
- Fisherman’s jumpers from 40 Dutch fishing towns
- With 60 knitting patterns
- 2013
- ISBN 9789058779328
- ?? 24.95
Other books on fisherman’s jumpers
In 1985 Lark Books published an English book about Dutch fisherman’s sweaters. It was a book with photos and knitting patterns In 1987 Cantecleer published a booklet with old photos of Dutch fishermen, who are models for 40 patterns of fisherman’s sweaters.
Fisherman’s jumpers 2
Two years later Visserstruien 2 was published, a book about fisherman’s jumpers and with more attention to the fishing industry itself. The writer discovered 65 new historic sweaters in 52 fishing towns, including along the major rivers. The book also contains eyewitness accounts and anecdotes.
- Stella Ruhe
- Fisherman’s sweaters from 52 Dutch fishing towns, with 65 knitting patterns from newly found fisherman’s sweaters.
- 2015
- ISBN 9789462500198
- ?? 24.95