A sweet shoulder bag inspired by the fisherman’s ganseys of Scotland, Anstruther works as a sturdy project bag for your WIPS or to carry any of your other treasures…

Developed as a teaching tool for a class on British fishermen’s knits, it can be knitted as is or used as a springboard for playing with your own combinations of the wonderful motifs found in British gansey and Aran knitting on the front and back panels.

Lined with fabric to add structure and shape, Anstruther is knitted using a hybrid seamless method, with the base and strap worked flat and the body in the round. It’s a lovely, detail-oriented project, not to be rushed but to be enjoyed!

A note on yarn selection for Anstruther: In order to make the knits and purls pop, this type of gansey pattern is traditionally worked at a tight tension and in smooth, worsted-spun yarns. Woollen-spun or more textured yarns will result in softer, less defined patterning so, if you choose this type of yarn, consider using a heavier weight (such as a DK or light worsted) on the same needle as the denser knit will give you better stitch definition. Although Moeke Elena is a woolly, textured yarn, the fact that it is a tightly-spun single means that it has great stitch definition.