Aran Sweaters for the Irish

[Conroy]

Does anyone know where to obtain knitting patterns for these great sweaters?

[thanmuwa]

The whole concept of the Arran sweaters (I think it was originally Arran) was 'developed' by a man wanting something to sell to the tourists.

Nope, Arran is in Scotland, the Aran Islands (where the jumpers come from) are off the Galway coast.
For more information about the postulated origins,
http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/fas...nal/index.html

The white versions were worn for church, though incoming ministers not knowing the local ways were responsible for getting rid of it in some places as they saw it as not respectful and declared the the men should wear shirt and jacket. Its place as a garment for the groom, and for first communions, lingered on, with grandma's embarrassing their grandsons with gifts of lovingly crafted white jerseys for decades.

Not too many ministers on the Aran Islands :-) (apparently, there is the ruin of one protestant church though) though I agree about being forced to wear embarrassing jumpers as a kid, a very Irish thing!

[Nick the DSM]

those sweaters are kinda cool but i don't know if i would want to get one.

[macwilkin]

The article posted by thanmuwa makes a very interesting point about Aran Sweaters:

Contrary to popular belief, the typical cable-patterned Aran jumper is a 20th-century invention. In 1891 the government set up the Congested Districts Board to help poor families to survive unemployment and a shortage of potatoes. The Board encouraged local people to weave and knit garments to sell.

By the 20th century this cottage industry began to take off and the Board trained knitters to create complex patterns from stitches such as honeycomb, figure eight and double diamond. Instead of the dark coloured, oiled wools traditionally used to make fishermen’s jerseys, the islanders experimented with soft, thick, undyed yarn.

By the 1930s, Aran knitting was being sold to tourists from shops in cities like Dublin and it soon became known worldwide. Vogue Knitting published an Aran pattern in 1956 and the design became popular in America. Aran knitting can now be done by machine, but hand-knitted jumpers are still sought after.

I also note that it says nothing about a historical precedent for sweater patterns associated with particular surnames, only regional variations.

Interesting article; thanks for posting!

Regards,

Todd

[Dan R Porter]

This is off topic and an OLD thread, but I want to know before I buy, are those aran sweaters as itchy as they look?

[Bugbear]

I have one, Dan, and though it is not really ichy, you might want to wear a regular undershirt under it.

Here's how I got mine. My mother and step father lived in Dublin, Ireland for a few years back in the nineties. That's where my step father got it. He's a little bigger now, but he also... ran it through the washer and dryer last year. Normaly it would have arms that are several inches too long, but fit me otherwise; I have several of his suit jackets. It shrunk to the point where it is a fine lenth for the kilt and the arms are just right. It is gray and cream colored.

[Spartan]

Does anyone know where to obtain knitting patterns for these great sweaters?

This is an old question, but the thread did get bumped to the present.

My wife has picked up Aran sweater patterns at a local knitting shop. There will be one in the works for me, not that we really need one down here in Arizona, but we do go north to visit in the winter from time to time (so my wife can get her snow fix.)

[The Wizard of BC]

Wow, it's strange but I had that same link bookmarked from about three years ago with a note that they offered 6 different patterns by Irish region.

Now they seem to have expanded the list and named them.

And no, the Irish do not go by clans, but by county.

[csbdr]

Here's some books at the bottom of the page

http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.co.../Sweaters.html

Does anyone know where to obtain knitting patterns for these great sweaters?

[csbdr]

I wear a button-down shirt under mine. Merino wool ones are softer, but I have one and they pill easier.

Also, look on ebay. I've gotten somoe there searching "Aran sweater XL" You can get one easily for $50- 75. I just spent$100 and got 2, a forest green crew neck and a cream zip neck. I had purchaseed a heather grey crew for about $55 a bit ago. Like new. Just a thought....

This is off topic and an OLD thread, but I want to know before I buy, are those aran sweaters as itchy as they look?