Highlights: Learning the Ancient Craft of Aran Knitting

There are several experiences I have had in Northern Ireland that I never would have had in the U.S. One of the experiences happened recently when Fiona, a friend from church, came over to teach me some Aran (pronounced “air-in”) patterns which would be used in an Aran jumper (aka, sweater).

Aran jumpers are unique to Ireland. They originally came from the Aran Isles which are located off the west coast of the Republic of Ireland, and became adopted throughout the Emerald Isle by fishermen. The jumpers became popular amongst fishermen for a few reasons. Two of the reasons are because (a) they were made out of raw wool which still had its natural oils and thus making it water repellant (important for a jumper worn by sea faring fishermen) and (b) each fishing family retained its own distinct Aran jumper pattern and so if a fisherman met an untimely death and drowned in the sea, when found the pattern on his jumper would identify from which family he came. (Fiona married into the Doherty-pronounced “Dockerty”- family, which according to her husband actually has its own Aran pattern stitch.)

Fiona admitted to me that there is no “easy” Aran stitch to learn, and luckily for me she was a very patient teacher. The first thing I learned was that there is an additional needle I would need: a “cable needle” to hold some of the stitches while I would knit and purl and end up twisting the stitches into a specific design. Sitting next to Fiona and copying her knit for knit and purl for purl and slip stitch for slip stitch, I was struck by the history that I was partaking in. For generations, long before the island of Ireland was divided into two countries for religious reasons, women made these wearable stories for their men; here I sat, in the 21^st century next to someone who had distant roots to these knitters and was able to learn a few of the patterns of this ancient craft. It was definitely a “pinch me” moment. Fiona revealed to me that about fifty years ago, one could purchase a hand knit Aran jumper for right around £10 ($16). However, now because Aran jumpers have become popularized amongst American tourists, the price is now around £80-£90 ($127-$144). She said that a machine knit Aran jumper would not run that much money, but she said you would be able to tell the difference. When I asked her what the difference would be she hesitated, and then said “Well, I guess it would be the difference between how you are knitting the stitches right now and how I am” (she also has about fifty-five years of experience on me). After spending over three hours at our house, she left me on loan with one of her knitting books, one of the “magic” (her words) cable needles, and a ball of real Aran wool with which to practice my stitch patterns. She also gifted me a book titled “What to Knit When You are Expecting” which contains some pretty cute project ideas. After a few days my stitches had already improved (see pictures). I popped into the “Pins & Needles” club at our church to show Fiona my improvements (granted there was a dropped stitch at the top of my sample), and she gasped and said “Did you do that?” in disbelief. I beamed with pride knowing that I left my teacher speechless. Now I have to just keep practicing the stitch patterns, hoping to get better in the 8 weeks of free time I have left before our “little adventure” arrives. I better get knitting…