The Aran (or Arran) is a style of jumper/sweater[1] that takes its name from the Aran Islands off the West Coast of Ireland.[2][3]
The sweaters are distinguished by their use of complex textured stitch patterns, several of which are combined in the creation of a single garment. The word choice of "jumper" or "sweater" (or indeed other options such as "pullover" and "jersey") is largely determined by the regional version of English being spoken.[1] In the case of Ireland and Britain "jumper" is the standard word with "sweater" mainly found in tourist shops. The word used in Irish Gaelic is geansaí, a gaelicization of guernsey which has been re-Anglicised to gansey in Hiberno-English.
Originally the jumpers were knitted using unscoured wool that retained its natural oils or lanolin which made the garments water-resistant and meant they remained wearable even when wet. It was primarily the wives of Island fishermen who knitted the jumpers.
Some stitch patterns have a traditional interpretation often of religious significance. The honeycomb is a symbol of the hard-working bee. The cable, an integral part of the fisherman's daily life, is said to be a wish for safety and good luck when fishing. The diamond is a wish of success wealth and treasure. The basket stitch represents the fisherman's basket, a hope for a plentiful catch.
Characteristics
Traditionally an Aran jumper is made from undyed cream-coloured báinín (pronounced "bawneen"), a yarn made from sheep's wool, sometimes "black-sheep" wool. They were originally made with unwashed wool that still contained natural sheep lanolin, making it to an extent water-repellent. Up to the 1970s the island women spun their own yarn on spinning wheels.
The jumper usually features 4–6 texture patterns each of which is about 5-10 cm (2–4 in) in width, that move down the sweater in columns from top to bottom. Usually the patterns are symmetrical to a centre axis extending down the centre of the front and back panel. The patterns also usually extend down the sleeves as well. The same textured knitting are also used to make socks, hats, vests and even skirts.
History of Aran
There is debate about when island residents first started making the jumpers. Some have suggested that the jumper is an ancient design that has been used on the island for hundreds of years.[4][5] Proponents of this theory often point to a picture in the Book of Kells that appears to depict an ancient "Aran jumper".[6] Also, many megaliths around Europe depict similar patterns to those used in the knitting, which are carved into the stone, and date back several thousand years. However it is more likely that the knitting stitches were modelled on these than that they evolved contemporaneously.
Most historians agree[7] that far from being an ancient craft, Aran knitting was invented as recently as the early 1900s by a small group of enterprising island women, with the intention of creating garments not just for their families to wear but which could be sold as a source of income.
The first Aran knitting patterns were published in the 1940s by Patons of England. Vogue magazine carried articles on the garment in the 1950s, and jumper exports from the west of Ireland to the United States began in the early 1950s.
The development of the export trade during the 1950s and 1960s took place after P.A. Ó Síocháin organised an instructor, with the help of a grant from the Congested Districts Board for Ireland, to go to the islands and teach the knitters how to make garments to standard international sizings. He commissioned the Irish artist Seán Keating, who had spent much time on the islands, to design and illustrate marketing brochures. Knitting became an important part of the island's economy and during the 1960s, even with all available knitters recruited from the three islands and from other parts of Ireland he had difficulty in fulfilling orders from around the world.
Myths about Aran jumpers
Aran jumpers are often sold as a "fisherman sweater", suggesting that the jumper was traditionally used by the islands' famous fishermen. It is sometimes said that each fisherman (or their family) had a jumper with a unique design, so that if he drowned and was found maybe weeks later on the beach, his body could be identified. There is no record of any such event ever taking place, nor is there any evidence to support there being a systematic tradition of family patterns.
This misconception may have originated with J.M. Synge's 1904 play Riders to the Sea, in which the body of a dead fisherman is identified by the hand-knitted stitches on one of his garments. However, even in the play there is no reference to any decorative or Aran type pattern. The garment referred to is a plain stocking and it is identified by the number of stitches, the quote being "it's the second one of the third pair I knitted, and I put up three score stitches, and I dropped four of them".
There is also some doubt about whether Aran jumpers were ever widely used by fishermen and many argue that the original jumpers with their untreated yarn would not have been suitable for this use. They were quite thick and stiff, which would probably restrict the movements of a fisherman. On the other hand these garments were the only form of hardy clothing they had to weather the Atlantic Ocean storms in. Islanders can be seen wearing them in photographs taken early in the twentieth century.
Clan Aran patterns
Arising from the myth above is a widely believed misconception that Aran patterns have clan associations. The idea of clan Aran sweaters has widespread appeal to the Irish diaspora and is often used as a marketing tool. Most research concludes that there is no definitive evidence to support the concept of clan patterns, though it is possible that variations in design may have occurred in different families and regions. Anecdotal evidence varies on this point with some older knitters saying that family patterns existed and others denying it.
Aran production today
While in the past the majority of jumpers and other Aran garments were knit by hand, today the majority of items on sale in Ireland and elsewhere are either machine knit or produced on a hand loom. There are very few people still knitting jumpers by hand on a commercial basis.
Machine knit jumpers tend to use finer wool and have less complex patterns, since many of the traditional stitches cannot be reproduced this way. They are the least expensive option. Hand looming allows more complicated stitches to be used, will have more stitches to the inch and be thicker. The best quality hand loomed sweaters are almost indistinguishable from hand knit. Hand knit jumpers tend to be more tightly knit, to have more complex stitch patterns and to be longer lasting and they attract a significant price premium. By holding them up to light the difference between the machine knit and hand knit is evident.
