Yarn-spinning
While I was researching this topic, I’ve often asked the question, “What’s the truth?” and received the reply, “Well, it depends on who you ask!” That has never sat well with me. There are actual factual truths and I really wanted to know them if they could be known!
The Irish are known to be gifted storytellers or “yarn-spinners” you could say! The rugged beauty and ancient history of the Aran Islands and the complexity of the stitches used in Aran knitting all lend themselves well to folklore, myths, and plain old good stories. People—Irish or not—love a good story. We love romantic myths, and we love to find deep meaning wherever we can. Here, we’ll examine a few popular stories which may confirm that, as Proinsias Mac Cana wrote about the ancient Celts, the Aran sweaters have “undoubtedly been colored by … romanticism with its susceptibility to mist, magic, and melancholy.”
Claim 1: Authentic Aran sweaters are made from “Aran wool” obtained from the fleece of sheep who are raised on the Aran Islands and is spun into yarn there by islanders.
It is rare to find this, and the topic of Aran wool is a complicated one. There are still a small number of sheep being raised on the islands for this purpose, and you can obtain some yarn or hand-loomed garments here, for example. This artisan does report that a percentage of her wool is from sheep raised on the mainland, which is completely understandable, as we will see. The Aran Islands are not teaming with free-range mountain sheep, as I read in a recent article.
Most non-Irish sellers of “Aran wool” yarn are using some deceptive language, perhaps using to to describe “Aran weight” yarn, also known as 10-ply or heavy worsted-weight, heavier than worsted weight but lighter than bulky weight. I have also seen just plain worsted weight called “Aran,” presumably because it was cream colored.
Some off-island Irish sellers may use the term to mean the yarn comes from the fleece of Galway sheep raised elsewhere in Ireland. I believe this can be considered “authentic” Aran wool, as knitters on the islands are also known to use this.
As outside demand for Aran sweaters rose, the heavy, undyed wool initially used in knitting the sweaters was mostly sourced from white lowland sheep that were abundant around Galway, Mayo, and Roscommon. Known as “the white sheep,” they have become the only breed of sheep to be formally recognized as native Irish sheep, called “The Galway Sheep.” Sadly, in the early 20th Century, The Galway almost became extinct, a fate that was prevented by the efforts of the Galway Sheep Breeders Association. The Galway is still a rare breed and the organization and others such as organic farmer, agricultural innovator, and co-founder of the Galway Wool Co-op, Blátnaid Gallagher, are working to conserve it.
Today, Merino wool, imported from Australia and/or China, is most commonly used to knit the sweaters – yes -even by the women hand-knitting or hand-looming on the island. It is a softer wool and more suited to people’s tastes in the texture of garments.
It is possible, if you are very determined, to find a sweater hand-knit by an Aran Island resident from the wool of Galway sheep raised on the island. But be prepared to pay dearly for it. I am certain that if I were to meet a lady on Inis Mór who had hand-knit a sweater from Galway wool raised on the mainland, or even from Merino wool, I would not scoff and call it inauthentic. I would buy the sweater and value it as the treasure it is!
Verdict: Mostly Fiction – mixed fact and fiction
Claim 2: Family patterns were developed so that a drowned fisherman could be identified by his family’s sweater pattern.
While this claim is repeated over and over again, I have been unable to find real evidence of one single report from an Aran Island fishing family of this ever having actually happened, let alone being the very purpose of the sweaters’ patterns as some have claimed.
It appears this idea was from a short one act play by J.M. Synge called Riders to the Sea. In it, a young fisherman’s body is identified by his sister due to four dropped stitches in a stocking she had knit for her brother: “It’s the second one of the third pair I knitted, and I put up three score stitches, and I dropped four of them.”
This somehow developed into the lore of the sweater ID – that each family had a unique combination of stitches passed down from generation to generation. Great sad story that those who are attached to melancholy would love, so why not run with it? Heinz Edgar Kiewe (you can read more about him here and here ) did just that in his 1969/71 self-published book, “The Sacred History of Knitting,” filled with wild conjecture and dubious “research.”
I suspect that this myth may have led to the birth of the next one.
Verdict: Fiction (Literally!)
Claim 3: Each Irish Clan had a family knitting pattern. Those patterns have been painstakingly researched and you can now buy an item made in your own clan’s pattern.
This answer is going to disappoint a lot of people. As we have already established, the Aran sweater was developed at the turn of the nineteenth century. The clan system in Ireland died out in Ireland by 1691. A manufacturer’s website states, “Over the years, in line with ancient Irish folklore, many Clans adopted the Aran Sweater as the ultimate Clan symbol. Historically these patterns were safeguarded within families and passed down from generation to generation.” This fantastically successful marketing ploy is aimed at selling sweaters to tourists or other people of Irish ancestry who are seeking a connection to their family’s past. There is no evidence at all that there were clan-specific knitting patterns.
I know many of us really want to believe that back in the 1500s, Nuala Ó Scolaidhe in Laois and her 4th cousin thrice removed, Gráinne Ó Scolaidhe in Tipperary somehow managed to compare stitches to be sure they were getting the family pattern correct and then spread the word to relatives in Cork and Offaly. It would be lovely to believe that the multitude of their relations passed down this specific pattern from generation to generation, until the pattern was finally lost. That is, until a certain modern manufacturer “researched” it and found it! But do we really want to shun logic so much as to believe that the women on the Aran Islands at the mouth of Galway Bay taught these 16th century women how to make the complex stitches that they, themselves, would not learn and/or develop until the 1890s? You see the problem. I reluctantly applaud the company for their creative and successful marketing. Caveat emptor, I suppose.
If you can’t find a pattern named “O’Bannon”, don’t put other other unrelated artisans in an uncomfortable position asking them to help you find it (and likely embarrass yourself in the process.) Just know that you can’t find it because only one manufactureer makes this claim and they haven’t designed it yet. Pick a beautiful pattern you like, perhaps one created by that artisan who you might have asked for help finding someone else’s mass-marketed and produced work. You can call the pattern “O’Bannon” as easily as that other manufacturer, who is “fond of spinning yarns,” called its similar pattern “Doyle;” moreover, just as accurately. OK, I’ll just say it. ClanAran is a trademark for marketing purposes, not a historical pattern library. They certainly have some beautiful patterns though!
Verdict: Fiction
Claim 4: True Aran Sweaters are waterproof.
Fisherman’s sweaters were originally made with unscoured, lanolin-heavy, raw wool, called “greasy wool.” This did give the sweaters some water resistance, which was a handy feature for the fishermen! It also made the sweaters heavy, and it made them smell like sheep. It is very likely not a sweater that you would choose to buy today to wear to Christmas dinner. Although you can find garments here and there made from unprocessed, raw, and washed, greasy wool, today’s “true Aran sweaters” are generally made from Merino wool, or, as I explained above, scoured & washed wool from the Galway sheep. They are not waterproof.
Verdict: Mixed fact and fiction
Claim 5: Aran sweaters are ancient Celtic designs.
As explained in detail in Aran Islands and Aran Sweaters Part 1, the sweater’s origin dates to 1890s-1900s.
The earliest known claim of this “ancient” origin was made by Heinz Edgar Kiewe (there he is again!) in his 1967/71 self-published book, The Sacred History of Knitting, He claimed that the complex cable stitch designs could be found on ancient Celtic knots carved in stone, and even in the Book of Kells, written about 800 CE! Looking at the photos, you can certainly see Celtic knot designs, but I think his association with Aran knitting stitches is quite a stretch! Especially since knitting is believed to have been introduced in Ireland much later, in the 17th century. Kiewe’s claims have not been considered credible by historians. While he appears to have been an effective marketer, he was no historian.
Verdict: Fiction.
Claim 6: Each stitch used in Aran sweaters has deep meaning and symbolism.
I have not yet been able to dig deeply enough into the history of the stitches themselves to know this one way or the other. I suspect that the stitches were made and then, upon looking at it, someone said, “We’ll call this a trellis stitch because it resembles one.” At some point, someone said, “Well, that trellis stitch kind of reminds me of the way the fields are laid out on the island!” or “This lattice stitch really reminds one of a fisherman’s net, doesn’t it?”
Much of the claimed religious symbolism in the stitiches may be, yet again, a product of Heinz Edgar Kiewe’s supposition; however I can’t rule out that some of that symbolism may be true.
Even if the stitches were not inspired by nature and religion, which is probably likely of many of them, as most were not named for the thing they are said to symbolize, they have, over time, come to be seen as symbols. Once someone attaches symbolism to an object, that object becomes a symbol to that person, and no one can change that.
The stitches have certainly developed a language of symbolism, but whether the knitters themselves were speaking that language, I don’t know. The remaining question is where, when, and how did the symbols originate? We know only that a variety of people see the symbols in the stitches today. That requires more research. Maybe someday I’ll find that answer and share it!
Verdict: True (more or less) but of undetermined origin
I’m sure there are many more claims about the Aran sweaters that I either haven’t heard or simply didn’t remember to research. If you know of one that I didn’t address, or have more information about something I did, please share it in the comments so maybe we can get to the bottom if it!
Thanks for reading!
NEXT: Part 3. – Authenticity – How do I know if I’m getting an authentic sweater?
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