Hello Everyone!
It's December! This year of stitching wouldn't be complete without
cables! Cables provide interest and warmth to knitting projects. According to
dummies.com, the simple technique of cabling (crossing one group of
stitches over another) lends itself to many interpretations in knitting. It’s
easy to do; you can make all kinds of interesting and imaginative cable
patterns. All it takes is a little patience and practice. But where did cables
in knitting come from and when did it start?
According to National Geographic, History and Heritage Abound
in Traditional Irish Knits by Lisa Bosley, cable knitting was born out of
economics. According to this article, “For centuries the
beautiful and unique artwork of intertwined knots has featured in Irish culture.
By the late 1800s, these intricate patterns were being knit into sweaters
across Ireland’s numerous fishing villages. Knitters
of the Aran Islands, an archipelago of craggy islands in Galway Bay on
Ireland’s West Coast, developed a plethora of delicate patterns full of
symbolism. These knits share the history and values of the native people of
these rugged islands.” Of the intricate patterns, knitting cables were born. “Cable
stitches represent fishing ropes,
the tools of a hard worker, and come in many variations. Braided cable stitches
evoke close family ties. In the early 1900s, industrious Aran women began
knitting more sweaters to sell year-round and supplement the islands’ fishing
economy. The textured wool sweaters of the Aran Islands have become “as
tenacious an international symbol of Ireland as the harp and Shamrock,” says
historian Dierdre McQuillan.” Although cables can be found in hats, mittens,
scarves, and home goods, it looks like the first cables were knitted into those
traditional off-white Aran sweaters to keep hard working fishermen warm and to
contribute to family economics.
Of course, to be fair, there is a less romantic story
regarding the beginning of cable knitting. According to Kelborne Woolens, “There is a long and confusing
history behind cable knitting. Many say that it originated long ago on the Aran
Islands off the west coast of Ireland. This wind-swept, craggy string of rocks
in the Atlantic Ocean is the perfect romantic setting for a thick woolen knit
to take shape. Waterproof and knit tight as armor, densely knit extra thick
sweaters were woven through with distinctive patterning developed over the
generations by the women of the family. The story goes that the Aran cable
patterns were specific to each family so that the bodies of the men lost at sea
could be identified when washed ashore. A more likely, and less romantic, tale
of the origins of Aran knitting is that the sweaters were developed for tourist
trade sometime at the beginning of the 20th century. In any case, the intricate
and intertwining patterns are certainly reminiscent of the Celtic knots so
recognizable in traditional Irish imagery. These sweaters are beautiful works
of art steeped in a long knitting tradition, whatever their beginning. Most likely, these richly patterned sweaters developed
simultaneously, through co-development occurring due to the migration and
travel of fisherman all over the British Isles, Ireland, Scandinavia, and
France. The similarity between fisherman’s sweaters of these areas is plain to
see. Regional styles prevailed, through use of wool type and color, style and
complexity, but in many cases the overlaps in design are too commonplace to be
able to label any one style of sweater strictly of one place. In Britain and
France, closer to large cities knitters may have had better access to
dyestuffs, or even later on, commercial dyehouses. In other more
isolated areas, natural undyed wool colors were more common. Surely, some
version of what we call an "Aran Sweater" existed before they were
commercially popularized in the 1950's and 60's, but most likely they had more
in common with the traditional fisherman's Gansey than today's richly patterned
Aran designs. A
Gansey is a distinctive woolen sweater, originally designed to provide protection
for fishermen from wind and water but which is ideal for all outdoor activity.
The yarn used was commonly referred to as ‘Seamen’s Iron’. In
the 1950's, what we now refer to as Aran knitting was popularized in the US by
a design in a 1958 Vogue Pattern Book. This sweater, knit - but not designed by
- Elizabeth Zimmerman, started a craze for this style of sweater. The Irish
Government, recognizing an opportunity to develop a very rural part of their
country with a tourist trade, sent knitters and designers to the outlying
islands to work with the local knitters to help them produce garments of high
quality and using standard sizing methods.” These beautiful sweaters are still
popular today and may be commonly referred to as Fisherman Knit sweaters,
although the use of the word Aran is finding its way into the sweater’s
description, perhaps due to Ireland’s marketing. While both of these accounts differ in their romanticism of cable knitting, the foundation for both is the beauty of knitted cables and economics in supporting one’s family.
For our December’s projects, we have three knitted cable kits, a hat with pom pom, a shawl, and a poncho. The traditional beauty of cables is coupled with great modern twists. Our kits are available in the store for sale. And since it is the holiday season, we have several ornaments to knit as well. We have elves, a swirl ball, and baskets and baubles all waiting to be crafted and hung on your tree or wreath, or wherever you want! ‘Tis the Season!!!
Knit On! Lisa
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