Black Aran sweaters for men. Hard to find!

[Kilted_lion]

I have been searching for a good quality, affordable Aran sweater. I found lots of nice ones. But, for the life of me, I can't find any black ones for men. How is this possible? Any Insights, let me know please.

[Mikilt]

Hello and welcome to XMarkstheScot!

Regrettably, I do not know where to find a black Aran Sweater. Perhaps it would help if you could define "affordable". If you find one available in the UK or Ireland, are you prepared for shipping and customs?

[brewerpaul]

If you can find a nice white or ecru one you can always dye it yourself. Dyeing wool isnt very hard at all and black would be easy. I do have a black one myself I found on either ebay or shopgoodwill. Best of luck looking and welcome to Xmarks.

[ASinclair]

Hello, Kilted_lion!



If you haven't done so already, you may want to introduce yourself on the Newbies forum. I can't help with your black Aran Sweater question, but I'm sure others among the Rabble will chime in.

[room2ndfloor]

If you can find a nice white or ecru one you can always dye it yourself. Dyeing wool isnt very hard at all and black would be easy. I do have a black one myself I found on either ebay or shopgoodwill. Best of luck looking and welcome to Xmarks.

I disagree. Dyeing an aran sweater is not a do-it-yourself project, not for a beginner, anyway.

I have been dying wool for thirty years. Most aran sweaters are not dyed at all. They are wool from naturally pigmented sheep. (Ecru, light grey, brown.) The true aran wool is tricky to dye. It has a high lanolin content, which will cause the wool to resist dye penetration. The high lanolin content is a prized characteristic of this wool, because it gives some water- and wind-resistance to the wool. Every time the wool is washed, it loses some of the lanolin. So to dye aran wool, you would lose some of the wool's characteristic texture, because a wash with detergent or soap is the last step in the dyeing process.

If the wool is to be dyed, it is better done in the stage before the yarn is spun ("dyed in the wool") or when the yarn is wound into loose hanks. Spots of uneven dye penetration can be more readily corrected before the yarn is knitted.

To dye a completed knitted wool garment is to risk ruining it. For one thing, a man's sweater would require an enormous heat-proof container (two gallons or more) to allow the dye bath to flow freely. This is a container which, once used for dyeing, will not be safe to use for food preparation. The best dyes for wool are used in water heated to nearly boiling, so the dye pot must also tolerate being set onto a burner. Wherever the garment gets crowded in the dye bath, you will have the problem of uneven penetration. Thus some spots may be well-saturated with color and some less so. The characteristic stitches of the aran patterns have many twists, thread-over-thread, which trap air to make the sweater warm. These same characteristics of the stitches will make even dye penetration more difficult.

Finally, a completed knitted wool garment often has some non-wool components, such as cotton-polyester thread used to sew up the seams or to sew on buttons. Polyester or cotton (or any cellulose-based fiber) require different dyes than those used for wool. Thus, you may dye a wool sweater and have all the sewing stitches remain undyed ---- not at all attractive.

Back to the original question: why is it so hard to find an aran sweater in black? Aran sweaters are traditionally made from undyed wool. Sheep don't come in a true black, rather the darkest natural color is a very dark brown or very dark grey. Secondly, to knit by hand using black wool is very hard on the eyes. If you find an aran-styled sweater in black, it was most likely machine-knitted, which again is not traditional for an aran sweater.

I have not examined the links to the sweaters, thus I make no comment on their quality. For $100 or less, a sweater is not likely to be hand-knitted. There's fifty to a hundred hours of skilled hand labor in a man's sweater, and I hope nobody is doing that work at $2 per hour or even less. At $100 or less, the sweater has been made from machine-knitted fabric, fabric that has been cut from a bolt and sewn together. This makes a garment far less durable than one hand-knitted. Alas, I have seen sweaters sold in Ireland as "made in Ireland" which looked like the hand-knitted sweaters, but had this cheaper cut-and-sewn construction. The seams were serged to hide the cut fabric edges. "Made in an Irish Factory" would be more candid.

Look for the term "fully-fashioned" on the garment label. This means that each piece (sleeve, front, back, collar) has been knitted to shape (either by hand or by machine) with finished edges and then sewn together. A "fully-fashioned" garment will be more expensive than a garment that has been sewn from a bolt of knitted fabric. It will also be far more durable.

[unixken]

I second room2ndfloor's thoughts above, and earnestly suggest you save your pennies a while longer and opt for a fully fashioned, hand-knitted aran. I can not overstate the quality of the product you'll receive. You will be thrilled.

[Highlander31]

....I have not examined the links to the sweaters, thus I make no comment on their quality. For $100 or less, a sweater is not likely to be hand-knitted. There's fifty to a hundred hours of skilled hand labor in a man's sweater, and I hope nobody is doing that work at $2 per hour or even less. At $100 or less, the sweater has been made from machine-knitted fabric, fabric that has been cut from a bolt and sewn together. This makes a garment far less durable than one hand-knitted. Alas, I have seen sweaters sold in Ireland as "made in Ireland" which looked like the hand-knitted sweaters, but had this cheaper cut-and-sewn construction. The seams were serged to hide the cut fabric edges. "Made in an Irish Factory" would be more candid.

Look for the term "fully-fashioned" on the garment label. This means that each piece (sleeve, front, back, collar) has been knitted to shape (either by hand or by machine) with finished edges and then sewn together. A "fully-fashioned" garment will be more expensive than a garment that has been sewn from a bolt of knitted fabric. It will also be far more durable.

Here's what Scotweb says about their sweaters.

Classic style Aran knit sweater, available in range of undyed and colour yarn options.

Each sweater is knitted by a specialist Scottish knitter in their own home and in the traditional way. As a certificate of authenticity your sweater will come labeled with the knitters name and location.

We use only the best quality 100% pure new wool to ensure your garment will be a favorite for years to come......

[unixken]

That's where I got mine (shown in the photo above). Specifically, their "Moorfoot" style. The tag was signed by "Mrs. Stupart, Dundee." I still have the tag.

[Kilted_lion]

You've given me some wonderful insight into the process. Thank you. I don't mind paying for quality. I'm just not going to buy a product that isn't what I want and then try dying it. I know where I draw the line. I will pay more if the item is what I want. Would you like to knit me a sweater?

[brewerpaul]

To clarify my position there is no way I would recommend buying an expensive sweater and dyeing it. I reserve they dye for my thrift store finds. If I was to fork out over 100 bucks or more I would only buy what I truely wanted. I have stumbled accross some thrift store finds that I have used dye on, risking only the 6 bucks on the sweater. As room2ndfloor states it is difficult to get consistent results on a sweater or any garment and that the best time to dye is while it is still wool and not spun to yarn yet. You do risk dark areas and also you dont want to wash a wool sweater often. A large pot is needed to keep the sweater floating around unbunched and hope for the best. Also as stated if you have a sweater with button holes, pockets or any other possibly exposed thread they may not take dye. Reason being they are polyester so they wont dye. I found this out on a 6 dollar thick wool shawl cardigan that gets worn around the house. At least I dont have to wear the grungy white it was originally. So summing it up I do hope you find a nice sweater. I love all my wool and work hard to keep it nice,,,,, cedar chips and wood blocks included.