Aran Sweaters

[Paul Henry]

I'm, not sure that it matters what the pattern represent, eg, fisherman's ropes/fields of barley/blackberries/honeycomb etc, but the fact remains that they are made up!
If we chose to make a "myth" out of them so be it.

What exactly makes your jumper a "murphy"? sorry not meaning to pick on you, just curious!

When I was taken as a child to visit all sorts of family friends, many of whom knitted,I was shown the different patterns , some of the knitters liked doing some stitches and not others, so in a sense that created a style belonging to them,but hardly a clan!

[porrick]

I'm, not sure that it matters what the pattern represent, eg, fisherman's ropes/fields of barley/blackberries/honeycomb etc, but the fact remains that they are made up!
If we chose to make a "myth" out of them so be it.

What exactly makes your jumper a "murphy"? sorry not meaning to pick on you, just curious!

When I was taken as a child to visit all sorts of family friends, many of whom knitted,I was shown the different patterns , some of the knitters liked doing some stitches and not others, so in a sense that created a style belonging to them,but hardly a clan!

That is where the myth comes in, I guess. As far as I have gathered, somebody - don't know who - have systematized different patterns by giving them Irish family names. One could probably have named them "pattern 1, pattern 2" etc (?!?) Probably much of the romantic drive that has named so many tartans on differing isles

I am not particularly updated on the history of the Aran sweater, but I like the names given to the various patterns. Clan? Well... if one reads it as e.g. "pattern named after a Murphy family" I think we should be getting somewhere

The men in our family have had the same pattern Aran for four generations, and for us it has certainly become a "clan Murphy" thing in a modern context. We have been three generations wearing our sweaters at the same time (7 of us), and that certainly gave others something to identify us by.

My 2 cents is that the Aran sweater is of an outstanding quality, and I haven't seen any others similiar that I would rather have.

My appologies for rambling on - concluding with: it's a darn fine sweater, and if family and friends associate Patrick Murphy with his (Murphy) Aran and kilt, all the better.

[porrick]

sorry not meaning to pick on you...

Never even considered it as such