Aran Sweaters for the Irish

[beloitpiper]

Funny thing about the sweaters is that it is more an American thing than an Irish thing. All of my Irish friend (In Ireland) have trouble understanding the wooley thing they say that they are not that common in Ireland. Much like corn beef and cabbage it is a irish-american thing. I do love then though.

Well, they're not worn in Ireland any more. Back in the 20's all the way to the 70's (maybe 80's?) they were worn around Galway.

[piperdbh]

I plan to make myself one of these sweaters out of my much-mentioned llama wool yarn. It's naturally white and really soft.

As far as perpetuating a myth goes, it is true that the "Clan Sweater" is a recent invention, but what if the chief of a particular clan authorized one particular sweater pattern to be the "official" sweater of that clan? Wouldn't that make it just as much a clan symbol as our tartans and cap badges? I don't kow if any chiefs have done this, but it would be interesting to know.

I remember seeing a comedy skit once about some folks who were "reading" a sweater that had washed up on shore. They "read" the story of cables out loud, just like Timmy could translate Lassie's barks and the brothers could interpret Flipper's clicks and squeaks. I'm not doing it justice describing it, but I remember it as being terribly funny.