Black Aran sweaters for men. Hard to find!

[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.

[Carson]

There's a good reason why black yarns (and other dark colors) are not usually found knitted into Aran sweaters or other heavily patterned garments. Its because the dark color absorbs the light and thus the detail of the stitch patterns is lost. Cream or other light colored wools are the most common choice because they reflect the light and the textured stitches can cast shadows giving these sweaters their signature sculptured look. Traditional Ganseys are the exception in that they are often knitted from navy colored wools. These sweaters rely on simple knit/purl combinations to create their patterning and their overall texture is much less than that of Arans. Arans use cables, plaits, and other stitch patterns which literally have groups of stitches crossing one another to create the depth that make these sweaters so distinctive. All that depth will be lost if they are knitted with a dark colored yarn. As a knitter I wouldn't want to invest the time (or money) in one that isn't going to showcase the beauty of the stitch patterns.

[MacMillans son]

I have two of these and I have found them to be quite nice. I am sure they are not hand knit, but I don't require that from a sweater. I have had them for 3-4 years with no problems at all. They are 100% British wool. They do run a bit large so I ordered the second one a full size smaller than what I would usually wear. Take a look.

http://www.woolovers.us/british-wool...n-sweater.aspx

[ASinclair]

There's a good reason why black yarns (and other dark colors) are not usually found knitted into Aran sweaters or other heavily patterned garments. Its because the dark color absorbs the light and thus the detail of the stitch patterns is lost. Cream or other light colored wools are the most common choice because they reflect the light and the textured stitches can cast shadows giving these sweaters their signature sculptured look. Traditional Ganseys are the exception in that they are often knitted from navy colored wools. These sweaters rely on simple knit/purl combinations to create their patterning and their overall texture is much less than that of Arans. Arans use cables, plaits, and other stitch patterns which literally have groups of stitches crossing one another to create the depth that make these sweaters so distinctive. All that depth will be lost if they are knitted with a dark colored yarn. As a knitter I wouldn't want to invest the time (or money) in one that isn't going to showcase the beauty of the stitch patterns.

Hello, Carson!



If you haven't already done so, you may want to introduce yourself on the Newbies forum, and thanks for this interesting post from a knitter's point of view.

[Bob C]

I get emails from this place. Might be worth a look. www.aransweatermarket.com/

[A Lenape Scot]

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.

You made me want one. I just order this one yesterday: http://www.shamrockgift.com/product/...yiqlI.facebook