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Patterns for Arans
These islands lie off the west coast of Ireland as if nothing matters. The people have lived here for centuries with only a thin covering of soil over the surface. Great use is made of the seaweed, the cattle swimming out. The women here are justly famous. They weave their own tweed and make a type of belt called criss. The heavy Atlantic seas, the slip stitch. The difficulty of the patterns are never written down. Most impressive and rich, the trellis pattern and the rope, the tribute to the hardworking bee. But sometimes their knitting shows mistakes, with a true Irish touch of nothing really matters, a careless nonchalance of the crossing of their cables. And note mistakes in the simple patterns: forked lightning or cliff paths, small fields fenced with stone, the ups and downs of married life, the mosses. The openwork has a religious significance or none. Sometimes the clarity of the pattern is lost through the use of very fine wool. Green from the mosses, brown from the seaweed, grey and cream color from the stones and pebbles: many are distinctly over-bobbled. No matter. They are too lovely to be lost. Wool and knitting leaflets can be obtained. In no case is the whole pattern given. There are certain gaps and yawns and part of the pattern is left out as if it doesn’t matter, or was too lovely, so was lost. Some of the simple patterns are charming for children’s jerseys. This one, for example, would be lovely on a child.