The traditional Aran Mills jumper styles and weave patterns, that you can see across the range of products we offer, not only look great but also hold a lot of history of the mill and of Ireland. This style of jumper gained popularity with fishermen as the patterns represented through the jumpers weave reflected aspects of their lives and of the wild and untamed seas upon which they worked. In some Irish folklore, the weaves are said to be symbols of luck/good fortune, health and safe travel. Take a look below at what each stitch means.
Basket Stitch
The basket stitch is one of the more common stitches that can be found on Aran Mills clothing and represents a fisherman's basket filled to the brim with the day's catch, this is also known as the lattice stitch. As this suggests, the basket stitch symbolises good fortune and a successful day on the ocean.
Diamond Stitch
This stitch also has direct links to the old fishermen of Ireland, with the diamond stitch being said to look like a fisherman’s net they use for catching fish. This stitch represents wealth and prosperity so it was suggested that those fishermen who wore clothes weaved in this pattern would accumulate money from their trade.
Honeycomb Stitch
As the name suggests this stitch looks like the hexagonal pattern associated with Honeycomb which was, in folklore, a symbol of abundance. Of course all fishermen want to have an abundance of fish so they adopted this into the designs of their clothing so they could bring home a bountiful catch to their families.
Cable Stitch
Cable stitching is probably the most common and well known of the Aran Mills weaving patterns which is why you can find it on a lot of the sweaters that we sell, it can also come in multiple variations. This type of weave represents the fisherman's ropes and also symbolises safety and good luck for the fishermen.
Irish Moss Stitch
The Irish Moss stitch represents growth and fertility as it is supposed to depict carrageen moss which is a common type of seaweed found on the Irish coast and is used to fertilise land so that they can have a large and successful harvest.
Blackberry Stitch
The blackberry stitch also known as the Trinity Stitch is a stitch which is also said to represent growth but also hold religious significance and is said to symbolise that the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit are always with us when wearing this.
You can see these knitting patterns on some the items on out website which can be found below;
Men's Merino Wool Zip Neck Sweater
Ladies Merino Wool Roll Neck Sweater
Men's Merino Wool Diamond Pattern Neckwarmer
Ladies Merino Wool Large Weave Poncho
