NYCO Gansey

I bet that Christmas Sweater still brings joy to someone. A well knit
sweater is a joy forever.

Again, there are Arans and there are Arans. Many of Gladys Thompson's sample
Arans were knit at 7 stitches per inch out of Aran weight yarn with 9 or 11
stitch panels front and back. (18 or 22 columns of stitch work the body). A
sweater of that tightness is just about the right weight to wear sledding on
Christmas day. Knitting cables and traveling stitches that tight is some
effort. That is a bit different from modern Aran patterns which are knit
more loosely and do not have as many stitch panels.

Me? I have done a few 12" by 9" (10,000 stitches) swatches of GT's Aran
fabrics. Enough to REALLY respect anyone that has done a full sweater. On
the other hand, there seems to be 10 skeins of Aran yarn spun in Scotland
that simply will not stay in the stash and seems to keep appearing on my
desk. . . . . No, it was a cheap yarn and is not worth that much labor ....
It is fairly soft and uniform with no veg matter. No, it was a cheap yarn
and is not worth that much labor.. . . . . But, I respect the Buddhist monks
that rake sand into intricate patterns. . . . What would be the difference?

Aaron

"Richard Eney" wrote in message
...
In article , Shillelagh
wrote:
"Katherine" wrote

When I used to knit them, Aaron, it would take me about six weeks to
knit an adult size. I would knit while my son was napping and for a
couple of hours after he went to bed.

Wow. The one and only Aran I've ever done took me months to complete,
even
with me making sure to do some of it every day. The sweater turned out
very
well and I'm very proud of it. I made it as a Christmas gift for my DIL
and
she loves it too.

Aaron is talking about guernseys, not Aran patterned sweaters, and
Katherine
is addressing Aaron... or have I missed a joke?

I knit an Aran style sweater in about six or seven weeks once, but I was
in college and did quite a lot of the knitting during Christmas vacation
when I literally had all day to knit.

=Tamar

"Richard Eney" wrote in message
...

Aaron is talking about guernseys, not Aran patterned sweaters, and
Katherine
is addressing Aaron... or have I missed a joke?

Nah, I'm just out to lunch. Some days what I read doesn't process well.
Or I could have posted at 3 in the morning. (shrug)

Shelagh

I knit an Aran style sweater in about six or seven weeks once, but I was
in college and did quite a lot of the knitting during Christmas vacation
when I literally had all day to knit.

=Tamar

In article ,
wrote:
snip

there seems to be 10 skeins of Aran yarn spun in Scotland that
simply will not stay in the stash and seems to keep appearing on my
desk.... No, it was a cheap yarn and is not worth that much labor ....
It is fairly soft and uniform with no veg matter. No, it was a cheap yarn
and is not worth that much labor...... But, I respect the Buddhist monks
that rake sand into intricate patterns.... What would be the difference?

Aaron

It isn't what the yarn cost, it's the quality of the yarn. Would knitting
it at the proper tension make it into a good fabric? If so, I'd say do it.

=Tamar