four aran jumpers
Jumpers hold an important part in my connection to my family. Amongst a number of hand knitted garments I have four Aran jumpers, all knitted by my mother. The first is one that she knitted for herself, one of a matching pair when she was first married. Because I kept borrowing it when I was a teenager she knitted one for me, she also knitted one for my sister that I now own and wear all the time during the winter months, it is the one that is oversized, big enough to pull over my knees, the yarn is polished to a shine in places and the edges are frayed, the elbows worn through, I have darned them two or three times. I have attached a couple of photos of me in my sister's Aran. She finds it too hot (she does central heating) but I like winters to be cold so that I can layer up the knitwear. It is difficult to see all the darning in the elbows as I have used a similar colour thread and use Swiss darning that follows the route of the original knitting keeping the structure and stretc
