Aran Sweaters

Assalamu ‘alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh : السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته 

(May the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you)

These two Aran sweaters was made for Mohammad and Lulu. I used my friends at the office as model to take the picture of the sweaters.

 

Mohammad's Sweater

Model : Bram

Lulu's Sweater

Model: Yuli

Description:

- Mohammad's Sweater - this sweater worked in traditional Aran stitches with polo neckline. The pattern was taken from book name; "Creative art of Knitting" by Joan Fisher, published by The Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd 1974. I bought the book (second hand book) long time ago (on 19 Nov 1984) at book sales in IKIP Jakarta University (The price was IDR 4000). I bought the book just because I loved handcraft and in this book I saw a beautiful picture of "bedroom bootees". It looked so easy to make. So, I thought I would be able to make it, however, until I write this I never had a chance to make it. To be honest, at that time I was completely blind about knitting, I even never seen the real knitting needles. I only knew simple crochet learned from my mom. My other reason to buy the book because the price was so cheap and the condition of the book was still perfect (like new book).

Suddenly in early 2005, I was so eager to learn knitting. I wanted to make a sweater for Mohammad. By only had 2 pairs of knitting needles that were given by my friend from Japan (no 8 and 7) and 2 books, I started the project. 
First I read the book very carefully because I still didn't know anything about knit and the abbreviations used in the pattern. I had to open the books and dictionary back and forth many times. And then I practiced it with yarn that I had. At the beginning I practiced knit and purl stitches, it was so hard for me. My brain just could not coordinate between my right hand and left hand in running the needles and yarn. My hand held the needles so tight because so slippery. For awhile the muscles in my palms and arms were so uptight. I almost gave up and did not know to whom I should asked because I didn't know anyone that could knit or crochet. I stopped learning to knit for few weeks because the abbreviations were used in the patterns and the  two slippery straight needles were driving me crazy. 
I thought it was so impossible that two straight needle could picked up the yarn. I also thought, why should someone invented this way.

After awhile I opened the book again and looked at the picture of Aran Sweater, it really challenged me again and gave me the spirit to learn one more time. 
First I took very deep breath and started to read the book carefully and practiced how to knit and purl. In awhile I got the logic and understood, so I decided to make a sweater used a simple motif for myself before started to make the Aran sweater. Slowly but sure I could finished the sweater.

Next, right away I practiced how to do the cable knitting. At that time I still did not have cable needle and stitch holder, so I used the knitting needle to replace the cable needle when making the cable stitches, it was so hard. After I understood the way to make the cable stitches, I bought the cable needles, stitch holder and also the 100% wool blue yarns for the Aran sweater. The yarn name was Sirdar Classical Pure Wool Double Crepe, Pure New Merino Wool .It took me about 3 months to finished it. I was really proud of myself because finally I could make an Aran Sweater by only learned from two books. I felt it was a miracle for me. Too bad I did not think to take any picture for each step I learned knitting. This Mohammad's sweater was my  very first cable knitting lesson and  project.
Before I sent the sweater to Mohammad as his birthday present, I asked my friend as model to take the picture of the sweater.

- Lulu's Sweater - For this sweater I used the pattern of Fishermen's Sweater from book name "The Bantam Step-by-Step Book of Needle Craft" by Judy Brittain, published by Bantam Books Inc, edition 1985.(price was USD 19.95) I bought the book in Tallahassee, USA in 1988. I decided to make this sweater because I could not just make sweater for Mohammad without made one for Lulu too. I had to be equal between them. I love them very much. I bought the same yarn as Mohammad sweater but in different color, it was red.  It took me about 5 months to make this one. I had to stop in the middle of the project because I run out of the yarn and in the store also run out of stock. At that time I only knew one store that sold knitting yarn which was in Pasar Raya Blok M. So I had to wait for more than a month to get the same color and type of yarn. Finally the sweater done in early November 2005. This sweater was my second cable knitting project.

The original color of Fishermen's Sweater was natural cream or gray but I chose red because it was Lulu's favorite color. This time I had no problem and no stress to make the Aran Sweater because I had the experience already, although, I still could not make it fast because I am not the expert in knitting. So it took me about 3 month to make it. I used the same type of yarn as Mohammad's Sweater.

Here I also attached the the pictures of the original Aran Sweaters from each books to compare between what I made and the original.

Scanned copy from  "Creative art of Knitting" Book

Scanned copy from "The Bantam Step-by-Step Book of Needle Craft" Book

These was short story behind the Aran Sweater of Mohammad & Lulu.

My lesson from these: "Once you get the logic of it you can make and create anything"