Irish Fisherman's Sweater

[dhermann1]

I have an Irish Fisherman's sweater, cardigan, that my mother brought back from Ireland around 1976. Unfortunately, she dry cleaned it almost as soon as she got home, thus destroying the natural lanolin treatment on the wool. It has never fit me, and I want to give it away. But I'd like to know if there's any treatment I can give it that might refresh the wool. It's sort of yellowed and slightly brittlish. Still warm, but not as soft as it originally was. Any suggestions?

 

[Alan Eardley]

The originals had to be re-oiled regulary - the lanolin would wash out over time. You need some lanolin (sheep oil). Get it on your hands and rub it into the wool until it is absorbed. Women used to do this as it softens the skin.

Alan

 

[Sonero]

Does anyone know of a website that sells heavy duty fisherman sweaters ? I like the SchottNYC blended versions very much but they don't have many on sale right now. My past experiences with Aran sweaters were "meh". I thought they fit too loose and stretched too much.

I like the Schott idea of synthetic and wool for durability .

Thank You

 

[Peacoat]

Does anyone know of a website that sells heavy duty fisherman sweaters ? I like the SchottNYC blended versions very much but they don't have many on sale right now. My past experiences with Aran sweaters were "meh". I thought they fit too loose and stretched too much.

I like the Schott idea of synthetic and wool for durability .

Thank You

Here are two search threads, while not exactly Irish Fisherman sweaters, are warm sweaters. Maybe you can find what you want in one of the threads. Also the RAF roll neck sweaters are warm. There are threads about them which can be found using the search feature using that term.

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/search/26170051/?q=Irish+fisherman+sweaters&o=relevance

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/search/26169986/?q=wooly+pully+sweaters&o=relevance

 

[Turnip]

Maybe Paul&Shark might be worth a look.

Edith: The uniform sweaters I wore serving the German Navy about 30 years ago have already been specified to be produced from a 80/20 mix. These are still the standard Navy sweaters so should be available at the usual suspects for a small price tag.

Cheers

Turnip

 

[Sonero]

Maybe Paul&Shark might be worth a look.

Edith: The uniform sweaters I wore serving the German Navy about 30 years ago have already been specified to be produced from a 80/20 mix. These are still the standard Navy sweaters so should be available at the usual suspects for a small price tag.

Cheers

Turnip

Paul and Shark look great as does North Sea Clothing but prices are too extreme for me. I am in the $100/130 range.

 

[Peacoat]

This may be what you are looking for:

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/fishermens-sweaters-site.52133/

 

[Turnip]

By the way,

this is what a "Submariner" from Aero looks like...maybe these might be considerable.

Cheers

Turnip

 

[Peacoat]

The Submariner, as posted by Turnip above, is beginning to turn my head. Here is the Aero link. At 110 pounds plus shipping, plus customs, it might be pushing the upper limit of what you want to spend.

http://www.aeroleatherclothing.com/product-detail.php?id=3338

 

[M Brown]

Aran Sweater Market
https://www.aransweatermarket.com/gents-sweaters

darned fine sweaters.

 

[Edward]

For the genuine article, https://www.carrollsirishgifts.com/ is also an option. You'd have to factor in the shipping costs, but you might come out ahead depending on how strong the Euro is against the dollar (if you can buy in pounds to dollars, the pound sterling being at historical lows in recent years, this might help).

The Aran sweater market looks pretty impressive as an option too - prices are good if it's decent wool.

Anything much south of GBP150, mind, is likely ot be machine knit given the complexity of these. That said, unless you paticularly want the intangible element of authenticity that hand knitting brings, it's not typically obvious when worn which it is. Good quality, pure Irish wool will push the price up too (I have an all-cotton, machine knit version from Sainsbury's TU line last year that cost me about £20, and it's very nice).

I know a little about these having grown up in Northern Ireland with my grandmother on one side knitting a lot of this stuf when she was still able - my brother's kids are now wearing some of the pieces she made for us and that we wore heavily thirty to forty odd years ago.

The basic concept goes way back, though recognised Aran patterns as we know them now seem first to be recorded in the early 30s. There's some dispute as to what is and what is not mythology: I remember my grandmother telling us the story about drowned sailors being identified by their family sweater patterns down the West Coast, though some academics will tell you that's a romantic myth. Similar for the supposed meanings of the patterns themselves. It's not unlike many Scottish tartans that date to the period after the lifting of the post-Highland Clearances ban on tartans and the wearing of the kilt (except government tartan, by those prepared to join the Scottish regiments of the British army) were lifted. Some of it's legit, some of it's blatantly made up, some of it's a romantic story told to tourists so often we've come to believe it because we want to...

The most traditional colour is the natural, off-white, but they were also known to be made in navy, green, and a burgundy-plum type colour. These days that will of course come from man-made dyes (I've even seen an Aran sweater in black, which was pretty cool), but as with all knitwear in Ireland going back to the early 1800s and before, the traditional colours reflect those produced from naturally occurring, local plants - blackberries being a common one for the purply-burgundy shade.

I've long had an affection for the Aran style, in large part as they're arguably one of the closest things we have to a genuinely Irish ethnic 'costume', as well, of course, as the connection to my own grandmother making them decades ago. For many years in Northern Ireland at least they were seen as geeky and naff, associated with twee folk nights and tourist tat (not that tourists from abroad were all that common for most of my lifetime prior to the Good Friay Agreement and, arguably more importantly, Game of Thrones). It's nice to see in recent years them starting to become seen as quite stylish. I'm actually tempted to see if I can find some sleeveless, V-neck examples for wearing under a Donegal Tweed blazer....

 

[Sonero]

Aran Sweater Market
https://www.aransweatermarket.com/gents-sweaters

darned fine sweaters.

I haven't had any luck with these although I enjoy the look. I found them to be too loosely knit and they stretch out too much after light use. SchottNYC actually has some very nice blended models which last and fit me better.

I have a US Navy submariner looking wool sweater as well. I was looking for something in a dark grey.

This is a Schott that they WON'T be making anymore:

 

[ChazfromCali]

Aran Sweater Market
https://www.aransweatermarket.com/gents-sweaters

darned fine sweaters.

Thanks for that link!
There's a few of those I'm really liking. Prices are reasonable too. Sweater weather will be here soon, I hope ;-)

 

[Sonero]

Thanks for that link!
There's a few of those I'm really liking. Prices are reasonable too. Sweater weather will be here soon, I hope ;-)

Read some reviews first. Sizes tend to run very large and they stretch a lot. You may want to consider the same style but in a mixed blend. SchottNYC has some very nice ones at times. They just sent me an email stating their fall line will be online by the end of September but I would look around Labor Day.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Outdoor Knitwear, GrandPrix/Moterlegends and Sou'west Chunkies in the UK may be worth a try, I have bought bug heavy wool sweaters from these suppliers and they are all excellent. Guernseys are also worth checking out. There are threads on this web site about all of these.

 

[Turnip]

Bretonic fisherman´s jumpers, sweaters, knitwear, pea coats...could be found at Armor Lux. Just click on the fat marked link.

All Made In France and excellent quality at reasonable prices. Maybe possibly worth a look too.

Cheers

Turnip

 

[Sonero]

Outdoor Knitwear, GrandPric/Moterlegends and Sou'west Chunkies in the UK may be worth a try, I have bought bug heavy wool sweaters from these suppliers and they are all excellent. Guernseys are also worth checking out. There are threads on this web site about all of these.

Does Sou West Chunkies have a website ? I can't seem to find it.

 

[Peacoat]

Does Sou West Chunkies have a website ? I can't seem to find it.

They used to have one, but I couldn't find it this time around. Below is Peter's email address. He is the owner. Shoot him an email and ask about his website.

peter@souwestchunkies.com

And here is a link to the Southwest Chunkies thread, which you may have already found.

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/souwest-chunkies-sweaters.92069/

 

[Sonero]

They used to have one, but I couldn't find it this time around. Below is Peter's email address. He is the owner. Shoot him an email and ask about his website.

peter@souwestchunkies.com

And here is a link to the Southwest Chunkies thread, which you may have already found.

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/souwest-chunkies-sweaters.92069/

Thank You. I just sent Peter an email.

 

[Sonero]

I would also like to remind people of this website. I ordered from them before when I was heavier and they had wonderful sweaters at reasonable prices.

https://www.channeljumper.com