Textured knitting

Just as the two-color knitting on which we have been working creates a thicker, and therefore, warmer fabric that is good for the cold climates in which it is often used, so too does the addition of texture create a thicker, warmer knit. In two-color knitting the strand that is not being knit is carried across the back until it is needed on the front, except in Armenian knitting where the strand is trapped in the knitting every few stitches allowing the carried color to be seen through the front. Armenian knitting, as described by Swansen & Williams, may not have developed in Armenia, but it was used by the Armenian immigrant hired by Elsa Schiarapelli to knit her sweater designs in Paris. The second color is used throughout the sweater, knit at the front where needed in the design, but carried and caught up in the main color even where it is not used at the front, so even in areas of a single color the second color continues to keep the fabric thick.

Tvaandstickning, a technique from Dalarna, Sweden, also uses two strands of yarn throughout the knitting; these can be the same color or two different colors. The two strands are twisted after every stitch so that you are constantly switching the yarn being used at the front. This is not the same as carrying one yarn across the back; you must twist the strands even though this twists up the yarns you are using. It is simple enough to stop at the end of the row and hang your knitting by the strands to let it unwind. The effect is to create a fabric that looks very similar to nalbinding on the wrong side of the knitting – like a ridge along the purls (seen in photo on right side). In some places, as in Norway, the “wrong” side is worn on the outside. I used two strands of a sock yarn to create the mittens seen below using a pattern in Threads magazine. Other patterns for tvaandstickning can be found in Dandanell & Danielsson and Ling. When using two different colors, stripes are created as you switch between the two strands. Bringing one of the strands to the front and carrying it across the front will create the surface designs known as krokmaskor (seen in photo on left side).

We’ve already seen that surface textures created by mixing knit and purl stitches have been used since the 16^th century. This same technique has been used since at least the Victorian era to create patterns on fishermen’s sweaters, or jerseys. Named for the island of Jersey in the Channel Islands, the square-shaped higher straight-neck jerseys are called ganseys or guernseys after the other Channel Island, Gansey, and are tightly knit in the round to avoid the weakness of seams and provide better protection against harsh weather. Each fishing community apparently developed a unique pattern for ganseys that could be used to identify the bodies of drowned fishermen who later washed up on shore. Flamborough Marine Limited still makes handknit ganseys and regional patterns can be seen at their website.

This same idea, a unique regional pattern used to identify the bodies of drowned men, persists for knitting from the Aran Islands of Ireland, as well. If you are of Irish descent, you might find your clan’s Aran pattern at The Aran Sweater Market. Consisting of more complex cabling than a typical gansey, Aran patterns are reminiscent of Celtic knots, of course, and each type of cable is representative of some aspect of life in a fishing community – fishermen’s ropes, seaweed, cliffs, etc. Although legends about the origins of Aran knitting persist in claiming that the techniques date back to around 800 A.D. based on images in the Book of the Kells, the first Aran sweaters photographed date to the 20^th century. The rumors of an ancient origin may have been just a marketing technique according to Starmore.