Aran sweaters... I've knit five of them, but I don't have a one of them (I can wear). This is a picture of one of those aran sweaters, a kit from Sharon Country Designs (which I think calls itself sweaterkits now). I knit this sweater over a five year period. I adapted the shoulders, and knit from the neck/sleeve down. I hate sewing, so it was done in one piece. Of course I put the work down right when I was fiddling with the pattern, and spent a good day figuring out my notes a number of years later. And it was all but finished except for the clasps not being sewn on. Then my sister swooped in for a weekend visit, and a shop in my clothing room. The sweater went home with her, minus the clasps. She did this a couple of years ago too, when I finished an unfinished aran sweater that my mother had started for me (she had done the back and one front). Before that I lost the love sweater I made for my ex-husband in our first year together. He loves the sweater, and even what it represented in terms of work and committment, but he doesn't want to ruin it by wearing it (hummmmm). I caught him storing it on a hanger with a couple of moth balls rolling around on the floor. Suffice to say, it is now stored flat. Then there was the aran sweater I knit for myself to commemorate a new job (buying wool yarn at the time was a big purchase). It was a mauve heather from Philosphers Wool, itchy but durable, perfect for the outdoor aran. I finished that sweater, but gained 30 lbs, and it now stretches across my bosom, and packages me like a sausage. Not pretty, so I keep it in my closet as a reminder of leaving a hose bag job and getting the big nirvana career of my early thirties, and in the event of another ice age (isn't that going to be the paradoxical result of global warming?). The other aran sweater was short and red, and I just knew I wouldn't like the result, probably having sized it incorrectly (yes, I never knit swatches), so I ripped it out, and the red wool remains to this day in my red/fushia/pink wool bin.

So, in my knitty dreams, I think about an aran made in a soft ivory (to oatmeal) wool, a v-neck, front pockets, shoulder saddles, inset sleeves, gooey with cables and texture (no bobbles), no ribbing on the edge so that it doesn't grab my bottom and slides a bit... dancing cables.

Detail on the last aran I finished. I love this close and personal view.