Aran Production Today
While in the past, the majority of jumpers and other Aran garments were knitted by hand, today the majority of items for sale in Ireland and elsewhere are either machine knit or produced on a hand loom. There are very few people still knitting sweaters by hand on a commercial basis but hand knit sweaters are still available from organisations such as the Aran Sweater Market on Inis Mor which issues a "Certificate of Authenticity" with each garment produced.
Machine-knitted jumpers tend to use finer wool and have less complex patterns, since many of the traditional stitches cannot be reproduced this way. They are the least expensive option. Hand-looming allows more complicated stitches to be used, will have fewer stitches to the inch and be thicker. The best quality hand-loomed sweaters are almost indistinguishable from hand knit. Hand-knit sweaters tend to be more tightly knit, to have more complex stitch patterns and to be longer-lasting and they attract a significant price premium. By holding them up to light, the difference between the machine knit and hand knit is evident.
Read more about this topic: Aran Jumper
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