The knitwear thread

Pictures or it never happened.
I'll be happy to do it when l work out how to post pics ie, download images to my computer.

Btw, l snagged this beauty today. A stylish cool cashmere black turtleneck by MALO. I do have a black lambswool version l bought locally (still unworn), but finally l can have something better and really play the urban sophisiticate card in true style.

Check out this rascal fellas.

 
Lavender?????

I think you guys would like Varon Dandy.
It's the most grandpa-ish cologne that has ever existed in España. It's out of production, some bottles remaining. Get one now, thank me later

Omg this sounds amazing

One of my great TWTIES. When this thing apperared for the first time in the 1920-30, perhaps was gorgeous. Today, it's something awfully cheap (it is sold in 1 litre bottles), tacky and synthetic. Like some sort of bug spray. It will keep away flies, lices and mosquitos: your friends and relatives too. The classic smell of the retired men club. Cloying. Sordid. Rancid. Decrepit. Training suit wore with shoes. Flannel shirt. Advertising baseball cap from Carrefour. What we call in Spanish "casposo". I think it does not have equivalent in any other country.
 
New Zealand highend cashmere - Tolaga Bay Cashmere

"Regarded as the Cashmere specialists of exceptional quality, with extensive background knowledge gained from developing our own Cashmere goat breed for over 35 years. A Tolaga Bay Cashmere manufactured garment will last for many years without pilling or going out of shape. Located in the remote township of Tolaga Bay on the beautiful East Coast of New Zealand. All our products can be purchased directly and made to order at our factory in Tolaga Bay".
https://cashmere.co.nz

Tolaga Bay knitting company.jpg
I nearly snagged one of these locally last year, but l was too lazy to drive across town and l ended up missing out on the last one.
 
I finally broke down and got my second rtw hand knit aran jumper. I wanted a second one to wear mainly in the mornings at home on those really cold early mornings (3am) when l do my meditation. It's cold 7 months of the year so l will rotate my fat John Molloy and Blarney arans each morning. They both will get heavy wear. They will be my beaters.

This is similar to my John Molloy, but a slightly different pattern.

Blarney Mills aran
 
3 am is very early. A garment from the land of saints and scholars to keep you warm.

I don't think matins was that early though. St Columba and St Brendan probably wore traditional vestments rather than jumpers.
 
Been looking for a gray cashmere cardigan for ages. Finally found a good 1970's vintage one by Pringle.

Also managed to snag a nice vintage cashmere turtleneck under the Bullock & Jones label, supposed to be very high quality, and l am suspecting it could be a vintage 80's or 90's made by Clan Douglas which had a great reputation for quality back then. I was initially thinking Ballantyne was the maker, but l think Clan Douglas could be more likely.

1970's Pringle cashmere
Pringle gray cardigan 1970's.jpg

Bullock & Jones vintage cashmere
Bullock & Jones turtleneck.jpg

My collection of 2 ply cardigan and v neck cashmere jumpers is now mainly complete, but l shall continue to focus on collecting cashmere turtlenecks.
 
I am looking at Aran sweaters in the classic fisherman style on the Bay, but can't seem to pull the trigger... not sure they would look any good on me
Need the warmth though as the coldest days of winter are upon us
 
When you say "found", where, exactly? T'internet?
Internet.

I am looking at Aran sweaters in the classic fisherman style on the Bay, but can't seem to pull the trigger... not sure they would look any good on me
Need the warmth though as the coldest days of winter are upon us

Yeah, they either look good on you or they don't. Everyone can pull off a thin v neck jumper, but not everyone can pull of an aran.

When you look at these pics you see model types wearing arans and everyone looks good.
https://www.google.com.au/search?cl...i67k1j0i5i30k1j0i8i30k1.0.CA5nceoANqQ#imgrc=_

but the reality is that many people are not going to look good in them.

The Clancys don't always look good in an aran:
Aran - clancy NOT good look.jpg

But the Clancys look good here:
Aran - clancys - good look.jpg

Why?
1). Because some people have particular facial looks that don't look in good in an aran.
2). Some people have a pot belly, and that doesn't look good in an aran
3). Some men are balding, and that doesn't always look good in an aran in combination with point #1.

Look at the third man in pic no.1, he looks dreadful in the aran there. Actually, none of them look really good in that pic, but they look good when they wear a coat and cap, and l think that is the key for certain men.

Here is another guy that looks terrible in an aran. If he wore a sportscoat with a cap and owned it he could look great.
Aran - not look good.gif

Another thing about arans is that they need to fit really well,they need to fit better than a thinner jumper. If the aran doesn't fit well it is going to bulge. The last thing you want is excess material bulging everywhere, especially when you sit down. Bad fits below:

If this man had a great fitting aran he could look like a million dollars, but he has now got this big bulky body.
Aran  - too big 1.jpg

Bulging around the stomach area.
Aran  - too big 2.jpg

An aran with a cap.See...you can be that guy. It works.
Aran with cap.jpg

An aran on another balding man, he is not the guy can pull it off. But if he wore a cap and
sportscoat he'd probably look great.
aran - balding man.JPG


A great fitting aran helps a man look great:
Aran - great fit 1.jpg

BUT, can this man pull it off. He doesn't look confident in his look. You can tell he is just a model trying on the clothes, but he doesn't own the look. See...attitude is paramount.
Aran - can he pull it off 1.jpg

Another poor fit - sleeves are too long so the sleeves look baggy. With arans the sleeves need to fit EXACTLY!
Aran -poor fit baggy sleeves.jpg

Can a young bloke pull off an aran? Yes he can! He has the look and the confidence.
Aram - youth can pull it off.jpg


In summery - you need the look and the confidence and the body type. If you don't have the body and are balding you need some help with a sportscoat and cap AND to own the look and be confident and BE THAT GUY!!!

btw,dunno how that attached photo go there below. A mystery.
 

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  • Aran on fat man.jpg
    Aran on fat man.jpg
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Phwoarh and all that at the colleen in the Aran, but now we need to deconstruct. Why is it easier to look good in, say, a submariner? They're not particularly fitted, and the sleeves are deliberately baggy. And yet don't I half look like John Mills in mine.
 
Phwoarh and all that at the colleen in the Aran, but now we need to deconstruct. Why is it easier to look good in, say, a submariner?

I have thought about this a lot, let me give you my thoughts.


ARAN KNITWEAR - looking above board/looking like a bloke v's looking suspect

The cables and intricate work in the hand knitted arans are more difficult to pull off, especially in natural white where-as a submariner is easy to pull off because it has no intricate decorations.

Sometimes the white heavily detailed aran can look more feminine on a certain man where-as the submariner is pure man. Some men can also look more suspect in them like he has dubious sexual fetishes because some men's features in a pretty looking white decorated sweater provides a contrast that doesn't work well, the look doesn't flow so one can see an unattractive fat balding MAN in a pretty white HEAVILY DECORATED sweater, it can look odd. Other men can man-it-up with coat and cap and make it work, and other guys have the natural look that makes it always look good.

In summery, some blokes look suspect in them because the aran can highlight the worst features in a man, and the sweater can also look more feminine on certain men and contrast with his looks too much. The contrast sometimes needs to be balanced out with other clothing for some men.
 
I actually ended up buying one before reading your post, The Shooman The Shooman .
Now I'm very likely to return it because I'm fat and balding. Even though it was mostly going to be worn under a tweed coat...
 
I actually ended up buying one before reading your post, The Shooman The Shooman .
Now I'm very likely to return it because I'm fat and balding. Even though it was mostly going to be worn under a tweed coat...

Dress it up with a coat and see if you can pull it off. They are nice and warm and well made, so try and find a way to make it work and enjoy it.
 
I bought an Aran sweater back in 2007, when I was in the Aran islands with my uncle on summer holidays. I think it was 100€ back then, and I have used it when traveling to very cold places. It's very heavy and bulks everywhere, it takes almost a week to completely dry after washing it.
 
I have thought about this a lot, let me give you my thoughts.

Thank you, and excellent disquisition there. It never occurred to me that it might be the pattern. I think it might be the same with Hawaiian shirts viz., if you're going to wear a flower print, make sure it's over the top, so you're essentially doing confident self-parody, which is not unmasculine. I went through a phase of wearing Hawaiian shirts on a night out (when everyone else was wearing tight dark t-shirts, and I remember getting lots of RESTEPC.

P.S. I'm two or three weeks into my Submariner Experiment. People who were calling me "mate" are now calling me "sir".

P.P.S. Back in my student days, I knew a bloke from the Panshir Valley or some such exotic place. At parties he would walk in wearing a pakol and a massive camel cloak, without saying a word, and he'd take a seat, cross-legged. Within five minutes he'd have a gaggle of wymmyn sitting round him, fingering the cloak (and much else, later, I'll wager), and every one of them in thrall.
 
I purchased something pretty special today, a navy 1950's Ballantyne cardigan for magnin & co. This is my second 1950's magnin & co for Ballantyne, and I can ensure you that if my last one is anything to go by, it is the most impressive piece of cashmere.


The colour here is washed out and the pic doesn't look so good, but l know this is going to look amazing in real life. This is a real wow piece.
 
Report on my cashmere purchases

- the black Malo turtleneck is very nice, however l think the Loro Piana and the Brunello Cucinelli are nicer items.
- the navy 1960's Lyle & Scott v neck jumper is truly amazing. Perfect!

I boosted my turtleneck collection with three cashmere items.

Brooks Bros - made-in-Scotland - black turtleneck


Brooks Bros - made-in-Scotland - bone turtleneck


1980's (I think) vintage Club Room - made-in-Scotland


Club Room has been made in China for years and is supposed to be rubbish so it will be interesting to see how the vintage Scottish stuff is.
 
Internet.



Yeah, they either look good on you or they don't. Everyone can pull off a thin v neck jumper, but not everyone can pull of an aran.

When you look at these pics you see model types wearing arans and everyone looks good.
https://www.google.com.au/search?cl...i67k1j0i5i30k1j0i8i30k1.0.CA5nceoANqQ#imgrc=_

but the reality is that many people are not going to look good in them.

The Clancys don't always look good in an aran:
View attachment 28023

But the Clancys look good here:
View attachment 28026

Why?
1). Because some people have particular facial looks that don't look in good in an aran.
2). Some people have a pot belly, and that doesn't look good in an aran
3). Some men are balding, and that doesn't always look good in an aran in combination with point #1.

Look at the third man in pic no.1, he looks dreadful in the aran there. Actually, none of them look really good in that pic, but they look good when they wear a coat and cap, and l think that is the key for certain men.

Here is another guy that looks terrible in an aran. If he wore a sportscoat with a cap and owned it he could look great.
View attachment 28021

Another thing about arans is that they need to fit really well,they need to fit better than a thinner jumper. If the aran doesn't fit well it is going to bulge. The last thing you want is excess material bulging everywhere, especially when you sit down. Bad fits below:

If this man had a great fitting aran he could look like a million dollars, but he has now got this big bulky body.
View attachment 28024

Bulging around the stomach area.
View attachment 28025

An aran with a cap.See...you can be that guy. It works.
View attachment 28027

An aran on another balding man, he is not the guy can pull it off. But if he wore a cap and
sportscoat he'd probably look great.
View attachment 28028


A great fitting aran helps a man look great:
View attachment 28029

BUT, can this man pull it off. He doesn't look confident in his look. You can tell he is just a model trying on the clothes, but he doesn't own the look. See...attitude is paramount.
View attachment 28030

Another poor fit - sleeves are too long so the sleeves look baggy. With arans the sleeves need to fit EXACTLY!
View attachment 28031

Can a young bloke pull off an aran? Yes he can! He has the look and the confidence.
View attachment 28032


In summery - you need the look and the confidence and the body type. If you don't have the body and are balding you need some help with a sportscoat and cap AND to own the look and be confident and BE THAT GUY!!!

btw,dunno how that attached photo go there below. A mystery.

The Clancys never look good. That ridiculous cap does not help either.

Fatties with man boobs will also have trouble with them. If you can wear a cricket jumper you have a half decent chance with an Aran.

As for submariner jumpers, I once knew a retired ex-naval officer at college. He wore them with cords and a Grenfell buffer coat and desert boots. Drove an old Rover P60. Read the Daily Telegraph. Looked and sounded the part. So even though he was carrying a bit of weight it did not matter.
 
The Aran I got is so chunky I actually have trouble fitting it under a sportcoat. Unless I don't ever button it.
I'd like to get a newsboy cap as well, which I believe is flattering for fatty faces, but need to see it on me before buying and they're not easy to find around these parts.
 
The merest hint of pecs will look like moobs under a sweater. There are several solutions:

- The Shackleton method: grow a bushy beard.
- The John Mills solution: wear a jacket over it.
- The Steve McQueen solution: lose your pecs.
- The Das Boot solution: Dive to 600 metres.
 
The Aran I got is so chunky I actually have trouble fitting it under a sportcoat. Unless I don't ever button it.
I'd like to get a newsboy cap as well, which I believe is flattering for fatty faces, but need to see it on me before buying and they're not easy to find around these parts.


Get a beret instead! Viva la revolución
 
The Aran I got is so chunky I actually have trouble fitting it under a sportcoat. Unless I don't ever button it.
Why would you ever want to button up your coat if you are wearing a jumper? If there are other issues with fit, you might need to size up of course.
 
What revolución? That's what rednecks wear around these parts

Fu** you. This would be in Madrid.

In the North of Spain we know how to wear boinas, as it is not only for rednecks at all. We even had football players wearing them (actually he was bald that he did ti cover his lack of hair)

Homenaje%2Brealizado%2Bel%2B1%2Bde%2Bnoviembre%2Bde%2B1951%2Bal%2Boviedista%2BAnt%25C3%25B3n%252C%2Bcon%2Bboina%253B%2Bel%2Bsegundo%2Bpor%2Bla%2Bizquierda%2Bes%2BRam%25C3%25B3n%2BAntu%25C3%25B1a.%2Breproduccion%2Bde%2Bj.%2Br.%2Bsilveira.jpg
 
Fu** you. This would be in Madrid.

In the North of Spain we know how to wear boinas, as it is not only for rednecks at all. We even had football players wearing them (actually he was bald that he did ti cover his lack of hair)

Homenaje%2Brealizado%2Bel%2B1%2Bde%2Bnoviembre%2Bde%2B1951%2Bal%2Boviedista%2BAnt%25C3%25B3n%252C%2Bcon%2Bboina%253B%2Bel%2Bsegundo%2Bpor%2Bla%2Bizquierda%2Bes%2BRam%25C3%25B3n%2BAntu%25C3%25B1a.%2Breproduccion%2Bde%2Bj.%2Br.%2Bsilveira.jpg

Of course I do refer to the españa profunda
 
Of course I do refer to the españa profunda

So if an Irish farmer from County Kerry Ireland wears a cap and donegal tweed + Aran jumper he is cool guy but if an spanish farmer wears a beret he is redneck. is this a clear case of greener grass?

What would Hemingway think?

hemhat3.png


Funnily enough he could also pull a flat cap?

hemhat2.jpg
 
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So if an Irish farmer from County Kerrye Deep Ireland wears a cap and donegall tweed + Aran jumper he is cool guy but if an spanish farmer wears a beret he is redneck. is this a clear case of greener grass?

What would Hemingway think?

hemhat3.png


Funnily enough he could also pull a flat cap?

hemhat2.jpg

We have much stronger prejudice!
 
So if an Irish farmer from County Kerrye Deep Ireland wears a cap and donegall tweed + Aran jumper he is cool guy but if an spanish farmer wears a beret he is redneck. is this a clear case of greener grass?

What would Hemingway think?

hemhat3.png


Funnily enough he could also pull a flat cap?

hemhat2.jpg
Kerry and Donegal please.

(Pedantic poster)

It is unlikely an Irish farmer would wear all that stuff. Certainly not nowadays. Jeans and baseball caps. They were cooler in the 60s - long raincoats, flat caps, wellies (not green ones)
 
Edited. hope you are fine. This is exaclty my point. This is how a farmer dress in Spain now

campesino-pura-4.jpg


This is how rdiaz rdiaz thinks they dress

los-santos-inocentes.jpg
4

This is how rdiaz rdiaz would want them to dress

we-asked-young-farmers-how-they-feel-about-flat-caps-being-appropriated-body-image-1464874562.jpeg
 
Why would you ever want to button up your coat if you are wearing a jumper? If there are other issues with fit, you might need to size up of course.

just because you don't want to button it, doesn't me you shouldn't be able to. That's not to say that all jackets need to be loose enough to button up over chunky knitwear, but i don't think i would wear chunky knitwear under a jacket that was too small to button. either get a bigger jacket or don't wear that sweater with it.
 
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