Have you ever wanted to make your own original Aran sweater but had no idea where to start? Grab a cup of tea and sit down with cable expert Janet Szabo and get ready to imagine the possibilities! Janet will lead you, step-by-step and in great detail, through the process of taking measurements, choosing eye-catching cable combinations, and selecting a body style for your Aran masterpiece. Knitters who never thought of themselves as “designers” have created wonderful custom sweaters using Janet’s book as a guide.

Chapters include:

A Brief History: Learn how the Aran sweater evolved as a knitting tradition.

Learning the Ropes (and Diamonds, and Honeycombs …): Check out a bit of cable theory and see what geometric shapes are possible.

Creating A Design: Take your cable ideas and meld them together into something spectacular. Janet shares a wealth of tips and tricks to make this part of the process go smoothly and easily.

Constructing An Aran: Choose from among a number of different body and sleeve styles. You may choose to knit bottom-up, top-down, back-and-forth, or in-the-round. No matter what style you choose, knitting your design will be an enjoyable experience!

For those knitters not quite ready to make the leap, Janet has included four projects representative of different knitting styles (vest, raglan, set-in sleeve, and peasant sleeve). Use them as your first project, or as a jumping-off point for your own original design.

You’ll never look at Aran sweaters the same way again!

Paperback published in March 2006 by Big Sky Knitting Designs

bigskyknitting.com