Did you ever watch The Killing on TV? Do you remember Sarah Lund’s jumper? Well it’s not just the Faroese that make a good fishing jumper. The Scottish island of Eriskay, population 143, has a grand old tradition of winter woollen wear in the form of the Eriskay Jumper. It’s been knocking around in some form since at least the 1800s and was made for fishing men by their non-fishing wives, sisters and mothers. No gender diversity just yet in these waters. It’s a seamless, high necked number with buttons to ensure it fits snuggly around the neck, originally worn next to the skin in order to provide maximum protection from the Atlantic wind and waves up here. More poignantly, this construction made it stronger if you were pulling a fallen crew member out of the water. Within a prescribed framework each jumper has an individual pattern, the better to identify the owner if they drowned at sea, like a US army ID badge. In that fact is a stark reminder of the harsh realities that existed and still exist so that we can get our fish on Fridays.
Marybell MacIntyre was taught to knit Eriskay jumpers by two older women in the community and has passed on what she knows to other knitters in that wonderful tradition of oral instruction. These little beauties are very labour intensive to make but it’s a wonderful thing to buy an item of clothing that you might wear for a lifetime rather than a season. Marybell’s first jumper was for her husband which is very on point, let’s just hope he’s a fisherman! She vividly describes thinking about the person she is making a jumper for, which is just as well since they take between six weeks and six months to knit. Her most famous jumper, perhaps the most famous Eriskay jumper, was made for Pope Francis to whom she presented one in Rome, inspired by her Catholic faith. She is a big fan of the current Pope and describes him as ‘a man of the people’. This resonates particularly in this part of the UK which has a more classless feel than some parts of the Scottish Highlands which are dominated by sporting estates. She describes making a ‘jumper of the working man for the man of the people’. She hasn’t quite reached the fame of Sarah Lund yet but she did have a BBC documentary made about her visit to his Holiness.
In an age of homogenisation the Eriskay jumper is defiantly local and it has a fine dictionary of symbols to match. These symbols aren’t strikingly obvious but they make the experience of owning a jumper that much richer when you know what they are, they include: ropes, fishing nets, anchors, harbour steps and diagonal lines to represent marriage. Obviously Pope Francis didn’t get marriage lines on his jumper! One defining characteristic of the Eriskay is pattern all over the jumper, this is said to derive from an Eriskay lady who liked so many of the patterns found on fisherman’s jumpers that she incorporated them all into one jumper. This all sounds a bit garish but the subtle nature of each pattern blends seamlessly into a beautiful final garment.
When talking to Marybell you are struck by the care invested into every jumper she makes, as she says herself with perfect clarity and modesty, ‘there is love in every stitch’.
To order your own Eriskay jumper contact Eriskay’s wonderful and only community store Co-Chomunn Eirisgeidh.
Marybell MacIntyre was taught to knit Eriskay jumpers by 2 older women in the community and has passed on what she knows to other knitters in that wonderful tradition of oral instruction. These little beauties are very labour intensive to make but it’s a wonderful thing to buy an item of clothing that you might wear for a lifetime rather than a season. Marybell’s first jumper was for her husband which is very on point, let’s just hope he is a fisherman! She vividly describes thinking about the person she is making a jumper for, which is just as well since they take between 6 weeks and 6 months to knit. Her most famous jumper, perhaps the most famous Eriskay jumper, was made for Pope Francis to whom she presented one in Rome, inspired by her Catholic faith. She is a big fan of the current Pope and describes him as ‘a man of the people’. This resonates particularly in this part of the UK which has a more classless feel than some parts of highlands which are dominated by sporting estates. She describes making a ‘jumper of the working man for the man of the people’. She hasn’t quite reached the fame of Sarah Lund yet but she did have a BBC documentary made about her visit to his Holiness.
In an age of homogenisation the Eriskay jumper is defiantly local and it has a fine dictionary of symbols to match. These symbols aren’t strikingly obvious but they make the experience of owning a jumper that much richer when you know what they are, they include: ropes, fishing nets, anchors, harbour steps and diagonal lines to represent marriage. Obviously Pope Francis didn’t get marriage lines on his jumper! One defining characteristic of the Eriskay is pattern all over the jumper, this is said to derive from an Eriskay lady who liked so many of the patterns found on fisherman’s jumpers that she incorporated them all into one jumper. This all sounds a bit garish but the subtle nature of each pattern blends seamlessly into a beautiful final garment.
In talking to Marybell you are struck by the care invested into every jumper she makes, as she says herself with perfect clarity and modesty, ‘there is love in every stitch’.
To order your own Eriskay jumper contact Eriskay’s wonderful and only community store Co-Chomunn Eirisgeidh.
