Knitting remembrance for fishermen’s memorial

A quiet moment of reflection last fall has resulted in the collaboration of two women passionate about fiber arts and with connections to the sea on a project to benefit the Lost Fishermen's Memorial Association of Lubec. After hundreds of hours of work the result will be a handspun, hand-knit Aran sweater that will be utterly unique and made with a deep appreciation and respect for the memorial association's goal of a park and memorial to mark the loss of lives at sea.
Eastport resident and business woman Meg McGarvey spent many early mornings and evenings spinning yarn made from "beautiful, Romney fleece." As she sat at her spinning wheel looking out over Passamaquoddy Bay, "I found myself looking out at the water and thinking of the people who fish the bay and of those who never came home." She adds, "Whilst spinning, the idea came to me that, if an Aran sweater could be knitted from this yarn, it would be a fitting gift to the folks of the Lost Fishermen's Memorial Association, to raffle off as a fundraiser."
The 12 or so skeins of handspun yarn are a richly textured natural white brought about because McGarvey processed the fleece herself before turning to her spinning wheel. The fleece was a gift from Bob Barr of Pembroke. McGarvey spent several months preparing it for her spinning wheel by cleaning and picking the fibers open, a process that could be speeded up by carding, but that she says is "just a personal preference that allows for some variation in shading and texture of the finished yarn."
It was a natural progression of her thoughts to turn to a knitter who has years of research under her belt when it comes to the history of Aran patterns and who is a master knitter. While Lee‑Lee Schlegel of Milbridge knits child‑size Aran sweaters for sale, it is more that the passion for knitting, creating a cohesive sweater pattern out of the hundreds of different stitches traditional to the Arans, absorbs her with an intensity and skill level hard to match. "The knowledge and skill and love Lee‑Lee brings to this project humbles me," says McGarvey. Schlegel is brisk about the project, but with an undercurrent of gratitude for working on something with deep meaning. "I'm so glad to be doing this," she says with a smile.
Schlegel's fascination with fishermen's sweaters started at a young age when she was a girl and went out lobstering with her father off the coast of Portsmouth, N.H. "I was mesmerized by the fisherman's sweater he was wearing. I remembered that sweater many years later when I began knitting." It didn't hurt her interest a whit that her family history goes back to County Clare in Ireland, where she spent time researching her roots and the history of knitting stitches. Many years later, when she was a stay‑at‑home mom, a friend persuaded her to revisit her early and not very successful knitting attempts as a Brownie. "I got so engrossed I stayed up until 3 a.m. I could start to see the structure of stitches. It made sense to me." The love of stitches stuck to such a degree that Schlegel creates unique stitch combinations and never repeats a pattern, even going so far as to destroy the pattern when the sweater is complete.
The two women spent an early April morning sitting at Schlegel's kitchen table pouring over patterns with evocative names such as gull, lobster claw, moss, the terms for nautical rope braids and knots, tree of life and trinity. While the women share family history and thoughts on how different stitches will combine for an overall pattern, Schlegel is busy measuring and beginning an outline of how the stitches will work within the total number needed to create a large unisex sweater. She makes it look easy, but as any knitter knows, it's not. Within a week of selecting the stitches Schlegel had knit a sample for McGarvey. The combination of stitches and the subtle variations of yarn color and texture wove together to create a sublime work of craft that will take two to three months to create.
Shelly Tinker, president of the memorial association, says, "We were thrilled to hear about the sweater project. It's so special. I can't get over how special it is." The association will wait until the sweater is completed and on site before deciding how best to use it for fundraising. With about $45,000 to go to the $175,000 goal, the committee is contemplating whether a raffle or an auction would best serve such a creation. "We don't want to rush her," says Tinker of Schlegel. "We need to give it the respect it deserves."
The woman who started it all, McGarvey, has a special place in her heart for the project. "It has been a deeply moving and emotional experience," she says. Her husband, who passed away 13 years ago, worked as captain of a herring carrier on the region's bays. "He loved being out on the water. He took great pleasure in the camaraderie that existed among the fishermen and counted many from Lubec and the Canadian islands of Deer Island, Campobello and Grand Manan among his good friends. There were tragedies at sea during those years and he was deeply touched by the loss of life. I know that Bill, who was of Irish descent, would have been delighted by this Aran sweater project. The sea brings together and tears apart, but is beautiful and enduring, as I hope the fishermen's memorial will be."