Knitwear is where mod gets interesting, because a jumper is the one thing in the wardrobe allowed to carry a pattern without anybody complaining. Trousers stay plain. Shirts behave themselves. The jumper does the talking.
Half the patterns in our knitwear come out of golf courses, fishing villages and Italian factories, not from anything to do with Carnaby Street, and knowing which is which changes how you wear them.
Argyle and the Clan Campbell Connection
Argyle is a flattened diamond grid with a thin overlaid line, and it comes straight from the tartan of Clan Campbell of Argyll in western Scotland. Highland hose were cut from tartan on the bias, which turns a square check into a row of diamonds, and knitters copied the effect. Pringle of Scotland turned it into a commercial knit in the 1920s.
It went global because of one man on a golf course. Edward, Prince of Wales, later the Duke of Windsor, wore argyle socks and jumpers to play, the photographs went everywhere, and by the end of the decade every golf club in Britain was full of them. Mods picked it up forty years later for the same reason they picked up everything else, because it looked expensive and slightly foreign. The thin overlay line is the part to check on any argyle you buy. Without it the pattern reads flat and cheap, and you can spot the difference across a room.
Construction is the part nobody explains. Proper argyle is intarsia knitted, each block of colour worked from its own bobbin and joined to its neighbour at the edge, so the back of the panel comes out clean with no floats carried behind it. Turn a jumper inside out and look. A mat of loose yarn behind the diamonds means it was jacquard knitted, which is quicker, heavier and duller in the colour. Scale matters too. A diamond about four inches across the widest point sits well on most chests, and much bigger reads as fancy dress while much smaller turns the front into a blur.
Cable, and the Aran Myth
Cable is made by crossing one group of stitches over another, which throws the yarn forward and creates the rope effect. It came off the Aran Islands off the Galway coast, where the stitch added thickness and trapped air in a jumper worn on open water. Here is the bit that annoys people. Aran knitting is not ancient. Commercial production started in the 1930s and the earliest recorded pieces are early twentieth century, so the whole thing is younger than the bicycle.
The story that each family had its own cable pattern so drowned fishermen could be identified by their jumpers is romantic nonsense, traceable to a scene in a 1904 play and then repeated by anyone selling knitwear ever since. Wear cable because it looks good and holds heat. A heavy cable pullover under a donkey jacket is one of the best things you can do in February.
Diamonds, Lozenges and Panels
A diamond is a square standing on its point. A lozenge is the same shape stretched taller, which is what most 1960s knitwear actually used, because a stretched diamond flatters a chest better than a squat one. Both usually arrive as a panel across the front rather than an all over repeat, and that placement matters more than the shape itself.
- A chest panel sits between the shoulders and the sternum and draws the eye up, which is why it works on shorter frames.
- An all over diamond repeat is much harder to wear and pretty much demands plain trousers and a plain shirt underneath.
- Diamonds sitting below the chest are a mistake on anybody. The eye drops and so does the whole outfit.
The 1960s versions we see most often ran a two colour panel across a plain body, with a fine line separating the shapes in the same way argyle uses an overlay. Merc London still cuts it that way and we would take that over a busy all over print every time. If you find one where the diamonds carry on round the sleeves as well, it has almost certainly wandered in from a golf shop.
Gauge, and What Fine Gauge Actually Means
Gauge is the number of needles per inch on the knitting machine, so a higher number means finer yarn, more stitches and a thinner fabric. It is the single most useful number on a knitwear label and almost nobody reads it. Fine gauge drapes and layers. Coarse gauge insulates and holds its shape.
| Gauge | Feel | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| 3 to 5 | Chunky, heavy rib, stands up on its own | Winter cable and roll necks |
| 7 | Mid weight with clear stitch definition | Cable and diamond panels |
| 12 | Fine, sits close to the body | Argyle, tank tops, layering under a jacket |
| 14 and above | Very fine, near shirt weight | Knitted polos and summer knits |
If a pattern looks blurry in a photograph, the gauge is usually too coarse for the design. Argyle in particular needs 12 gauge or finer, because the overlay line has to stay crisp and a chunky yarn turns it into a smudge.
The Gabicci Contrast Panel
Gabicci started in London in 1973 and took its name from Gabicce Mare on the Adriatic, which tells you most of what you need to know about the intent. The signature is a contrast panel, normally suede or velour, set into the front of a knitted body and often carried onto the collar points. It reads as a shirt and a jumper at the same time.
We rate it and we sell a lot of it, but a warning. The panel is the pattern, so everything else on the top half has to shut up. Plain trousers, no scarf, nothing printed. If you want the Gabicci look with less commitment, the same house does plain knitted polos where the contrast is a single tipped line at the collar and cuff.
Stripes, and How Many Is Too Many
Stripes are the easiest pattern to get wrong because they look so simple on a hanger. Width and colour count are what decide it. A narrow stripe of a quarter inch reads as texture from ten feet away. A two inch hoop reads as a rugby shirt from the same distance, and that is a different sport entirely.
- Two colours is safe. Three is the ceiling. Four and you are dressed as a deckchair.
- Narrow stripes suit fine gauge, wide hoops need weight behind them or the fabric rolls.
- A tipped collar and cuff on a plain body counts as a stripe and it is the most useful one in the striped knitwear drawer.
Breton hoops are the outlier and they want handling with care. It is a French naval pattern and the stripe count was set by regulation in 1858, twenty across the body as the rule is usually reproduced. On the wrong frame it reads as seaside and nothing else, so keep the fit close, keep the neck plain, wear it in July and leave it alone the rest of the year.
Tank Tops and Pattern with Pattern
The tank top peaked in the early seventies and it has never fully gone away. Sleeveless, close through the body, deep V, worn over a shirt with the collar out. It works when the armhole is cut high and close to the underarm. It fails when the armhole gapes, because you end up showing a triangle of shirt at the ribs and the whole thing looks borrowed.
Pattern on pattern is allowed with one condition, which is that the two patterns are different sizes. Argyle over a plain oxford shirt is the safe route. Argyle over a fine gingham check works because the check is far smaller than the diamonds. Argyle over a bold tattersall fights, and the loser is you. Same rule holds for a patterned cardigan over anything busy, and for stacking a tank top over a striped body, which we would not do at all.
Mod Knitwear FAQ
Five knitwear pattern questions, answered without hedging.
- Where does the argyle pattern come from? It derives from the tartan of Clan Campbell of Argyll in western Scotland, by way of Highland hose cut on the bias. Pringle of Scotland made it a commercial knit in the 1920s and the Prince of Wales made it famous on the golf course.
- Did Aran cable patterns identify drowned fishermen? No. That story traces back to a 1904 play and decades of marketing rather than any record from the islands. Aran knitting only went into commercial production in the 1930s.
- What gauge should I look for in a jumper? Twelve gauge or finer for argyle and anything worn under a jacket, seven for cable and diamond panels, and three to five for a heavy winter knit. Finer gauge drapes better and keeps patterns sharp.
- How many colours can a striped jumper have? Two is safe and three is the limit. Beyond that the stripe stops being a pattern and starts being a novelty, and it will date faster than anything else you own.
- Can you wear a patterned jumper over a patterned shirt? Yes, provided the two patterns are clearly different in scale. Argyle over a fine gingham works. Argyle over a bold check does not, because neither pattern wins and the eye has nowhere to rest.