I’ve tried knitting Aran sweaters from published patterns over the years, and was never really happy with the results. I found written-out patterns very difficult to follow as the combinations of stitch patterns flowed into each other and, unfortunately, often led to errors. Patterns with graphs or charts of the various stitch patterns were often spread over several pages in magazines and I had a hard time keeping track of where I was on each of the charts. Besides, I really wanted try my hand at designing something on my own, just to see if I had the chops.