The Jean Rune Sweater is part of MICCA, a collection of textile designs created in remembrance of the victims of the historical witch persecutions.

Jean Cauchie, known as Brandon, lived in Flobecq, Belgium. He was 66 years old when he was accused of witchcraft. After spending 47 days in prison in Mons, he was sentenced to corde et feu and executed in Enghien on 30 September 1611.

The sweater is knitted from the bottom up in Icelandic Léttlopi. Body and sleeves are worked separately in the round and joined for the yoke. The bind rune motif is knitted into the yoke using the Fair Isle technique.

Runes are historical Germanic written characters, and bind runes combining two or more runic characters are also historically documented. For this sweater, however, I created my own bind runes and gave them the meaning of courage, strength and protection. This symbolism is my personal interpretation and has no historical connection to Jean.

The runes could not protect Jean. More than four centuries later, neither can I. But through this sweater, I can symbolically surround him with what I would have wished for him during those 47 days: courage, strength and protection.

The pattern is available in English, French and Dutch and is free to download.

Jean is part of MICCA. You can discover the story behind the design and the other MICCA projects on my website, micca-witchcraft.be.