I had heard that each Gansey (Guernsey) was uniquely patterned by the knitter: not just a local design for a fishing port, but one and one only for that man, so that if he should drown, he could be identified by his wife who had knitted that sweater.

As for a sad loss: No, we still have a trunk full of all the Aran sweaters (and Norwegian Lofoten wool ones) I knitted years ago: they come out on VERY cold days, but haven't had too many of those for a while, so there they languish. And I did do a green one for my husband.