You're looking for an Aran sweater. They're a traditional Irish thing from the Aran islands, which are cold, windy and rainy. You can get machine made versions cheaper, but the traditional hand knit ones are much denser, and will stand up to wind and water and all sorts of foul weather. The patterns varied depending on clan, partially so they could tell an O'Brien from a Byrne when you were fished out of the water.
Mine (sadly machine knit, as I was unable to find a hand knit one that fit right until I had already bought the machine knit one) was purchased on a recent trip to ireland, but they do sell the good stuff online. And it's still handkitted by traditional irish craftspeople- if you visit the aran islands, there are knitters all over the place. Step into one of the smaller shops, and you'll likely see two or three ladies hanging out making sweaters.
Anyway,
http://www.irisharans.com/mens-irish-hand-knit-cardigan-with-collar-turf-p-144.html
There's an e-mail link on the site for custom orders too, if you want to make sure everything's exactly right or to get a specific clan pattern.
Or you could buy from O'Maille, which is the store in Galway that outfitted John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara for The Quiet Man. When I was over there, I dropped in, and the sweaters they sell are amazing- they've made it a point to buy from the best knitters and help train new knitters to make the top end stuff. The details on some of those are outstanding- I was shown a sweater woven by a lady who is, according to the owner (well, part of the family that's owned it for several generations- I don't know exactly where she fell on the generational priority list), one of the best knitters to have ever lived. The ribbing on the cuffs had complex patterns woven in. As the lady there put it, 'that's just showing off'. Priced to match, of course.
http://www.omaille.com/sweaters/index.htm
