getting ready for winter - a knitted jumper

I have been meaning to show you this jumper for a while. I am wearing it all the time at the moment, although of course some days are really too warm. Please excuse unhinged grin and the reflected light on my reading glasses. Jack Nicholson in The Shining comes to mind.

This was a super quick knit, much to my delight. The pattern is Love Note by tincanknits. The pattern size range is quite astonishing, it starts with a size 0 to 6 months and goes up to a 5XL. There is literally a size for everybody, no excuses not cast this on. It is a simple knit, the lace pattern looks more complicated than it is. Knitted from the top to the bottom with no seams to sew. For me, this is always a winner, sewing up knitted garment pieces is in the top ten of my most disliked chores, in between emptying the dishwasher and picking up dog poo.

There are no raglan increases, which I loved because I always miss an increase or two or three. Instead, there are two rounds of increases, which you can probably see if you zoom right into the photograph. There are no sleeve decreases, which I also loved because I don't like sleeve decreases one bit and tapered knitted sleeves sometimes look a bit "funny". I am a picky opinionated knitter. Instead, the sleeves are gathered at 3/4 length be knitting two stitches together for one entire round just before the ribbed finish. The same is done for the neckline, hence the lovely neat fit. 

I made one big mistake that was easily fixed. The cast-on was meant to be provisional but I rushed and didn't spot that until much later. For the non-initiated knitter, a provisional cast on means that you can go back later and knit in the opposite direction (here for the neckband) without picking up stitches. As I said, easily fixed by picking up the stitches later. This adds a bit of bulk but it is not really noticeable.  

A particularly clever feature of the pattern is that the back is shaped and slightly longer than the front. Short rows are magical! Such a clever design. On length, I actually made the jumper longer overall than the pattern suggested. I like my belly button covered. 

I used two types of yarn, DROPS Kid Silk and DROPS Fabel. The former is fluffy and soft (kid mohair and silk), the latter gives strength (wool and nylon, it is a sock yarn). The colour of both is a deep burgundy, not quite identical but well matched. The Kid Silk is shiny, which adds a bit of glamour to my jumper. None of this is visible on the photographs of course, knitwear is so difficult to do justice with the camera. It must be the surface texture created that reflects light back in ways that are difficult to capture without decent photography equipment. I used just over 3.5 balls of the fluffy yarn and 5 balls of the sock yarn. The grand total came to £26. I don't know where DROPS source the fibre for their yarn but I can't imagine the company would be listed in an ethical yarn directory, if such a directory exists. I do feel a bit guilty about that but if it wasn't for DROPS, I would be knitting with more affordable acrylic yarns, which I loathe to touch. There is 25% nylon in the DROPS Fabel but my delicate finger tips experience nylon as less icky than acrylic. Both are of course terrible for the environment.

Did I mention that this jumper was knitted with big needles? I used 6 mm needles and it felt good. The last time I used big needles to knit a garment was during my teenage years. It was a mohair sleeveless floaty thing, a comfortable wearable bag of sorts. I knitted it during a family holiday in Northern Italy. My mother washed it in the machine and that was the end of it.

I have nothing else on my knitting needles just now and I have decided to knit another Love Note jumper, this time in grey and without the lace pattern. It is so quick to make and so easy to knit, perfect for an evening after an exhausting day of work. I am reading up for a lecture on the epidemiology of antimicrobial resistance at the moment and it makes my head spin. 

But not today. Today is a glorious wonderful sort of day. I walked Jack twice, once on my own with a podcast in my headphones and once with Sam who can only meet us outside at the moment. I am now waiting for a lovely friend to visit for an afternoon coffee in the garden. It is sunny and warm and Annie made Madeleines for us to share over a cuppa. Perfect. 

Thanks for visiting, it is lovely to know you are. Have a great weekend x