Just a big Softie

I finished my jumper! It was a super-fast knit, and I am absolutely thrilled with it. I knit it using Stylecraft's new chunky yarn, Softie, which is 80% premium acrylic and 20% wool, and the finished jumper is light and soft, and feels incredibly cosy. I can't wait for colder weather so that I can snuggle down inside that neck! The yarn comes in six colourways: Cream, Oats, Rosehip, Zest, Peony and Fig. I used one ball of each colour apart from the Rosehip, of which I needed two balls. I love stripes, and knitting it top down meant that I could match the stripes on the sleeves and body which was very satisfying!

I pretty much made up the pattern as I went along, remembering a lovely jumper that I'd bought from Sainsbury's many years ago that had a deep cowl neck. I'm going to try to knit a smaller version for my friend Julia. She's picked the four paler colours - Zest, Cream, Oats and Peony - so I'm going to see how easy (or more likely, tricky!) it is to downscale it. There's a lot of maths involved in grading a pattern for multiple sizes and I'm very uncertain about my skills in doing that! If I do manage it, is it a pattern that you'd be interested in knitting? Please let me know. xxx