The Thrice Knitted Jumper

Despite the heat of summer, earlier this year I bought some beautiful hand dyed wool from Rainbow Wools. It was multicoloured in various hues of blue and green with flecks of maroon and it reminded me of the gemstone Opal. It was love at first sight and I just had to have it!

I have always shied away from knitting with variegated wool because of the 'tiger striping' effect which can occur when it is knitted up. I wanted a pattern that would enhance the wool and it took me several goes before I found the right pattern.

My first attempt was to try cables but the pattern itself was too dominating ....

Then I tried a mock rib stitch..... this was better, but the end result was a rather stiff and heavy jumper. I simply had to undo it and try again.

Whilst flicking through my Mum's vast collection of knitting patterns I stumbled across this rather fetching 1980's drop shoulder, cowl-neck sweater from a pattern book called Crucci Greatest Hits - Volume Seven. How could I resist a jumper which came from a pattern book which sounded more like a night club compilation than a knitting book :)

(plus the pattern met my prerequisite of having a high neck - most important for surviving cold winters in the Southern Tablelands- and it has a pocket!)

This is the end result - the double moss stitch beautifully enhances the colours in the variegated wool. The knitted fabric is much softer than the mock rib stitch and the pattern works perfectly with the dropped sleeves. Knitting my first pocket was fun too!

Phew! Well, those skeins of wool turned out to be very good value since I knitted the equivalent of three jumpers from the wool!

Now that I have completed this knitting project I have now turned my attentions to another hand dyed raspberry and chocolate variegated yarn - wish me luck!