Basic Information
Pattern: Emmen Jumper.
Yarn: WYS Bluefaced Leicester Aran – Undyed.
Needles: 5mm and 4.5mm
Techniques: Knit, purl, slip stitch technique and sewing up.
Sizes (to fit chest): from 81.5cm/32ins through to 127cm/50ins.
This week’s pattern is a jumper (EDIT: First published on 11th May 2017) A jumper that I find very exciting to knit because it uses a stitch that feels like magic! The Emmen Jumper combines everything that I love about knitting: Bluefaced Leicester yarn, a classic jumper shape that feels like a hug and a stitch that is super simple to knit but looks very complicated. All these ingredients combine to bring pure joy!
As I write this blog, it is chilly as the sun has gone behind a cloud so I am sitting in my handknit jumper, however yesterday there was a moment when the sun was shining brightly and it felt like summer was coming! These are what spring days are like in Yorkshire and you never know if the weather is going to feel hot hot or hot cold or warm cold or cold warm. So obviously the perfect item needed for days like this is a jumper made from natural fibres!
Those who read my blog regularly will probably be listing the reasons already! If you are new or would like a reminder, these are some of the posts that explain the benefit of natural fibres here and here.
Briefly, natural fibres regulate your heat, so if it is warm they keep you cool and if it is chilly they keep you warm. I said this to my window cleaner just recently and was pleasantly surprised at his answer, he told me he has a hoody made from synthetic fibres and a wool jumper. He told me he noticed a difference when he wears each one: in the synthetic one he gets very hot as he is working and then when he stops working he gets very cold. He said in his wool jumper he feels comfortably warm whether he is working or not.
I totally agree with him as I find this too, as I’m sure we all have both in our wardrobes, and I’ve read the scientific reports but it’s great to hear from the man on the street (literally, the man on the street, on a ladder)!
So traditionally as we head into the summer it’s the time we might be knitting summer tops, and I will be sharing some of these in the weeks to come, but we will always need a jumper made from natural fibres, even if it is to watch the sunset on the beach, wearing that jumper over our bikini top and shorts.
