The Basic Information
Pattern: Dorothy Jumper
Yarn: WYS Bluefaced Leicester DK  – Undyed
Needles: 4mm
Techniques: knit, purl, sewing up and a little bit of picking up stitches
Sizes: to fit chest (suggested) 30ins through to 50ins

I love sharing the joys of natural fibres. They are such a giving fibre, they have so many great qualities. When you see a hank of Bluefaced Leicester or a ball of merino it’s easy to just see a beautiful colour and ignore its many other qualities or simply think, I’ve seen something that colour it must be the same.

Not all yarns are the same.

One of the things I love about knitting is that you can give one ball of yarn to every person in the world and they will all knit something different.

Natural fibres have so many special qualities and we’ve tried to copy them in man-made synthetics but the things about natural fibres is that nature does it for you and you can’t ever copy this. We might get close but nature has produced a fabulous fibre that’s renewable and biodegradable – not to mentioned insulating…

It’s spring in Yorkshire and natural fibres take on a different job in the spring. In winter they keep you lovely and warm. In the spring they work like a vacumn flask, the kind you take on a picnic. I remember the first time a cold drink was put in my flask and as a child thinking but it keeps hot drinks hot, surely it will turn this cold drink super hot?! I was so shocked to find it was still cold.

This is the same with pure wool, natural fibres have been used for generations for a very good reason. When we have those crazy spring days when it goes from crisp frosty mornings to warm sunny afternoons back to chilly evenings, a hand knit is perfect for these days. It regulates your temperature so it will keep you cool as it gets warmer, and warm as it gets cooler.

Or when you just don’t know what the Spring day is going to be like, is it going to be warm today…or will be it chilly? A hand knit in natural fibres were knitted for these days, the perfect wardrobe essential.