I’m loving hand knitted and patterned jumpers at the moment, the best ones in my wardrobe are vintage finds form charity shops, jumble sales and hand-me-downs from my mum. After spotting me poring over pictures of nice cosy knits in a magazine she announced, “I’m going to knit you one”.
My mum is an excellent knitter after whipping up a masterpiece of a scarf in marl grey cable knit last year. It was ridiculously long; I could wrap it around my neck so many times that if I ever hurt my neck, the scarf would easily double up as a very on-trend neck brace.
Thick Arran knits were my choice of knitwear last year, favouring an oversized oatmeal cardigan so thick, I ended up looking like the Michelin Man when I wore it under a leather jacket. This year I’m loving textures and bobbly knits and ombre coloured yarns are at top of my shopping list, the colour changing gradually throughout the knit.
Patterned knits are great for injecting a bit of colourful fun into your winter wardrobe;
1) I picked up this tweedy coloured brown, green and black number originally for me but being a little ambitious on the size front I ended up donating it to my brother. Lucky him!
2) This navy and white flower creation was from a surplus vintage store in Hong Kong, which sold rows upon rows of clothes stuck in a seventies, eighties and nineties time-warp.
3) Another of my favourite finds is this cherry Christmas-style jumper. It shrunk in the wash and now is fetchingly tight but I can’t bear to get rid of it. 
4) Continuing the patterned theme, this monochrome dogtooth cardigan was a jumble sale find and probably set me back no more than £1 – that’s the beauty of the scavenge – fashion for next to nothing! 
So it’s decided – I’ve put in an order with my mum for a jumper and, time-frame permitting, I hope to have it by Christmas. How will it compare to shop bought knitwear?! Watch this space…