My first attempt at a sweater in about 20 years. This pattern promised to be beginner friendly, and I liked the idea that it was a top-down raglan with no seams or sewing.

I did treat myself to an early birthday present of a set of Chiaogoo circular needles, which are absolutely gorgeous, and made re-learning knitting so much easier.

And then I used cheap acrylic yarn from Lidl - my reasoning being that, if it turned out to be a dog’s dinner, I wouldn’t have wasted a lot of money on yarn!

Anyway, I’m thrilled with it. My stripe pattern was 14 rows grey, 6 rows white.

Neck - I decided to do the folded collar, using a 40cm circular needle. It seemed terribly small when I was knitting it, but actually once I’d added the yoke and body, it’s come out at a perfect size. Not too high or tight. I did one or two too many rows, so it was nearly 9cm before folding, rather than 8cm. If I were to make another, I’d stick with the 8cm, or possibly even 7cm.

Yoke - I also decided to be brave and do the German short rows to give the front of the neck a bit of shaping. The instructions were great, and the accompanying video was brilliant. I also did a bit of YouTube research as well, and am pleased with the shaping. As it grew, I switched up to a longer cord on my circular needle as the stitches were beginning to cramp up.

Body - This was pretty straightforward. I don’t like the latest fashion of having short sweaters, and acrylic yarn doesn’t grow much with blocking, so I made my body length, including the ribbing, about 35cm from the underarm to the bottom of the hem.

Sleeves - Again I was really helped by the video, and added the extra stitches on pick-up, and decreased them on the next round in order to try and avoid an underarm hole. It worked, and I was able to use the 40cm needle throughout. I also wanted the sleeves to be nice and long, to about the base of my thumb. My stripes didn’t quite work out to add the extra rows I wanted, so I fudged at the end of the sleeve and did 12 rows grey and 4 rows white. It’s barely noticeable even when looking for it, and not noticeable if you didn’t know…

But oh, the sewing in. Because of the stripes there were loads of ends to weave in. But I sat in front of the telly and just got on with it and actually found it just as enjoyable as the knitting.

Even though I carefully measured the sleeves multiple times, they were a teensy bit short when I put the jumper on. So I blocked it, thinking acrylic wouldn’t have any stretch - wrong! I was able to block the sleeves to the perfect length

The cheapo yarn from Lidl washed beautifully. I think I’ll be able to wash this one on a gentle wash in the washing machine.

Conclusion - a terrific pattern! Although it’s described as being for beginners, it looks great and fits beautifully. I really want to make another one. Next time I’d skip the stripes, and perhaps go for a variegated yarn. Hmm, off to Wool Warehouse for a surf.