You might guess that the inspiration for this jacket came from the mosaic itself but that is not the case even though the mosaic is housed in Verulamium Museum, St.Albans, UK, which was about ten miles from where I was living at the time.

What first gave me the idea was a little book called Geometric Designs From Roman Mosaics by Robert Field (published by Tarquin Publications). I then visited St Albans, then made the jacket.

The jacket has had an eventful life. In the summer of ‘93) I took it to the AGM of the Knitting & Crochet Guild. I had been asked to take an item to display and was utterly shocked, at the end of the day, when I was told it had won first prize for the best item on display. I had not realised it was any sort of competition. (I gave my prize back to the Guild as they were, at the time, collecting money to set up the Guild’s museum collection.)

Later that year, I was asked to take part in a television series called The Good Yarn Show, in the edition called Inspirations. Many well-known fibre people were involved in this series. I was particularly thrilled to work with Montse Stanley.

I have written instructions for making the jacket but they should be considered as a guide to recreating the design as they are not as definitive as conventional patterns.

The last two photographs show another sweater inspired by the same book. It is based on a mosaic from the Forum Baths at Herculaneum