Jumper retrospective

To complete the picture, here are the jumper and the cardigan that I've knitted to date. I found the wool first, in the closing-down sale of Oxford's only Rowan outlet in 2004. The pattern came from a friend and needed recalculating for both size, sleeve length and gauge. I was really pleased when it worked. This was my first large-scale project and obsessed me until it was finished. I was particularly pleased with the zip - and yes, I did sew it in myself. The cardigan followed on shortly after the red jumper: I found a 1kg pack of Rowan Magpie in the John Lewis sale. Even when I found out the shade was called "toad" I couldn't resist. The pattern is from Men in Knits. I was attracted by the alternate slip-stitch texture which they describe as waffle stitch and which produces an extremely dense, warm fabric. It's slightly on the small side so tends to be borrrowed by my partner, but the colour suits me better.