I made this jumper from a Hanne Falkenberg kit which I bought from Karin at Litet Nystan when I was in Stockholm. It is called “Studio” and the above photo is borrowed from the HF website. Hanne Falkenberg is a Danish designer and her work is well worth a look.

This jumper took me a while to knit as the wool is quite fine and the pattern uses 3.00mm needles. I did use a couple of trips to do most of it, and when I was in Hobart, my Mother-in-Law kept telling me that she was keen to see it finished – well here it is!

Can I say right now that Hanne Falkenberg’s knitting patterns are simple and yet challenging. You have to put traditional notions about knitting aside. This one is knitted in two pieces and then mostly knitted together. All her designs seem to utilise stripes and garter stitch, but in fascinating ways.

This brings me to the pattern instructions. How I longed for a knit along or even an email where I could ask questions. I did pull the knitting down a couple of times because of misinterpretation, but once I relaxed and went with the flow I got the hang of it. I do think the jumper was well worth the effort. I have to say that it is a fascinating endeavour. It begins with three stitches and is knitted in a sort of diagonal with triangles and origami like elements, and of course I love chevrons so it ticked that box. My husband thinks it’s mesmerising!

I had a bit of an issue when I had done the front and back, which equates to the whole jumper. They just didn’t match up. I had this nasty feeling I had knitted two backs. I was on the brink of frogging one side, so went for a long walk. The pattern comes with a schematic so I cut it through the middle to replicate my knitting and laid them on my two sides. I had an aha moment. This jumper is not joined right sides together but by butting the two pieces together, and it’s quite clever because I now have no idea where it is joined.

Having worn the jumper all day I can report that it is really comfortable, but, because it’s knitted from wool sourced from a crofter in Scotland, or some such thing, it’s a tad itchy. And I don’t normally itch. I wore a silk undershirt and that worked perfectly and my lovely husband assures me that it will soften up with laundering.

In these photos I am in Sydney working – can you see how hard I’m working? So hard in fact that I look as though I’m having a nanna nap in this photo! I do confess that the microphone was merely a prop :).

There are rules with this jumper – you can’t just buy the pattern, you have to buy a kit which includes the yarn, and if you want to remake it you are supposed to send away for a refill. Well don’t tell anyone, but I’m going to have a go at another one with yarn from my stash. I am envisaging something gaudy, quite possibly green and another colour. Here I am in the jumper in my natural habitat – eating something sweet – this time nitro ice cream, which is not available in Perth.

The details:

Hanne Falkenberg jumper “Studio” in black and outmeal, worn here with my StyleArc Elle pants.

A few people have asked for a Heidi photo, so here she is with her master. I think I’ve previously shown a photo of her as a pup in arms, so here she is in arms again, just to show that she’s grown a tad!

Truly she is a bit like a bear. When Tom lays on the floor she jumps on him – rather him than me – she is not light!

I’m in Sydney at the moment. I managed to find a couple of hours off and thought I’d slip in a couple of photos.

This is the Queen Victoria Building, one of my favourite buildings in Sydney and I can see those copper cupolas from my hotel room.

I am a sucker for stained glass and there is a spectacular example in the QVB

and tessellated tile floors – how glorious is this one?

Inside QVB

I wandered down to the Rocks where the Sydney Harbour Bridge peers out from various corners

When my boys were little they posed inside this soldier – carved from sandstone, and a nod to the early settlers

Here are some of the buttons I bought from Buttons, Buttons, Buttons on Nurses Walk in the Rocks. These are all vintage, and I did buy sets of all of them – just what I need – more buttons! The ridged one is divine. It’s from the ’60s and is the most magnificent colour. I will have to make something to go around the six that I bought. The jade green one is also pretty gorgeous and is from the 1950s.