The first christmas that we had the shop I knitted a Colinette Point 5 jumper for James (the Webmaster). There are a massive shortage of patterns for men, especially cool ones so I adapted a Rowan Big Wool pattern and thought it was OK. Well, he said he was very pleased and wore it on Christmas Day but a couple of months later when I commented that he hadn’t worn it much he said “I haven’t got the strength to lift it”.  In fairness it had taken about 15 hanks (1.5kg!) of yarn and it was a pretty hefty jumper but the word ungrateful sprung to mind!

Anyway, he had the sense to wait a year or 2 before asking me if I would re-knit it! It only took a week and I made up a pattern with input from James. It was finished last night and he posed for me this morning.

It’s not really as red as it looks in the left hand pic. The other is a better picture of the colour but it’s not a great one of James. He is looking a bit uptight because the kids are up to something in the lounge. It took about 3 or 4 hanks less and fits much better than the last one did. I totally made up the pattern just based on tension measurements from the old jumper before it got unpicked and it will be in the free patterns section soon.

Anyway, the main point of this post is that even if you have some major knitting disaster it’s worth shoving it in the cupboard for a year or so and trying again because you can turn something rubbish into something great on the second time around.