This post was inspired by reading Be*mused’s blog about her knitting memories… so thanks Be*mused for sending me down this road.

This jumper (that’s sweater to you yanks!) was knit whilst I was in my first term at Bristol Polytechnic (now the University of the West of England).

I’d bought the wonderful, hand-dyed mohair on a stall in Keswick market whilst on holiday that summer in the English Lakes with my parents.

On the weekend before the term started my parents drove down to Bristol with me – I only had a mini and couldn’t fit all my belongings in it. We arrived at the shared house I had rented a room in to find it empty, I knew there were three other girls due to be living in the house but had not met any of them. There was evidence that at least one of them had moved in but no sign of anyone.

My parents stayed as long as they could but eventually had to leave me to get home – still in an empty house. After they’d gone the house seemed really empty, it was the first time I’d ever lived away from home, I was starting a degree course and I was sitting in an empty house waiting for three strangers to arrive and so find out who I was going to have to spend at least the next three months living with!

I had no tv and once I had exhausted the enjoyment that can be gleaned from unpacking into a new room I decided to get out the knitting and sit by the fire in the lounge.

Which is where the first of my housemates to return, Annette, found me when she arrived back at the house. She later told me that she really didn’t know what she had landed herself with as a housemate for University when she walked in to find this strange girl sitting knitting of all the uncool things I could be doing! Eventually the other two girls arrived back and we introduced ourselves.

Annette and I both stayed living in the house for the next two years so she must have realised that chicks who knit are fun to be around!

That was almost exactly 20 years ago and, yes, I still have the jumper – it’s baggy, the sleeves are now so long I have to turn the cuffs, the mohair is almost felt but every time I clear out my closet I just can’t bring myself to throw away the memory.

I really loved this wool – the colour variegation formed a really nice stripe pattern on the body with the sleeves being striped where narrow and having large patches of colour as they got wider. I can’t even remember where the pattern came from now…or what the yarn was but it’s possible it was Colinette..before they became as big and famous as they are now..