Owls for Winter

Now I live in a “pretty cold for Australia” climate I’ve started to appreciate a type of knitwear that I’ve never been a fan of in the past – the “chunky” jumper.

I usually like my jumpers to be made out of 4ply, 5ply or 8ply yarn. I’ve been known to go as far as 10ply but I’ve never been entirely happy about it. I like jumpers with a fine texture and a light enough to be layered with jackets and shirts. Anything more than 10ply just seems too bulky most of the time.

But now I live in Gordon and the heater is broken. I need a jumper NOW which means 4ply is out of the question. Could I wear a 12ply jumper without looking like a beanbag? What about 14ply – or is that just too damn big to even consider?

The answer landed on my office desk in the form of a shade card from Bendigo Woollen Mills. When I order yarn I get it delivered to work, so the shade cards find me there too. It’s always a bit exciting to lob up to work and discover a shade card waiting for me.

I’ll have a closer look at this year’s colours in more detail soon, but what really caught my eye was their Classic yarn. Lots of the colours are available in 2, 3, 5, 8 and 12ply! A nice new jumper in 12ply was beginning to look very likely.

A quick search of Ravelry sealed the deal – the perfect 12ply jumper that was already in my queue. Yes, it was time to do as nearly 8,000 other Ravellers had done and knit Kate Davies’ Owls.

I must admit, I didn’t realise that Owls was a 12ply pattern so I was over the moon when I discovered this. I’ve wanted to make this jumper for ages but after placing it in my queue, I kind of forgot about it.

Owls is a long sleeve, round neck jumper. It’s knit entirely n the round from the bottom up. You knit some tubes for the sleeves, a tube for the body and then join them all together at the yoke.

It’s the yoke that’s the best bit. The jumper gets its name from the sections of cable that run around the yoke and look like little owls. A few dozen buttons for eyes, and you have a family of owls nesting in your jumper. If you’re not keen on wearing a family of owls, you can leave the buttons off and just go with the cables.

(Actually, the collective term for owls is “a parliament of owls”. I can spend ages giggling at collective nouns for various animals. A busyness of ferrets, a plump of ducks, a smack of jellyfish… )

So a 12ply jumper was cast on. Although I’m not in love with the bulky fabric such a heavy yarn produces, I am definitely smitten with the speed with which it knits up. I turned out two sleeves in two days and have done about half of the body. It’s been getting a bit cold so I might have been wearing the sleeves while I knit the body.

I’m not yet sure if I’ve been converted on the matter of bulky jumpers – but this one will definitely meet my need for a very warm jumper very quickly. I’ll reserve my final judgement for when I’m finished.

In the mean time, I’ve ordered the yarn to make a 14ply jumper for Geoff. He doesn’t have the same concerns about bulky knits that I have. Given my bulky yarn knitting speed, I think I’ll have it turned around in under a week.