Birkin - the story of a jumper

Early this year, my knitting group The Richmond Knitters, decided to do a knit-a-long, for the Australian Sheep and Wool Show (also know as Bendigo). We debated different patterns, settling for the lovely Birkin. I found some "local" yarn for the body - I'm not sure where it was made, but it is sold by the lovely Ixchel Bunny in the Yarra Valley. I was using left-overs for all the contrast colours. I thought the yellow / green might be a bit much, and I wished that the red was pink, but I went ahead.

Before I bought the yarn, it was clear that Bendigo wasn't going to go ahead this year. A few of the Richmond Knitters were already knitting theirs and I had rather fallen in love with the pattern, so I went ahead.

I'm really happy with how it came out. The colours worked better than I could have hoped.

I knit a larger than I usually would size (large for the yoke, and then kind of medium for the body). I added the leaf motive on the sleeves and around the bottom. I knit the sleeves quite long for me, and the body slightly longer than the pattern. This is unusual, as I am quite short.

We took the photos today in the courtyard / lightwell of our building, to acknowledge that we are in Stage 3 lockdown.

Still, this jumper makes me feel connected to my knitting friends. There is a small chance that by mid-July we will be back in Stage 2, which means we could all meet up in Bendigo at the time of the show. The show won't happen, but hanging out with the Richmond Knitters is the main point for me (and shopping, but I've done quite enough of that). Even if that can't happen, it will keep me warm and snug through what is a rather difficult time.

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What I made, by Sharon

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