Matchy matchy fiance jumpers, anyone?!

In mid November I received this in the post from my former boss, Andrew, along with the suggestion that we (me and the Fella) might look rather fetching in them:

It really made me giggle! Now, I have not shared this pattern with you until now, as I have been looking to give it the room and value it deserves. Yup – okay, I admit it. I spent the rest of November and December trying to work out how to put this pattern to work. "Ohhh", I thought, "maybe he's right and I can scale it up to adult size...?"

After all, don't forget, Andrew was my boss and old habits die hard. In London, I would ask Andrew to double check my logic if I needed to present an argument on behalf of our team. So if Andrew, boss and logic checker extraordinaire, makes the suggestion that Family ORK would look good in a matching set of aran jumpers, who am I to question his conclusion? I should make them at once!

For once, it might have been lucky that DIY got in the way of my enthusiasm? Before I knew it, Christmas had arrived and out-of-the-blue, a gift appeared at our house on Christmas Day that has enabled me to test his theory without casting on a stitch:

It's uncanny, isn't it? The knitting fates must have been looking out for me this Christmas.

Now, just in case you have been trying to track down a jumper like this, I am happy to confirm that it is a genuine Irish Donegal Aran Handknit from Kathleens in the North West of Ireland. Traditional in every respect, down to the detail that it is made with good, old fashioned, itchy, pure wool. This jumper is probably indestructible. Kathleens looks like it is still going strong and sending these jumpers out worldwide, via mail order (which explains how this jumper got to the West Coast of Canada and made its way to me, via a Craft Fair in Point Grey).

This week I needed to take pictures of white on white things, as part of learning how to expose pictures properly. So I lured invited the Fella to the studio with this sweater and I took some portraits of him in it (against a wall of the same colour). Now I was almost helpless with laughter throughout the shoot and I took loads of photos. Sadly, I do not think that the Fella would ever forgive me if I shared his interpretation of, "Go on, do some menswear catalogue poses – sell this jumper to me!"

So here's an informal one of the Fella that is safe for public consumption:

Go Fella go - work it for the camera!

And here are the two of us, side-by-side, in the same jumper (well, not exactly):

Argh honey, this things itches - I can't keep a straight face!

Ok Fella, tell me honestly - does my bum look big in this?!

So okay Andrew, respected ex-boss - it's like this: I have been good, I have been thorough. As you can see, I have done my research and I have scrutinised the results - at length and in detail.

However, I apologise but on this occasion, the evidence indicates that I should challenge your suggestion that the Fella and I mght look fetching in his and hers aran weight, textured knits. Actually, I suspect that we might look a little bit silly?!

So, I am going to see if I can repurpose the pattern* that you kindly sent me. I will investigate whether I can use it for an accessory instead, perhaps something less overwhelming than a a sweater. A bag or a maybe a cushion cover?

In the meantime, I am going to slip my Christmas present back quietly back into a drawer. The Fella's drawer in fact, as the evidence of this research is that it looks far better on him than it does on me!

*Notes: by the way Andrew, it has not escaped my notice that the pattern is a 'his and hers', boys and girls pattern that you happened to find when tidying up some of your parent's things. So, okay – where are you hiding the pictures of you and your sister wearing the finished articles, eh?!