I’ve started my usual knitwear spring clean. It’s quite a marathon washing everything by hand in Woolmix, spinning out the water or squishing inside a towel if the garment tends to felt/shrink, and laying it on the dining room table to dry in turns. But it’s worth it, as I haven’t yet had any moth damage over the years.

There’s an extra bittersweet side to it this year. Not only am I reminded of a hobby I had to give up thanks to RSI, but now that I’m Ms Hot Flushes I need to be able to peel off layers easily and that means I’m not wearing jumpers, or vests that don’t button or zip up. I’m thinking I’ll put those garments in storage bags and stow them on the top shelf of the wardrobe to make space for more cardigans.

I never thought I’d be reduced to buying knitwear, though to be honest I always bought garments that would be no fun to knit – ones using fine or very dark yarn. A few weeks ago I went in search of a lightweight wool, cashmere or alpaca cardigan because now that handmade knitwear is a finite resource, I don’t want to risk losing it when travelling.

I discovered by accident that Brand Smart, our local outlet store mall, was having a VIP sale – their big one for the year. I scored a Sportscraft merino wool cardigan with a small hole in the neckband. I sewed up the hole and the result was barely visible, but I decided to cover it up with some embroidery anyway.

The hard part was deciding which stitch to use. It needed to stretch with the collar. I tried one stitch…

… but didn’t like it. The next…

… I really liked. It’s a ‘feathered chain’ stitch from Stitching Borders and Beyond, a little ebook I bought here. I used Bendigo Classic 3ply, which worked perfectly fine so long as I made sure the yarn didn’t untwist as I worked.

I’ve been wanting to try embellishing clothing with embroidery, and now I’ve finished one project I’m eyeing my wardrobe speculatively to see if anything else needs a little extra stitchwork.