MH Guernsey Sweater by Marion Foale

Hand Knit Guernsey Sweater

If you think the Guernsey Cotton Yellow sweater (above) from Margaret Howell looks hand made, you'd be right. You can just tell, can't you? Not just any old hands, but hands associated with Marion Foale.

After studying fashion design at the Royal College of Art in swinging 60s London, Marion opened a boutique with fellow graduate Sally Tuffin on 'Mod Row' — Carnaby Street.  Marion specialises in knitwear, and from her current studio in Warwickshire she engages the services of around three hundred local hand knitters to create her designs. I can hear the click-clack, click-clack of six hundred knitting needles.

I'm fond of the relaxed high neck of the sweater. It's unusual to have such a design in cotton, so we can wear it in summer.

I'm glad they didn't have the model wearing it without anything underneath — they do that a lot. Puts me off. Sweaters, to my mind, should always have something underneath that bridges the neck, a shirt or a scarf or both. Here they're using the Margaret Howell Polka Dot Bandana in silk twill, which is hand printed in England.

What to make of tucking the sweater in? I guess it depends on the sweater and the trousers, and whether you are wearing a jacket over the top and want to get your lengths in sync. I think it can work better with fine guage sweaters (as with a John Smedley Layer). It difficult to pull off though.