The Warwick

Still waiting on the yarn. The spinner's batch missed its cone weight and had to be re-spun. It arrives tomorrow and the first sample should follow next week.

Jason showed me a lambswool sweater in a birdseye knit today. The texture is lovely, but the way it knits means there's no room for fashioning marks and the seams end up looking bulky and unrefined. It gives with one hand and takes away with the other. We're sticking with the plan: 7 gauge.

The first sample will be knitted in Todd & Duncan lambswool in a white undyed yarn. I probably won't launch in white, but it shows off the fashioning marks and give Jason and I really clear insight into what's working and what isn't.

I've ordered Riri zips are in white, navy and black so that we have options as the samples progress.

The first spec for the Warwick has gone to Jason: a ribbed quarter zip with a 20cm Riri zip and a 64cm body in a Small. It'll be knitted in lambswool rather than merino, to set it apart from the Anson and the Slingsby.

I asked Jason today whether they've ever made a quarter zip. They haven't. His idea is to start from the Anson, now that it's nailed down and split the collar for a zip.

As much as I like the idea of starting from a point that we know is right, I don't think that'll work. It's a totally different garment but what we can do, is make sure we include fashioning marks from the very beginning.

This will add a third style of knitwear to the line up.