This is my second pattern by Gudrun Johnston and certainly won’t be the last. Her patterns are fantastic to knit, she explains everything so thoroughly and it’s almost as though she is there, right next to you as each stitch is created. Soay was fun to knit, the lace panel straightforward and the i-cord trim an effective, pretty and neat way to finish off an edge.

Madelinetosh is a beautiful yarn and I adore this colour, too. I have such a hard time fighting the urge for grey but when I saw ‘well water’ I knew it was the one. And it turned out I had the perfect vintage buttons already in the tin which was so satisfying.

I couldn’t make up my mind which size to knit though. My gauge was completely off and each needle size I tried proved no help. I felt uneasy going down too many, besides the fabric was becoming dense with smaller needles. So I stopped at 3mm and then went down from my usual clothing size as I wanted a fitted garment. My yarn shop advised going smaller and when I double checked with Gudrun, she agreed. Gudrun’s response, btw, came back quicker than the speed of light which impressed me no end.

Once I’d finished and had a quick try on, however, I thought it was going to be too tight. So, although I knitted the 31.5” size, I blocked it as per the 33”. Madelinetosh was more than accommodating and the gamble turned out to be spot on. The fit is one hundred per cent perfection and I am over the moon with my Soay!

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