The jumper was the thing I'd reach for when the kids were finally in bed, and I had a bit of time on my own in front of the telly with my granny squares.
I think I wore it nearly every night for those 6 months. Funny how it became such a comfort, but it did. And it was a long six months.
Anyway, probably because I wore it endlessly, it started slowly falling apart - under the arms, then an elbow, then a random hole. Eventually I just left it in the drawer, until it was time for my old friend to become something else - and no, not a rabbit, though obviously that did cross my mind! No, I wanted to make the jumper into a useful thing, and so settled on a hot water bottle cover, because I love a hottie; and the one I'd been using has a football on the front.
.
Hand up here, because I nicked this idea from a lovely friend who used to blog, and made one out of an old cashmere scarf she'd picked up in a charity shop. It was woven rather than knitted cashmere, and possibly easier to work with, but after a few hot washes my jumper shrank quite nicely to tiny, tight proportions. So small in fact, that I was worried there mightn't be enough jumper to make the cover! In the end I opened up the non-holey sleeve.
I cut a whole one out from the sleeve, then used the ribbing at the bottom of the jumper to cut two overlapping pieces. The top section is just over a third of the bottle, the bottom piece makes up the rest + an extra 6cm for the overlap.
Then pinned it inside out, making sure when I turned it back the top section covered the bottom, rather than the other way round - I say that, because I often forget to check…
Didn't take long to sew round, and I'm by no means a ninja with a sewing machine. I added a zigzag row to neaten the seams and stop any fraying.
Finished off with two shell buttons that fasten with loops.
It's not perfect, a bit lumpy in places, but I'm really pleased with the end result, and a rather fitting, comfy reincarnation, don't you think?
Worth digging out those old jumpers?
