A letter from a reader

I own eleven cardigans and not one of them is allowed out of the house

I am 66 and I have a drawer that is nothing but cardigans. Navy, grey, another navy, one my sister gave me that I have never worn. They are warm and they are useful and they share one fault, which is that the moment I put one on I look like a woman who is in for the evening. Monty thinks they are marvellous. Nobody else has ever remarked on one.

What I wanted was something to put over a plain top that did not announce the day was finished. Not a jacket, because a jacket in September is too much before eleven and not enough after four. And not a shawl, because I have never once managed to keep a shawl where I put it.

My sister found it, and I will not hear the end of that. She turned up to a lunch in August wearing one and I assumed it had cost a great deal. It is from The Winslow Sisters, the little shop in Richmond run by Emma and Alison, and it is called the Albertine. I ordered the navy the same evening.

It is crochet rather than knit, and that turns out to be the whole difference. The pattern is rows of small flowers with open work in between, so from across a room it reads as something rather than as a woolly. Put it over a plain top and the plain top becomes an outfit. The sleeves stop on the forearm so I am not pushing them up every five minutes, and it fastens with a narrow tie and two little tassels instead of buttons, which means it never gapes and I can wear it hanging open without it looking undone.

It is the first thing I have put over a plain top that made the plain top look like a decision.

It is one size, which I was suspicious of, because one size usually means one size for somebody else. But it is an open cardigan and it is meant to hang rather than fit. I am not a small woman and it sits exactly as it does in the photographs. That is the only reason I am willing to say so.

I had steeled myself for what it would cost. It was £41.95, down from £110, because they buy in small quantities and are clearing this run. There are six colours and I have been quietly working out whether a second one counts as sensible. It does not, and I am going to anyway.

Emma has written about why they made it the way they did, including why it is crochet and not knit. Her letter is here if you like knowing that sort of thing.

If your cardigans are all house cardigans too, this is the one I would look at. It is £41.95 while they clear the run, and the navy and the black are the ones people go for first.