Have you seen this new miniseries on PBS?  It’s pretty much made for me.  It’s a crime procedural drama, costume drama, and (as Netflix is always suggesting for me) a Witty British Drama Featuring a Strong Female Lead.

Actually, it features several strong female leads.  The main characters are a group of ex-code breakers that worked at Bletchley Park during World War II.  Apparently I wasn’t paying attention in history class, because I had never heard of it.  Apparently much/most of the codebreaking in WWII was done by women, which is pretty neat.

Anyway, the ladies of Bletchley Park have had to go back to civilian life after the war, and are made to sign a non-disclosure act, so they can’t even tell their husbands about their wartime efforts.  They’re all sort of bored and unhappy with their civilian lives, after the excitement of being codebreakers.  But, then they discover a serial killer and investigate him as they fight against the clock to prevent him from killing again.  It’s all terribly exciting.  The last episode ended with a huge cliffhanger, and I’m itching to figure out what happens!

But, when the ladies of Bletchley Circle aren’t fighting Nazis or hunting down serial killers, they’re knitting:

They even use yarn as a crime-fighting tool (see it on the map in the background?)

All the characters have fantastic hand-knit sweaters.

And even though the percentage of sweater vests is a little high for my taste, I won’t complain too loudly.

Want to get in the spirit of the Bletchley Circle?  I wouldn’t recommend chasing after a serial killer, but maybe try one of these cardigans instead:

Vitruvia Vest and Cardigan by Marilyn King

Neon by Joji Locatelli

Anais by Kim Hargreaves