Tag Archives: sweater

Inspiration: The Bletchley Circle

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

The Curse of the Boyfriend Sweater

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So, have you ever heard of the CURSE OF THE BOYFRIEND SWEATER? (You’re supposed to read that like the announcer introducing a B-horror movie, in case you were wondering.) The superstition is that if you make a sweater for your boyfriend (or girlfriend, I suppose), you’ll be broken up by the time you bind off. I’m not making this up. It’s even got it’s own Wikipedia page.

I’m not terribly superstitious, but I don’t doubt that this occurs. (I know I refused to make a sweater for my husband until we got married, just in case.) I propose that the “curse” actually happens for one of two reasons.

1. You picked an ugly-ass sweater pattern, or at least a sweater that you want your significant other to wear, but not one that he would ever be caught dead in in a million years. These miscommunications can lead to hurt feelings, bickering, and general unpleasantness. Not good at all.

2. Most sweaters take a loooong time to knit, unless you’re really on a mission a typical knitter won’t complete a sweater in less than several months. Your typical dating relationship (that doesn’t go on to marriage and all that jazz) may not last quite that long. (Of course, I’m generalizing, but you get my point.)

So, I’m not sure that I buy into the whole superstition thing, but I certainly can see how there might be a correlation between sweater-making and relationship-ending. So what’s a girl to do if she wants to dress up her guy in cozy knitwear? How about a nice scarf? A cozy hat? Maybe a cool pair of gloves?

Unless, of course, you want your relationship to end but you don’t like confrontation. In that case, knit away! Might I recommend this classy number modeled by Mr. Cosby?