A letter from a reader

At 62, my coat would not do up over my cardigan

I have never written to a shop before, and I did not expect my first letter to be about a cardigan.

Every autumn it is the same performance in my hallway. I put on a nice warm cardigan, then I try to get my good winter coat on over the top, and it will not have it. The sleeves bunch up round my elbows, the buttons strain across the front, and I end up looking like a stuffed cushion. So I take the cardigan off again, go out in the coat, and spend the day either too cold in the coat or too cold without it.

I had a wardrobe full of lovely thick cardigans that I could not wear under anything.

So I gave up, and went about with one layer too few all winter.

Then I saw one on my neighbour over the garden fence

Brenda was out hanging washing in a soft pink cardigan with a little hood, and when she popped back in for her coat it slid straight on over the top as if it was not there. I asked her how, and she said, "It is fine knit, Caroline. Thin as you like, warm as anything." She told me it was from Nottingham Boutique, a little boutique that has been quietly dressing women our age for a few years now, and that they come in a whole collection of colours. I ordered mine that evening. Mine is the Claribel, in the pink.

What happened at the netball match

On Saturday I stood on the side of my granddaughter's netball match for the best part of an hour, cardigan on, coat done up over the top, warm as toast. Three different women asked me about it at half time, and my friend Sue told me I looked like I had made an effort, which I have decided to take as a compliment. When the wind got up I simply pulled the hood up.

It is a small thing, a cardigan that fits under a coat. I had forgotten how nice it is to be the right amount of warm.

Three things I have learned since

One. Fine knit is the secret. It is a soft, fine knit, light and smooth, so it layers under a coat without any bulk, and it is still warm enough to wear on its own on milder days.

Two. The hood earns its keep. There is a soft hood with a drawstring, so when the wind picks up on the walk to the shops you can pull it up and draw it in.

Three. It is easy to wear. A neat button front to wear buttoned up or open over a simple top, ribbed cuffs and hem that keep their shape, and a relaxed shape that skims rather than clings.

About the price

I had assumed something this soft would cost a fortune.

The Claribel is £35.95. It was £72.

There is no catch. They have their autumn sale on and delivery is free. Mine is the pink, and there are seventeen colours in the collection, from navy, grey and black to coral, lilac and mustard, all the same price, from a UK 8 up to a UK 18.

I did go and read the reviews before I ordered. Just over three hundred of them, sitting at 4.2 stars. Not the suspiciously perfect five you see on some sites, which if I am honest made me trust it more. One woman had written, "Finally a cardigan I can wear under my coat. So soft, and I have bought it in three colours now." That was the one that decided it for me.

What I would tell you if we were friends

If you came round and we sat out on the porch with a cup of tea, this is what I would tell you.

If your coat will not go on over your cardigan, the answer is not to go without. It is a finer cardigan.

It does not look like it was made for somebody half my age, and it does not look like I have given up either.

Caroline