The cosy jumper I have not taken off since it turned cold
At 62, I found the one autumn jumper I reach for the moment it turns cool
Six things the Lindy gets right that cosy jumpers get wrong, from a woman who is not a fashion writer.
Caroline Richards · Customer · Nottinghamshire · 5 min read
Let me be plain about who is talking. I am Caroline, I am 62, I live in Nottinghamshire, and my jumper drawer is a graveyard of good intentions, the soft ones gone baggy and the smart ones too scratchy to wear. So this is not a review. It is a woman who had given up on finding a jumper that was soft and smart and kept its shape, saying she was wrong.
The one I am writing about is called the Lindy, from Nottingham Boutique, a small boutique that has been quietly dressing women our age for a few years now. I first saw it on a friend on one of the first cool mornings, looking cosy and pulled together at once, and when the boutique later asked if they could put my letter up for others to read, I said yes, on the condition I could be completely honest in it.
A relaxed waffle jumper, at my age. I know. I thought relaxed meant shapeless and that I would look like I had given up. Then I put it on, and it skimmed rather than swamped, and it was soft as anything. Read on.
Here is what a lifetime of jumpers taught me. Cosy jumpers come in two piles. The soft pile, the lovely snuggly ones that go baggy and bobbly after two washes and hang off you by Christmas. And the smart pile, the ones that keep their shape but scratch at your neck and your wrists until you cannot wait to take them off. I had decided you could be cosy or you could be comfortable, but somehow not both.
Soft but shapeless, or smart but scratchy. That was my jumper drawer, and I was tired of both.
The Lindy is the first jumper I have owned that is neither, and having practically lived in it since the mornings turned cool, I can tell you it comes down to six things.
The morning it arrived. Softer than I expected, and I could hardly believe the price on the tag.
IT IS SOFT WITHOUT BEING SCRATCHY
It is genuinely soft against the skin, the sort of soft you want on a cold morning, with none of the itch at the neck or the wrists that sends me reaching to take a jumper off within the hour. I can wear it straight against the skin, no blouse underneath as a buffer, which for me is the whole test of a good jumper and one most of them fail.
Soft as anything, and not a scratch in sight.
So soft I can wear it right against my skin, no itch at all. I put it on the moment I get cold.
Christine B., West BridgfordTHE WAFFLE TEXTURE LOOKS FAR DEARER THAN IT IS
It is a lovely waffle knit, that little raised squared texture, which catches the light and looks considered rather than flat and cheap. It gives a plain jumper something to it, so it looks like it cost a good deal more than it did. People assume it is one of the dear labels, and I have not corrected them.
The waffle texture. It looks like it cost a great deal more than it did.
The waffle texture makes it look so expensive. Everyone assumes it is a designer piece.
Margaret E., SouthwellTHE RELAXED FIT IS FLATTERING AND EASY TO LAYER
It has an easy, relaxed shape that skims rather than swamps, so it is forgiving over the middle without being a tent. And because it is relaxed, it layers beautifully, over a shirt with the collar out, under a coat, with the sleeves pushed up. It is the sort of jumper you build an outfit around without thinking.
Relaxed but still flattering, and it layers over everything. Not a shapeless sack like some.
Dorothy S., BeestonIT HOLDS ITS SHAPE AND DOES NOT GO BOBBLY
This is the part that matters most to me. It has been through the wash more times than I can count and it has come out soft and the same shape each time, no bobbling, no sagging, no stretched-out cuffs. Most soft jumpers are lovely for a month and a disappointment by winter. This one is not.
Washed it a dozen times and it still looks new. No bobbling, no sagging. That never usually happens.
Pauline H., ArnoldIT GOES WITH EVERYTHING
A classic crew-neck shape goes with everything, and a bit of colour like the fuchsia is exactly what a grey autumn morning needs. It lifts my jeans, sits happily under a denim or a black jacket, and brings a little life to the dark days without any effort. It is the cheerful thing I reach for when everything else in the wardrobe has gone brown and grey.
Goes with my jeans, my skirts, everything. I reach for it constantly now the weather has turned.
Eileen T., NewarkTEN COLOURS, AND IT FITS FROM AN S TO A 4XL
It comes in ten colours, everything from soft neutrals to a proper bright if you fancy one, and the sizing runs honestly from a small all the way to a 4XL. I have the fuchsia and I am eyeing the apricot for something softer. A cosy jumper that actually comes in your size and your colour should not be a rare thing, and yet it is.
On the wardrobe door, ready for whatever the day turns out to be.
I am a 22 and it is genuinely flattering. So many colours, and a proper range of sizes. Wonderful.
Maureen C., BinghamThe Lindy, against the jumpers you have been putting up with
You can find a soft jumper for thirty-odd pounds almost anywhere. I know, I have a drawer of them gone baggy. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
Soft, but baggy and bobbly by winter
Or smart, and scratchy at the neck
Shapeless, or clingy
Flat and cheap-looking
One colour, and never in your size
Soft against the skin, no itch
Waffle texture that looks dear
Relaxed shape that skims, layers easily
Holds its shape wash after wash
Ten colours, fits from an S to a 4XL
About the price
The Lindy is £32.95 at the moment. It was £64.00.
I will pass on what the boutique told me, which is that it is one of their best-sellers each autumn, and the popular colours and the middle sizes tend to sell through first. Their words, not mine. What I can tell you from my side is that half price is usually where I start asking what is wrong with a thing, and I have found nothing wrong with this one.
And I do not trust perfect scores, so I read the reviews before I ordered. Just over three hundred of them, sitting at 4.2 stars, which sounded like real women rather than robots, so I read on. The same six things I have just walked you through come up in them, over and over, in other women's words.
Folded on the shelf, ready for the cold snap.
If you have the same graveyard of a jumper drawer that I had, all baggy or all scratchy, and you would rather have one you can live in, this is the jumper I would put in your hands myself, while your size and colour are still there. Stop dithering and go and have a look.
Caroline
LINDY | CLASSIC AUTUMN SWEATER
- Soft waffle knit, cosy against the skin, no itch
- Waffle texture that looks far dearer than it is
- Relaxed shape that skims and layers easily
- Holds its shape wash after wash, no bobbling
- Classic crew neck that goes with everything
- Ten colours, UK sizes S to 4XL
- Free UK delivery and 30 day returns
A best-seller every autumn — the popular colours go first.