How to read a knit before you buy it

Every knit carries a record of the decisions made before it reached the shelf. Learn to read those decisions and you can tell in thirty seconds whether a sweater will still look good in five winters or pill into fuzz by February.

Start with gauge — the number of stitches per inch. A tighter gauge takes longer to knit and uses more yarn, which is why fast fashion favours loose, airy knits that look generous on the hanger and collapse after two washes. Hold the fabric up to the light: if you can read a headline through it, the garment will stretch out at the elbows.

Next, look at ply. A two-ply yarn is two strands twisted together; four-ply is denser, rounder and far more resistant to abrasion. Our merino cardigans are knitted from a four-ply spun in a mill outside Biella that has been twisting wool since 1907.

Finally, check the finishing. Fully-fashioned shoulders — where the panels are knitted to shape rather than cut from a larger piece — leave no raw edges to unravel. Turn the garment inside out. Neat, flat seams and a ribbed hem that springs back when stretched are the signs of a factory that expects the piece to be worn for years.

None of this requires expertise, only attention. Once you have looked closely at a few good knits, the shortcuts in a bad one become impossible to unsee.