Tatty-tastic Christmas Jumpers + Your Chance to WIN

Happy Christmas Jumper Day! This Christmas we challenged the amazing Anna Knits to create a mix of fun and festive knitwear inspired by our favourite Christmas jewellery. Read on as we get down to the knitty gritty, plus find out how you can WIN your own Tatty-tastic jumper in time for Christmas Day!

Tell us a little about yourself… Hello! I’m Anna, a 29 year old (currently clinging onto my twenties by the very tips of my fingernails) knitwear and crochet designer presently based in rural Buckinghamshire (home of Midsomer Murders!) After moving from London when my son was born. I have written two craft books - Learn to Knit Love to Knit & Learn to Crochet Love to Crochet - and enjoy a rich variety of creative projects.

How did you get into knitting? My mum taught me to hand knit when I was about six so I just kept practising and eventually, after many over ambitious and disastrous creations, became comfortable with the craft. I studied knitwear at Winchester School of Art and have since been working freelance, focusing on creating hand knit patterns for magazines, books and as downloads available on my website.

Five things you can't live without? Netflix, pasta, laughing, loungewear, friends/family.

What are you hoping to find under your Christmas tree this year? I’m hoping to find the Cheese Bunting Necklace under my Christmas tree - it’s amazing! I would love to find some OPS&OPS shoes and I’m expecting to find lots of festive themed Lindt chocolate!

We set you the challenge of transforming Tatty Devine jewellery designs into knitwear - how did you get on? It was so easy to get inspired by Tatty Devine’s Christmas collection - I could’ve made a flock of about 100 sweaters and cardigans! I loved combining elements taken from different jewellery designs together on one piece of knitwear. I focused mainly on the Big Bow Necklace, the Harlequin Bunting Necklaces and also the Holly Necklaces to create one jumper and two cardigans.

For the Harlequin Bow Sweater I used a silver and pale blue colour palette and played with the scale of the harlequin pattern. Inspired by the Big Bow Necklace I featured big bright red bows on the cuffs and a large intarsia bow motif on the front. For the Harlequin Christmas Cardigan I used the red, gold and blue colours of the Harlequin Necklace, but this time the pattern is in a much smaller scale on quite a feminine fitted garment and I've contrasting textures in the yarns. Again, this cardigan features bows at the cuffs and at the neckline, plus used harlequin patterned buttons to finish off this piece. Finally for the Holly Cardigan the harlequin pattern appears but in a much more subtle way - just as a textured stitch. I took inspiration from the Holly Necklaces for this and created large crocheted holly leaves and crocheted berries to feature at the cuffs and around the neckline and some of the button holes.

How can we knit our own Tatty-tastic jumpers? All the knitting patterns are available to download as a PDF from my Etsy shop! You can get any of these Tatty Devine X Anna Knits patterns with a very special 50% discount with the code TATTY50. It's valid until Christmas Day, so get cracking!

COMPETITION TIME! Wanna WIN yourself a Harlequin Bow Sweater (Size Medium) and Big Bow Necklace? All you have to do is follow @tattydevine and @annaknits on Instagram and comment on our competition Instagram post, letting us know your best Christmas cracker joke. We’ll pick our favourite answer on Monday morning - good luck!

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*The small print: To enter, comment on our competition Instagram post with your best Christmas cracker pun. You can comment as many times as you like. Our favourite joke will be selected from all entries shared before midnight on Sunday 18th December 2016 and the winner will receive 1 x Big Bow Harlequin Christmas Jumper in Medium and 1 x Big Bow Necklace. If you’ve won, we’ll let you know via Instagram comment, and if you don’t respond within two days, we’ll pick another favourite. Our employees, their families, agencies or anyone connected with Tatty Devine can’t enter this one, sorry. There is no cash alternative, and your prize is non-negotiable, and non-refundable. Good luck!