Mai Gidah Textured Knitted Jumper

Intarsia is the expensive way to put two colors in a knit and it is the only way that produces this result. In an intarsia, each block of color is knitted from its own separate length of yarn, joined to its neighbor at the boundary, with nothing carried across the back. There are no floats, no doubled fabric behind the pattern, and no shadow of one color showing through the other, which means the piece weighs the same everywhere and reads the same from both sides. Jacquard and stranded knitting both take shortcuts this does not. The texture in the surface comes from that structure rather than from a raised stitch applied over it. It is knitted in pure lambswool, which is the first shear of a lamb and the softest wool a sheep produces, with a shorter and finer fiber than a fleece taken later. Then there are the parts that come off. The scarf detaches and the hood detaches, so the same jumper is a hooded piece, a scarfed piece, or a plain one, and none of the three looks like a version of the other two with something missing. Made in the Netherlands.

Why we selected it

Detachable parts are usually a way of selling one garment as two, and they usually look like it. This one is drafted so that each configuration is finished at the neck, which is the only place the question is ever settled.

Mai-Gidah names its colors in pairs on this piece, and pairing is what an intarsia is for.

The color

Two colorways. Sulphur Yellow / Dove Grey, and Lavendoli Purple / Autumn Sky. Both are the house’s own color names and both are written as the house writes them. In an intarsia the two names are not a ground and a highlight, they are two equal fabrics meeting at a seam that is knitted rather than sewn.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent lambswool, knitted as an intarsia. Removable scarf and removable hood. Made in the Netherlands.

Fit notes

One size, which on a knit of this kind is a decision rather than a limitation: the piece is cut generously and the wool has enough recovery to take a range of frames without holding any of them. Lambswool relaxes with wear and comes back with rest. It layers over a shirt without crushing the collar, and the hood, when it is on, wants nothing else at the neck.

Styling

With the Jogger Trousers or the Drawstring Joggers for the softest version. With the Extra Classic Trousers when the knit should be the only informal thing. Wear it plain first, before deciding whether you are a hood person.

Care

Lambswool is a short fiber and it felts, so keep it away from agitation and away from heat, wash it by hand and cool if you wash it at all, and dry it flat rather than on a hanger. Detach the scarf and the hood before cleaning, since three pieces dry evenly and one lumpy assembly does not. Our care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The Drawstring Knitted Trousers are the house’s other knitted piece, worked in wool with a pattern knitted through, and the Drawstring Joggers with Extended Cargo-Style Knee Pockets are a jersey trouser cut for the same soft register. Everything we carry from Mai-Gidah is listed together.