Bonnie | Christmas Print Knit Sweater

A Christmas sweater has one job and six weeks to do it.

It has to read clearly from right across a crowded room, survive being worn four times in a single fortnight and still be comfortable through a very long dinner. Bonnie is printed all over instead of carrying a single motif on the chest, which is what makes it land from the doorway rather than needing to be pointed out.

All-over print. The design covers the whole sweater instead of sitting as one small patch on the front of it. It works from any angle at all in a photograph.

Soft knit body. It is comfortable enough to sit through a four-hour dinner in without wanting it off. Festive does not have to mean itchy.

Crew neck. It lies flat at the collarbone and stays there through an evening of getting up and sitting down again. Nothing rides up and nothing gapes open at the back.

Warm enough for a cold house. It is a real knit rather than a thin printed sweatshirt, so it holds its own on a December evening. Festive and genuinely warm with it.

December asks for exactly one sweater that does the whole job and then goes back into the cupboard for the next eleven months. Getting that one right is worth about fifteen minutes of thought.