Save the Children is appealing to knitters to support their new fundraising initiative by knitting and wearing a Christmas jumper  and how could we resist?

There are few garments as likely to raise a smile as a Christmas jJumper. Who could ever forget the sight of Colin Firth wearing an oh-so stylish Reindeer Jumper in the ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’ movie? It may be a bit early yet, but before long these jumpers will have gained an appeal we can’t quite explain.

Whether you go for a subtle scattering of snowflake motifs or a full-on reindeer, Christmas jumpers tick every (beautifully wrapped) box, keeping you cosy while raising smiles everywhere you go.

On Friday 14 December 2012, Save the Children is asking you to spread some joy by wearing a festive jumper, and raise money for their life-saving work by making a £1. Now to be known as Christmas Jumper Day, we think it will be a really jolly day, with the added bonus of helping vulnerable children across the world. 

To ensure that there’s enough Christmas jumpers to go around Save the Children is making a special request to knitters to make and donate jumpers to any of Save the Children’s 120 charity shops across the UK. Alternatively, you can sell them via eBay with donations gifted to Save the Children. All designs are welcome – and the brighter and bolder the better.  

Leading knitwear designer Debbie Bliss has created a special reindeer knitting pattern for children available in three children's sizes - 2/3 years, 4/5 years and 6/7 years. The exclusive knitting pattern is available to download for £2 from the Save the Children website.

Over the past few years we’ve published plenty of patterns in this vein, with highlight including issue 61’s Scandinavian-esque masterpiece by Amanda Jones, pictured at the top of this post, or the  red-nosed reindeer jumper shown above, which featured in our special Irresistible Christmas Gifts To Knit edition. From understated shades of cream and brown to vivid blue and crimson, the main thing these jumpers’ reindeer motifs share is an abundance of festive cheer!

But not all Christmas jumpers have to feature reindeer. In fact, there's a whole farmyard full of animals to chose from. As shown to the left, for Simply Knitting issue 88, currently available as a digital Newsstand app edition, Kirstie McLeod has taken Aardman Animations cutie Timmy the Lamb (a relative of Shaun the Sheep) and transformed him into a sweet children's festive sweater.

Now we just need to figure out how to scale it up to fit us so-called grown ups!

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