Every Christmas, Molly Weasley knitted new Christmas jumpers (US “sweaters”) for her children and Harry Potter, often with their initials on them. Ron’s sweater was usually maroon – a colour he dislikes for some unknown reason ( PS12). List of Weasley jumpers First Year: I searched high and low for a pattern and found literally ONE but wasn’t happy with construction. It was knit in pieces and then seamed together, and it also didn’t offer letter charts. So I looked for sweater patterns I could possibly use as a base. For M’s, I measured a sweater she had in her closet and just kind of winged it while following the basic construction of the other pattern. I had already made mine and my husbands so I measured my gauge and figured out how many stitches I needed for the body and then the rest of the sweater is easy to just figure out with measurements. Letters Bust/Chest: 36½ (38½, 42½, 47, 51, 54½, 57½, 62, 66, 70) in. / 92.5 (98, 108, 117.5, 129.5, 138.5, 148.5, 157.5, 167.5, 178) cm

No new Weasley sweaters but, in Godric’s Hollow on Christmas Eve, Harry fondly recalled Christmas at Hogwarts and Ron in his Weasley sweater Main Color (CC): Green Mountain Spinnery Mountain Mohair (40% fine wool, 30% medium wool, 30% fine mohair; 140 yd. / 128 m per 2 oz. / 57 g hank) in color Claret, 7 (8, 9, 10, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15) hanks For the letters, I used duplicate stitches after the sweaters were finished. You can tell if you look closely but it only adds to the charm of these sweaters. This was my first time doing a big duplicate stitch project so I was pretty proud of myself. I started with M’s so if I made a mistake it would be on smaller scale. Here’s a great tutorial on YouTube for how to create duplicate stitches.In the meantime, every year, there was a new Weasley jumper for Harry. Which must have taken some doing, if you think about it. Even if Molly used magic to help with her festive knitwear production line, she had at least 8 to produce every year: one for each of her own 7 children, plus Harry, and that’s assuming there were no other jumper recipients on her list. For Christmas a few years ago, my husband asked for matching Weasley sweaters for the fam. The task seemed daunting but I’m so glad I went for it because they turned out beautiful and he was so happy. My 19 month old even loved hers because she’s become really interested in letters recently! I hope this post is helpful if you’re wanting to knit your own Weasley sweater! It’s so much fun and special too. Yarn

And so the Weasley Christmas jumper became a regular festive tradition. We can just picture Harry and the Weasleys lounging around after Christmas dinner at The Burrow, woolly jumpers on for a snooze on the sofa. Or Ron and Harry wearing one under a Hogwarts cloak, keeping warm as they threw snowballs at Fred and George. And no doubt they were perfect for keeping off the chill of those draughty Hogwarts corridors. For my husbands, I used the color Lighthouse Heather. For mine, I used Down Heather. For M’s, I used Hollyberry and the yellow letters were stitched with Brass Heather. Pattern Length: 23 (24, 24½, 25½, 26, 27, 27½, 28, 28½, 29) in. / 58.5 (61, 62, 65, 66, 68.5, 70, 71, 72.5, 73.5) cmHarry – green with a dragon on the front, possibly the Hungarian Horntail he challenged in the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament I used a few stitch markers to mark the top, bottom, and sides of the letters on the sweater to help me know where I was when following the chart. Another tip is don’t try to do the whole letter with one strand of yarn. It’ll take multiple pieces and you can start and stop anywhere. I tied all the loose strands together on the inside to secure them. Overall, though, the Weasley jumper was important because of what it represented – particularly to Harry, who had never before experienced what it was like to be part of a warm, loving, slightly chaotic family. Cosy, comforting, and with ample space to snuggle in, it was basically an extension of the Weasley family home. Those jumpers did a lot more than keep out the chill for Harry. Right from the very beginning, they were symbolic of the very thing he needed: a family who actually cared for him. For Harry, receiving his first Weasley jumper was a surprise, not least because at that point he had only met Ron’s mum very briefly. But from the outset Molly Weasley seemed to sense instinctively what Harry needed: a family who would actually care for him.