For years, one question kept landing in my inbox: “When is Maud coming back?”

Maud was one of those sweaters people wore, loved and came back for. Its deep black melange was scattered with a burst of rainbow tweed, and the lambswool and cashmere felt wonderfully soft and lofty. No two jumpers looked quite the same. It was a bestseller.... then in 2022 the yarn was discontinued and I couldn’t make any more.

I thought finding something similar might be the answer and also a simple task. OH, how I was wrong, there was nothing like it.

I tried other yarns and developed new knits over the years, including Willow and a Yorkshire-spun lambswool-and-silk. I loved what each of them became, beautiful in their own characters, but neither was Maud. It was the weight of that lambswool cashmere that felt comforting, wearable through the seasons and for day and night. It was unique; I  needed that particular mix of softness, depth and unexpected colour.

The search for Maud’s yarn

I spent four years looking. I spoke to mills, followed leads and even went to Pitti Filati, the yarn fair in Florence, with Hugo when he was just 11 months old.

The original Italian mill could make the yarn again, but its minimum order had risen to 250kg. That was enough for nearly 1,000 jumpers in a single colour: far beyond what I could commit to as a small British knitwear label. So I kept asking, and kept searching.

At the beginning of this year, the mill finally said yes.

Holding the lambswool and cashmere rainbow tweed again was such a moment. The colourful flecks appear differently throughout the yarn, giving every Maud its own character. It was the yarn I had been waiting for, and I knew I wanted to do more than simply bring the original sweater back - now we have more silhouettes.

Made in Britain, better than ever

The new Maud stays true to everything that made the original so loved: the relaxed shape, the beautiful yarn and that joyful scattering of colour. I’ve also taken the opportunity to refine its details and bring its production into our Hertfordshire micro-factory.

Each piece is fully fashioned and traditionally hand linked by our team. Making Maud here means we can work closely with the knit at every stage and pass those specialist skills on in the studio. It makes this return feel especially meaningful to me.

And Maud has brought a few friends with her. Alongside the crew neck sweater, the collection now includes a V-neck, knitted T-shirt and vest, with Mauden styles for men. They all share that unmistakable tweed, yet each offers a different way to wear it.

It took four years, many conversations and more than a little persistence to bring Maud back. Seeing it come off the knitting machine in Hertfordshire, then watching each piece take shape on the linker, feels like the beginning of a new chapter.

The preorders of the Maud collection have been utterly incredible and more than I would ever have thought; I had to reorder the yarn 3 times. Just shows how much you missed her!

A pure joy with a burst of rainbow tweeds, discover the collection here.