The sweaters to see you through the season – it’s time to invest in the best.

Spring has sprung in the Northern Hemisphere. The daffodils are in bloom, the birds are singing and the newborn lambs are gamboling in the fields. Who in their right minds, you might ask, is currently thinking about a new sweater? Us, that’s who. For while it’s true that the weather has improved markedly since the beginning of February – when we could barely step outside in anything less than five layers – it would still require a generous stretch of the imagination to describe what is currently going on outside our windows as “T-shirt weather”.

Instead, what we have is a wobbly, can’t-make-its-mind-up kind of climate: a bit too warm for a coat, but not warm enough to gallivant in just your shirtsleeves. It’s the sort of weather that demands an adaptable approach to dressing. But what makes a good knit for spring? And how does it differ from the chunkies and cashmeres you bought last season? Read on to find out.

There’s something about striped knitwear that just cries “spring”. If you ask us, it’s a lot to do with the popularity of the iconic Breton sweater, a striped knit originally designed for the French navy that sailed its way into the civilian wardrobe as part of Ms Coco Chanel’s nautically inspired 1917 collection and has since become synonymous with the breezy, laid-back style of the French Riviera. The Breton knit is far from the only way to channel a little Côte d’Azur chic this spring, however; it has many stripy brethren who do the same job just as well. Take J.Crew’s off-white and blue sweater: knitted from a lightweight cotton blend, it’s perfect for strolling along a sundrenched promenade. Or, if you want to make that little bit more of a statement, try Missoni’s knitted zip-up hoodie with vibrantly coloured “space-dyed threads”.

A cosy knit that provides a layer of warmth without the additional bulk of a coat or jacket, the cardigan comes into its own at this time of the year – and we can hardly think of two finer examples than the ones you’re looking at right now. The first is from Inis Meáin, an Irish knitting company based on the island of the same name. Situated 30 miles off the western coast of mainland Ireland, Inis Meáin (Anglicised as “Inishmaan”) is the middle of the three Aran Isles, an archipelago internationally known as the home of the Aran sweater. These tiny, isolated islands boast a knitwear tradition that dates back centuries, but in this elegant cardigan – knitted from a rough-spun linen yarn and featuring a modern, jacket-like collar – is proof that Inis Meáin has one eye trained on the future, too. The second example is from Helbers, a brand that is barely a year old but already boasts a reputation for producing some of the finest menswear on the market right now. Rendered in a tactile blend of silk, cotton and cashmere, this ivory-white cardigan boasts all of the warmth of a coat, making it perfect for throwing on when warm days give way to cool evenings.

Ah, cricket. Does anything say “English summer” quite like the thwack of leather on willow – a sound typically accompanied by the percussive clatter of hailstones on the pavilion roof? As practitioners of a sport that grew up on England’s rain-soaked village greens and that typically involves extended periods of standing in the outfield doing nothing, cricketers have become necessarily adept at dressing for bad weather. This spring, take a leaf out of their book and invest in this update on the traditional cricket sweater from Kent & Curwen, a recently relaunched British heritage brand that has received backing from no less a style icon than Mr David Beckham. Alternatively, if modern sporting attire is closer to your tastes, try out this knitted zip-up cardigan from Junya Watanabe, which comes with an intricately detailed – if hardly subtle – eagle embroidered on the back. Needless to say, you wouldn’t get away with it at Lord’s.

What are the defining qualities of spring knitwear? Practically speaking, it should be lightweight, breathable and easy to take off if the weather gets too warm. A lightweight cardigan beats a heavy-gauge rollneck, then, while breezy fabrics such as cotton and linen are preferable to chunky wool. Leaving practicality aside for a moment, we’d venture to say that a spring knit should also have something more intangible, and that’s a sense of fun. Here, then, are two sweaters that confidently satisfy this requirement: a banana-leaf sweater from Valentino and a bold floral-motif sweater from McQ Alexander McQueen. Both offer a nod to this season’s tropical print trend, but we also love them for their spring-appropriateness.

Here’s one piece of fashion terminology that might actually be worth committing to memory. “Dégradé” refers to a subtle shift from one colour to another, as opposed to the more clearly defined blocks of colour that industry types refer to – somewhat more prosaically – as “colour block”. There is something undeniably summery about dégradé. When it’s applied to this silk and cashmere-blend sweater from Berluti, it gives the impression of a pre-dawn sky as seen from a plane; in the hands of LA cashmere specialists The Elder Statesman, the results are rather more psychedelic. Speaking of psychedelic, you might like to think of dégradé as a smarter, more socially acceptable form of tie-dye, boasting all of tie-dye’s chilled-out summer vibes, but with none of those hippy-dippy, Haight-Ashbury connotations.

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