Real stories · The layer that settles it

Too warm in the kitchen, too cold in the hall — the cardigan that settles the argument

Too warm in one room, too cold in the next — this is the cardigan that settles that argument. I'm 67, and in winter our house has climates, plural: the kitchen is tropical by ten, the hallway is the Arctic corridor, and the sitting room depends entirely on whether Malcolm has 'had a look' at the thermostat. A jumper is too much for half the house; a blouse is too little for the other half. I spent whole days putting things on and pulling them off again.

What I wanted was one layer that could cope with all of it.

Then I found the Mariviennea from a British label called York Boutique — a soft button-front cardigan in a fine, faintly fluffy knit, with a neat round neck and small buttons down the front.

The knit is the first half of the trick: it's fine and breathable, so it warms without ever getting stuffy — none of that trapped, overheated feeling a thick jumper gives you in a warm kitchen. The buttons are the second half: open for the warm rooms, closed for the cold ones, changed in a second without taking anything off — which is why one cardigan now covers the whole house, radiators notwithstanding.

Fine enough to breathe, buttoned to adjust in a second — which is why the whole house is now the right temperature.

At £39.95 — half the usual £80 — it undercut the two 'nearly right' knits it replaced.

It has since done every room in this house, the café, and one visit from my sister Joan, who felt the sleeve, said 'that's never acrylic money', and wouldn't move on until I'd written the name down for her. I did check before ordering that I could send it back if it didn't suit — you can, within a fortnight, and the delivery's free.

If your house also has climates, plural, do have a look. The Mariviennea is rated 4.6 out of 5 by more than 360 women, it comes in eight colours, in UK sizes 8/10 to 16/18 — and the beige goes first.