All women's sweaters

Pre-owned women’s knitwear, one of each: jumpers, cardigans and a few sweatshirts, most of them cashmere or wool. Every piece is laid flat and measured by hand before it is photographed, and a live table lists up to 20 of the pieces in stock today, with their pit to pit, length and sleeve in inches.

The labels run from high-street cashmere such as F&F, Marks & Spencer and John Lewis to Scottish-made knits from Brora and Barrie. What separates them is fibre length, yarn weight and how the piece was knitted, and our guide to second-hand cashmere goes through it tier by tier.

How we measure knitwear. Pit to pit is a straight line across the chest, from one underarm seam to the other. Double it and you have the full chest. Length runs from the highest point of the shoulder down to the hem, and pit to cuff along the underside of the sleeve.

Pit to pit against a UK size. Double the figure and compare it with your bust. Our size guide gives the bust for every UK size: a UK 8 is 32 to 34 inches, a UK 10 is 34 to 36. The difference is the room you get.

Fine and ribbed knits stretch, so a fitted one can measure smaller than the bust it fits. For those, go by the UK size in the listing, which is our estimate worked out on the garment itself.

Easier still: lay a jumper you already like flat, measure it the same way and compare. Or let Will it fit? check every piece against your own numbers. Labels in Italian, French or German sizes are decoded in our continental sizes guide.

Where a knit is shown on a model, she is a UK 8 and 5′6″.

Care. Hand wash cashmere and wool in cool water with a wool wash, or use a wool cycle at 30 degrees inside a mesh bag. Never wring: roll the piece in a towel and dry it flat, away from the radiator. Fold knits rather than hang them, and comb pills off rather than picking at them. Where we could read the care label, the product page repeats it.

We check each piece in daylight for holes and pilling and say what we found. Delivery is by Royal Mail Tracked 48, and you can return any piece within 14 days of delivery.