Saturday, September 13, 2008

st brigid no. 2




here is my latest st. brigid. it wasn't less fun to knit the second. i love the pattern and learn a lot about cables when i knit it. my st. brigid's has a lot less ease than the original pattern due to my gauge that is obviously different than alice's. and i am happy about the more snug fit that in my opinion makes it much more wearable. especially for skirt girls like me and my sister. she is alba's grandmother.

i used to think it was not so hip to knit other people's patterns but i have changed opinion. there is a lot to learn when using a skilled knitter's patterns. as for example alice's or jared's . and from that learning experience it is possible to refine my own designs eventually.

the whole knitting process was very fast with this one. it made me think of when the mice helped cinderella hem the dress for the big ball. i almost felt like some one was doing the work for me. from start to finish the whole thing was done in a fortnight.

the yarn is hebridean 3 ply. i absolutely lurve this yarn. it has all the qualities a good yarn should have. and there are some amazing colours all inspired by different aspects of nature and especially the nature of lewis in the hebrides. i love reading alice's colourstories on her website. the colourway is fulmar which is inspired by the colours of this bird's wing. it is a kind of latte colour with whispers of rust, green and dusky pink. a very unusual colour that changes a lot depending on the light. i guess all colours do but this does it very much. and yes we like to wear hats indoors.

i have a lot of projects that i want to knit. i want to knit jared's new hats and ordered some jamieson's for one of them. and the red hebridean 3 ply is for a matinée coat for alba in a design by alice starmore from her book 'the children's collection that is available at her website at a reasonable price ( 12 gbp) and at an unreasonable price at ebay. maybe it will be a collector's item in time to come.

i have also started knitting irish moss from aran knitting for my brother in cushendale from ireland . it consists of a lot of purl stitches knitted from the back so i think it is important to have more than one project going on since it does make your hands and arms ache a bit.

oh dear what a lot of boring details.... i always wonder if my blog posts would be a bit more fun in danish.

4 comments:

Shan said...

You are unbelievably fast. Two weeks!

I think I know which sweater you're making - I have "The Children's Collection" on my shelf right now, from the library. I was going to buy it from VY but the shipping to Canada was preposterous.

Anonymous said...

I'm amazed that you knit this one once let alone twice! It's just beautiful!

Mandy said...

Oh, please don't write in Danish! Or at least, don't write only in Danish!

I totally understand about knitting from patterns. For a while there, I didn't knit anything from a pattern and it is fun and invigorating and empowering. But then when you come across a great pattern, and you don't have to do any figuring or planning (or ripping) because all that has been done for you...well, it's worth the price of the pattern, in my opinion. I surprised myself recently by purchasing two patterns (Adrian's Fiddlehead Mittens and Jared's Habitat hat). I am by nature, very frugal (cheap?) but after knitting those patterns I would say they are worth every penny.

Lest I forget: Great 2nd St. Brigid! Like Tiennie said, I'm amazed!

Sinéad said...

What a gorgeous sweater. Congratulations on getting it knitted so quicky!
The new yarn you have is a fab colour, scrumptious!