St Brigid: FO

jody

alternatively entitled, the post that took 3 years to write

st brigid: fo

It’s finally done, and I find myself at a loss for words. I’ve been done for a full week now, and I still can’t quite believe that it’s true.
I knit St. Brigid
There were many false starts (including one I never documented). I’m not quite sure why this time did the trick. The color? Maybe. The deadline? Maybe. The encouraging comments? Most definitely.
I have so many people to thank, and I’m positive I’m going to forget some of them. Thanks to Katy for hosting the KAL, Vicki for finishing hers almost 3 years ago and being an awesome cheerleader for my own, Marnie for encouraging me to consider retaining the saddle shoulder, Christy for knowing the right amount of good-natured ribbing to keep me on course (because she knows how fickle I can be!), Jessica and Kristy for enduring our Thursday night get togethers with endless whining about my boredom, EZ because without her I may not have had the courage to consider modifying this sweater as much as I did, and to Maggie Righetti because her chapter on sleeve shapes kicks ass.
I knit this sweater in under 10 weeks, and I don’t recommend it. My hands hurt. I was bored. I was hyper-focused every weekend and I was up until 2am the Sunday of Rhinebeck just so I could wear it in 75° heat. In my ideal world I would have taken a break after the body was done, but maybe in my ideal world I never would have finished at all.
specs
pattern St. Brigid by Alice Starmore from Aran Knitting
yarn Cascade 220 Aporto. 9.5 skeins
needles Knit Picks options size 6
mods tons, read my archive for a full list
sleeves and hood
The sleeves came out rather nicely and pretty much as planned (thankyouverymuch Maggie Righetti). There’s a lot to share on the sleeves so I’ll write that up as a separate post. The quick scoop is that I changed them to a set-in style (but retained the saddles) and knit them 2 at a time because I was afraid I wouldn’t take good enough notes to knit them individually.
The hood worked out pretty well too. I knit 4 repeats of the chart up each side and then grafted the 2 sides together (they’re mirror images of each other so they grafted together perfectly). My grafting is a bit tight in a couple places so I may go back and loosen that up a tad.
thoughts on the sweater
I never expected this to be a shapely sweater. Having said that, it’s still a bit more bulk-adding than I expected. I probably could have gone down an inch or two more in the body and still have been OK, but I wasn’t sure because bulkier sweaters need more circumference to fit right.
I love wearing it and love the fact that I finally made it. I’ve hit a milestone in my knitting that I thought I might never hit, and in doing so I’ve learned a few new things about why I knit and what it means to me. It’s going to take some time to gather my thoughts, so I’ll leave that to my next post.
For now, will you excuse me while I pop around town in my new sweater!

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140 thoughts on “St Brigid: FO”

  1. You should be dancing on the rooftops, girl! this is *amazing* Congratulations on such a great garment – a true heirloom. And what a nice color for you too! :)

  3. You’ve metamorphosed the baggiest, fringiest sweater (with the best cables ever) into a lovely, shapely garment. Yours retains the best of Alice’s, yet fixes all of my complaints about the original. I dearly hope you’re willing to share some mods for the rest of us! The front split for the hood turned out perfectly! Congratulations!

  5. so happy you got it done and that you LOVE it. it’s a beautiful sweater and i’m not-so-secretly pleased that i got to see it in-progress.
    an inspiration to be a more patient knitter for me–none of my sweaters so far are as gorgeously knit as this and i know it’s because i get too excited to be done.
    well done!!!

  13. JODY! YOU ARE A ROCK STAR!! ALL CABLED & HOODED UP IN BLUE, YOU ARE!!
    It is absolutely gorgeous. I know how proud you must be, and how empowering this is, knowing what you’re capable of — and you, especially YOU, with all the mods. It’s just terrific! Well worth the wait. Congratulations.
    I wear mine at least once a week in the winter… I wonder what kind of mileage you’ll get.
    ; )

  14. Beautiful sweater. I wish I could knit like you, and that the weather here was cold enough to wear one. The pattern is lovely and the color looks great on you. Congratulations!

  22. Oh my goodness! I’ve been checking in almost daily, waiting for this post! You have done a beautiful job. I love the color, the hood, the fit…everything is just fabulous! Congratulations!

  25. This is so beautiful – and it looks lovely on you. You and I are similiarly sized and I like finding sweaters that look great on curvier people. And, I happen to have this book… Thank you for the inspiration!

  29. AMAZING!
    The sweater itself is totally fantabulous. The color is beautiful and it looks lovely on you. It is a work of art. I think it is the prettiest FO I’ve ever seen on any blog.
    Truly amazing!
    Congratulations. I am awestruck with envy.

  31. Fabulous! Love it, totally understand the head down through the cables pain of it, and yeah man, look what you have to show for it all. that’s awesome.

  36. This is one amazing piece of work. I love the finished product and I will definitely be reviewing your mods for tips when I finally get around to starting my own. I think you look fantastic in it, too!

  37. AMAZING!!!!!! I can’t even believe how gorgeous your sweater is… it’s just beautiful and your modifications are amazing…so much talent. I can only imagine how proud you must be and how tired and I’m sure there’s the post project sadness that’s it over. I’ve started and ripped and started and ripped St. Brigid twice now, but after seeing your version I may have to try again. Thank you so much for the inpspiration….really thank you.

  40. WOW! What a gorgeous sweater! The color! The cables! Love it – it’s very flattering!
    One day, I hope to tackle the cabley goodness that is St. Brigid!

  43. Gorgeous! You should be sooo proud! If I could ever pull that off, I would wear it every day and tell everyone I came in contact with I made it. :)

  47. Wow, oh wow, oh wow! Your St. Brigid is truly amazing. I love your modifications and think they “hip it up”. Your beautiful creation was certainly worth the years of effort!

  48. WOW! Fantastic job! WARMEST congratulations!! (Pun intended, also, lol!) This is such a beautiful pattern, and you chose a lovely color to make it in. Wear it in the best of health!

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