St Brigid - Take 2

One of the first items I knit when I really started knitting seriously again about 6 years ago was Alice Starmore's gorgeous St Brigid. I was at a well known large downtown yarn store looking at books - (for some reason all they have is 1 small and very uncomfortable chair - would it kill you to put in a table and some decent chairs!) - and my heart stopped when I spotted St Brigid.


I did it in a deep rich brown wool - Galway I think and included the fringe and the neck ribbing as it is shown in the book (Aran Knitting - look on eBay for a copy - they are well worth the $$s). I wore it and loved it and evetually had to take off the fringe as it was felting and looked very scrappy. I also made the mistake of using a sweater stone on it to defluff it and managed to almost ruin the sweater. A couple of careful washings and blockings later and it doesn't look too bad - just well loved.

About 2 years ago I started knitting another St Brigid - this time in a Irish wool (superwash) - finished all of the pieces - then put it all away as it seemed too short - my row gauge must have been off. I pulled it out the other day and did some furious steaming and all seems a little more open so I finished up the neck edge - this time with just the braid and not the ribbed neck and so far no fringe. It is still a little short so I might fringe it or add a row of the same braid that goes at the neck - just to make it tush covering enough for me.

I still love it more than anything else I have knit. I am now plotting and planning my 3rd St Brigid although I want to finish Starmore's Fern and Inishmore first. (Inishmore is another story - I set up the patterns incorrectly and have about 10 inches of the body knit circularly to rip out)