brigitte = bad

hello! thanks for all the tag blanket love!

unfortunately i have some fugly knitting to report on. i finally got around to finishing brigitte, and it's awful. really, really awful. i really like the pattern in theory - i was picturing a cute, open, sort of retro tunic-y type top to layer over summer dresses. that's definitely not what i got. i started to get a bad feeling about this top pretty early on when i had to keep doing raglan increases way past the point that the pattern indicated. i was using the called-for yarn, and had the correct gauge, but still, the sweater was knitting up way too small. it also was a lot less elastic and stretchy than i expected - the pattern said that it was a really stretchy top, and the huge spans of measurements for each size suggested as much as well. it just didn't even really look like the top in the picture! it was so frustrating.

i decided to persevere anyway because it was such a fast knit, and i figured i wouldn't ever find another use for the rowan cotton braid that i used. so i used up all of the yarn, which should have been enough to knit the largest size, and still the sweater comes up three inches shy of my belly button when i put it on. i think it's safe to say that i'm not bothering to weave the ends in on this one. i've been talking to jenna about it, as she had a similar experience with her attempt at brigitte as well, and i really don't know if there's something wrong with this pattern, or if we just both had bad luck. who knows...i guess my cute little summer top just wasn't meant to be though.



and about that yarn! i kind of went out of my comfort zone a bit with the rowan cotton braid, as it's definitely in novelty yarn territory, and i also don't usually go for oranges. i learned my lesson for sure. no more orange! and easy does it on anything so poofy!

at the very least, i can now cast on for another sweater guilt-free, and hopefully i'll have better luck with this one. tonight i got started on the back-to-school u-neck sweater from fitted knits. i'm using cascade 220 in a pretty heathered mustard color. i looked at some other people's finished sweaters on ravelry tonight and i'm super excited about this project now! everyone else's looks great, and i'm hoping mine will be a very wearable piece. pictures soon!