Bronx Girl Knits!

So I'm riding the train home last night, knitting away on my Brisa and I take a really good look at it - and it hits me- I don't like it. I think I was trying too hard to like it because I really wanted to finish my first sweater, but this is why knitting is so cool, I can take the things I like about the sweater, discard the things I don't like and voila! a new sweater is born. So when I finished dinner last night I frogged it back to the ribbed portion. From here I will continue in plain stockinette until I reach the bust when I am going to attempt to try Bonne Marie Burns' short row shapping lesson, we'll see how that goes. Then back to the pattern for the straps. Thus the birth of the sweater formerly known as Brisa or SFKB as my husband like to call it.

I've never really been one to follow a pattern slavishly so I'm not sure why I got so caught up in doing it on this one. I suspect it's because I am more than a little intimidated by making a piece of clothing. Gauge matters so much more, measurements are very important etc. Most things I make I have a bit of leeway with one way or the other so I'm not as afraid to experiment.

As a consolation to the wonderfully gifted designer of Brisa, Theresa Vinson Stenersen,(like she's crying over my opinion) I really think that it's the yarn that makes me dislike the way the sweater was turning out. It's a beautiful light blue, very soft and a pleasure to work with but I think it is far too limp for the lace pattern. It needs a bit more stiffness to it to hold it nicely (though of course that may have been solved in the blocking but I'm not that patient right now).

Now I need to get to work to finish it. I've decided that I am going to wear for the first day of classes here at work. It is so insane and stressful that day that I think it would very empowering to wear it. Besides my co-worker ( and 1 of my official knitting proteges) showed me the scarf she is making for herself out of the merino lycra blend that we picked up at School Products. It is a lovely red colorway and it is so gorgeous that I can't wait to start the hat and mitten set I am making for my toddler cousin for Christmas.