Tuesday, August 31, 2010

St. Brigid

At long last, I'm knitting Alice Starmore's St. Brigid. I'd intended that this summer be my Summer of Starmore, knitting this pattern , finishing my 3/4 done Rheingold wrap, and starting either my Luskentrye kit or perhaps even an Elizabeth of York. I love the Starmores' patterns, and it looks like my Summer of Starmore is likely to turn into an Autumn and possibly a Winter of Starmore.

The danger of the Starmores' knitting patterns is that they take longer than 6 weeks for me to knit. I knit fairly quickly, but these are time consuming projects. I cast on St Brigid on July 14 and have worked on it (nearly) monogamously for all the time since. The back and most of the sleeves are finished, but I've reached the six week mark.

This is a problem.

After six weeks of exposure to a project, I develop a dreadful disease. Perhaps you've experienced it? I call it Project Fatigue. If it's not done at the six week mark, and project is likely to get pitched to a dark corner with a promise to myself that I'll pick it up again. Of course, no project ever has another 6 week go in it, as it's a progressive disease. After I first develop...this allergy... to a project, further exposure to it causes the disease to return faster and faster.

Project Fatigue has claimed several projects. A few, like my Green Tea Raglan, got finished. Some have eventually been frogged. Others, like the Rheingold Wrap and my Oriole Lace Blouse, sit waiting for a treatment for my disease. Indeed, this disease has been such a burden to my knitting that it has prompted me to try to learn things to like cabling without a cable needle and the Yarn Harlot's method of cottage knitting. The cabling thing helped. I still have not mastered the Harlot's flying fingers, but I still study the videos.

So here it is. The back of St. Brigid.As you can see, it's a great Aran geansai. However, unlike the authentic Arans I was dressed in as a child, it will not be a hair shirt. I'm making this of Rowan Cashsoft Aran. It's on US 4 needles, so it's pretty dense and is intended to wind up as my new fall and spring jacket. If the disease does not get too bad.