Finish It Friday: Bray

So I had this brilliant idea to start and finish a sweater before I headed up to Hartford, CT for Stitches in October.

Let me introduce you to Bray. A lovely lace/cable pullover designed by Jared Flood. A lovely very feminine sweater.

It's well documented on how much I love the Kathmandu Aran/DK  yarn (sadly, discontinued). This is the 5th project I've knit with it (but the first for me). The green is soooo me.

I have tried several projects with the yarn, but none worked quite right. It had to be the "perfect" project. A discontinued yarn in my favorite color? oh ya, Bray fit the bill. The only real concern was that it was in two dye lots, and thanks to all the starts and abandonments, I lost track of which was which dye lot. So I crossed my fingers that there were close enough that no one would notice (success!)

Okay, so let's talk about the pattern. It's lovely, beautifully written and straight forward. Of course I screwed up the set up row on the back and didn't realized that I had an extra lace section on one side until I was decreasing for my shoulders... yep had to completely re-knit the back. This is after I decided to rip back half of a sleeve to go down a size (and I actually should've gone down one more size).

So there's the rub. It's a little too big. I followed the suggestion of 2-4" of ease, but with my full bust and narrow shoulders (plus this is slightly A lined), I should've gone with no ease or adjusted the raglan/saddles to compensate for my narrow shoulders. Don't get me wrong: I'm still happy with it, it's cozy and comfy. However, it's not nearly the tailored/classic design I was hoping for.

So let's do some project stats:

Pattern: Bray by Jared Flood

Yarn: Queensland Kathmandu Aran (a moment of silence while we mourn the discontinuation of this totally awesome yarn)

Problems with the pattern: ya, did I mention this is a pattern by Jared Flood. There is nothing left to guess. All directions are written out, from the cast on technique to how to soak and block it.

Changes to the pattern: shortened sleeves 2" (could've shortened them by 4") and lengthened the body a bit. I decided to have the st. st. side out on the sleeves, as I loooooove the way the Kathmandu looks in st. st. I twisted the purl stitches between the lace panels to help tighten up the yarn overs. I used a crochet cast on (which I prefer for 2X2 rib... I only use tubular cast ons for 1X1 rib)

Overall impressions: this is so close to perfection that the little things that are wrong bother me way out of proportion. Which is basically the fit (I will also confess this probably has more to do with my own body image issue than with the sweater). I know that I will wear this A LOT and I'm sure I'll knit it again (I want a smooth yarn version too, however, I will go down a size). So while I really am happy with it, I do feel that there were a few things I could've done better.