Finished in the Nick of Time - Briar Rose Bolero

No Ten on Tuesday today because I'd have a hard time finding even one reason to like watching football. I'm not a fan at all. But I will admit that it was very convenient that Bruce was downstairs last night watching the Jets lose. It allowed DQ and I to watch the finale of Bachelor Pad without his incredulous looks. We don't need any help being embarrassed at having been sucked in by the show.

Instead I've got a follow up to my post from last Thursday when I showed you my daughter's new bolero/shrug. It was a squeeker but I finished it and barely had time to block it the day before it was needed. Whew! that was close.



You may remember that the inspiration for this knit was the belated realization that my girl had 3 new and very lovely dresses but, in my book, none were appropriate for the Jewish High Holidays because they're all sleeveless. After spending quite a while with DQ trolling Ravelry we settled on Ysolda Teague's Briar Rose Bolero.

Ysolda really is a genious of design. I'd love to know how she comes up with the garment construction because it's unusual and perfect. Look at the way it the collar with the baby cables hugs DQ's bare shoulders so gracefully. I love how the lines move so gracefully from one element to the other and I really adore the slightly puffy sleeves. Just right!

The only place I had genuine difficulty was the decreases after attaching the sleeves but I'm apparently far from the first to have issues with this. I think there's an error there but it's really not fatal and if I'd had the time to give it some real thought then I could've easily figured out the fix. As it was I muddled through and made it work and I dare you to find the fudge points. Well, most of them. One of them was stupidly placed and glaringly obvious but the rest of them are very well hidden.



The only question mark with this project is the yarn. Berocco Vintage seemed perfect. It's a nice, deep black and wonderfully soft but it feels delicate. I find it hard to envision a long relationship with this bolero because I'm pretty sure that it'll pill like crazy. I hope I'm wrong because right now the sweater is perfect but at least if I need to make another one I'll know to work out the sleeve decreases some other way. I'll also know that this is a very quick knit - just over a week.