This summer, I caught a race in July, and then missed a few in a row, and then made sure I caught each race since the beginning of September. It is a hoot and I am really going to miss it when the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is done in a couple weeks. Next year, I'm going to catch them all.
Sunday while sitting and watching the race, my back was chilly, though the house was plenty warm. So I threw on a wrap I had finished knitting early last spring. I had it out from the day before when Keith was bugging me that I should knit myself a blanket that has sleeves thing like they always advertise at Christmas. I joked that I already had one, and he didn't believe me, so I pulled this wrap out. In it's current tube shape, it does look a little like one.
This is one of my favourite pictures ever. Cassie is napping in it while I am knitting the other end. Anyway, it was my turn to wear it. It was lovely and warm and I watched the race and thought about the wrap in an offhand kind of way.
I finished the wrap more because I lost interest in it than anything else. I wanted to knit a sampler of twisted stitches and that was a ton of fun, but by the end, it was becoming tedious. It was supposed to be a generous wrap that I could make pockets on the end and wear when I am sitting and reading. When I called it done, I knew that it wasn't quite long enough to be the kind of rectangular wrap that sits nicely on shoulders and stays put and it definitely wasn't long enough to make pockets on the ends. In order for it to be worn right now, it requires a pin, even to use in a casual way like I was wearing it then. It is close, but it needs another 9 to 12 inches of length for wrap perfection plus pockets on either end. I really have no desire to do that. It has sat in my sweater chest for months, stuck in idon'tknowwhattodowithyou land.
As I am sitting there, with my hands occupied by absolutely nothing and only part of my brain occupied by the race, it suddenly came to me. I knew what this wrap needed to be! A shrug. It has plenty of width. Unblocked it is 20 inches wide so I expect 22 inches if I opened it up and blocked it flat. It is just short enough to that it goes wrist to wrist so it is perfect length for a shrug. And bonus, the garter stitch section that I knit as a steeking section makes keeping the tube needed for it, that bit wider and very stretchy right where it needs it.
In the blink of an eye, it was well on its way to becoming a shrug. I cut from the center of the garter section and left tails on either side of the twisted stitch sections. Nice nest of tails from the garter stitch section
and even nestier mess with the live stitches on the garter stitch section that will go over my shoulders and the stitches picked up around the edges to finish it.
My plan is to knit a soft generous 2 x 2 ribbing around the opening that will fold back on itself and be sewn or bound off to the body of the shrug to contain all those messy ends. I hope that the ribbing will flare nicely against my neck, around my shoulders and across my back, when I wear it.
If my hands cooperate. My hands are doing better, but it remains on the radar all the time. I am stretching about every 15 minutes when I do work and I haven't knit more than a few rounds on anything without taking a break. I'm sleeping with the brace on and I am trying to keep my hands and wrists warm, hoping that the warmth will keep the tendons and nerves more inclined to work without inflammation.
I am going to try to start this ribbing today, but there is also some serious sewing to do, and now that my cutting table is set up, I am going to focus on that more than the knitting. It ought to be a little easier on the hands. The motions are not nearly so repetitive as knittings moves are.
Anyway, plenty to be doing to day. Time to get moving on it.
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