All Wrapped Up

Literally and figuratively. Behold my first finish of the year, the mobius scarf I started knitting on Christmas Day. I found a particular daily program I watch that I could also knit to, and on most days sat down with my needles while I watched/listened. This particular pattern has some rounds that take a lot of counting and concentration so no show prattling on in the background, but the rows in between could be knitted almost without looking. I'm just not as good as I once was at splitting my concentration between what I'm working on with my hands and what my ears are taking in, but this worked well and got me into a routine that got this done. It reminded me of when I was hand quilting Masks while I watched a Saturday morning news program. It's encouraging me to find another project to finish that requires handwork that could just as well be done during this hour-long program. I know just the one . . .

 

As you can see from the opening photo, this scarf is quite wide and in fact can also be slid over the shoulders like a wrap (thus the literal all wrapped up) as shown in the pattern above. It's very light and stretchy yet for all the laciness quite warm. Wrap it again to encircle the neck twice and it gathers around it and down the front without bulk and should fill the opening of a jacket quite nicely.

I was excited at how many responded to my question of design layout in the last blog post, and pleased that there was mostly consensus on which one might prove the best for my baby quilt project. I particularly appreciated Kathleen's reasonings for her choice (Jan too). I'm that kind of person who might want to go with my gut feelings but feel better about it if I have an explanation to back it up. I also agree with her that, with tweaking to make the first choice wider and thus proportionately better, it would work as well. I also chuckled at her comment about "fewer pieces rather than smaller" being a good idea since I happen to know how many quilts she has made with truly small pieces. And she wasn't the only one to applaud that choice.

Several also noted that thing about where inspiration and solutions come from. Vivian noted that hers often come when she first awakes while mine often come as I'm trying to fall asleep. Jan hit it on the nose, that subconscious of ours that works away while our active brains are taking care of life in general. I love how the Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain school describes it, that the left side thinks it knows everything and is easily bored while the right side is open to all possibilities and doesn't need the left side's input. It's liberated when the left side is busy with, say, keeping track of where you are going when you are out for a walk. Indeed, a lot of my problem solving happens when I take a break and get out walking. It clears the cobwebs in more ways than one!