An Explanation and a Shrug

There are good parts and bad parts to walking to work. Good points: exercise, no worries about parking, nice 20 minutes to think every morning and afternoon. Bad points: what works clothing-wise at work isn't so great to walk in (e.g. heels, long-sleeved shirts in the summer), carrying stuff 20 minutes each way. So I decided to leave my laptop at work most nights. It's been less traumatic to break my internet addiction than I thought that it would be. (I made up a list of internet rules at work; we don't have filters or blocked sites -- at least not any that I visit -- but I don't let myself look at my Google Reader or Ravelry or Craftster or any of the blogs/comics sites that I waste time on at home. I do, however, keep all 4 email accounts visible most of the day...so I guess that I am still internet-addicted. Oh, and I'm allowed to look at NYT and CNN and anything else that comes up on the thingy at the top of my GMail. So yeah...still internet-addicted.) So the point of that, tangential though it may be, is that I'm not going to be blogging very frequently.

But yeah. Here's a shrug that I made, based on Tubey. I knit it with Lion Brand Microspun that had been in my stash so long that I can't even remember why I originally bought it. I made 3/4 length sleeves, with no bell, and just a regular knit BO. I did a 2 stitch garter edging along one edge of the back, hoping that it would be enough to keep the stockinette from curling along the top. No such luck, so I flipped it upside down -- the top part is now plain stockinette, and it does curl, but it actually makes a really warm-and-comfy-neck edge. I crocheted along the now-bottom edge to minimize the curling. I did a row of crochet slip stitches and then did a shell edging based on one that I saw in SnB Crochet: *sc in first garter ridge, skip a garter ridge, 5 dc in next garter ridge, skip a garter ridge. Rep from * until end. The shrug is surprisingly warm; I haven't actually worn it at work yet but I imagine that it will get a lot of use.

And a close-up of the edging. Apologies for both shots -- it's surprisingly difficult to photograph a shrug.