Have you been following the Women’s World Cup?
Photo Credit: Jose Breton- Pics Action / Shutterstock.com
I have, and not only have I been supremely enjoying the tournament itself, it’s been helping me through a, well, rather dull spot in my knitting. A week or two ago, I realized that both my active WIPs required nothing but lots of plain knitting. While there are times I find stocking stitch in the round or a bit of endless garter relaxing, on the whole, I typically like to have more engaging knits on the needles (there is, after all, always something new to learn). Ideally, I like to have just one designated simple project for knit night and other outings, and a bit more to interest and propel me along (whether it’s a color change, simple stitch repeat, or bits that require shaping) in the rest of my knits. So I was peeved that poor WIP management meant that I had a mountain of knit stitches to get through before I got to the more exciting sections of my two current projects — Bressay by Marie Wallin and the Hansel Hap by Gudrun Johnston.
A whole lotta garter: my Hansel Hap, knit in Jamieson & Smith Shetland Supreme Jumper Weight that I scooped up from the AC Knitwear shop’s summer sale. A few rows might have some tension issues after the closer-than-expected match between the US and Spain Monday!
But then I remembered — the Women’s World Cup is on and the BBC is showing every game! Though I didn’t grow up with much interest in televised sporting events, in recent years, I’ve come to find real pleasure in following them — with knitting to hand, of course! And, as it turns, out, plain garter and stocking stitch have been just the ticket for the exciting matches, leaving me plenty of mental energy to wonder at the prowess of the athletes on the field, complain about yet another pause for an appeal to the VAR (video assistant referee), or focus on the drama of a penalty shoot out. If a dropped stitch or quick check of a pattern takes my eyes from the game, the commentators fill me in, and I catch any missed excitement on the replay (I seem to always look away just when a spectacular goal makes it in).
I like to use a removable stitch marker to track my progress on the plain stocking stitch body of my Bressay (knit in the beautiful but nearly impossible to photograph shade Paprika of Jamieson’s of Shetland Spindrift). The eagle-eyed among you might notice the cast on edge has multiple tails — I used Jen’s two-colour long-tail cast-on method to make sure I didn’t run out of yarn during the nearly 300 stitch cast on!.
With quarter- and semi-final matches to come, not to mention the final itself, I think I might reasonably finish my Bressay body and the central garter diamond of my Hansel Hap before the tournament’s out (and of course, Wimbledon will be starting too!). I’m no longer worried about either project languishing due to my lack of interest … but do have some serious concerns about which side I’ll be supporting if the United States (where I’m from) meets England (my current home) in the semi-finals!
I know I’m not the only one who enjoys knitting and a bit of sport (there’s been some fun chat about knitting and tennis over in the Ravelry group). What are your favourite sport + knitting project pairings? If sport isn’t your thing, what’s your go-to TV knitting?