Bridal Shrug

 I finished my Olympic knitting...a week after the games ended.  I still think I did pretty well considering I also pre-washed, assembled and finished 4 queen sized blankets during the games.  My wedding dress has straps but is sleeveless.  I will wear my Orenburg lace shawl down the aisle for the ceremony but if I am chilled or want coverage later, I am afraid of snagging or soiling it.  I knit this shrug for said purpose from yarn purchased in Iceland last year.

 I changed the pattern just a little to avoid unnecessary fussing.  Instead of casting on a regular edge and going back later to pick up the same amount of stitches, I used a provisional cast on.  Here I am removing the provisional cast on waste yarn and picking up the live stitches.  This yarn is kind of grippy like mohair so there was never any danger of out of control unraveling. 

I also used a pair of beautiful rosewood circular needles that I got on clearance at Joann's.  I never would have paid the full price for these needles but they were such a steal on clearance that I got them.  In the last leg of the knitting, the needle broke off the cable (!!!) and I had to pick them up with a needle master circular.  The only problem with that was the correct sized needle was almost the same color as the yarn!  I was just sure I'd go blind before finishing this thing!