A BIG shout out to Robert at Wolf Camera in Bellevue!

He restored my picture! SQUEEEE!!! He went above and beyond his responsibilities as a digital camera expert at Wolf Camera. He actually found some picture restoration software via Google and came over to my house after he got off work to help me use it. Love him! We invited him to go out for sushi after he was done, but he was on his way to his mom's house for dinner. I'll be sure to swing by the shop sometime this week with a little thank you gift.

I know it's not the best quality, but that's not the fault of the anything except my Crackberry. It was like that before the file got damaged. I think it had something to do with the lighting in the gym. Who knows - I'm not a photographer.

And on the subject of my Rastafarian-style Porom. I took it to swim practice (where else would you take a handknitted wool hat?) and showed a swimming/knitting friend of mine. She thinks it turned out too big because that yarn is not the same level of sproingyness that the Jamieson's Double Knitting yarn Jared used is. So I think that one is going to be a Christmas gift for a niece, and I'll make another one in the same yarn but go down (hee hee) one or two needle sizes. Pattern calls for 6s and 8s; I'll use 5s and 7s or even 4s and 6s. But not yet -- need to finish the damn Montego Bay scarf and at least get started on those Knucks.

Yeah, mon!

I've had a touch of knitting ADD lately. I was working on Mike's Mangyle but got halted by my inability to do color work. I plan on practicing when I get some quiet alone time, hopefully this coming week. I had also cast on for the Montego Bay scarf with my Camelspin that I bought in Chicago but I got bored with that, so I started Jared's Porom. (You can queue both the scarf and the hat here.) Quick hat - 4 days from start to finish:



For some reason, I didn't expect it to turn out this big. Maybe it's because I don't have as much hair as his model does. I love the hat but I feel like I should have a big fat doobie hanging out of my mouth with some Bob Marley playing in the background. (Not that I would know a thing about that, mind you.)



I also was a dork and didn't pay much attention to one of the charts, the chart that repeats for about 5 inches. When I started the second chart, the one that works in the top shaping, I said, "Wonder why he's having me do k2togs when all I've been doing have been ssks." D'oh - every 4th row in the first chart has a k2tog something like 32 times! I did them all as ssks - oops. What a dumbass. I've decided that if it bothers me too much, I can save the hat for a Christmas gift and do another for myself. Maybe even out of a slightly smaller yarn for a slightly smaller, less Rastafarian hat.

Here's Hayden and his out of control hair modeling my Porom:

Son, you've got a mushroom on the top of your head!


A new twist on the Pope's hat!


Hopefully soon I'll have pictures of my scarf. After a couple of snafus, it's progressing nicely. I really want to get it done before casting on for my next 2 projects: 2 pairs of Knucks. I've been coaching 2 of my friends for Ironman Florida, and I plan on doing Knucks for them and putting "IRON ABBY" and "IRON DEE!" on them, or "IRON CHIK". The race is November 1st, so I gotta get going. Oh, and I need to get back on the Mangyle (and the man, if you asked DH).

And I also hope to show you a picture of me and Obama. I didn't say this in my previous post because I'm pretty mad at myself, but I did have a secret service guy take a picture of us with my Blackberry. I showed everyone at swim practice and everyone at the gym I went to after that, and everyone at the restaurant I went to for lunch. Then I got home and tried to upload it onto my computer. I'm not very computer savvy and I should've waited for DH, who is, to get home. But noooo - had to do it right then. Something got screwed up in the process and now the file is damaged. There is a company in Europe who can partially restore it, but the image is very very fuzzy. I took my phone to a camera store yesterday and found a cute little guy who weighs probably 100 pounds and has huge gauges in his ears to work on it. He thinks he can get it restored better than the European company can, so tomorrow I'm going back to the store with my phone and the Blackberry software. Keep your fingers crossed!!!! Until then, here's a picture that was sent to me of the Wellness Center receptionist with him (and his closed eyes) that same morning. Lucky for her she had a camera that worked! (Note to self: buy an inexpensive digital camera and keep in car at all times.)

Conversation with Obama

Obama: So, are you whipping her into shape?
Me: I'm trying to!
Obama: Well, you look like you could whip anyone into shape!

No, this isn't a conversation I had with Barack in my dreams. It happened in REAL LIFE at 715am yesterday morning. ACK!!!!

Yesterday morning I was training a client at the Wellness Center at Baptist Hospital. I wanted her to run some hill repeats but it was raining outside, so we got on a treadmill. I'm having her warm up, we're talking, I'm looking at the food journal she gave me, and this guy walks by. I saw him out of the corner of my eye and thought, "Man, that looks like Barack Oba....wait! That IS Barack Obama!!!" When celebrities who are in town and are staying at this one certain hotel want to get a workout in, they go to the Wellness Center. It's not the nicest facility in town, but it's got what you need and it's not crowded at all. I looked at my client, and her eyes were huge. He got on the only treadmill left, which was between 2 guys. They started saying hi and shaking his hand, so I naturally went over and introduced myself. Insert our conversation here. I offered to whip him into shape, but I guess he just wanted to get a run in with his iPod. He's quite a runner! My client and I couldn't breathe for a while - so totally cool. And the secret service guys were cool too. They thought it was awesome that I do Ironman triathlons. After he ran for a bit, he went downstairs and played a little basketball with a friend of mine. ACK! How cool is that?!??