Nakedie Knits

3 days into the new year and already 2 FOs!

2009-01-03T15:21:00.000-08:00

Several months ago I attempted to knit a Porom hat for myself. Bad choice of yarn left me with a huge, very Rastafarian hat, as you'll remember from earlier posts. I didn't try another hat right away, but boy, was I wanting to! I finally gave into temptation on January 1st and with less than a skein of Malabrigo, I cast on for a Star Crossed Beret. (Queue it here.) A day later, I was blocking it on a dinner plate. Woot! It fits!!!

Although you can't see much detail because the yarn is variegated shades of grey and black, here's the back:

One more shot, just because I love the way my nose looks so horribly pointy whenever I take a headshot on my own:

How do people take good self portraits??? I always make myself look like such a dork.

So that was FO #1 of 2009. Here is FO #2:

Yep, purl-free Monkeys (although I guess you can't tell that by this shot - the pattern doesn't show up really well). I finally made these damn socks. And I love them!!! I'm not an avid sock-knitter and haven't yet mastered the 1st stitch on the dpn being a purl trick, so I opted for the wuss way out: the purl free version. I started them on the plane when we went to Disneyworld back in October, and worked on them only in the car for the longest time. They became my small project when I needed a small project. That's the only reason they took so long to finish. Once I put my mind to it, these socks flew by. They're my first Cookie A pattern and definitely won't be my last. Up next are her Red Thread Socks (except mine will be orange and off-white and won't have the thread running up the back - they're a belated Christmas present that one of my sisters asked for the weekend before Christmas).

And what was my last FO of 2008, you ask? A Habitat:

Hayden is modeling the Habitat hat I made for my personal trainer. (Yes, I am a personal trainer and I work out with a personal trainer twice a week. Shoot me.) During a session the week before Christmas, I said something about my knitting. He snickered and said, "Knitting? You knit?" I almost dropped the weight - "Shit, yeah! You didn't know that about me?" I was flabbergasted that he didn't know that. It's such a huge part of who I am. EVERYONE knows I knit. At least I thought everyone did. Anyway, to show him that what I like to knit is cool, I made him a hat. He wears hats all of the time and he wears grey all of the time. He likes it. He doesn't have any hair, so he doesn't look quite as skater-ish as Hayden does:

And speaking of my Hayden, he turns 9 this coming Tuesday. 9!!! Pretty soon he'll be too old to do this:

Gotta love him. He loves snuggling with Mommy.

On humility

2008-12-31T14:55:00.000-08:00

Or should I title this post "On sucking ass"?

There's a guy in town who teaches indoor cycling classes. I teach indoor cycling classes as well, but these are different. He's an ex-professional cyclist. He sets your bike up on a Computrainer. (He has to ask you for your weight while doing this, unfortunately. That information is confidential, so to have had to utter those 3 numbers to someone other than a doctor or someone on the other end of the phone who will never be face to face with me was horrible. Especially since that someone is someone I think is a cutie-pie.) Everyone who takes his classes are roadies or triathletes who are trying to become better roadies/triathletes outside. His classes are very popular and his 5-week sessions ALWAYS sell out in advance. So I decided that since I haven't ridden outside since last September (not entirely my fault - damn you, ankle injury and blood clot!) I should take some classes from him. My plan is to re-enter the triathlon community in 2009 as a participant rather than a spectator or volunteer, and to re-enter it strongly enough so I don't embarrass myself. I am a triathlon coach, after all, so I need to at least look like I know what I am doing.

Last night I went to my first cycling class. Everyone else in the class had been taking his classes for at least a year - hell, one of the girls had even dated him, or so I heard - and everyone had been riding and racing all year long. But I thought I was okay - I've been teaching Spin at least once a week for a while.

I think I would've been okay if the setup hadn't been a simulated race, but no. Up on the screen were our names and what "place" we were in. I was in 1st for the first 2 minutes, then slipped to 2nd, then to 3rd, then to 4th, and finally to 5th. There were 6 of us, and the person in 6th had eaten cake at lunch and was feeling queasy. Had it not been for that cake, I probably would've been in 6th.

The competitive side of me HATED every bit of the 90-minute class because of this. Wow - how much more blatant can "Stephanie SUCKS!!!" be??? I was very defensive about the entire thing: "I taught 4 classes yesterday, ran with the group I coach, and I did a 1-hour leg workout." "Man, a Spin bike sure is different than a road bike!" "You have to remember that I haven't been on my bike since September 2007. I had to really think about where my cycling shoes were when I was getting ready to come here tonight." But the harsh reality is that I suck right now. I suck. I was out for the entire summer with injuries and since I've been healthy I've been focusing more on strength training and getting back into running. I know, I know - all of those excuses are valid, but they are still excuses. And I am a triathlon coach, for f*ck's sake! Who would want to hire me after seeing those numbers up on the screen??? I kept trying to tell myself that football coaches and basketball coaches aren't in shape like their players are, but alas - triathlon coaches are different. They're expected to be really good at their sport. I am really good at organization and creating the proper workouts for my athletes (one of my athletes improved her Ironman time by 2 hours and 15 minutes this November - woot!), but I am the Energizer Bunny when it comes to actual competition: I can go for days on end, but speed I do not have.

What this has caused me to do, other than to be pitifully depressed all day, is realize that I need to sit down with a calendar and a piece of paper and lay out my goals and how I'm going to go about accomplishing them. Strength training is great, but the time is about to come when I need to move the spotlight out of the gym and onto the road.

So, without further ado, here is New Year's Resolution #1: COME UP WITH A GAME PLAN FOR THE SUMMER OF MAJOR COMEBACKS.
More resolutions to follow. Happy New Year, y'all!

On the night before the night before the night before the night before Christmas...

2008-12-28T06:57:00.001-08:00

...I finally did something I've wanted to do for a very long time:

make a Christmas stocking. This is the stocking from the second Mason Dixon Knitting book, Outside the Lines. I'm not a colorwork person nor am I a socks on 2 circular needles person, but I went for it anyway. I started it on the 12th and finished on the 21st, thanks to being challenged by Judith. (A skein of sock yarn was on the line, and I am a competitive person!) I'm very happy with the result and have even planned my next colorwork project - Eunny's Endpaper Mitts. My Knit Picks Palette came in yesterday. Do I go with purple and orange, orange and green, or green and purple?

Another thing I've been meaning to share is the newest addition to our family:

The boy we've had for almost 9 years (eep!), the dog we've had for almost 1 month. This is Maddie, a 12-week old chocolate lab who is super sweet and super cute. Rudy died in his sleep in the middle of November, so all of a sudden we were a 1 dog family. I got an email from a friend whose boyfriend's coworker had a puppy he needed to get rid of (he stupidly had 4 cats, 3 dogs, at least 1 small child and less than 1 acre of land, and he works at a hospital so he has funky hours), and the pictures were too cute to keep to myself. I forwarded them on to Mike, who immediately said we'd take her. She's very friendly and snuggly and cute and fit into our crazy household right away. She went with us to my parents' house in Memphis for Christmas and was a hit. Here are some pictures of the drive down there:

Hayden was reading a book and needed a place to put his head, so Maddie gladly accomodated him.

She so wanted in the front seat, but I was knitting and Mike was driving, so she settled for getting just her nose up there.

Gracie, our other dog, has accepted her well. There were a couple of "I'm the alpha bitch" instances in the beginning, but now they're BFFs. Right now Gracie overpowers Maddie, but I don't think it'll be long before Maddie will give Gracie a run for her money.

Great day for a photo shoot!

2008-12-02T11:32:00.000-08:00

Every time I get my husband to take pictures of me in a new sweater, I always stand in front of the yellow wall in our den. However, we live really close to a great park and it's a nice day, so we met for lunch then did an outdoor photo shoot. Here's my new favorite sweater, Wisteria:

Have I told y'all how much I love this sweater? This is my new favorite. I love the cables, especially how they start so densely then spread out.

I love the yarn (Wool of the Andes from Knit Picks - their less expensive version of Cascade 220, such a classic workhorse.) I love the color. I love the fit. The smallest size is 37", so I went with a smaller needle size to get a slightly smaller gauge, and I think I hit it spot-on. I loved the simplicity of the pattern (in the round, top down, pick up for sleeves after the body is done). I loved learning how to do the felted join so the only ends I had to weave in were at the armpit, the neck, the bottom hem, and the bottom of sleeve.

I am in a bit of a cable overload right now, so yesterday I cast on for a more mindless sweater: Avast from Knitty. The yarn is Wool of the Andes (again), Mike's birthday present back in August. I'd like to get it done for him by Christmas, but I won't kill myself trying to do that. Everything is stockinette except for the bottom band, which is a cable. I'm doing that first, then going up from there. The hems are nice and finished, so I may use the brown I have left over from my sweater and add a little extra color. We'll see.

2008-11-28T11:24:00.000-08:00

Lots of things have happened since I last blogged. I'll go through them quickly:

1. We went to Disneyworld (yes, AGAIN). Mike had a work conference to attend, so we went out there a couple of days early and enjoyed the parks. This year Hayden was really into "Soarin'" at Epcot. We rode it 9 times. Another favorite was the new Midway Mania ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Here's Hayden and me wearing our snazzy 3D glasses:

His shirt does not have a strange blue and yellow spot on the side - that's Dorie tucked into his armpit. And yes, his hair is now officially longer than mine.

We also went to Downtown Disney to see Cirque du Soleil's "La Nouba." It was incredible, one of the best Cirque shows I've seen. Hayden was in full Green Bird costume. We couldn't help but let him dress like that since he put so much trouble into designing it. He's already designed a new La Nouba costume, one for the Red Pierrot. He's planning on wearing it the next time we go (which probably won't be until school gets out in May).

2. I went to Panama City Beach at the end of October to watch some friends compete in the Ironman Florida triathlon. The 2 girls I had been coaching all summer did super - one cut 2 hours and 15 minutes off of her previous Ironman Florida time (and didn't have to go to the medical tent afterwards, something that she ALWAYS has to do at the end of her races) and the other finished in a very respectable 14:35. Both had amazing experiences, and I was so proud of them. As a congratulatory gift, I knit both of them a pair of Knucks. Here's a picture of the pair I haven't gifted yet:

The other ones are exactly the same but done in a pink. (The yarn is Rowan Felted Tweed, by the way. The tats spell out "IRON CHIK.")

I'm not a very good photographer, but I did get a great shot of my friend Dee peeing in the bushes at mile 70 on the bike course:

It has a very "Where's Waldo?" feel to it.

I drove down there with another friend who signed up for next year's race:

I was tempted to do the same, but then I slept on it and came to my senses. I didn't race at all this summer - doing an Ironman next year would not be smart. My goals are to do some sprints and Olympic distance races and end the season with a Sept/Oct/possibly Nov half Iron distance.

3. Rudy finally succumbed to his liver cancer. He died peacefully in his sleep, so although it's very sad, it happened exactly the way we had hoped it would. He was sick - it was only a matter of time. He ate Hayden's leftover hamburger for dinner, sat next to Mike while we watched an episode of "Family Guy," then went to sleep. It's been weird without him in the house. Mike and I started dating in October of 1995, and Rudy was my Christmas present that year. We had had him for almost as long as we had been together. Hayden understands what happened more than we thought he would. He asks, "Where's Rudy?" every once in a while and when we explain that he's gone and he's not coming back, he cries for a couple of minutes. Lately he's added, "I wish he would come back and be with us again," which is a line from one of his favorite Magic Tree House books, but it's very fitting. Last night Mike taught him how to draw a dog and this is what he ended up doing on his own:

The brown one is Gracie and the black and white one is Rudy. I will never throw that away.

4. I've been taking part in NaKniSweMo (I think that's how you spell it). For you non-knitters, that stands for National Knit a Sweater in a Month. It's a tradition for the month of November, and it began as a play on someone else's idea to write a novel in a month. I'm doing Wisteria from the new Twist Collective site. (Twist Collective is THE SHIT when it comes to knitting nowadays. I have 3 more patterns that I bought last week. Must get knitting!) I don't know if I'm going to make the end of the month deadline, but I'll at least come close. After getting home from Mike's aunt's house yesterday I got to start the sleeves, and I'm planning on getting the first one done tonight. If I can knit the second sleeve by Sunday night, I'm golden. The yarn I'm using is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, which I like. Here's the body:

The cable detail doesn't really show up very well in this shot, but it's truly amazing. It may be my favorite sweater I've knit. What's better is that I've learned how to do the felted join (yes, folks - I'm a spitter) so I won't have many ends to weave in. Yay me!

That's it for my update in a nutshell. Off to do some more sleeve knitting (and maybe take a trip to my LYS - Cascade 220 is 20% today and I'm seriously thinking that is God's way of telling me that I need to make the Heroine felted jacket from Twist Collective for myself).

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

2008-10-12T18:54:00.001-07:00

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!

2008-10-11T07:22:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-09T06:23:00.000-07:00

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?!??

Self-Portrait Friday

2008-09-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

I know that a lot of bloggers pick one day a week to post a self portrait, so I'll follow suit. Here's Hayden starting things off:

I love this. He has learned how to use the camera to take pictures of himself. He has a specific routine: put the camera on the floor, stand up, do a dance (the same one every time, of course), do a belly-flop and slide across the floor towards the camera, then press the button. The above shot was taken on his very first try. Since Mike and I laughed pretty hard when he showed it to us, he took some more. Here are a couple of his others:

(Okay, that last one was taken by me, but it's still great. We drove home from swim practice Tuesday night with the windows down, and this is what he looked like after sticking his head out the entire way. We're growing his hair out, Jonas Brothers style. I'd love for it to curl a little more - Nick Jonas is my favorite. That is, if I had to pick a fave Jonas.)

And a shot of me in another FO:

Yeah, I'm boring. How many pictures of this sweater have you seen in Blogland? The infamous Rusted Root by the Zephyr gals. But it is a great sweater, and it was super-quick. 2 weeks from start to wearable. I used Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece like the pattern called for and did the next to smallest size. (And yes, my hair is shorter and looking a bit curlier than it has over the last year. I've given up on trying to have Jackie Warner hair. My hair just doesn't want to be straight. I had a client who had the hots for me and said, "You should take advice from your hair," when I told her that. I have to give her credit for coming up with a funny so quickly, but I still had to fire her. Much to her dismay (and begging and pleading) I would not go carpet munching. Sorry - I'm married to a man. I like bananas, not tuna or clams.)

Real boys wear pink!

2008-09-20T11:47:00.000-07:00

Hayden's new obsession is the Cirque du Soleil show "La Nouba" at Downtown Disney. Dressing up has also become one of his new loves, so he decided that he absolutely HAS to be the Green Bird character from the show. The Green Bird has a pointy hat with 2 antennae at the top, a purple and yellow shirt, purple and yellow tights, some sort of tutu, yellow and red socks, and yellow shoes. Oh, and his face is painted white. Here is Hayden's interpretation of the Green Bird:

The skirt was originally some sort of headdress that he made at camp this past summer. The mask is in lieu of paint because it's way less messy. And the socks are our collaborative creation:

We went to Publix one Friday night and I let him pick out the colors of Kool-Aid he thought were Green Bird sock worthy - Cherry and Lemonade. I put one end of the hank in one pot and the other end in another. My goal was to have yellow, red and white stripes. When I started these socks last Friday night (yes - finished in a week! woot!), Mike said, "They look a little girlie." Obviously some of the yarn wasn't submersed well in the Cherry pot (wow, that sounds a little nasty!) and came out a little pink. Oh well. Hayden likes pink and looks good wearing it.

(He controlled this photo shoot. He kept getting into poses then saying, "Take a picture? Let me see!")

I finished these in record time - 1 week from start to finish. I never have made socks that fast, even on bigger needles! Part of my motivation was him being totally up my butt - "But where are your Green Bird socks?" They fit perfectly right now but in hindsight I should've made them a little longer so he could get a little more wear out of them. He's really enjoying them right now, though, so I guess that's all that matters. He wore them to drum lessons today, along with his white long-sleeve t-shirt with red stripes across the chest, madras plaid shorts and yellow and blue Crocs. My son, the fashion plate.

In other knitting news, I turned in my donation to the Jewish Community Center's silent auction this past Thursday morning:

(I'm going to start a fashion trend of wearing a pretty lace shawl with workout clothes!)

The infamous Kimono Shawl from Folk Shawls book by Cheryl Oberle. The yarn is Jaggerspun wool/silk blend. I used size 5 Addi Turbo lace needles and did only 14 repeats of the pattern. The pattern calls for 25 repeats, but I didn't have that much yarn. (The yarn was from my stash. One complete ball and about 3/4 of another one.) The shawl turned out to be a good size, IMHO, so I can't imagine how big it would be with 11 more repeats! I really like it and hope that it can bring in some good money. Every time I knit lace I really enjoy it; unfortunately I don't dress up enough to warrant many lace shawls.

Next topic: exercise. The triathlon season is coming to a close, and I did not do one single race. I did my share of volunteering and coaching, though! It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, standing on the sidelines and cheering everyone else on, but I am ready to go into next season healthy and primed to kick some serious ass. My ankle is still funky so I don't run very far or very fast (tried to push it at a Labor Day 5k race and ended up in pain the rest of the week - my time was still 4 minutes slower than my last 5k, so the pain wasn't even worth it) and I can't wear fins at swim practice, but I can do other things. I teach 3 Spin classes, 2 Bootcamp classes, and 2 strength classes each week. Those are my clients'/students' workouts; as far as my own, I've been focusing on strength. This past week started yet another 6-week stint in Chains hell, and I'm working once a week with a trainer who makes my legs feel like they're going to explode. (Yes, I'm a trainer myself so it sounds funny for me to work with a trainer. I know how to work out and I do it on my own a couple of times a week, but I really want that burn that you get when someone else is pushing you harder than you normally push yourself.) My goal is to become Super Buff Woman over the next 5 months, then turn my focus back to triathlon training and develop speed. I've already got races picked out - 2-3 sprints, 2-3 Olympics and 1 half-Ironman - and I hope that my planning will produce a lean, mean triathlon machine that'll make every woman 35-39 shake in their tri suits!

On a sour note: we found out on Tuesday that Rudy, our 13-year old Jack Russell terrier, has liver cancer. Tuesday was also my birthday - happy freakin' birthday to me. (That day I also had a fender bender in my new Mini Cooper convertible and tore a hole in the right side of my front bumper.) It's pretty widespread, so his days are numbered. We've had Rudy since he fit in the palm of my hand. This is a tough thing to deal with. We're trying to just enjoy him as long as possible, but the reality is that "as long as possible" isn't going to be that long. But maybe it will. He's an incredible dog and has amazed the vet time and time again. He actually died on Monday morning (went into cardiac arrest at the vet - they were able to revive him, then had to tell us what had happened in the examination room and ask us what we wanted them to do if it happened again) and was pretty bad off the rest of the day. Before we took him home that afternoon, the vet said if he didn't make any progress in the next 24 hours we'd have to talk about what to do. The next morning he was standing up on his own, walking from the bedroom to the laundry room. In the last couple of days he's jumped off both the bed and the couch, and has gotten up the step to the front porch on his own. He's trying his hardest to hang on.

(Old picture. Hayden's hair is much much more unruly these days.)

Update

2008-08-29T15:43:00.000-07:00

It's been over a month since I've blogged. Sorry. I've been busy, both in good and not-so-good ways, and if I'm on the computer I'm either working or perusing Ravelry. I have about 20 minutes to blog while my Ravelympics project is soaking in a Eucalan bath. (Obviously I didn't make the deadline. Oops. Second try - I think I'm retiring.) This is the point at which my last Knitting Olympics project took a turn for the worse. I dropped the baton, I fell off the balance beam, I rode my bike into a ditch - whatever you want to call it. Wish me luck that it doesn't happen again!

Anyway, here's a pic of my last FO:

Pattern: Liesl by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Blue Sky Dyed Organic Cotton
Needles: can't remember - 10s or 10.5s?
Discussion: I was turned on to this cardi by a Raveling friend. What a cute and quick project! I actually made 2 of these in the same color - one for me with cap sleeves and one for my sister with short sleeves. It's very cute and has lots of different variations, so I'll probably make some more. (I should - since Ysolda is in Europe, the pattern cost over $8.)
Here's what I get when I take the bathroom mirror shot:

And here's what I get when my husband takes a shot from behind after I've deleted the one of my ass (he always thinks that's funny to do when I say, "Will you take a picture of the back of this sweater, please?"):

Nothing exciting, but very cute.

Hopefully soon I'll have pictures of my Ravelympics project. I did a Kimono Shawl out of some pink wool/silk blend I had in my stash. I'm donating it to a silent auction. I'll be curious to see how much money it'll go for.

Next on the horizon are some socks for Hayden (he's really into Cirque du Soleil's La Nouba show at Downtown Disney and loves the Green Bird, so we Kool-Aid dyed some Louet Gems sport weight yarn in red and yellow last Friday - to be able to understand what I just said, visit Disneyworld's website and find the info for La Nouba), a Rusted Root for me, and a sweater for Mike. His birthday was August 16th, and when he opened his gift, he said, "You got me yarn?" But it wasn't just yarn, it was 20 skeins of Wool of the Andes from Knitpicks in a grass green color. It was the closest I could come to the color of the green sweaters he liked in the Kenneth Cole store in Chicago. My plan is to make Avast from Knitty (sorry, no links - being lazy). After I showed him that, then he got more excited about getting just yarn for his birthday.

Okay, off to the bathroom to my shawl. Send me some good vibes!

Oh baby!

2008-07-08T07:56:00.000-07:00

I finished my Smocked Babydoll Top last week and finally got around to asking Hayden to take a picture:

Pattern: Smocked Babydoll Top from Classic Elite Yarns Make It Modern leaflet, smallest size
Yarn: Classic Elite Yarns Cotton Bam Boo
Discussion: I am very happy with this top. I love the style, I love the fit, I love the neckline, I love the texture on the top, I love the yarn, and I love the color. This yarn has become one of my Desert Island Yarns, along with Cascade 220 and Rowan Kid Classic. It is so easy to work with and so very pretty. The pattern, even with all of its seed stitch, twisted stitches and cables, was pretty easy to follow. I did a lot of it in the car to and from Purl Jam. Closeup shots:

I'm getting better at taking the bathroom mirror shots - I think.

Who doesn't love a top that shows just the right amount of cleavage?

And here's a shot of my budding photographer, marching in a parade in his Thing 1 costume:

Yes, it's hot here in Nashvegas. He was a sweaty mess when we made him take that costume off.

Speaking of sweating, I'm getting back into working out and not a moment too soon - since the blood clot thing happened, I've gained about 8 pounds. It's so frustrating. I am 3 pounds over the number I said I'd never get to again, and I have become so self-conscious at the pool that I immediately run for a towel to wrap around my waist the minute I get out of the water. Skirts that used to sit low on my hips are now around my waist, so I've been living in running shorts and camis or sundresses. Running will really help me get this excess weight off, but I can't run yet. Ugh. I know that it'll eventually come off and I'll get back to where I want to be, but it's still not a fun place to be at the moment. And in addition to feeling pudgy and yucky, I'm slow. I went to swim practice this Sunday for the first time since the beginning of March. I have been swimming on my own and have tried to push the pace a bit, but it's hard when you're by yourself. As I started to get in the slowest lane, everyone else in that lane started telling me I didn't belong there, I needed to move up, they're slow, blah blah blah. I had to actually argue with them that I belonged there, and sure enough I was right - I was the slowest in the lane. It's embarrassing to be the girl who had the rockin' body in the bikini and could keep up a decent pace but now is soft and slow and running around the deck with a towel around her waist. I must keep telling myself that this too shall pass. A good friend has told me several times that a setback is a setup for a comeback. What the f*ck ever.

Okay, enough whining and back to knitting. I have started a new project: the Sasha skirt by Louet. I'm using 4 colors of Claudia Handpainted linen that I got at Purl Jam. Hopefully it'll go fast because I'd like to have it done in time for our Chicago trip in the beginning of August. I've also swatched for a Central Park Hoodie in Jo Sharp DK Wool Tweed. Mosaic Yarn Shop, the shop in Virginia that hosted Purl Jam, is doing a KAL, so I'm playing from far away. And I'm still on Sleeve Island with my friend's Fair Isle cardi. I'm working on both sleeves at the same time, and I'd like to get them done by the end of August.

Off to knit a bit more before Hayden and I spend some time in the pool. And no, I wont' be forgetting that towel!

Knitterly weekend

2008-06-23T07:33:00.001-07:00

This weekend I went to the Purl Jam knitting retreat in Blacksburg, VA. Gina, the owner of Mosaic Yarn Shop, organized a wonderful weekend full of shopping, knitting, and taking classes. The instructors were Annie Modesitt, Cornelia Tuttle-Hamilton, and Jared. I, of course, am a big fan of Jared's, so I had picked 2 of his classes as my first choice and 2 as my second choice. When I got my class assignments, I found out that I was in ALL of his classes. Ack! What was he going to think of me? Would we become friends, or would he think I was some nerdy Brooklyn Tweed groupie?? It was all good, though. He didn't think I was weird (or at least didn't let on that he did). After spending the weekend with him, I feel obligated to design an aran sweater knit in the round then steeked (!!!) to become a cardigan. I think I'll do this for Hayden for the fall - smaller scale, plus his McTavish cardigan is getting a wee bit small.

Yesterday morning Annie did a Tips and Tricks class for everyone. She's great - she teaches you the most amazing things so thoroughly that there's no way you won't catch on before you leave the room, and she does it in a very funny, entertaining way. Be forewarned, though: if you're in one of her classes, DON'T TALK. She's very clear that she is the only one to be talking.

In addition to taking classes from these incredible designers, I also did some shopping. 15 skeins of tweedy grey Kathmandu Aran for a Cobblestone Pullover for Mike. (I'm not providing a link to the sweater. If you're a knitter, you know which one I'm talking about. If you're not a knitter, you probably really don't care what it looks like. You can wait for the FO.) 10 skeins of Claudia's Handpainted wet spun linen for the Sasha skirt. 2 books - Cornelia's Noro Revisited and Yahaira Ferreira's Sensual Knits, which has a Jared design in it. I almost bought some more yarn for a Norah Gaughan cardi that I've been coveting for a while, but there were only 2 skeins of a color that I needed 3 of. Mike probably went in there before me and hid it so I couldn't buy it.

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Is Jared really about to cut his knitting? In front of EVERYONE??? Yikes!

I suggested that he do a shot of tequila before picking up the scissors, but he declined. What a brave man.

Jared wearing the infamous Cobblestone.

Me with Jared and Cornelia. Although I didn't take any of her classes, I did get to spend some time with her. She's really funny and very super-cool.

Jared, Cornelia, Gina and Annie. Gina is kick-ass. I'd totally hang out in her shop if I lived in Blackburg. Go to her shop blog to see more Purl Jam pics, including one of me flipping her the bird.

I got quite a bit of knitting done in the car. I'm almost done with my Babydoll Top - a picture of it should be coming within the next several days. I must get it done soon so I can cast on for my new skirt and also for my Katharine Vest that I keep blogging about. And I also have to start designing Hayden's Aran cardigan. And I have some socks to make for him. And I bought the Rusted Root pattern last week. And Mike's Cobblestone. And I'm going to do a second Cobblestone for Hayden. And I'm going to join Mosaic's knitalong for a Central Park Hoodie. Good thing I'm an injured triathlete this summer and have more time on my hands!!!

You've heard of Bennifer and TomKat - now meet...

2008-06-14T19:45:00.001-07:00

... Snow Claus!

Yeah, I know - kinda scary looking. But props to Hayden - he created this character himself. Was dressed up as a full-blown Santa, then must've gotten tired of the beard and hat, so changed into Snow White wig.

This is his rendition of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, ice cream drip down the shirt and all.

Update on the clot: have been to the doctor 3 times since I've been back in Nashvegas, and this past Thursday got some good news. It's not a deep vein, life threatening clot like we originally thought, but rather a thrombotitis of the popiteal vein. Your average blood clot behind the knee. The treatment is still the same. Lovenox shots in the stomach will continue until Monday morning, Coumadin will continue for 3-6 months. I have to monitor the amount of vitamin K in my diet, and I cannot drink alcohol. I have to get my blood checked every week to make sure I'm taking the right amount of Coumadin, and I have to be careful not to get bruised or cut. I can't ride my bike (if I have a wreck, I'd be SOL) or rock climb, and I have to be careful when shaving or flossing. And I can't pick my nose - bummer.

So in lieu of the working out I can't do, I have been knitting a lot. I'm plugging away on my uber-cute smocked babydoll top, but WIP pics are so boring that I won't subject you to mine. I got a bit done today at our local WWKIP* meetup. It rained in the beginning, so our turnout was small.

Still fun, though.

Must get done with this top soon - the list of projects keeps growing. Damn you, Ravelry! Sleeves for Alice, Katharine Vest from Spring IK, Rusted Root, February Lady Sweater, Cobblestone Pullover, Unmentionables, Rugby sweater for Hayden, purl-free Monkeys, striped socks for Hayden, River Forest Gansey, Hanami Stole, Pomatomus, Ziggy ...

* - WWKIP is Worldwide Knit in Public for my non-knitting readers.

Un memorable anniversario

2008-06-05T13:26:00.000-07:00

To celebrate our 10-year wedding anniversary, Mike and I went to Puerto Rico. Here are some pictures:

This is the lovely dress my friend Alice crocheted for me. I've blogged about it before - now you know why I'm totally content to spend some time on Sleeve Island for her!

This is the Eyelet Surplice Dress from the Summer issue of IK that I was putting the finishing touches on on Tuesday night, the night before we left. It turned out really well. I used CotLin from Knit Picks and I'm very happy. My hair stuff exploded in the suitcase and even though I put that stuff in a plastic bag, some of it leaked out and got on this dress. Thank God CotLin is washable! I'm very happy with the dress, but I realized the night I wore it that I need to get a longer top to wear underneath. The skirt pulls the lace down a bit, and every once in a while I had to adjust myself so that the top of my hot pink thong wasn't showing in the back.

The happy anniversary couple!

This picture was taken yesterday morning as we were being discharged from the Metropolitan Hospital in Miami. I was taken by ambulance from the airport on our way home Monday morning to the ER where they found a blood clot behind my left knee. I was admitted and spent 2 nights there so they could get some blood thinner in me before deciding it was safe for me to fly home.

Story: We flew to Puerto Rico last Wednesday night. That night my left leg (the one in the walking boot) REALLY started to hurt. My calf was sore to the touch and the pain didn't go away the entire time we were there. I called my orthopedic surgeon's office on Friday and talked to a nurse about it. She said it was probably due to immobility and that I needed to stretch and take an Advil a day. She also said I needed to get it checked out if it started to swell or get warm to the touch. Everything stayed the same until Sunday night, our last night there. My ankle swelled, but we figured it was just because I had walked on the beach both Saturday and Sunday (something the nurse said I could do). The next morning we got up at 430am to catch a 630am flight. The swelling hadn't gone down at all, even though I had been taking Advil and was icing and elevating it after we got back to the room from dinner on Sunday. (Side note: At the restaurant Sunday night, a man told me to be careful when travelling in my walking boot because he was wearing one one time on a plane and got a blood clot which went up to his lungs and almost killed him. He was in the hospital for 3 days. 2 days before that, I said to Mike, "I wonder if I have a blood clot in my leg and that's why it's hurting so badly.") We went on, though, because it was so early in the morning. We flew to Miami then were supposed to catch another plane to Memphis to pick Hayden up at my parents' house. While waiting for the second flight, I called my dad to check on things and he asked me how my leg was. I gave him the report, and he said, "Sounds like you might have a blood clot. You should get checked out." We got the paramedics to come to me at the airport - their report was that I had some signs of having one but also some signs of not having one, so it was our call as to whether they took us to the hospital or not. We decided to go. The closest hospital was Miami Metropolitan - a Spanish-speaking hospital. I'm sure they figured I'd just get checked out and sent on my merry way back to the airport, but I wish they had thought about the possibility of my having to stay there. I know very little Spanish, and Mike knows even less. I think Hayden knows more than we do, thanks to his Dora the Explorer phase. An ultrasound done by someone who didn't speak a word to me revealed a blood clot behind my knee. The only English speaking doctor in the ER gave me the news and told me I'd have to stay at least for 24 hours. 5 hours later they admitted me to a private room away from all of the ER grossness. It was a surreal experience - the doctor knew English, some of the nurses had very broken English, but some didn't speak a word. It was an uneasy feeling to have such a serious condition and to be at the mercy of people who couldn't communicate with us. Who wants to be woken up at 5am by a man named Ignacio who sticks your arm, draws blood then leaves without saying ANYTHING? In order to be released, the doctor had to sign a paper for the airlines saying he felt confident that I could fly without having complications. We also had to order blood thinner shots that I get in my stomach twice a day, and they were overnighted to my parents' house so they'd be waiting on us when we got there.

My current situation is this: tomorrow I see my internist so he can start managing my blood thinner meds. I have to keep on getting the shots (Mike gives them to me in my stomach twice a day) and I also have to take a pill. The shots will stop once my blood level reaches a certain point, but I think I'll be on the pill for 4-6 months. (Pill as in blood thinner, not birth control. No more birth control for me, ever. That's one of the things that ups your risk of developing a clot.) I'm going to talk to him about my activity/exercise, but I'm pretty sure I'll be forced to be a couch potato for several weeks. I have to avoid things that could cause cuts or bruises since I'll bleed easily, so my American Gladiators goal is put on hold for now. (Make sure to keep watching the show so they'll continue it until I am well enough and back in shape enough to compete!) I'm pretty sure I'll also have to start seeing a hematologist.

So, what was the cause of all of this? I thought it was the change in cabin pressure on the flight from Memphis to Dallas that caused my walking boot to compress and squeeze the sh!t out of my leg. However, the doctor said no and he also says the pain in my calf and the swelling in my ankle (which is still there) is totally unrelated. According to Dr. Lopez, I had 4 strikes against me: an injury like a fracture, immobility, a long plane ride, and being on birth control. I've been on birth control since I was 17 (minus the time I spent cooking Hayden inside of me), but I had developed problems over the last several months and we had switched meds twice. I had been on Yasmin, but the high amount of estrogen was making me very nauseous. I then went on Yaz, but after a month I started bleeding 3 weeks out of the month. Thought it had to do with the incredible amount of stress I was under when everything fell apart with the behavioral consultant, but my OBGYN didn't think so. He switched me to Loestrin the week before we left on our trip. Everything was fine, or so I thought....

Well, that's my story in a nutshell. I'll keep everyone updated on my situation. And I'm sure I'll be knitting a bunch, so I'll have lots of pictures. (I did have some knitting with me when we were admitted to the hospital, thankfully. I am now almost done with a pair socks that I want to gift to Hayden's occupational therapist. Her last day is tomorrow.)

A morning overflowing with cuteness

2008-05-17T07:08:00.000-07:00

I've always thought those little Amigurumi toys were so cute, so when I saw an Amigurumi for Beginners swap on Swap-bot, I decided to join and give it a shot. Behold Cute Exhibit A:

Pattern: Amigurumi Guy from the Lion Brand Yarn website
Yarn: Vanna's Choice by Lion Brand
Hook: J
Discussion: Yes, the yarn is nasty acrylic, but it's what the pattern called for and it was cheap, so I went with it. Boy, do I hate acrylic yarn. I will gladly give the rest of this crap away to anyone who wants it. It's not that it's bad yarn, it's that I am a yarn snob. Anyway, the pattern was very easy to follow and perfect for someone who isn't proficient in crochet. I started this 2 weeks ago but wasn't very motivated to finish. It's cute, but a) I hate the yarn, b) I don't enjoy crocheting for extended periods of time, and c) the mailing deadline isn't until the 25th. I was almost finished on Mother's Day, but all of a sudden I couldn't find my darning needle. DH found it for me earlier this week, so before I started knitting on my dress this morning, I sat down and sewed the arms and legs on. He turned out cute, but I'm not 100% satisfied with the outcome. Maybe if I had done his eyes better. Maybe if I sewed his arms and legs on better. Maybe if I had used good yarn...

Moving on to Cute Exhibit B:

When DH is away, Hayden gets to sleep in my bed. This is what I walked into when looking for shorts to put on. Now, THIS is a guy who is cute!!! He's such a love. The homeschooling thing we tried didn't work out and turned him into a bit of a snot, but we've made some changes and we're getting the funny, happy kid back. And yes, he'll be back in public school in the fall.

Because of this:

2008-05-16T15:08:00.001-07:00

I'm getting a lot of knitting done. Yes, it's a walking boot. Sexy, huh? I've been having ankle pain since Nov/Dec, and in March it finally got bad enough to make me stop running. (Should've done that earlier, but I'm an idiotic, over-achieving triathlete who was having way too much fun racing and setting PRs and winning trophies.) Thought it was just tendonitis, so I started seeing someone on a weekly basis at $85 a pop to work on it. I went for several test runs but with no success. Finally decided to see my ortho friend to make sure it wasn't a stress fracture. He xrayed it and nothing showed up, so he gave me a steroid shot and more steroids to take over the next 6 days. He said after 3 weeks I'd be better and if I wasn't, I needed to email him. 3 weeks later I emailed him with a detailed account of what I had and hadn't been doing and what the pain level was for each activity, so he brought me back in and put me in this boot. He said I'd wear the boot for 2-3 weeks and then it should be fine. We also scheduled an MRI just to make sure nothing funky was going on. This morning I had an appointment with him to discuss the MRI - a stress reaction is what I've been diagnosed as having. It's better than a stress fracture, he said, because it doesn't take as long to heal. He thinks that I probably had a stress fracture but I raced through the pain (which he said people can't normally do, but I must have a high pain threshold - yay me!). Once I stopped running and started wearing the boot, it started to heal and that's why it's a stress reaction. 3 more weeks in the boot, then probably another 1-2 months of no running. Basically, I have no triathlon season this summer, because it'll be August before I can run again. When I do start running I'll be really slow, so would it even be worth it to do a race? Guess I could always get DH to relay with me if I really wanted to. But that's still a couple of months down the road - I can't even ride a bike outside. (Yes, I did get a new time trial bike at Christmas. No, I haven't taken it out yet. Yes, it'll be a while before I can do that.) I'm becoming what I always said I hated - a gym rat. My main goal this year was to qualify for Nationals at the Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon - oh well. Now my goal is to strength train and get in shape for American Gladiators tryouts, whenever those will be. (I'm so not kidding about this. I want to be a contender so badly that I get a little verklempt just watching the damn show. Wow - can't believe I just admitted that to what little blog audience I have.) I worked out with a trainer yesterday who made my triceps shake uncontrollably, so that's a start. I told him about my Gladiators goal, and he said he'll get me there once I'm healed.

Anyway, on to the knitting! When I got the summer IK, I saw the dress designed by a fellow Nashvillian and decided that I need to have it when DH and I go to Puerto Rico at the end of the month for our 10-year anniversary. (Yes, that will fall within the next 3 weeks, so yes, I'll still be wearing the boot. I can take it off while relaxing on the beach or by the pool, so at least I won't get a nerdy knee-high sock tan. DH said, "Guess we'll just have to find ways for you to stay off your foot, hee hee.") Not wanting to wait til my LYS opened 2 days later to buy my yarn, I ordered some CotLin from Knitpicks in a coffee color and paid $17 for the rush delivery. I'm moving along quite well on the skirt part of the dress, but it's getting boring.

Maybe I should drink some caffeine tonight and pull an all-nighter to get through the rest of it. I think I've got about 5 inches to go.

Before I started that, I was working on the Smocked Babydoll Top from Classic Elite Yarns' Make It Modern leaflet. There are several great patterns in that book! I'm using the recommended yarn, Cotton Bam Boo, and it's a DREAM to work with. It's so soft and smooth, and I'm totally in love with the color.

I'm about to the interesting part, but I'm not picking it back up until the dress is done. We leave on May 28th, so I've got about a week and a half to go.

I've also been buying yarn:

Sunshine Yarns does sock yarn in the most wonderful Harry Potter-inspired colorways, but they sell out as soon as she posts them, so when I saw this one with "1 in stock" next to it, I acted immediately. This is the Accio Firebolt colorway.

Last week Hayden and I went to Memphis to go to my old high school's production of "Beauty and the Beast", and while we were there, my mom and I were perusing Ravelry. My sister has 2 little girls, 4 1/2 and 17 months, so I showed her Emma's Unmentionables from Knitty. We then got to the adult version - Unmentionables - and she decided that I MUST KNIT THOSE FOR MYSELF. Even though most Ravelers aren't terribly pleased with theirs, I decided that I'd add the pattern to my queue. This Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece is for those. I really like the white the designer used, but I was afraid my butt would look huge in such a light color (especially since I won't be running for TWO FREAKIN' MONTHS). I'm not going to start them quite yet. My order of importance is as follows:
1. dress
2. babydoll top
3. Katharine Vest from Spring IK (bought the yarn several months ago)
4. Unmentionables
There are other things thrown in here and there, but those are my Big Projects List.

That's it for now. DH is in Fargo, ND to run a marathon tomorrow (something I won't be able to do for a long time - ugh), so Hayden and I are on our own. I think we'll be leaving for the sushi restaurant soon.

Sure, it's a leaf, but...

2008-04-26T08:45:00.000-07:00

...what ELSE does it look like?

Here's a shot of the other side. A little worse:

I think it'd be fun to do another one and trim it with black eyelash.

(BTW, I'm doing an afghan-along with some friends, and this is one of the squares of the week. We're using the book, 200 Knitted Blocks.)

I'm not a shawl person, but...

2008-04-22T18:46:00.000-07:00

...I am IN LOVE with this:

Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl from IK (too lazy to get up and check issue)
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca Silk, 3.1 skeins*
Needles: Addi Turbo lace size 5
Modifications: bigger yarn than laceweight, nupps done as slip 3, p2tog, psso instead of the dreaded p5tog
Discussion: I got coerced into doing some charity knitting. "NO PRESSURE, but if you can do something for this auction I can get some letters of recommendation written on Hayden's behalf for Currey Ingram." (Yeah, this girl is not really someone I'd call a friend.) I figured something like a Swallowtail Shawl knit out of a very luxurious yarn in a very pretty, springy color would get top dollar, so I went to work. I chose something bigger than the laceweight the pattern called for so that I'd have a better chance of getting it done in time. And I tried, honestly I did. I wanted so badly to get it done - I do not like making promises that I have to break. But there was just no way. The San Antonio trip for that damn basketball game really cut into my knitting time, but I think even if I hadn't gone, I wouldn't have gotten it done. It turned out okay, though. I don't need the letters since we're not even applying for CI after all, and I really fell in love with this shawl. It was pretty before I blocked it, but then the detail came out:

(Man, I wish my camera skillz were as good as Jared's. I try for the artsy closeup and I end up with crap. But I tried.)

This was my second lace project, but definitely not my last. What shawl next? Hanami? Icarus? Kimono?

* - I say .1 because with 2 rows left before binding off, I ran out of yarn. Bummer! The shop I bought the yarn from didn't have any more left, but fortunately another shop in town had the same color. It was a different dye lot, but I was so close to the end that I didn't think it would matter.

Regifting a swap prezzie?!??

2008-04-17T17:09:00.001-07:00

Okay, maybe I'm jumping to conclusions, but I just saw some pics of prezzies included in a package sent by the person I spoiled in a Ravelry swap. In this pic was something that was EXACTLY like something I had gifted to her! (Follow me here? Pics are of A's prezzies from B. I sent B her prezzies.) It's not something that seems like it'd be totally common, so I'm wondering about this...

But then again, maybe I'm jumping to conclusions. I am on steriods, after all. (Bum ankle.) And I've had an incredibly bad day/week/month.

Two years ago, I whined to y'all about Hayden not being accepted into Vanderbilt's TRIAD summer camp for autistic kids because he wasn't high functioning enough. Today at the end of his neuropsychological evaluation, I asked the doctor if, by the preliminary scores, whether he thought we should apply for Currey Ingram, a private school for kids with learning differences. He used to work for them, so he knows exactly why type of kids they accept. He, without sounding as mean as I'm about to sound, said no. Hayden's speech and language scores are so low that they bring down his total score below the level that Currey Ingram accepts. Twice in the last several weeks has the term "mentally retarded" been used in reference to him. ("I'm not saying he's mentally retarded...", "His previous IQ scores suggest he's mentally retarded, but we know that's not the case.")

Makes me feel like I'm giving my child more credit than he deserves. Are my glasses too rose-colored? (If you knew me in person, you'd definitely answer no to that question!)

Currey Ingram has been our goal for the past month. Now that's taken away, and I feel utterly hopeless. I have no idea what we'll do. Public school proved to be horrendous for him (won't go into details), and Currey Ingram is the only private school that we had a shot at. There are no other private schools in Nashville that would accept him. I've been homeschooling him for the last month, but I'm not cut out for this so we have to change. The preliminary plan is to up his therapy hours from 11 to 15 and bring in a tutor for up to 2 hours each day. We can afford that now, but when we reach 100 visits of therapy, our insurance cuts off and we'll have to pay full price. That'll be roughly $1500 each week, not including the tutor. That's a hell of a lot more than the $26,000/year price tag we were worried about at Currey Ingram. And I can't work a whole lot more than I am now - Hayden is with me during the day.

Sh!t.

F*ck.

Anyone have any drugs they want to send me???

Woot! New favorite sweater!!!

2008-04-13T13:52:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Architectural Rib Pullover by Norah Gaughan - pattern in The Natural Knitter - I did the smallest size
Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed, maybe 7 skeins but I lost track because I've become completely unorganized
Needles: Denise size 5 circs, Inox size 4 circs for sleeve ribbing and turtleneck
Discussion: OMG! I love this sweater!!! These pictures don't do it justice. I kept having Mike take more and more shots, but then I realized that the camera will never capture the full awesomeness of it so I settled. My mom bought me the book and the yarn for Christmas, and I cast on the day after. It took me a lot longer to finish this than it should because I kept getting interrupted by other projects (onset of knitting ADD*). I became somewhat monogamous with it again during the NCAA Tournament because I found that as long as I was sitting on the couch, wearing nasty sweatclothes and working on this sweater, my Tigers would win. (There - that's the reason they lost the championship. I was there rather than at home in my teal sweatpants from the 80s and my sorority sweatshirt that's 5 sizes too big for me. Totally my fault.)

This is a great pattern. It's such an unusual design - you knit the big ribbed, cable-y part from the bottom front up, put a neckhole in, go down (hee hee) the other side, then pick up stitches along the sides and knit outwards to the sleeves. It was so fun, and very easy to follow. And I think Felted Tweed is a perfect yarn for this project. Just the right amount of tweed, and it's lightweight enough so that you don't swelter in the high turtleneck.

Speaking of the turtleneck, that's the ONLY thing I'd change in my sweater. See that little bump right under the back of my neck? I think if the turtleneck weren't so high, that would lie down flat. I like the look of the high neck, but I'd also like the sweater to lie down in the back. But I'm fine with it.

Norah - if you're reading my blog, thank you so much for such a great sweater. YOU RULE when it comes to interesting design!!! I can't wait to do something out of Knitting Nature. I think my first project is going to be the skirt on the front.

Before I do that, though, I have other things to finish. I am making a promise to myself to finish this list of things before casting on for anything else (exception to this rule is below):

1. Swallowtail Shawl - I told someone (notice I didn't say "friend") that I'd make this for a silent auction because she said if I did, she could get some letters of recommendation written by some very influential people to help me get Hayden into this private school we're hoping he'll go to in the fall. I tried my hardest, but it just didn't happen. I could've finished it today, but I've run out of yarn. Yes, I am 2 rows away from binding off, and I've run out of yarn. And the shop I bought it from doesn't have any more of that color. M-f'er. I'm not totally concerned about the dye lot - after all, I am insanely close to being done. I'm going to go to another LYS in town to see if they have it. If not, I found that color on Jimmy Beans Wool's website, so I'll order it. One f-ing skein for 3 f-ing rows.
2. sleeves for a friend - those got put aside when the urgency of the shawl popped up, but now they're resurfacing
3. Baby Surprise Jacket - I started this for that auction as well - 2 knitted things would get me more letters of recommendation, right? I'm not even 1/3 of the way done. Oh well. I'm using Blue Sky Organic Cotton in gender neutral colors, so whatever size it turns out to be will determine who the lucky recipient is out of the pregnant people I know.

The exception to this rule is/are afghan squares. My LYS is doing a afghan KAL, and I'm a sucker for a KAL! I wasn't going to do it because I know I have too much stuff going on, but I caved. I've got 5 great colors of Cascade 220 to work with, so I'm looking forward to this. The shop owner will tell everyone in the KAL what 2 squares to add every Friday. I figure these squares will be my portable projects - every knitter needs one of those.

I've got lots of things waiting in the wings to be cast on for, so I better get to knitting!

(* - Funny ADD story: Hayden's occupational therapist is working on his cursive with him. They've mastered a, c, d, g, e, and l. Last week they started working on putting letters together to form words, and she gave me a sheet for him to practice at home. One of them was "add". I looked at her and asked why she was having him write ADD. Wow - do I live in the land of disorders or what?)

My team played in the National Championship game, and all I got were these pictures.*

2008-04-10T14:49:00.001-07:00

Let's not even talk about the game. That ending has haunted my nightmares since Monday night. But it was an incredible experience, being there, and I did get some pictures of me with very tall black men (tall and black are both plusses in my book, yet somehow I married the whitest man in America - at least he's tall):

These 2 guys, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose (Derrick is the one on the phone) are going to be NBA stars next year, and you can say you read the blog of someone who has met them!

If you watched any Memphis basketball this past season, you'll know that this man, Joey Dorsey, has the nicest shoulders of anyone on the planet! I met 2 of his childhood friends before the game, and they said he was cut up like that when we was 15. Dang!!!

The little woman beside Sean Taggart is his grandmother. She is about the size of one of his legs. He was so cute with her. Towards the end of the season I found him incredibly sexy with his pointy, evil-looking goatee, but all bad boy images of him I had were wiped away seeing him with itty bitty Grandma. Awwww!

Pierre Niles looks really fat on TV, but in person he's not fat, just thick. Guess he's a prime example of how the camera adds 10 pounds.

Ahhh, Cedric Henderson - what to say about him? I've known him for about 14 years and have had a crush on him for that long. He played for Memphis in the mid 90s then went pro for a while with the Cleveland Cavaliers. That didn't work out too well, so now he plays overseas in Greece. I hadn't seen him since 1996, when I saw my beloved Tigers lose in the first round of the tournament to Drexel in Albequerque, but he remembered who I was. It was fun to take a picture with him, 12 years later.

I took knitting with me on this trip, but not a lot got done. On the way there I had every intention of working on my Swallowtail Shawl, but when the guy sitting next to me starting buying me beers, I decided to put the yarn away. Lace and beer don't mix. (BTW, this guy wasn't a stranger. He's our old realtor's ex-husband and he was headed to the game as well.) On the way home I didn't even try to knit. I had been up for over 24 hours at that point, so I needed to take a little nap. Lace and lack of sleep don't mix, either. Oh well.

*Did you notice how my beads were wrapped around one boob in every picture? It's not I'm that well-endowed so how they managed to stay in place so long is beyond me.

Bad ribs, good prezzies

2008-03-22T15:06:00.000-07:00

Gah.

Remember in my last post how excited I was about doing such a great job with the ginormous pull set at swim practice 2 weeks ago? Well, ever since then, I've been f*cked up - the left side of my upper body, that is. Long story short: I have 2 subluxed (partially dislocated) ribs. I have been in constant pain for almost 2 weeks now. Even sleeping hurts. The chiropractor/ART guy I saw last Thursday worked on me for an hour, but one rib is being completely stubborn and won't go back to where it came from. Last week I ran, taught Spin and somewhat taught abs, and all of that hurt. This week I haven't done anything except for teaching 2 Spin classes (and knit, of course). The first class caused me excruciating pain for several hours afterwards; the second class was better because it was the morning after my doctor's appointment. Hopefully I can get in to see him again this week and he can fix me 100%, because then I can get back at it - running, Spinning pain-free, core work, and climbing. Not quite sure about the swimming yet because I really believe that's what caused this, but I'll ease back into it eventually. I have to - I'm a triathlete!

There are some other things that are frustrating to me right now, but if I talk about them, this post will turn into a novel and I'll lose what little readership I have. So I'll keep them to myself and hope they go away.

On a happier note, I got home from a hard afternoon with Hayden (bad experience at the symphony, aggravating trip to REI, embarrassing stop at the yarn store) to find 2 packages: my Yarn Smackdown hat and a box of prezzies from my climbing swap spoiler! (I'm being lazy and not linking to these things. Yarn Smackdown is a game on Ravelry, and the climbing swap is being played with a group of climbing knitters, also on Ravelry.)

This is the hat that has knocked me out of the first round of play in Yarn Smackdown. Kate and I mailed our hats to eachother on the same day, almost at the same time, so it was a race to see who's postman was quicker. I guess we Southerners just like to do things slowly. It's a great hat, though, so I'm not upset!

The other package was from Lia, my spoiler in the Knitters On Belay swap I participated in on Ravelry. She sent me some great things: Climb On! balm (which I almost bought for my spoilee), a new carabiner (which is the exact biner my climbing partner has - I'm super-excited about that because I have coveted his for so long), labels for me to put in my knitted garments, some beautiful Araucania Ranco Multi yarn (I smell a pair of Monkey or Pomatomus socks in my future!), a toy for Hayden, and some treats for Rudy and Gracie. I love swaps!

Another happier note: I finally finished my Gathered Pullover!

Pattern: Gathered Pullover from Winter 2007 IK
Yarn: Rowan Kid Classic, somewhere around 6 skeins
Needles: size 8 Denise circs and Clover dpns
Discussion: The verdict is out on the happiness level with this sweater. From the moment I saw the pattern in the mag, I wanted to make it. Then I saw one on Ravelry that someone did in Kid Classic (one of my Desert Island yarns) with short sleeves, and the urge to knit it grew even stronger. However, now that it's done, I'm meh about it. I'm not totally in love with the neckline - it's kinda wide and my cami straps want to peek out, and the notch in the middle of the girls is a bit wonky for some reason - and I wish it would be a little more form-fitting. I've toyed with the idea of throwing it in the washing machine and felting it a tad, but I'm scared. I do have another sweater out of Kid Classic that I no longer wear due to the WIIIIIDE neckline (the Greek Pullover from 2006 - although I love the sweater, I inadvertently flash anyone in front of me every time I bend over). I could experiment with that and see what happens, or I can wear the Gathered Pullover as is for a while and see how I feel about it. Here's a closeup of the chest detail - the only thing that kept this sweater from being a complete yawn:

Next up is the completion of my Architectural Rib Pullover. I picked it up again yesterday for the first time in about a month and am working on the neckline. After that's done, I need to do one side and seam it up. I've got a couple of spring projects waiting in the wings, which make more sense to work on right now since the temps are climbing, but I REALLY want to be faithful to one sweater for a while. Maybe once it's done, we'll have a 1-day cold snap and I'll be able to wear it before packing it up until October.

Kool(ha)as (sh!t) Hat

2008-03-09T17:39:00.000-07:00

For those of you who aren't knitters, the Koolhaas Hat is the creation of the ever-popular Jared. This is my second Koolhaas, and I don't think it'll be my last. I want to make one that'll fit me, not make me look like Mushmouth from Fat Albert.

Pattern: Koolhaas hat, from 2007 Holiday issue of IK
Yarn: Cascade 220 superwash
Needles: size 7 (ribbing) and 8 (body)
Discussion: This hat pattern ROCKS. Not only is it really fun to do, it's a cool hat. I made one for my rock climbing partner, Robert, after he started teasing me nonstop about being a personal trainer and a triathlete and a knitter. He said knitting didn't seem to go with my other hobbies, and knitting was nerdy. (Notice I said "was" and not "is". He changed his mind after I gave him his Koolhaas.) I chose a beautiful heathered mustard color of Cascade 220 superwash to go with the pretty shade of his black skin. It looked great on him, but his tiny fro made it stand up a little too high. I blocked the hell out of it, and now it fits better. His roommate, Aaron, said, "Hey - I want one too! Can you make me one? Be sure it covers my ears."

He's got red hair, hence my decision on the green Cascade 220. You can't see his hair underneath the hat, but trust me - they go very well together. There's another guy who kinda has been hinting at one, but he'll just have to wait. I want to make one for myself first, and I've got some other things going on: sleeves for my Gathered Pullover, sleeves for 2 sweaters for a friend who is crocheting a dress for me (sounds like I'll be stranded on Sleeve Island for a while!), and one side of my Architectural Rib Pullover. Maybe I'll bargain with him: I'll knit him a Koolhaas hat if he promises never to take his climbing shoes off around me ever again. In the words of the Blackeyed Peas: STANKY, STANKY, STANKY!

(Speaking of climbing, I've been doing that about 2-3 times a week for a while now, and I noticed it paying off in the pool today. During a 600 meter pull in swim practice, I was totally running up the a$$es of the people in front of me. NEVER have I been a good puller, and today I was up the butt of a GUY. We had 2 more 600 pulls to do, so we rearranged the order of our lane, and I LED. Huzzah for strong shoulders created by climbing rocks!)

I'm also in the Travelling Scarves group on Ravelry, so every once in a while, I receive an unfinished scarf in the mail. I have to go through my stash, pick something to continue the scarf with, and knit 4-6 inches before sending it off to the next person in line. After the scarf I started gets added to by 11 other people, I'll have a great new scarf! Cool idea, huh? And everyone who is playing this game also is supposed to send a little somethin-somethin along with the scarf, so when I get my scarf back, I'll also get 11 little prezzies. I'm thinking that Goo-Goo clusters will be my gift - something you can only get here in Nashvegas.

I was planning on blogging a bit more about what's been going on around here - believe me, there's a TON of new info! - but I just got a call from a personal trainer I work with to see if I could take his 6am client that he forgot to reschedule while he's out in California. So now I have to finish up what I'm doing, figure out how I'm rearranging my schedule tomorrow morning to accommodate this guy, and go to bed early. I need to anyway after the reverse triathlon I did today - ran 7 miles, taught an hour Spin class, then went to swim practice from 230-4pm. (No, I'm not training for anything right now. I'm just crazy.) This follows a day of doing a 2 1/2 hour indoor cycling workout and a 3-hour stint at the climbing gym. Whew!

It's Ravelry's fault

2008-02-18T06:57:00.000-08:00

Sorry I've been MIA for the past month. I have a lot of things to blog about, but whenever I get on my computer I get sucked into Ravelry. I think that happens to a lot of us.

So - where do I start?

1. Hayden has joined the Special Olympics swim team. In his little black and purple jammers he looks just like a mini-Michael Phelps! He's a great swimmer but he won't wear goggles so he mainly backstrokes to keep his eyes out of the water.

We think swimming will be a big thing for him. He competed in his first meet back in January.

After the initial shock of the noise and crowds wore off, he did GREAT. We came home with 2 second place ribbons and 1 third place.

He should've gotten first in his first event (25 meter freestyle) but when he gets close to the wall he likes to coast in so he can hit his head lightly against it.

(That's him in the far left lane. He lost his lead right at the end. Bummer!)

Anyway, we were (and still are) very proud of him - even when he looks like this:

2. The rivalry between Pebbles and myself has kinda fizzled - she's totally not a threat to me any more. Yay for ass-kicking!!! I beat her by 5 minutes in a half marathon this past Saturday. There's one more race in the State Parks series - a 15K in 2 weeks - then we probably won't be racing against eachother for a while. Triathlon season is about to kick into high gear, so I'll be too busy with that to run road races. It's been a fun way to run fast throughout the winter, though. Next year I'd like to do more of this series.

3. Like I just said, triathlon season is about to kick into high gear, but I can't seem to get my butt out of the climbing gym. When I swim, I think about how I don't want to swim too hard because I don't want to tire my arms out for climbing. My hands stay torn up nowadays and it's not unusual for me to walk into a gas station with chalk all over my pants, but I love it. I had bought a 3-month membership that is supposed to expire on March 3rd, thinking that that'd be perfect timing. What a great off-season hobby to take up, and when my membership expires, it'll be time for me to get back into triathlon training. Didn't work that way. Mike has bought me a year membership to tack on at the end of the 3-month membership so I can climb for 12 more months! Thank God I don't plan on doing any long races this summer! Less triathlon training time = more climbing time!!!

4. I have joined forces this year with another triathlon coach in town, Stephen Taylor and we're providing some kick-ass, super-fun group training for newbies and seasoned athletes! We're in the middle of a 5-week Triathlon Prep course right now, and March 11th starts the real stuff. I think working with him will be good for both of us - what is a strength for one of us is the other's weakness, and I've gotten a good energy vibe being with him in the classes we've had so far. I'm really looking forward to this summer.

5. Because I am working with Stephen, I have to become a Certified Triathlon Coach through USAT, the governing body of triathlon. This Wednesday I am going to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to attend a 3-day certification clinic. I am staying after that clinic is done to attend a CEU clinic on Weight Loss for Endurance Athletes. I'm super-excited about this opportunity! Not only do I get to learn how to become a better triathlon coach, I get to stay at the OTC! Rock on!!! (And of course I've already scouted out where the nearest climbing gym is - less than 2 miles away. Climbing gear will be crammed into my suitcase!)

6. Knitting: doing a lot of it. OTN right now -
Gathered Pullover

(missing sleeves and neckline - shot was taken from the neck down because cycling + swimming + climbing + no shower = horrible hair!)

Architectural Rib Pullover

(missing one side and neck)

and my 4th pair of Fetchings (for my sister, whose hands stay cold at work). Waiting in the wings is my 2nd Koolhaas hat for a climbing friend (I made one for his roommate, another climbing friend of mine, and he's requested one). I also have some sleeves to do for a friend who I've worked a trade out with. She's crocheting me the Tuscany Tank Dress (free pattern on Knitting Daily) and I'm doing sleeves for her on 2 sweaters plus starting a sweater for her husband. And of course there are the projects I want to do from the Spring IK:

Banded Peasant Blouse
Chameleon Scarf
Katharine Vest
Drawstring Chemise

I originally had the Auburn Camp Shirt on that list too, but after looking at the Spring Gallery shots (they put the sweater on several different ladies with different body types so you can see what it looks like on someone who's not a model), I'm not as crazy about it. But, because of that same Gallery, the Sylph Cardigan may make its way on this list. (Edited to add a day after I originally posted: I took the link to the Sylph Cardigan out. For some reason, that was directing me to some lingerie website. Oops! It's really cute cardi with a little ruffle on the bottom and 3/4-length sleeves.)
That's it for my long update. I'll report back once I'm home from Colorado.

What girth!

2008-01-18T18:54:00.000-08:00

Wow - I never realized how BIG size 17 needles were! My mother requested that I knit my nieces (ages 4 and 15 months) some hats because it's actually cold in Memphis, so I decided that the Elf Hats from Handknit Holidays would be a speedy project. Yup - 2 hats in about 4 hours. Whoever said that size doesn't matter was full of sh!t - big needles crank out cute hats in no time flat.

(Hayden is such a gracious model, huh? Even saying "cheese" from the side!)

Pattern: Elf Caps from Handknit Holidays
Yarn: Cascade Lana Grande
Needles: Size 17 (ugh) Denise interchangeables AND dpns
Discussion: These are adorable and SUPER QUICK. I hate working on needles bigger than 9s, but it took so little time that it was over and done with before I really got a chance to bitch. (I'm talking about knitting - nothing else.) Unfortunately I can't send them until Tuesday since Monday is MLK Day and it would cost an arm and a leg (which is about the same size as the needles I used) to FedEx/UPS them over the weekend. The weather is so weird in Tennessee that by the time the hats make it to their recipients, it'll probably be in the 80s.

Here's another quick knit:

(I suck at taking self portraits. I always end up looking like such a dork.)

Pattern: Caliometry from Knitty
Yarn: Filatura di Crosa 127 Print
Needles: Size 8 circular
Discussion: Since the forecast called for cold temps this week and I was running on Tuesday morning, I decided to put my Architectural Rib Pullover down for an afternoon and whip out a cute running headband. I made the same mod that a lot of Ravelers did - cast on fewer stitches (88, to be exact). Other than that, I followed the pattern exactly as written. I. LOVE. THIS. HEADBAND! Up until tonight, I thought it was the fastest and most useful thing I have ever knit. It's adorable. (And to think that I look cute in it is unreal. Never did I think my hair would be long enough to look cute in something like this.) I've even taken it to the gym with me and shown it to people who really couldn't give a crap about it. I foresee many Caliometries in my future. Maybe next year all of the kids in my gift-receiving circle will get Elf Caps and all of the women will get Caliometries.

Rackin' them up!

2008-01-13T11:43:00.000-08:00

I'm racking a lot of things up these days:

1. Knitting projects in progress. First up I have my Architectural Rib Pullover from The Natural Knitter.

I'm OBSESSED with this sweater. I love the pattern, I love the yarn - hopefully I'll love the outcome! I'm finished with the big fat cabled sandwich board part - now on to picking up stitches on the sides to complete the sweater, including the sleeves.

(My husband liked it better when I was modeling my progress for him before I put the cami on. Sorry - only he has naked boobie privileges.)

Next up is the Gathered Pullover from the Winter issue of IK that I'm finally getting around to:

Yarn looks familiar? That's because it's Rowan Kid Classic, which I recently used for my Tree Jacket. This is a really pretty light brown color, almost like brown sugar. I bought it from a fellow Raveler. The idea to use it for this pattern came from seeing another Raveler's finished sweater. She shortened the sleeves to just above the elbow, which I'm also going to copy. Like I said in an earlier post, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? Obviously I haven't done much on this sweater. I just cast on Friday night and have 3 measly rounds done.

Finally, I present to you another pair of Fetchings:

I'm using Cascade 220 superwash in a charcoal grey color. These are for a triathlete friend, who saw my green cashmere ones and requested a pair for himself. Yes, I said himself. "But shouldn't you be making some Dashings for him, Nakedie?" Yes, I probably should - but he didn't see those, and he knows nothing about knitting. He tried my Fetchings on and they fit pretty well, so I've just lengthened the ribbed part in the middle and done 3 cable rounds at the top instead of one. I'm also going to do more rounds for the thumbs and a regular bind off instead of the picot. Hopefully they won't look too girly. And hopefully the curling that's happening at the bottom will uncurl with a good blocking. If I could ever pry myself away from my Architectural Rib Pullover, I could get these done and out the door. We've worked out a trade - these for some Desoto (my favorite brand of triathlon wear, which also happens to be one of his sponsors) schwag.

2. Knitting works in the planning stages:

The top left skein of Filatura di Crosa 127 Print is for a Caliometry from Knitty for me. I want a cool headband to wear while running - like I have so much hair to control. But my hair has gotten long enough to look cute in a do-rag these days, so I figured what the hell. I've seen some cute ones on Ravelry, so I want one for my very own.
The bottom left skein of Rowan Felted Tweed is for a pair of Knucks, also from Knitty. (Ravelry is really bad for making me add more projects to my queue!) I've already picked out what I'm going to embroider on them: IRON CHIK. How great will that be, whenever I get around to them?
The middle 4 skeins were a) bought at Michael's (I typically don't do that) because b) they're for making a couple of Snuggles. Snuggles are little blankets to put in kennels at animal shelters. I figure the four-legged recipients will not be yarn snobs, so cheap stuff will be best. Plus, they'll need to be washable to clean the poop, pee and hair off of them frequently.
The last skein of MamaE's sock yarn is for another pair of socks for Hayden. I was fortunate enough to meet MamaE herself at the Maryland Sheep & Wool festival I went to with Eunny in 2005 (y'know, before Eunny gained celebrity status with her new IK editor position). She's a really cool woman with a really cool job (autism therapist) and a super cute son. I found her sock yarn sold at a local LYS, so I bought some for my mom for Christmas and some for myself. Hayden loves handknit socks - better for sliding across our hardwood floors.

3. Running hardwear! In earlier posts, I talked about racing against Pebbles. So far I've beaten her in 4 races. I've heard that it's really been upsetting her, so that makes it all the more fun! Yesterday we did the Chickasaw Chase 10 miler in Henderson, TN. It was hilly and tough. Because I had been told that she's been wondering about me - who I am, what my motives are for doing these races, yada yada - I decided to mess with her a bit and run right behind her for the first mile. Yup - bitchy move on my part, but it worked - she turned around and looked at me 4 or 5 times. I then proceeded to blow by her uphill. Hee hee! I did a 1:18:47 - good enough for 1st place in my age group. 2nd went to Pebbles herself for 1:19:40-something. Last weekend we were in Memphis at the Hill & Dale 8-miler. Rain, wind, and some nasty hills slowed me down some, but I ended up with a 3rd place time of 1:04:41. She ran a 1:05:51 - 5th place, which didn't get an award. I've also beaten her at 2 other races and received 1st place honors. So I have 2 trophies, a medal, a pair of gloves, and a framed picture to put on my shelf. Not bad, huh? These races are low-key and they've been a lot of fun. I'm going to do 2 more in this series - a half marathon on Feb 16th and a 15K on March 1st. She'll be at both of those - wish me luck!

One more thing: my silly little Hayden turned 8 last Sunday. I have an 8-year old - ack!!!

Happy birthday, baby! Today is your special day. A day filled with fun and surprises.
Gotta love him, even if he does stick his hand down his pants right before I take a picture.

Gift knitting and giving underway

2007-12-23T09:01:00.000-08:00

Okay, there are 2 days left til Christmas. Am I done with my shopping? No. Did I participate in decorating our tree? No. Have I wrapped any presents? No. But I have been doing some great gift knitting!

I got to present my SO with his gift this morning after our trail run:

Pattern: Log Cabin Socks from Handknit Holidays
Yarn: Cascade Pastaza, 2.5 skeins
Needles: bamboo size 6 dpns
Discussion: I loved every minute of making these socks (except for when I messed up the start of the second sock and didn't notice it until 25 rows into it - yes, I ripped it out and corrected my mistake). I think I need a pair of them myself. The pattern was so fun, the yarn was awesome, and making socks on size 6 needles is so speedy! (Bonus: Somehow, I did not end up with a hole when doing the gusset! Woot! First time for that!) These were great. I was so excited to give them to him this morning. To find out what size to make them, I ended up calling Road Runner Sports. I knew that he had ordered shoes from them recently, so I just told the customer service rep that I was knitting him a pair of socks and needed to know his shoe size. How often do they get a phone call like that? Anyway, they fit great and I really hope that he'll enjoy wearing them while lounging around at home, watching "Don't Forget the Lyrics" or reading a book.

For those of you who have not knit these socks yet, get crackin!

Next up is a gift I haven't delivered yet but the recipient doesn't read my blog so I can write about it:

Pattern: Candy Stripes Kerchief from Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2007 issue
Yarn: Cascade Baby Alpaca Chunky
Needles: Clover size 9 circulars
Discussion: I wasn't impressed by this when I saw it in the mag, but then I saw one at a yarn shop nearby and liked it a whole lot more. They made mods for the bulkier yarn, so I got a copy of those when I bought the yarn. The increases were done at a different frequency and the stitch count was lower. This yarn is to die for - so soft. And I like the color combination. I tried to put 2 other colors together so I wouldn't be copying the shop model completely, but I just like the pink and red the best. What the hell - imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

I'm going to call my friend and see if she'd like to get together for dinner with Hayden and me tonight (Mike is going to a football game), and I can give it to her then. I wanted to give it to her earlier because she's been a little sad lately (boy issues), but I didn't get it done in time.

I've got 1 gift left on the needles and one I'm thinking about doing for my grandmother. She's been having some health problems lately and the Walgreens gift card I bought her last night (inspired by the suggestion from my mother) doesn't feel like enough. I'm thinking I have yarn in my stash that'll make a good Huckleberry Ascot, again from the IK Holiday Gifts issue. We'll see. I still have 2 days and some car time on Christmas day left, right?

Oh sh!t

2007-12-16T10:08:00.000-08:00

The new Magknits is up. (Maybe it's been up for a while, but I just noticed it. I've been on Ravelry too much to notice what's going on on any other sites lately.) And I think Rosy would make a perfect Christmas gift for someone. Can I do it? Rosy, Ice Queen, Candy Stripes Kerchief (although that should be finished this afternoon), and another gift to be blogged about at a later date???

Tree Jacket (and another hat, and another gift)

2007-12-15T14:37:00.001-08:00

Finally, Tree Jacket pictures:

Pattern: Tree Jacket by the Zephyr girls, smallest size
Yarn: Rowan Kid Classic, 6 skeins (I think)
Needles: Denise interchangeable size 7 for garter stitch, 8 for stockinette
Discussion: Another winner from the Zephyr girls! I love this sweater. It was so easy and quick and incredibly cute. I've worn it 4 times since last weekend. And of course the yarn is to die for. I think if someone told me that I had to choose one yarn to knit with from here on out, it'd be Kid Classic. I did my Greek Pullover last year out of this (although I don't wear that much because I was told I flash everyone when I bend over). Someone on Ravelry did their Gathered Pullover out of it, and I'm seriously thinking of copying (unless I get the yarn I put on my Christmas list, Knitpicks Swish DK). It's the best yarn EVER.

Next up is another hat for another therapist:

Pattern: You Don't Know Our Women hat, found on Ravelry
Yarn: something out of my stash, definitely Rowan, maybe Rowanspun Bulky
Needles: Inox circulars (and dpns) size 10.5
Discussion: I like the final product, but I didn't like the making of this hat as much as I did the first one. The cables felt really tight. I omitted the last 7 rows the pattern called for before starting the decreases because I felt like it was getting too big. Good thing - it fits perfectly now. It would've been a Mushmouth hat if I had done those last 7 rows. I surprisingly like the way it looks on me.

I usually don't like myself in hats, but I think since my hair is a bit longer now, it works better. But it's not for me, so if I want one, I'll have to do this pattern again. Not a big deal - it was over and done before I knew it.

I have 2 gifts still on the needles, one I hope to finish tonight. Unfortunately, I've added yet another gift to the list. I didn't know the new Knitty was up until 2 days ago, and I fell in love with the Ice Queen. I bought a skein of Rowan Kidsilk Shimmer yesterday and hope to start it week - actually, I MUST start it this week since Christmas is 10 days away! After that, hopefully I'll be satisfied with all of handmade gift efforts and stop the insanity.

3 FOs

2007-12-13T12:15:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to charging the batteries in my camera, so here are some of my latest FOs:

Pattern: Liesel (found on Ravelry)
Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted, 1 skein
Needles: Size 7
Discussion: This scarf is for Hayden's aide at school. She always wears pink and/or brown, so I think she's really like this. The pattern is great - not tough, but not "idiot" enough to do while watching something really important on TV, like A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila. (Finale is on next week!!! Go Dani!!!) I'd definitely use this pattern again. The yarn came out of my stash, and I had only 1 ball in this color. I had no idea how long of a scarf I was going to get with 1 ball, but I took a risk and went with it anyway. I blocked the hell out of it and got it to 54". Pretty perfect, I'd say.

(Wow, the boob not covered up by the scarf looks sooo small. Camis don't enhance anything, do they?)

(Hayden's becoming quite the photographer!)

Next up is Christmas gift #2:

(Why does my nose look so slope-y at this angle?)
Pattern: The Yarn Harlot's hat pattern. I think the name is the Unoriginal Hat. I found it on Ravelry as well.
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted (out of my stash again - yay for stashbusting!), double stranded
Needles: big plastic orange size 11 dpns (yuck)
Discussion: I've decided to make hats for Hayden's speech and occupational therapists since they're cute and they don't take much time. This is for his speech therapist. I love the pattern and I like the way it turned out (except I look like a major dork in it - hats don't work for me), but I HATE double stranding yarn. Everything gets all tangled up, then it gets extra tangled up on the needle, and soon you have a mess. Fortunately I didn't have to put up with it long because it took less than 4 hours from start to finish. This is another pattern I'd use again - with a single strand of bulkier yarn.

Finally, here's a shot of the baby gift that should've been given to Hayden's teacher at her surprise shower last Tuesday, but Hayden decided to be a Pukeasaurus Rex on Monday and we stayed home from school for 2 days:

Pattern: Candy Cane Hat from Handknit Holidays
Yarn: RYC Cashsoft DK
Needles: size 6
Discussion: I wanted to practice my stranding skills before tackling Eunny's Endpaper Mitts (no, I have not started them yet) so I thought this would be perfect. I'm okay at stranding, but once I had to switch to dpns, it got a little tricky. That worries me since the entire mitt is done on dpns. Maybe I need some more practice. Anyway, I think the hat turned out okay, but not totally cute. Maybe it was my choice of yarn. The color combination is awesome, but the hat seems very flimsy. The yarn came out of my stash. If I try it again I'll use some wool. I have some Mission Falls 1824 Wool in my stash (which is what the pattern calls for, I'm pretty sure) - just not in boy colors. I feel a hat for a cute niece coming on!

I have 3 more projects on the needles, all due before Christmas. Off to knit! (And I promise, a Tree Jacket picture is in the near future. It's cooling down around here.)

3 FOs, 2 PRs* and 1 growing list

2007-12-09T12:02:00.000-08:00

I have no pictures of my recent FOs yet as I have been a lazy photographer. Hopefully those will come soon - maybe as early as tomorrow. But I do have 3 FOs to report on: a super-cool Tree Jacket (that, unfortunately, is too warm to wear right now - temps in the 70s in December is ridiculous), a really cute but maybe too big Candy Cane Hat, and a pretty but a tad short scarf. Pics and details to come later.

As for my 2 PRs:

1. Last weekend Mike and I ran the St. Jude Half Marathon in Memphis. I wanted to PR but at the same time not trash my legs for the next rumble with Pebbles (which was yesterday). I love to do math while I'm racing, so I kept setting goals for myself mid-race. My old PR was 1:47:27, which was an 8:13 pace. If I could get to mile 4 in 33 minutes or less, I'd still shoot for a PR. If not, I'd slow down and just enjoy the race. Time at mile 4 was 32:12. If I could get to mile 6 in 49 minutes, I'd keep on. Time at mile 6 was 48:24. And so on and so forth. At mile 12Mike said, "Come on - how much gas you got in the tank? Whatcha got left? Put it all out there!" I'm not the type of athlete who likes those little cliches, so I promptly told him to shut up and just go. We crossed the finish line in 1:46:13. Yippee! Our average pace was 8:07. It was tough, but not too tough. And my legs were tired, but not trashed. I've been taking Acid Zappers, and I think they have played a big part in my performances over the last 3 weeks. I was happy.

2. Yesterday was another Tennessee State Parks Running Tour race, the Forrest's Johnsonville Charge 5 miler. I got there a little later than I had planned on, but everything was fine. And yes, Pebbles was there. I was afraid that it'd be harder to beat her again since she now knew who I was and might possibly run a little faster to make sure she beat me. I lined up behind her just like last time and tried to stay there, but in the first half mile, I passed her. I expected her to pass me right back, but she didn't. The course was straight out and back, so I got to see her after I went through the turn around. She didn't seem too far behind me, but I ended up beating her by 51 seconds. Woot! I wanted to keep a 7:30 pace and finish in 37:30, but I was a little off and crossed the line in 38:04. Oh well. Still fast for me. I'm pretty sure this was a PR for a 5 mile race. In 2004 I ran the local Thanksgiving race, another 5 miler, in about the same time. I'm also pretty sure Pebbles was/is infuriated that I got 1st in our age group and she got 2nd. Whatev. There's nothing wrong with a little competition. (Notice I didn't throw in the word "friendly.")

And finally the growing list - a list of things I need/want to knit. Ravelry is partly to blame for this!

4 Christmas gifts
Sweater for Hayden out of some Rowan Handknit DK Cotton that I've had in my stash for something like 4 years
Monkey socks for me
More socks for Hayden
Gathered Pullover for me
Architectural Rib Pullover from The Natural Knitter for me

Come December 25th, whatever is on the needles will be taking a back seat to the last item on the list. I am getting that book and the yarn for Christmas and plan on casting on that day. That is the most phenomenal sweater I have seen in ages. Norah Gaughan is amazing!

* - For those of you who don't know, PR stands for "personal record." Some call it a PB - personal best - but that just makes me think of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

It's on like Donkey Kong!

2007-11-25T12:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I did one of the Tennessee State Parks Running Tour races, the Plateau Gobbler Gallop 11K. It took place in Cumberland Mountain State Park in Crossville. Any park with the word "Mountain" in its name has got to be hilly. I read the night before that this race was the third toughest race in the Tour series. Ugh.

Since I am doing the St. Jude Half Marathon in Memphis next weekend, I wanted to shoot for 8:15-8:30 miles at the Gobbler Gallop, then do 8:10-8:15 miles in Memphis. That all changed, however, when I saw Pebbles at the race. (Pebbles is not her real name, but I'm going to call her that because that's what she looks like sometimes when she ties her bangs up in a silly ponytail.) Pebbles is not really a nemesis of mine because she doesn't do triathlons, but she and her god-awful lispy high-pitched Southern drawl has annoyed me for several years. I decided that beating Pebbles was my goal, no matter what the pace needed to be.

I started a little bit behind her. My strategy was to stay right behind her for most of the way, then pass her at the end. However, I passed her going up the first hill. That must've pissed her off, because she passed me right back. I tried to hold back so that it wouldn't turn into a game of leapfrog for the entire 6.8 miles, but I passed her again going up the next hill. (I have really muscular legs, too muscular for skinny jeans.) This hill was long enough for me to distance myself from her a good bit. I got excited, then realized about mile 1 that not only was I ahead of her, I was ahead of every other female! First female overall! I've never been in that position before, and I must say, it wasn't very fun. Every time I heard footsteps I worried about it being another girl. I wanted to run fast enough to stay in the front position but not too fast to blow myself up. I ended up getting passed by one girl about halfway into the race, then another one with about a mile left. I finished third overall female, first in my age group, and about 2 minutes ahead of Pebbles. Woot! My time on a hilly 6.8 mile course was 53:56, over 5 minutes faster than my original goal time. I was proud of myself, especially since I hadn't done any racing in a while. AND because I beat Pebbles.

Since yesterday's race, I've been told that Pebbles is very competitive and will be gunning for me the next time we toe the line together. Am I scared? NO WAY!!! Bring it on, silly girl! It's on like Donkey Kong! I was planning on doing only 4 or 5 of these State Parks Tour races, but now I think I'm going to try for 8. They have a Grand Prix series in which they take your 8 best times and assign points for what place you finish. Right now she's in first place for the women, but she's already done 6. Hopefully I can turn in some good performances and beat her. The finale is March 1st at the Fall Creek Thaw 15K.

I've also been somewhat of a speedy knitter. I started my Tree Jacket last Wednesday, and I have only 3 inches to go on the body, plus the sleeves. I'm loving it so far. DH is busy trying to install a wall mount for our new TV, so I took a progress shot myself:

Then I asked Hayden to be my photographer. He did a pretty good job:

My question is this: why is the lace section swirling? The picture on the Zephyr website shows their lace section straight. I'm not the only one and I really don't mind the look, but I'm just curious. If I tried to block the swirling out, wouldn't it make the entire sweater go lopsided? (BTW, my yarn is Rowan Kid Classic. The color is the darkest shade of eggplant known to man. I lurve it.)

I also got Hayden to take a picture of my latest FO:

Pattern: Fetching
Yarn: Jade Sapphire Mongolian Cashmere, 1 skein
Needles: size 5 dpns
Modifications: Added more length to the middle section (5 rounds), added one extra round of cables at the top, did a regular bind off rather than picot.
Discussion: I really like these gloves. The cashmere is super soft (duh) and the pattern was easy to follow. It was a quick knit - about 2 days. I might make some more for gifts, but not in cashmere. Maybe some Rowan Cashsoft.

The Embarrassing Picture

2007-11-18T10:11:00.001-08:00

There it is, that stupid hole I talked about last post. That's the worst sock hole I've ever created. How do you stop from doing that?

Other than the hole, Hayden's Vandy socks turned out fine:

(Oops - my finger in the corner between his legs looks a bit like a pinga, if pingas had nails. I was having to hold his legs down because he kept wanting to go crazy with them, and I didn't notice my finger placement.)

The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in the Bee Stripe colorway. I just did my usual cuff down, 2x2 rib, stockinette stitch, kitchenered toe sock. I think I'm ready to try some new sock techniques. Not that I'm going to turn into a knitter who wants to knit socks 24/7, but I do like Hayden's feet looking stylish when he goes to school in his Standard School Attire. Here's proof that I'm not a sock snob:

This is #1 of a pair. The left one will be started later today. The pattern is Fetching from Knitty, and yarn is mongolian cashmere. I modified the pattern by a) doing 23 rounds of 4x1 rib instead of 18, b) did 2 cable repeats at the top instead of 1, and c) did a regular bind off instead of the picot. I did the picot at first and didn't like the way it looked at all. These fingerless gloves are very cute and very soft - just in time for the weather to get warm this week. Of course.

When I turned the camera on to take a picture of Hayden's socks, he started saying, "Cheese!" He didn't understand that I couldn't take a full-body shot since he didn't (and still doesn't) have pants on. So, after the feet shot, I took a face shot:

My little man is growing up. He went to his first sleepover party this past Friday night. Five 7-year old boys + 1 single mom = trashed house! But they had a blast and Hayden won a game of Twister. I'm very proud of him for coming this far. The birthday boy's mom told me that he got to invite just 4 friends to spend the night, and Hayden was on that list. To think that some kid would pick Hayden out of all the other boys to spend the night makes me feel so good. Is this the same kid who couldn't handle play dates 5 years ago? I think not. Way to go, Hayden!

No exciting Twists here

2007-11-17T10:19:00.000-08:00

It was a somewhat boring pattern (thank God for the k1tbls and the p1tbls, or it would've been totally boring), but the end product is nice!

Pattern: Jillian Moreno's Twist from Fall 2007 IK (also found in the "No Sheep for You" book), 3rd size
Yarn: Jo Sharp Aran Tweed, 7.5 skeins
Needles: Denise interchangeables 6 (border) and 7
Started: August or September 2007
Finished: November 12, 2007
Discussion: I wanted to make Mike something new for this year and a vest seemed like a great idea since it doesn't get terribly cold here. This pattern was somewhat of an "idiot project" for me (so simple I really didn't have to think about it), and I think because of that, it took a little longer than it should. I kept putting it down for more interesting things (Juliet) or quick-knit projects (Mason Dixon Baby Kimono). Although I've never worked with a yarn this dark before, I really liked it. The little flecks of color made up for the navy that I'm not much of a fan of.

I think this vest will see a lot of wear this winter.

I've also finished Hayden's Vanderbilt socks but haven't gotten around to taking a picture yet. They turned out fine (just plain ol' stockinette stitch socks with a k2p2 ribbing at the top), but the place where I picked up stitches on one sock's gusset has a gaping hole. It's not a dropped stitch or anything like that, it's just where my technique for doing that part of a sock sucks. It happens on just about every sock I do, some worse than others (like this one). Question for you sock knitters: how do you keep that from happening? If you don't know exactly what I'm talking about, check my next post. I'll embarrassingly put a picture of it up. Other than that, the socks turned out cute.

Up next: Tree Jacket out of Rowan Kid Classic and Fetching out of 100% cashmere. Both are for me - who the heck would give away a pair of cashmere fingerless gloves?!??

Who knits in Vegas?

2007-11-09T13:28:00.000-08:00

I do.

Mike had a conference to go to, so I went with him. It was awesome. We have been a couple of times before, but it had been 5 years. I was excited about hearing some of the slot machine clink-clink-clinking that I'm addicted to. (I'm not much of a gambler, but I do love that noise! It's like crack!) We stayed at the Venetian - yeah, baby! The thing that I loved the most about staying there was the Canyon Ranch Spa on the 4th floor. Spa services are not really my thing, but exercising is. They had all sorts of classes, all sorts of cardio equipment, strength training machines, and bottled water in every nook and cranny. I worked out twice a day for at least an hour each time. What a way to justify all of the wine, blueberry-infused sake, pumpkin cheesecake, gelato, and $140 dinners! In between my trips to the spa, I knitted. I worked on a sock for Hayden:

And Mike's vest (Twist from the Fall IK):

I have to kitchener stitch the toe of Sock #1 and start the other. These are his socks to wear to the Vandy basketball games he'll go to with Mike. (I will be sitting home, knitting. Yay for basketball season!) On Twist, I have 6 more rows to do on the front so it can match the back, sew together, do the armhole and neck edging, and block. I'd say Vegas was a good knitting trip for me.

Another thing we did in Vegas was shop. We are not shoppers by any means, but we were able to let loose in Niketown in the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace. I got some new supercool rockstar sunglasses:

with supercool rockstar detail on the side:

I also scored the new Nike Amp+, which is the shit for runners:

It's basically a remote control watch for your iPod. I have a Nike+ sensor that is on my shoe and interacts with my iPod. On my iPod screen, I can see the details of my run: time, distance, average pace, and calories burned. But it's a pain in the butt to pull your iPod out of your pocket or armband (or ass) to look at your stats mid-stride. The Amp+ allows me to just hit a button on this watch-looking thingy and hear a guy tell me my stats. (And, of course, it's a remote control for your music. If you get to a song that's not motivating at that time, just hit the fast forward button on your wrist!) How cool is that??? I did my long run with it this morning and loved it.

We also saw a couple of shows: Phantom of the Opera on Saturday night and Zumanity, the new Cirque du Soleil show, on Sunday. Phantom was incredible, Zumanity not so much. It's advertised as the sensual side of Cirque du Soleil, so I figured it'd put us in the mood to rush back to the hotel room and get our groove on. Instead, we just climbed into bed and fell asleep. There's nothing exciting about topless Cirque performers, especially when their boobs are so small due to their amazing athletic prowess.

On the knitting horizon: the Gathered Pullover from the Winter IK. My goal is to wear it to my triathlon club's holiday party on December 8th. Can I do it?

Woot!

2007-11-01T18:49:00.000-07:00

I got my new IK today -- did you? LOVE LOVE LOVE the Gathered Pullover! I think that'll be what my birthday yarn - Frog Tree Alpaca Sport - grows up to be! But when??? Must finish Mike's vest. Must finish Hayden's Vandy socks that I just started today. Must make a couple of Christmas gifts. Ack!

In non-knitting news, I with my new-found upper body strength (thanks to the Chains hell I put myself through for a month) have developed a passion for rock climbing. A friend of mine and I went to the local climbing gym this past Tuesday night, and I had a blast. I was able to do the climbs that had overhangs, something I hadn't been able to do in the past. Huzzah for Chains!!! If I can talk Mike into it (actually, no talking is needed - just performing my wifely duty a little bit more than usual is all that it takes) I'm going to get a membership for the off-season. 6 months of climbing, killer abs classes, access to the Chains stations, and a plethora of cute shirtless climbing boys! What more could I ask for?

Gotta love him!

2007-10-31T09:24:00.000-07:00

Now that the cooler weather is FINALLY here, we have to dress a little warmer. Hayden refuses to wear a jacket but is okay with a sweater. The return of McTavish!

What a great son - he cheerfully wears Mommy's creations!

In other knitting news, I FINALLY finished the garter stitch scarf I started on our trip to Lake Placid.

Yes, I started a simple garter stitch scarf in July and didn't finish it in October.

(Like my shirt, at least what you can see of it? It's the naked mudflap girl knitting! Awesome, huh?) It turned out pretty, but not like Jared's. Why not? Just cast on 17 stitches on size 11 needles and do garter stitch until you run out of 2 skeins of Noro Kureyon. Must be like how your cottage cheese and tomato sandwiches aren't quite as good as the ones Mama made for you.

I am knitting away on Mike's vest, but that'll be put on hold this weekend for a pair of socks for Hayden. I bought 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces in the Bee Stripe colorway because I thought they'd make the perfect accessory as he and Mike go to Vanderbilt basketball games this season. Mike and I are leaving for Las Vegas on Saturday, so I figured socks would be a better plane choice than the front of a man's sweater. Hopefully pictures of both of these items will be coming soon.

FO: Juliet

2007-10-20T13:53:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Zephyr's Juliet
Size: small
Yarn: Lang Yarns Eve, 5+ skeins (I think)
Needles: Denise interchangeables size 9
Discussion: I love it!!! This was my first Zephyr pattern, and I'm very happy. Like I said in an earlier post, this yarn was in my stash. The gauge is a bit smaller than the pattern called for, so I went with the small (I would've gone with the extra-small otherwise) and it turned out great. I've been wearing it all day. My thought was to wear it without buttons until I got a chance to go to the store for buttons, but the more I wear it, the more I like it without buttons. Unless someone has a strong pro-button argument, I'll leave it this way.

I was a little worried about the "poofiness" that other knitters have complained about, but I'm fine with the poof. In fact, I think the poof is quite cute and a bit girly, if I say so myself.

I said "I think" about the use of a little over 5 skeins because I didn't really keep track. I just kept going stash-diving for another skein when I needed it. I don't remember how many skeins of this yarn I bought originally and I don't really know how much I have left (my yarn closet is in TOTAL disarray right now, to the point of major embarrassment), so I'm guesstimating 5+.

Next up: to finish the Noro Kureyon garter stitch scarf started back in July (you didn't know a garter stitch scarf done on size 11 needles could take this long, huh?) and the vest in progress for DH. The back is basically done, thanks to our latest Disneyworld trip, and the seed stitch bottom border for the front has been started. I really want to dive into another Zephyr pattern (Tree Jacket for sure, and maybe Wicked with some Frog Tree Alpaca Sport that was a birthday gift back in September), but I'm promising myself that I'll finish the vest first. It's FINALLY cooling off here in Nashvegas, so maybe it'll be done at the perfect time.

Not that I really have time for this...

2007-10-09T18:49:00.003-07:00

...but I thought I'd share pictures of my latest FOs, plus 1 WIP.

Pattern: Knitty's Clapotis
Yarn: Blue Heron Yarns beaded wool, Winterwood colorway, 2 1/2 skeins
Needles: Denise interchangeables size 7

(Yikes! What a hole in the back of my hair!)

Discussion: Yes, I'm very late to the party. My LYS is trying to show its clientel that they're Internet-savvy, so they want to have shop models of popular Internet projects. Since most of my sentences while in the shop start with, "There's this pattern on the Internet..." (much like American Pie's "One time in band camp...", except I've never stuck anything knitting-related into my vajayjay), I was an easy target. They provided the yarn (hence the use of yarn that's $26/skein), I knitted the Clap, and there you go. I think after it's hanging in the shop for a while I'll get it back, but I'm not sure. I might make another one for a gift, but this time I'll use smooth yarn. The beaded texture, while really pretty, doesn't show off the stitch definition very much.

Pattern: Mason Dixon Knitting's Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono
Yarn: Tahki Cotton Classic, 2 skeins
Needles: Denise interchangeables, size 6
Discussion: I had just enough of this yarn left over from the Modern Log Cabin Blanket for this sweater, I had a pretty bad back spasm on Friday that left me sitting on the couch most of the weekend, and I've been invited to a baby shower this Sunday. How perfect! This pattern is a)very easy and b)true to its name - heartbreakingly cute. I found myself looking at other colors of Cotton Classic today for more baby kimonos. I don't have any other pregnant friends, so I don't need to make another one, but it's so damn cute!

This is the garter stitch portion of my Juliet. (And my boobs look fabulous! Yippee for tight tees and pushup bras!) The sleeve stitches are on holders because I thought of adding sleeves, but the more I try it on this tight long-sleeve tee, the more I like the cap sleeve look. And I LOVE the color. I'm not a girly-girl by any means, but this pink is adorable. I'm getting a slightly smaller gauge (man, Hayden is standing next to me, singing a song from Sleeping Beauty - if you could only hear him!) than the pattern calls for, but I'm cool with it. I've read that Zephyr patterns tend to run on the big side, so instead of going down a size like most bloggers have, I stayed with the small and am hoping that it'll turn out okay. I think it will. I'm about to start the lace section, and I'm a little worried. I was reading Craftster tonight, and some people went down a needle size to eliminate some of the poofiness. I didn't find the pattern to look poofy at all, so I don't really know what to do. If I stay on my 9s, will it balloon out right below my boobs? If I go down (wow - going down twice in one paragraph - DH could only be so lucky!) to 8s, will it look too flat? I think what I'm going to do is take my other WIP, DH's sweater vest, with me to Disneyworld and save Juliet until I get home on Monday. Or if I can get enough done tonight, I may have enough time to knit some before we leave tomorrow so I can see what I like. Off I go to pack! Tomorrow's it's off to Florida until Monday!

No pictures for you!

2007-10-07T06:19:00.001-07:00

I have been knitting up a storm lately, so I have a couple of FOs to show you and 1 WIP. Unfortunately, the batteries in our camera decided to die, so I have to wait until Walgreens opens up. These are the pictures you're missing out on right now:

Finished my Clap. (Why I put the link, I don't know. EVERYONE is familiar with the Clap by now.) Really pretty.

Started a baby sweater on Thursday, finished it last night. So damn cute it makes you want to puke.

I'm over halfway finished with the back of a sweater vest for Mike. Looking good. Really like my yarn choice.

I just bought the Zephyr girls' Juliet pattern and am getting ready to swatch for it. I have some pale pink Lang Yarns Eve in my stash that I think will work perfectly. I wasn't impressed with this cardi at first, but it grew on me. Also, I think the idea of making a really quick knit for me is enticing; I have done so many projects lately for others that I'm feeling a little neglected. Wouldn't it be nice if I could get it done before we leave for Disneyworld on Wednesday evening? I don't know if the weather's going to be cool enough for a little cardi like this, but I'd be willing to pack it just in case. I may be able to do it. My back is totally messed up right now, I think due to a hilly bike ride right before my Chains class (scroll halfway down the page and click on the guy standing on a box, holding a bar) last Thursday night , so I haven't moved from my couch very much since yesterday morning.

(Close but no cigar) times 2

2007-09-30T06:29:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I participated in the Music City Triathlon here in Nashville. I really didn't have a time goal in mind; I just wanted to do the race because a) the people I had coached all summer were doing it as their big finale and b) it was my birthday and I figured that would be a great way to start the day. I had a blast - I was with all of my friends; all of my triathlete newbies crossed the finish line with smiling faces; I felt the race went well for me despite my inability to get my wetsuit off of my right foot and the rain that we had to deal with during part of the bike ride - but when I got home and looked at the results, I was a little disappointed. I came in 4th in my age group. They gave awards out to the top 3 in each age group. I missed it by a little over 3 minutes, and the girl who got third is a friend of mine who drafted off of me during the swim. Ugh. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. Here are the details:

Swim: 31:35 - the swim was a little long, and boy, I felt it!
T1: 2:52 - couldn't get my wetsuit off
Bike: 1:10:45 - this could've been faster, but when the course started doing its out and back thing, I started paying more attention to the athletes going the other way so I could make sure that all of my trainees had made it out of the water and onto their bikes
T2: 1:20 - if I could learn how to focus in transition, I'd be much better at it. Coming off the bike, I had this conversation: "Hey, Richard, I heard you had a wreck recently. How are you doing? Man, that sucks. Well, see you later!" WTF??? Keep in mind that at the Memphis in May triathlon several years ago, I stopped on my way from the swim to my bike to talk to a friend of mine who had had a panic attack in the water and had to be pulled out. I consoled her until I remembered that I had a race to do.
Run: 49:58 - I surprised myself with this time. My first mile was 9:25, but my second was under 7:30. What a way to pick it up! I ran decently yet still had it in me to say hi to friends. The course may have been a little short, but nobody has confirmed that with me, so I'm going to pretend it wasn't.
Total time: 2:37:47

After Music City, I turned my focus on preparing for the Big South Fork 17.5-mile trail race. My SO* and I drove to Big South Fork Friday afternoon, set up camp, enjoyed a couple of little hikes, ate a good meal, then sat under the stars and drank red wine until we were ready to crawl into our sleeping bags.

Me at the Twin Arches in Pickett State Park

John under the North Arch

The next morning started a little chilly, but it didn't take long to warm up. I was glad I decided to put my big girl panties on and ditch the idea of starting out with a long-sleeved shirt on over my tank top. That would've come off within the first 10 minutes and since I was in the woods, it would've had to have stayed tied around my waist for the rest of the race. I didn't expect any stellar time - after all, this was a trail race, a long one at that. When you start to get tired, you have to pay extra attention to picking your feet up so that you don't get bitten by the root and rock monsters that live in the woods. I did have a small goal, though: to break 3 hours. The last time I had run this race, I was on pace to do that until Mike rolled his ankle badly around mile 6 and I stayed with him while he suffered to the finish line. Yesterday morning I was running really well. For 2 days I had battled a little tweak in my abs that was result of doing fly kick on my back with fins on in swim practice Wednesday morning, but fortunately it was gone by race time. I looked up occasionally to marvel in the beauty that surrounded me, but overall I focused on the trail. I was doing great until I fell around mile 11. Lots of people fall during this race, but in all of the times I had done this before, I had never fallen. Guess there's a first time for everything. My fall was very graceful, though - I rolled then jumped up and got right back on track. Not a big deal. Unfortunately I fell again about 30 minutes later. This one was a little worse, but no blood was shed. I just got really dirty on my right side and now have a couple of cuts on my knee. Soon after that I stumbled pretty badly, coming oh-so-close to biting it a third time. I decided then that I really needed to slow down. The trail was very rooty and rocky at that point, and the patchy sunlight that was coming in through the leaves was making it really tough to see. It was more of a blind run, and I just started hoping that where my foot landed was going to be an okay place. I ended up meeting my goal - my time was 2:56:25 - but when they did the awards and I found out that third place in my age group (a girl from Nashville who is dumb as a box of rocks and has the most annoying voice on the planet) ran a 2:50:12, I was disappointed in myself. If only I had been able to keep my pace up. If only I hadn't fallen, especially that second time. I looked at the race results this morning, and I didn't come in 4th this time, but 5th. So close again.

On the drive home, John and I decided that I'm going to have a breakthrough year next year. I'm focusing on short, fast races that'll teach me how to push past the pain, a pain different than Ironman pain. Ironman races are super tough, but that's because the distance is ridiculous. You have to grind it out for the entire day at a slow/maintainable pace rather than going balls to the wall at an intensity that makes you want to pass out. I have to learn the art of increasing my pain threshold and getting to the point at which I feel like puking. Over the winter I'll do short foot races, mostly 5Ks and 10Ks with 1 or 2 half marathons thrown in. And come next year, I'll be building a shelf for all of my trophies! But first: Disneyworld in less than 2 weeks!

Can you tell that a certain little 7-year old boy is excited?

* - My SO is a term of endearment and nothing more. He's just a really close friend. My DH is totally cool with it. Don't want anyone getting any weird ideas that I'm a skanky, cheatin' ho.

F*ck the skirt

2007-09-04T14:02:00.000-07:00

2 weekends ago I went to Louisville with some friends to volunteer and spectate at Ironman Louisville (more on that in a minute), so I wanted some mindless stockinette stitch to work on in the car. My goal was to get past the lace part of the Rebecca skirt I had chosen to do. The night before I left, I was knitting away, watching "The Devil Wears Prada" and confident that I was going to get through the lace before I went to bed. Uh-oh. I realized I was knitting a moebius. A f*cking moebius. That damn first stitch got twisted when I joined way back in the beginning. So I ripped it out, cast on 399 stitches AGAIN, and got a migraine before heading to bed at 11pm. At 445am I'm up and out the door, knitting in hand. I was SO CAREFUL not to twist that damn first stitch again, so I knit with confidence in car that morning. On the way home the next morning (yes, it was a quick trip), I double-checked my knitting. F*cking moebius #2. Sh!t. F*ck the Rebecca skirt. I am now working on a vest for DH and a Clapotis (better late than never, huh?). Pictures will be posted later this week.

Ironman Louisville report: My friends and I caught bikes from noon to 3pm and had a blast. As the athletes reached the end of the 112-mile bike leg, they dismounted, ran/walked/limped with their bikes to the transition area, threw/gave their bikes to us, and headed off to the changing tents to get ready for their marathon. We worked the first shift, so we got the fast people's bikes. It was so cool yet a little intimidating! They are the ones running fast, throwing their bikes at you. The trick was to grab it by the handlebars and the saddle then immediately pick it up off the ground to stop the momentum. One nerd in my tri club didn't do that and ended up hitting the ground, pulling the bike on him. Goober.

After the bike catching, we headed to a spot on the run course that was right in front of where the atheletes either turned right to head out on their second loop or went straight to the finish line. (Yes, it's cruel to do that. Every Ironman I've done has a run course like that. Bastards.) We drank beer and cheered on our friends. Some of us made friends with some guys across the street who are in a tri club in Indianapolis. We've decided that our club and their club are going to go head to head in a club competition at the Memphis in May Triathlon next spring. Fun! We haven't determined the rules yet, but it's going to be a blast. We exchanged email addresses, and the trash talking has already begun.

And now for the Uber-Nerd of the Weekend Report: Mike and I took our annual trip to Chicago this past weekend. We caught a couple of Cubs games, learned how to play Beer Pong (I'm actually pretty good), and ate a lot of food (I'm going to teach a killer Spin class tonight to work off some of that Deep Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake I ate Sunday night at the Grand Lux Cafe). At the game on Sunday, I was taking a break from sitting in the hot sun by standing in some shade in the walkway behind the bleachers. All of a sudden I saw him: Derek from MTV's "Real World" and 3 seasons of "Real World/Road Rules Challenge"! I am a HUGE MTV freak, and although I don't find Derek cute, I like him. The exchange went like this:

Me: Oh my God! You're from the Real World!
Him: No, I'm from here. I was on a show called Road Rules and a couple of the Challenge seasons.
Me: Oh, I know. I know who you are, Derek.
Him: Nice to meet you. What's your name?
Me: Stephanie.
**Weird pause in conversation. I look at him, he looks at me. I struggle with the right words.**
Me: I'm 35 years old and I watch all of those MTV shows like I'm 12.

What?!??? WTF??? Fortunately he and his friends were really trashed, so I'm sure they forgot all about it 5 minutes after walking away from me. At least I hope so. I hope I don't see him on one of those reunion shows, answering the "Do you get recognized a lot out in public?" with "Yeah. I once ran into this woman at a Cubs game who told me that she's 35 but watches all of the shows like she's 12. What a nerd!" (Audience, show host, and fellow cast members all break into laughter. Meanwhile, a middle-aged mom who tries to be hip but really is not sits on her bed, knitting in her lap, and cries tears of embarrassment.)

Ready to be gifted

2007-08-24T11:16:00.000-07:00

Finally! All folded up and ready to be delivered to the deserving recipient.

Pattern: Log Cabin Blanket from Mason Dixon Knitting
Yarn: Tahki Cotton Classic, I don't know how many skeins (more on that in a minute)
Needles: Denise Interchangeables size 5
Date started: somewhere around the beginning of May
Date completed: August 24th

I love this blanket, although I got stuck in the long-ass rows of garter stitch rut that many other Log Cabin Blanketers out there have found themselves in. I tried so hard to resist the temptation of other, more interesting knits along the way, but I caved a couple of times. Had I not done my Coachella or my Indigo Ripples Skirt (or started that Rebecca skirt), this blanket would've been done about a month ago. It's fine, though. Right now it's a million degrees here in Nashville, so I have a feeling it's going to go unused for a while.

I didn't follow the pattern exactly, but when you're doing a blanket like this, you don't have to. I cast on however many stitches I wanted to and did however many garter ridges I wanted to. I don't know the dimensions because I haven't measured them. I don't know how many skeins I used because I just kept going back to my LYS to buy 2 or 3 at a time whenever I needed them. It looks much better in the checkbook when you do that compared to spending over $200 at one time. I would've had to put out for a trip like that! (You know, yarn sex: to soften the blow - pun intended - of an expensive single trip to the LYS.) Another thing I didn't do was follow the instructions for the edging. Like a friend who did the baby blanket version, I just picked up stitches then turned right around and bound them off. Worked just fine.

(Yes, he's wearing a Santa Claus hat. He's been into Christmas ever since our trip to the North Pole and Santa's Workshop while we were in New York last month.)

I see a couple more Log Cabins in my future; DH and my SO have requested one of their very own. Obviously ours will be in the purple and green family since those are the colors of our new bedding (we got tired of the big white flower on the black background - it showed dog hair and cookie crumbs too well). My SO's will probably be something bluish.

Next up, though, will be the completion of my Rebecca skirt and a Clapotis that I'm going to do as a shop model for my LYS. The skirt has not reached a picture-worthy stage and the yarn hasn't been chosen for the Clap, so you'll just have to read about them. My goal is to finish the lace part of the skirt (I'm halfway there) before this Sunday. I am going with my SO and 2 other girls to Louisville to volunteer then spectate at Ironman Louisville, and I need some easy stockinette stitch for the car ride. Wish us and especially all of the athletes good luck - it'll be way too f*ckin' hot!!

One more shot:

OF COURSE we have already seen "High School Musical 2" several times already! This picture was taken at our YMCA's pool party last Saturday night. Hayden's jump is perfect - he looks just like the kids in the poster. The movie premiered on Friday, then on Saturday the Y showed it in the pool area so the kids could play and watch the movie at the same time. They had a drawing for prizes after the movie was over, and we won a soundtrack. Huzzah! Saves us $17!

Mountain Lakes Triathlon race report

2007-08-15T14:08:00.000-07:00

I could also title this post "Why Nakedie Doesn't Do Sprints."

OUCH!!!

I think I mentioned in a post from a couple of months ago that I coach a triathlon club for beginners. We are 4 1/2 weeks away from our main goal, the Music City Triathlon on September 16th. Along the way, I've encouraged them to do other races - a sprint with a pool swim, a longer sprint with a pool swim, an even longer sprint with a lake swim - to help them tackle the Olympic distance. Mountain Lakes was on their calendar and several of them had decided to go, so my original thought was to go and cheer them on. After all, my Ironman was just 3 weeks before that, so there'd be no way I could do the race myself. About a week and a half after Ironman, I must've had a brain fart because I thought I was actually rested enough to do this sprint. So I signed up and responded with, "Yeah, I'm fine - it's weird!" to everyone who was surprised to hear that I was racing 3 weeks after putting in 140.6 miles.

Race morning came and my legs were a little sore from a sculpting class I taught Tuesday morning (during which we did lots of walking lunges - stupid, I know - quit lecturing me - I'm almost done subbing that damn class), but I decided I was going to give it my all. One of my goals for next year is to do shorter races and regain some of my speed lost over the past 3 years while churning out hours upon hours of long distance training, so why not push myself as hard as I could and see where I'm starting from?

The swim was okay - a little too much algae, but I got out under my goal of 12 minutes (no, I'm not a fast swimmer - working on that) - and the bike was fine. However, the run SUCKED ASS. That's where I realized that no, I'm not as recovered as I thought. I ran as hard as I could for the first mile, then had to slow down. My first mile was 7:50, my overall pace for 3 miles was 8:27 - that shows you how much I slowed down. A friend of mine was at the finish line, and the first thing I said to him was, "Doing a sprint 3 weeks after Ironman is one of the worst f*cking decisions I've ever made." Man, that hurt! Man, I have a lot of work to do!

After the pain wore off, I realized that I was okay with my performance. My goal was 1:30, my time was 1:28:59. I came in 11th out of 40 in my age group, which is quite competitive. Not too shabby for someone who a)did an Ironman 3 weeks before and b)is NOT a sprinter. Honestly, the last time I did a race that short was 5 years ago. But I foresee more of those in my future; getting to that point where you're not quite sure what's going to happen first, puking or passing out, is actually a bit fun in a very sick sort of way.

Swim: 11:46 for 600 yards (no, I'm not a fast swimmer)
T1: 1:58
Bike: 48:38 for 16.2 miles (20.0mph average)
T2: 1:07
Run: 25:22 for 3 miles (8:27/mile average)

Next up: I Run for the Party 5K next Saturday night. After that will be the Music City Triathlon on September 16th.

PS - In case you're wondering, all of my peeps (the people I coach) finished the race! There were 2 of them who had never done a triathlon before, and 3 of them who had never swum in a lake before. I was a very proud mama. One of my guys made it a point to let me know that he had beaten me ("Stephanie, if you're looking for your name on that list of overall results, just find my name and count 10 below that to find your name." - yeah, that didn't fly with me too well) but when I got home and saw the results, I found out he beat me by only 33 seconds. Come Music City, I'll show him who's boss! GAME ON!!!

Tom Boonen has a sexyback

2007-08-11T15:50:00.001-07:00

For you non-Tour de France watchers, Tom Boonen is a sprinter from Belgium who is freakin' flippin' HOT! Check him out in this video. You'll know why I always say, "Tom Boonen can stick his bone in me any day!" (And check out the t-shirt he's wearing 1:22 into it. I guess all I need to do is get him to go on one date with me.)

On the knitting front, I started a new project 2 days ago because I went to Alabama this weekend to do a triathlon. Makes sense, right? My poor Log Cabin Blanket is too damn big to take on a road trip, and my Noro Iro scarf is nearly finished, and I love my Indigo Ripples Skirt very much, so I started another skirt. It's this skirt from Rebecca magazine number 29 (the third picture). I'm using Safari (the recommended yarn) in a dusty purple. I haven't knit anything purple in a long time, so I'm due. A friend of mine knit one for a shop model at my LYS and it's very cute. It might be a tad see-through, so I won't be surprised if I have to sew (or get someone to sew for me) an underskirt. I'm not very far into it, so totally not picture-worthy.

More on the triathlon from this morning once results are posted. Then I'll have more to comment on it. But I'll leave you with this: a sprint triathlon is NOT the thing to do 3 weeks after an Ironman. Ouch!

Once, twice, three times an Ironman!

2007-07-25T12:57:00.000-07:00

We're home from Lake Placid, where on Sunday I became an Ironman for the third time. The LAST time (at least for a year). Lake Placid has got to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. I was talking about how much I wanted to move there even before we got out of the car. The race itself was awesome. It was tough and I finished slower than what I had hoped for, but that's okay. I'm just glad that I got to be a part of such a wonderful experience and that I crossed the finish line. My time was 14:20:08 - faster than Wisconsin but slower than Florida. I didn't expect it to be faster than Florida - Florida is so flat and boring that if you could figure out a way to strap a pillow onto your handlebars you could take a nap on the bike ride - but I didn't expect to go over 13:30, and definitely not 14:00. Oh well - my third one in 3 years and my second in 8 months. I was tired. I won't bore y'all with details - after all, most (not all) of my readers are knitters, not triathletes, so the talk of misplacing my bike gloves in T1 or stomach cramps while in the aero position or the lack of embarrassment while farting during the run doesn't really mean much - but I will give you some pictures.

We flew into Albany then rented a car and drove for 2 hours to Lake Placid. The scenery was gorgeous enough for me not to knit in the car, but Hayden missed out:

The view from our hotel, the Crown Plaza:

The lake you're looking at is Mirror Lake, the lake that the swim portion of the race takes place in. It is the narrowest of all Ironman swims, and therefore the toughest. I felt like people were trying to intentionally drown me by swimming on top of me most of the time I was in the water. It was a slugfest.

Hayden and I on Main Street 2 nights before the race:

I think this was taken during the start of the second loop of the run:

I say second and not first loop because I was smiling on the first loop.

Hayden found some dirt to play in while waiting to see me throughout the day:

And speaking of my little cutie patootie, here are some pictures at one of his now Most Favorite Places on Earth, North Pole, NY. Santa lives there! (Isn't it amazing that the North Pole looks like a huge ice dildo?)

The race was Sunday. We stayed in Lake Placid on Monday, then went to Niagara Falls on Tuesday. Before we left, Hayden got to get a couple of shots in on the putting green in front of our hotel:

Then it was off to the falls. We went to the Canadian side, which we had heard is much better than the New York side. Hayden is faking a smile in this picture:

The Falls were too much for him - too noisy, too wet, too fast, too everything. He was much happier when we went in the gift shop and he got to try on hats:

After a dinner in Canada at an Italian restaurant with a mariachi band playing on the patio (WTF???), we went to our hotel in Buffalo for a 5-hour sleep before getting up to fly home this morning. I. AM. TIRED.

On the knitting front, it was all about the garter stitch during this trip. I got about 25 more rows done on my Log Cabin Blanket, and I worked on a garter stitch scarf out of Noro Iro on the plane. I visited Adirondack Yarns in Lake Placid on Saturday, but there wasn't anything there that wowed me. I was disappointed. Oh well - not that I needed to buy anything anyway. I am bound and determined to finish that blanket before I start anything else. I need to hurry up because I need to knit Hayden more sweaters for this school year. They've come up with a Standard School Attire, and now he can wear only pink, red, blue, green or white tops with his black, navy blue, or khaki pants. (He's also supposed to keep his shirt tucked in at all times, but that's not gonna happen. This autistic second-grader will be pulling his shirt out of his pants all day long and not learn a thing if they try to enforce that with him.) No, I'm not really happy about this, but I guess I can understand. Too many kids out there have their butts hanging out of their pants or wear shirts that say "You've never met a motherf*cker quite like me" across the front. (Okay, I've never seen a kid in a shirt like that, but we did see a dad wearing one while he rode gokarts with his family on Father's Day. Ah, only in the South.)

List of Lasts

2007-07-18T05:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finally started getting excited about doing Ironman USA in Lake Placid this weekend. I think it's because I experienced a bunch of lasts:

1. I taught my last cycling and sculpting classes at the JCC before the race.
2. I had my last pre-race massage.
3. I had my last personal training client before the race.
4. I taught my last cycling class at the YMCA before the race.

And this is my last post before the race. This post includes pictures of the last 2 things I have knitted before the race:

Here is my altered Coachella from Knitty. (And I don't know what's up with my eyes. I don't look that raccoon-y in real life - at least I hope not.) Like I mentioned in my previous post, the neckline was waaaay too deep before. A friend of mine made a little alteration, and now it fits much better. She ended up putting a little somethin' somethin' across the back neck to hold the several inches of knitting that she basically took up:

Good idea, huh? I like this top - the way it makes my shoulders look, the way it's sexy yet casual, and the way it shows off my tan:

Okay, maybe I'm not so crazy about the silly tan lines from my suit. I've been swimming outside a lot this summer, both in a lake and in an outdoor pool. (By the way, check out the new hair! It's long and straight! I'm going for the Jackie from Bravo's "Workout" show look - not her fauxhawk but her messy look. I'm getting close, but I have a little more length to grow and I'm having trouble getting my hair to be messy and stay messy. I think I need to try a new hair product.)

Next up is my Indigo Ripples skirt from the spring Interweave:

Here's a closer shot:

I think I'll follow suit with other bloggers and list the details:

Pattern: Indigo Ripples Skirt, spring issue of Interweave Knits
Yarn used: Rowan Denim in Memphis, 8 balls
Needles: Denise interchangeables, size 5
Discussion: I love this skirt! I was a little nervous about knitting a skirt, but I'm sure glad I did. I did make some modifications, but nothing that hasn't been done by others. I used the k3tog and sssk for the mirrored decreases in the lace section like everybody else. The skirt sits below my natural waist, just like everybody else's. I lengthened the stockinette stitch panel like everyone else and I did a crocheted chain instead of the i-cord for the drawstring like everyone else. (Yes, sometimes it's hard for me to have an original thought, especially when it comes to something creative. Take pity on me - I used to be an accountant.) I tried the skirt on a million times as it grew to make sure it was going to fit the way I wanted it to. I ended up not making as many increases, which surprised me. I hadn't heard of anyone else having to cut down the number of increases they made, and I'm sure I have more junk in the trunk than other skirt knitters out there. It does fit a little snug across my ghetto onion, but that's the way I wanted it to fit. Snug, not hootchie.

I will definitely be wearing this skirt a lot. I'm going to wear it on Monday in Lake Placid so although I'll be feeling like sh!t after the previous day's Ironman, I'll look cute.

Today we finish packing, then tomorrow it's off to New York. My race is Sunday. After one day of rest, we will be driving to Niagra Falls then spending the night in Buffalo and heading home on Wednesday. I'll provide a post-race report and maybe some action shots of the skirt towards the end of next week. Wish me luck!

A penis-shaped run?

2007-07-08T16:14:00.000-07:00

The elevation chart of the run course of Ironman USA looks a bit fallic. Check it out! (Scroll down towards the bottom past the map.) Either this means it's going to be really enjoyable or incredibly hard.

In knitting news, I am finished with my Coachella, but the neckline grew immensely the first time I wore it and I ended up being a Flashosaurus Rex at my LYS that afternoon. A friend took it home with her so she could make some alterations and pull the back of the neckline up a bit. (No, I didn't leave topless. I ended up buying a really cute black t-shirt with a silver image of the naked mudflap girl knitting on the front.) I started my Indigo Ripples skirt last week and am getting pretty close to being done with the lace. I've read about the hellish ruffle and even more hellish bind off, so I'm not saying that I'm close to being done with the entire thing. I'm pleased with the result so far; I've tried it on a million times to make sure it's going to fit. The log cabin blanket hasn't been picked up in a while so it still looks the same as it did in the past picture, but we're going to Chattanooga this coming weekend and I plan on taking that to work on.

Entry fee for the Country Music Kids' Marathon: $30

2007-06-27T12:22:00.000-07:00

Candy bought in an attempt to bribe your kid to be okay with being around 3,000 other kids at the marathon: $0.89
Having said kid flip the race photographer off as he crossed the finish line: PRICELESS!!!

This has got to be the BEST RACE PHOTO EVER. He is not flipping the photographer off on purpose; he had 2 small toys in his hand that I let him carry throughout the run to calm himself down, and the way they were positioned in his hand made his middle finger stick up. I love it. Only my child would take a picture like this!

This next picture isn't as exciting as the first. Here's a progress shot of my Moderne Log Cabin Blanket:

I've got one more strip to do on the side, the big block that's made up of 2 colors across the bottom, and the borders. I really like it, and I've enjoyed working on it. The garter stitch rows that are a million stitches long actually haven't bothered me that much. What I noticed yesterday, though, is that when it's laid out it's not a perfect square/rectangle. One side will angle up a little bit more than the other, I think due in part to the row gauge being different than the stitch gauge. At least that's what I'm telling myself - it's not the knitter's fault whatsoever. I'm going to assume that that'll take care of itself when the borders are done and it's blocked, which I hope will happen soon after we get home from my Ironman at the end of July.

The blanket has been put on a tiny hiatus for some selfish knitting. Once I finish posting this entry, I'm going to block the top I finished this morning, Coachella from the latest Knitty. Emily has become one of my blogging friends, and she wrote a great pattern. I started it last Tuesday/Wednesday, and I finished it this morning. It makes my shoulders look very sexy, which I'm all for. I'll wear it tomorrow and post a picture of it soon. (You'll also be able to see my new hairstyle. I'm going for the Jackie from Bravo's "Workout" look, so I'm growing it out and I've had it relaxed.)

Next selfish knitting project up: the Indigo Ripples Skirt from the spring issue of Interweave. I keep seeing pictures pop up all over Blogland (like here and here) that makes this skirt look a million times better than the one in the magazine. I bought my yarn yesterday (Rowan's Denim in the Memphis color - medium blue) and am going to swatch in a bit. My goal is to get this done in time to wear it while up in Lake Placid, NY for my Ironman. That's right around the corner - 4 1/2 weeks, to be exact! The town looks absolutely adorable, so I have to look my best while there. What better way to do that than in a cute knitted skirt?

Mr. and Mrs. Macca

2007-05-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

Don't we make a cute couple? This was taken yesterday at the Memphis in May triathlon. Macca (aka Chris McCormack, the second place finisher at the Ironman World Championships last year) won the race; I placed 27th out of 77 in my age group. No, I was not burning up the roads, but I had a blast, AND I got to meet Macca. He is so damn cute!!! Here he is starting his run:

And here I am starting my run:
Wish I could say those pictures were taken one right after the other, but no.

Sorry I've been gone so long from blogland. I have been BUSY. I ended up passing my personal trainer exam and can now put NSCA-CPT behind my name. Yippee! I needed a 70 and I scored an 84, so I was very happy. Needless to say, I've added personal training to my schedule. That, training my triathlon club at the Y to do their very first race next Monday, teaching cycling classes, being Hayden's mom, and doing my own Ironman training keeps me off the computer quite a bit. But I love it and it's totally what I'm meant to do, so I can't complain. I do fall asleep VERY quickly at night, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

And now, a knitting picture:

This is a section of the Moderne Log Cabin Blanket (out of Mason Dixon Knitting, of course) that I'm doing for a friend whose wife passed away almost a month ago. I'm loving it, although it's about to get too big to travel with me. I'm using Cotton Classic. I'm not a good color person so I had Liberty at my LYS help me pick out something masculine, soothing and neutral, and this combination of browns and greens is what we came up with. I'm not a brown and green person, but I do love these colors together. DH likes it so much that he wants me to make one for us when I'm done with this one. I've decided that I really like to log cabin - simple enough that I can put down at any given moment, but interesting enough not to bore me to tears. I'm on block 5 of 9. I'm hoping that I won't take as long as some people I've read have.

Alive and kickin'

2007-04-06T14:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's been a while since I've posted. My reasons for this absence from blogworld are three-fold: I've been really busy, I haven't done much knitting, and I somewhat broke the camera so I don't have any new pictures to post. I always think I need to post a picture when I blog, but since I don't have time to fix my camera any time soon, I figured I'd do a pictureless post just to let you know I'm still here.

So, what's happening in the world of Nakedie? Lots! Here's a list:

1. I've started a triathlon club at the YMCA I work at. It's totally fun so far. It's geared towards beginners, and I'm training them to do a super-sprint race on Memorial Day. We're almost at the end of week 3 of our 10-week training program. I email them a training schedule every week, I lead them in a brick (bike-run) workout on Wednesdays and in a swim workout on Fridays, I arrange little seminars/clinics for them, I sometimes go riding with them on Saturdays, and I bombard them with more information about multisport than they ever would have imagined I could bombard them with. When we opened registration for the club, we limited it to 20 people. Those spots filled up in 2 weeks and I haven't had anyone drop out yet, so I'm feeling very good.

2. I'm starting to take personal training clients! Becoming a personal trainer has been a dream of mine for several years now, and we're finally in a financial position for me to pursue it. I took the NSCA-CPT (National Strength and Conditioning Association's Certified Personal Trainer) exam on St. Patrick's Day and am now just anxiously awaiting the results. It was REALLY tough, but hopefully I passed. I guess my director at the Y is assuming that I passed because she started assigning clients to me. I had my first client this past Tuesday, I meet with my next client on Monday, and I've got 2 more to set appointments up with.

3. I'm deep in the throes of Ironman training AGAIN. My Ironman this year will be up in Lake Placid, New York on July 22nd. That means I'm less than 4 months away from another 140.6 mile race - yikes!!! This year is different from the last 2 years of Ironman. I spent the last 2 years training and doing races with a big group of friends; now I'm pretty much on my own except for him. He's not doing the race, but he's been riding with me a lot and protecting me from the mean dogs on the country roads. There is another girl from Nashville who is doing this Ironman, and I thought we'd be training together a lot, but it hasn't turned out that way. I'm fine, though. Having a ton of fun, actually - not having to worry about other people has been a really nice change.

4. I obviously have been so busy that I haven't had much time to knit. When I do knit, I am charity knitting. I stalled out on my poor little Equestrian Jacket from IK three quarters of the way up the second sleeve. So close, yet so far. Instead, I am working really hard to get my blanket done for Project Linus. The ladies in my knitting group at the Bellevue Y have been so great - they have given me over 10 blankets to donate, and I haven't even finished mine. I'm really close, though. This week has been a recovery week for me in terms of Ironman training, so I have a little more time on my hands. Maybe by Sunday night I can finish the blanket and cast on for a chemo cap. I've got 2 balls (no, really, I do) of Calmer, so I'm going to try my hand at Shedir from Knitty. And I've got a dear friend who's wife is dying from ovarian cancer, so it'll be an extra-special project for me to do.

That's it for my update. Off to Organization Land. I bought some new pages for my planner (I figure I better start using that thing again since I have clients now), and I bought a bookcase for my computer room/home office/workout area that I can haul upstairs and assemble. Maybe by the next time I post, my camera will be fixed and my blanket will done and I can give y'all some pictures to look at.

Oh, f*ck it - here are some old pictures that always make me smile:

Yes, I've posted them before, but like I said, they always make me laugh. I originally wanted to post a picture from 2 years ago of the back of Hayden standing on our snow-covered deck wearing a turtleneck, his snow boots and nothing else, but I was afraid of being blasted with nasty emails. Little boys' butts are so cute, though! At least MY little boy's butt is.

One poop - uh, scoop - or two?

2007-02-11T13:21:00.000-08:00

The above picture is of the list that came home with Hayden last week about the upcoming ice cream sundae party they're having at school to celebrate Valentine's Day. Look at the item listed between sprinkles and spoons. What kind of party is this?!?? Should I point out the misspelled word to his teacher just for the sake of embarrassing her? And yes, that's Hayden as a 6-month old in the picture being covered by the list. He went from that to this:

in just 6 1/2 short years. (The sweater he's wearing is the first sweater I made for DH. It's such bulky wool, though, that he can only wear it when it's 20 degrees or colder outside. Too warm most of the time for our climate, but a nice sweater nonetheless. And those are DH's jean shorts - no, I do not let him wear them EVER, so why he still owns them is a mystery to me - and my ballet flats and cowboy hat. He's really gotten into invading our closet, as you can tell.)

Speaking of bowels, some of you may be thinking that I'm too young for a colonoscopy. I am too young for a routine look-and-see, but I'm not if there's something wrong. I won't go into details because I'll just gross everyone out and lose what little reader base I have, but I will say that a) colonoscopies aren't fun and b) sigmoidoscopies are even less fun. We have discovered that I have collagenous colitis and I'm now on medicine to fix it. My doctor sent me an article about collagenous colitis, but it's so medical that I don't exactly understand what it is or how I got it. I need to get him to explain it to me in normal people terms. I've been on medicine for a couple of days and things seem to be getting much better, so I'm very excited. However, due to what's been going on, I am not going to Austin next weekend to run the half marathon. It's okay - I'd rather stay home and play with Hayden than go run a half marathon in a less-than-stellar time and spend the rest of the day in the bathroom.

So let's change the subject to something less crappy: knitting! I am about to start something that's going to be totally different than what I usually do - a charity knitting project. I've been teaching a knitting class to a group of senior citizen ladies at the nearby YMCA. They've learned how to cast on, knit, purl, increase with yarnovers, decrease with K2togs, and bind off. They want to keep going, so I suggested we practice those skills and make blankets for Project Linus. They're very excited, and so am I. Charity knitting is something I've never done before. I bought some Encore Worsted in a fun, not-baby but not-too-bright colorway (with some purple in it, of course) and am going to do the Hoover blanket from Knitty. I saw that pattern 3 years ago and have wanted to do it ever since then. One of the ladies in the class is also going to attempt that pattern. She's never double-knitted but she's a very quick learner, so I think she can do it. I'll keep you posted on our progress. My selfish knitting project continues to be the Equestrian Jacket from the Winter IK. (Have you seen the new IK? Meh to the new layout, meh to the patterns. I really don't have time to knit an apron that makes my hips look like they belong on Eddie Murphy's female character in "Norbert.") I'm about halfway done with one sleeve. Hopefully I can get to a picture-taking point soon. But since I'm not, here's another shot of my son, who has just discovered the joys of playing Nutball (a la "Jackass" - if you're curious, I'll explain more, but just use your imagination) with Daddy:

I'm so hungry I could eat the crotch out of a rag doll...

2007-02-01T09:18:00.000-08:00

...but I won't.

I'm having a colonoscopy today and have been denied food (except for Jello and chicken broth, which, in my book, don't count) since yesterday morning. There's a McDonald's down the street from the hospital that will be our first stop on the way out. I'd like a Quarter Pounder Extra Value Meal - supersized, of course! - and a hot fudge sundae. Then maybe we'll hit the sushi restaurant on the way home.

Because I have no energy for training (or really doing anything more than sitting on the couch, watching MTV or the Top Chef finale), I have been knitting quite a bit. I've got both fronts and about half of the back done on my Equestrian Jacket from IK. Maybe wearing it in Austin 2 weeks from this Saturday isn't so much of an impossibility after all. (Sorry for not showing WIP photos. Pieces of knitting that are curled up because they haven't been blocked isn't terribly exciting to look at.)

While in the bathroom this morning (like you really wanted to know that), I overheard Matt Lauer talk about the release date of the last Harry Potter book, and he said something about Harry being naked on the cover. I dismissed his comment, but then I came across this:

http://www.equustheplay.com/pr/index.php

Oh my! Look out, Hermoine!

New look

2007-01-26T11:37:00.000-08:00

I finally got to swich my Blogger account from the old version to the newer one, so I decided to take the time to make some changes. Hopefully this new version will be more reliable than the old.

Hayden has been sick this week and my husband left for Boston on a business trip on Wednesday, so I've been in hell. Strep throat has been going around school like crazy, and he finally got it. Of course he can't tell me what exactly hurt or how he was feeling, so I had to play the guessing game and treat the whole thing like I did when he was a baby. Wednesday we went to the doctor and got checked out, and Thursday we had to go back to get a shot of antibiotic because he absolutely will not take medicine like everyone else. Believe me, I tried. I'm not going to go into what I did because I don't want to get blasted with comments made by people who don't understand what it's like to have an autistic child who refuses to take medicine, but he won and we ended up getting a shot. Wednesday night we got very little sleep - he dry heaved (but never threw up) from 10pm to 2am - but last night we slept for about 10 hours, so we feel much better. And he finally doesn't have a fever. I think he'll be able to go back to school on Monday and I can resume my normal life. I've had to cancel therapy appointments, massage appointments, horse-riding appointments, Spin classes (indoor cycling, not yarn), and shifts at work. I think getting back out will help me out of the funk I'm in. Right now I just might kick your ass if you say hello to me.

Not a whole lot of knittin' goin' on

2007-01-23T08:52:00.000-08:00

Gone are the days during which I'd knit for hours on end. Sad, but true. Fortunately I didn't turn into the crazy woman I am today before Christmas or Hayden's McTavish would've never gotten done. Lately I've been practically living at the YMCA - either teaching knitting classes, working on the wellness floor, doing fitness assessments, teaching cycling classes, or getting my own workouts in. It's starting to become nearly impossible for me to work out like a normal person at that Y, though - EVERYBODY wants to talk to me. Members want to talk to me about triathlon. Senior citizen ladies want to talk to me about knitting. Front desk people want to talk to me about who's doing what on the wellness floor because they know I'm organized and will know the answer. I go there to do my own workout and get finagled into working for 2 hours. I go there to do a workout that should take me 45 minutes but instead takes me an hour and a half because I'm constantly interrupted, even though I have iPod headphones on. My husband says I should just say that I can't talk, that I'm working out, but that's not me. The Bellevue YMCA Steph is very nice, very talkative, and willing to help out whenever. The REAL Steph is saying, "What's wrong with these motherf*ckers? Can't they see I'm working out? Why won't they leave me alone?!??" I guess I shouldn't complain too much. It's nice to be loved and needed. Maybe I should just invest in a Groucho Marx disguise.

Anyway, because I've been so busy, I haven't been doing much knitting. I'm working on the Equestrian Jacket from IK, and it took me 2 weeks to do one front. I love the pattern and I'm crazy for short-rows, but I just haven't had much time to pick it up. Pitiful. I had really wanted to get it done before we go to Austin mid-February (Mike's running the Austin Marathon, and I'm running the half), but the way things are going right now, that deadline is next to impossible.

Another reason I'm not knitting much is that what little spare time I have has been taken up by the National Strength and Conditioning Association's Essentials of Personal Training textbook. Yup - I'm working towards becoming a personal trainer. It's been a dream of mine for a long time, and I really think I'll be good at it. I'm registered to take the exam March 17th, so I've got a lot of studying to do in the next month and a half. Wish me luck!

McTavish on Mister McSilly

2007-01-07T17:22:00.000-08:00

Since the trend is to take pictures of your knitted socks while wearing high heels (a big no-no, according to him), I thought I'd give it a shot:

These are Hayden's socks I did on our Orlando trip. They fit him like a dream. After I took the first picture, he decided to start posing:

Then I took a full-body shot because I felt guilty about taking only feet pictures while he kept saying, "Cheese!"

Anyway, the socks are just simple stockinette stitch socks with a little 2x2 ribbing up top. I used the Regia sock yarn in a colorway PERFECT for Hayden - he wears tons of blue and red. They look oh-so-cute with his Crocs.

Going along with the Hayden theme, here's McTavish:

And the back:

I'm reblocking it as we speak because I didn't pick up enough stitches when I did the button band and it draws up a bit in the front. I think it's going to be cold this week, so he'll actually get to wear it. It's not my most favorite sweater of his that I've made, but like I said before, I'm damn glad that it's done.

I've got a couple more pictures that I had planned on sharing with you, but stupid Blogger is not cooperating, so maybe some other time. Right now I'm off to the shower so I can start what's going to be Day 1 of a very busy week - doctor's appointment, triathlon seminars, Spin classes, a knitting class, school meetings, study time, therapy, and my own workouts. Egads!

Quickie

2007-01-04T09:41:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a while because I've been uber-busy. I'm still uber-busy, but I feel guilty for not posting, so I thought I'd do a quickie. What's been going on in the Honeycutt Household:

1. In case you were wondering, I did get Hayden's McTavish jacket done in time for Christmas. I will post pictures in the next couple of days. I meant to make it a little big so that it'll definitely last for at least another year, but somehow it fits him pretty well right now. Sh!t. Oh well - I hated working with that yarn so much that I was just glad to have the damn thing done. Real wool from Ireland is no joke, my friends. Working with it is not for the faint of heart. If this yarn were a human, I think he'd have a punk-rock attitude and yell, "WOOL!" with his fist pumped in the air. Every once in a while I'd have to put it down and touch the chemo hat I made out of Rowan Cashsoft for a friend's dad. Rowan Cashsoft became my Woobie for a couple of weeks.

2. Hayden's big Christmas present this year was YET ANOTHER trip to Disneyworld. Instead of flying this time, we drove, so I had 10 hours of guilt-free car knitting each way. I got my niece's hat, a pair of socks for Hayden, and part of a sleeve for a jacket for me done. I also developed a weird pain in the bend of my right elbow. Hmmm...couldn't possibly be the knititng. Anyway, we had fun in Orlando, but it was crowded. We were there Dec 29th through Jan 2nd, the busiest time to be at the Happiest Place on Earth. The Magic Kingdom got so full on New Year's Eve that when we tried to get in around noon, we were denied. We ended up spending the day with all of the other Magic Kingdom rejects at Disney Studios. Hayden loved meeting the characters and seeing the "Beauty and the Beast" production 3 times , and Mike and I got to ride Aerosmith's Rock n Roller Coaster and the Tower of Terror. (We had to ride them separately so that one of us could stay with Hayden. Believe me, riding a ride by yourself at Disneyworld gives you a bit of a Loser Complex.) Those rides KICK ASS.

And now I present to you the pictures I promised in a post almost a month ago:

This is my new niece Lucy (aka Squirt - she's a farter) in her Pea Pod Baby Cardi. We don't always prop our babies up on tables, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. The pattern is on IK's website. I used Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere, and I think it turned out great. We all decided that she looks good in the darker colors. I meant to give her the matching hat for Christmas and I could have had I not forgotten to pack my size 5 double pointed needles in my bag on our way to Memphis on Christmas day. My mother has an abundance of dpns, but being the sock-knitting snob that she is, the biggest she has are 3s. I got it done on the way to Orlando, though, and will put it in the mail tomorrow.

This is Hayden and his 2 huge front teeth with the guy who played Chad in the community theater production of "High School Musical" that we went to with my parents in the beginning of December. I wish the background weren't so dark so the bigness of Chad's 'fro was clearer. The picked-out 'fro was the closest this kid could get to the great mop of curls that Chad in the movie has. Anyway, it's a terrific picture - at least I think so. But I'm partial to both my son and black men. (And I'm married to the Whitest Man in America. Go figure.)

Why I haven't blogged in a while

2006-12-10T10:53:00.000-08:00

I started the Nantucket Jacket from IK the day before Thanksgiving and was bound and determined to wear it to my triathlon club's holiday party last night. Needless to say, I've been busy knitting.

Pattern: Nantucket Jacket from Winter 2006 IK, smallest size
Yarn: Rowan Cashsoft Aran, 11 balls
Needles: Denise size 7 circular

This has become my New Favorite Sweater. I'm absolutely in love with it. Love, love, love. If this sweater were a man, I'd want to marry it. Everything about this sweater is great. Yarn is supersoft, pattern was really fun but not too complicated that I couldn't watch MTV or talk on the phone (wait a minute - am I 15 years old or 35?), fit is as close to perfect as you can get, color is nice, and it's not long-sleeved so I'll be able to wear it more during this mild winter they're calling for here in Nashvegas. Here's another shot - my best attempt at recreating the picture from the magazine:

And here's a closeup of the buttons that screamed "I BELONG ON YOUR NANTUCKET JACKET!!!!" when I went shopping on Friday:

Since I met that somewhat-crazy deadline, I've given myself another, even crazier deadline:

A friend went to Ireland at the end of November and brought me back some yarn. As he delivered it to me last Sunday night, he said, "I wanted to make sure to get it to you so that you'd have enough time to make Hayden a sweater for Christmas." I went through another friend's collection of kids' aran sweater patterns and came up with this idea from Rowan's Tadpoles & Tiddlers. I'm leaving the pockets off. Can I do it? I've just started swatching today, and Christmas is 2 weeks from tomorrow. Hmmm....

I have other pictures to show you - namely, a picture of my new niece Lucy in her Pea Pod Baby Sweater and a picture of Hayden with one of the cast members from a community theater's production of "High School Musical" (which we both LOVED, by the way, but not as much as I LOVE my Nantucket Jacket) - but I'll save them for a post later this week. Off to swatch!

Toasty toes

2006-11-19T19:09:00.000-08:00

This weekend I developed a foot fetish. First I whipped out a pair of socks for Hayden. I'm not usually a sock knitter, but he's decided to wear white socks with his Crocs now that it's cold outside, and I can't stand him looking like such a nerd. So on Thursday and Friday, with some worsted weight out of my stash, I did these:

so that this:

is now this:

Much better, I must say.

Next, I whipped out a pair of baby booties for a neighbor friend due with child #3, boy #1.

She's due any day now, so I figured I better get these done. The pattern is out of Last Minute Knitted Gifts, and the yarn is 1 skein of Lorna's Laces Angel, an angora/lambswool blend. They were so easy to do and turned out so freakin' cute that I may just have to buy another skein of that and do a pair for my new niece, Lucy. (Lucy's cardi is done, by the way, with the exception of buttons. Hayden and I would've gone to the fabric store today to find some, but a marathon of "Beauty and the Geek" put me in a trance. Never watch a show like that when you're PMSing or you'll feel like the biggest loser when you start crying.)

Detour

2006-11-14T12:19:00.000-08:00

Sunday I took a little detour on the way to Sleeve Island to whip this little necklace up for my friend's birthday party:

The pattern is Strozzi, a free pattern on the Berroco website. It calls for Suede Deluxe, but I only had Suede in my stash, so I used it. I have no idea what the difference is, but I assumed not much. It turned out okay - not as cute as I thought it would, but okay. And she liked it, so it's all good. (And don't you like the way my bra makes me look like I have a decent rack? It's the $40 Boob Job purchased from Victoria's Secret.)

When I finally got to Sleeve Island, I ran into a tiny snafu: yarn shortage. I ran out of the grey Chunky Print I'm using in Hayden's cardi. It's a discontinued color, so it's next to impossible to find. I was about to give up hope and rip out parts of the cardi so that I could reconfigure the color scheme when Mike Googled "Rowan Chunky Print" and found some at Yarnzilla. I called them, and their dye lot is even the same as mine! Yippee! So a ball is on its way from Minnesota - thank you, Yarnzilla!

The sleeves on Lucy's cardi are just about done. I expect to be finished with the second one this afternoon, then I'll need to do the seaming and the neckline and sew on buttons. Almost there!

And last but not least, I finally present to you my Hourglass Pullover:

(Wow - the way the sunlight is hitting my face, my right ear looks very Spock-ish.) I love this sweater. This is the one sweater I think I'll actually do again. It's simple enough to work on anywhere and can be put down at any time yet it has enough design details to make it interesting - waist shaping, finished hems, bell sleeves, an interesting neckline. When (not if) I do make it again, however, I will make the sleeves a tiny bit shorter and I'll add 3 or 4 decrease rows around the neck rather than just one. The way the neckline is right now, I have to wear a cami underneath it (I'd rather have cami straps show than bra straps) and my rack is totally diminished. Here's another shot:

And here's a closeup shot of the neckline so that you can see the raglan and the finished hem detail (not that they're that interesting, but still):

Bon voyage!

2006-11-10T10:58:00.000-08:00

I'm headed off to Sleeve Island for a while:

The top picture is Kate Gilbert's Pea Pod baby sweater out of an old IK. (And yes, I realize that the coffee table is in horrendous shape. Fortunately it's usually covered up with a bunch of crap.) I'm using the recommended yarn - Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere. I know that the color is not a traditional baby color, but I like it. (In real life, the purple is a lot dustier.) I, of course, like purple, and I like using non-traditional baby colors. I figure I can find some cute leggings to pair with the cardi. The pattern is pretty easy to follow; I started it last Wednesday night in the car in the rain on the way to Florida.

The bottom picture is a cardi for Hayden. The pattern is Callum out of Rowan Junior. The recommended yarn is Polar, but the yarn I'm using is Chunky Print. I bought it for 50% off at my LYS and the gauge is just about the same. I'm a little nervous about having enough grey yarn for the collar (it's somewhat of a shawl collar done in garter stitch), but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I decided to do this for him after a couple of chilly days fighting with him over wearing a jacket. He wouldn't wear a jacket but he'd wear a hoodie that I knitted for him 2 years ago. I also started this in Florida and worked on it the whole way home. It's a VERY quick project. It should be done by the time the heatwave we're experiencing here in Nashvegas ends. (It's almost 80 degrees today and I'm in a short sleeved shirt and running shorts.)

I realize that I have yet to post a picture of my finished Hourglass Pullover. That's the heatwave's fault. I'll melt if I put that on and go outside right now. Hopefully next week it can make its debut. As a substitute, I offer up another beach picture:

Yep - even from the back, he's the cutest damn kid in America.

Ironman Florid-ahhhhh

2006-11-07T07:39:00.000-08:00

Yippee! An Ironman once again! This one was so totally different. Except for the swim, the course was so much easier. The bike course was about as close to pancake flat as you could get, and there were probably less than 10 turns to make. The run was also extremely flat. During the first half of my run, I thought I had a chance to set a marathon PR. Of course, that all changed at mile 19 when my walk breaks got longer, but I still was less than 20 minutes away from a PR. Pretty damn good for a marathon preceded by a 2.4-mile swim and a 112-mile bike ride! Things of particular interest during this race:

1. The ocean was much choppier race morning than it had been the 2 days beforehand. During my second loop, I was being tossed around so much that I actually laughed underwater.

2. Even though I started the swim way out to the side, somehow I ended up right in the thick of things before making the first turn. I was getting grabbed, hit, and kicked constantly. At first I was a little timid and tried to back off, but after a while I got angry and developed a "F*ck you! You kick me, I'll grab your feet!" attitude. That didn't happen at all in Wisconsin last year.

3. Because the bike was so flat, there weren't any areas to give my legs a break. I pedaled the entire time. And I was on my aerobars over 90% of the time. My quads, shoulders and neck were really happy for me to get off the bike.

4. I surprised myself on the run. I had no idea that I was going to be able to run as much as I did and especially as well as I did the first 15 miles.

5. Last year when I got about 1/2 mile away from the finish line, I got so excited that all the pain and fatigue left my legs. At mile 24 this year, I told myself, "Just suffer through the next mile and a half then it'll all get better. That great feeling will hit." It didn't. I hurt the entire time. I guess that euphoric feeling is just reserved for first-timers.

6. I cut 2 hours and 2 minutes off of last year's Ironman time. Yay me! My time was 12:40:41. My swim was 1:25, my bike was 6:20, and my run was 4:37. My first transition was something around 12 minutes and my second was 5:36.

Here are some pictures:

This is me (far right in the QR suit) and some of my friends 2 days before the race. I love how my wetsuit makes me look so skinny - except it totally flattens what little boobs I have.

I had to yell at Mike 5 times to get his attention so that he could snap this picture. I had planned on wearing my bike clothes under my wetsuit, but since it was so cold at the start of the race (in the 40s) I decided to change before getting on the bike so I could be in dry clothes. Of course, it was really tough to get out my wet bikini while shivering.

Mike and Hayden drove out on the bike course and found me. Since I'm such a slow swimmer, I played catch-up quite a bit on the bike. I should've kept count of how many people I passed because it was a lot.

This was in the first mile of the run. A friend of mine was in transition at the same time I was, so we waited on eachother to hit the port-a-potties and took off together. (I have no idea who the tall guy on my other side is.) I left him at mile 4, though, because he had to take another bathroom break. Mike took another picture of me later, but I was walking, so I won't show you that. I was actually kinda pissed he took that.

Hayden had fun waving at all of the athletes. I think he did better than we had expected him to. He and Mike weren't at the finish line because that's just too much for him to handle, but he was able to be out on the road and cheer.

I also got quite a bit of knitting done on this trip. I started a cardigan for my new niece Lucy and also a cardigan for Hayden. Hayden's is really straightforward so it was my project for the car ride home. I figured my brain might not be able to wrap itself around the more complicated pattern I'm using for Lucy's cardi. I'll post pictures tomorrow or Thursday of my progress on those as well as a finished Hourglass Pullover.

One last thing: the day after the race Hayden and I went with a friend to KFC for lunch. I had 2 pieces of fried chicken - dark meat at that - mashed potatoes, green beans, and a biscuit. Yummy!

I know it's getting close to Ironman when...

2006-10-31T12:14:00.000-08:00

...I crave fried chicken. Actually, I've been craving it for about 3 weeks now, which is exactly what happened last year before Wisconsin. Last year I said that I was going to go to KFC when I got home. I lost my appetite for about 3 days after the race, however, and had to force myself to eat anything. By the time I got my appetite back and wanted that greasy, crunchy drumstick, my f-ed up mind said, "You haven't worked out in 3 days. You can't eat fried chicken." So I didn't. I'm doing it this year, dammit! Saturday night after I've crossed the finish line! Even if I have no appetite and it makes me puke!

...my pants fall off of me. Last year my shorts and jeans got so big on me a month before Ironman that I could pull them off without undoing them. This year that didn't happen until this past weekend. I am proud to say that I went to the bike shop yesterday with my shorts barely staying up on my hips. (Actually, I'm not that proud. I was trying to make a joke. Don't start thinking I have some eating disorder. I loveloveLOVE to eat and can put away a serious amount of sushi or chocolate or spaghetti or pizza, and I'm sure I looked rather stupid running errands around town in shorts that were obviously too big for me. At least at this point in time. Give me a month and they'll fit just fine again.)

...I have enough time to finish a knitting project! I'd love to show you my Hourglass Pullover, but for some reason, Blogger is not downloading pictures right now. Grr... Anyway, it's still blocking, so the picture really isn't that exciting. It looks much better on me than on my silly blocking board. Hopefully Blogger will behave better when I get back from Florida. The yarn is Classic Elite Miracle, a blend of Tencel and alpaca. I really love the sweater - the color (green, not purple), the fit, the ease of the pattern. I added one more decrease row at the neckline since I had read everyone else's problems (think Flashdance), and I hemmed the bottom with DMC floss instead of yarn. When I did the neckline hem (which was a TOTAL bitch, I must add) the yarn broke on me, so I didn't want to run that risk on the bottom hem. I did not enjoy doing those hems AT ALL, but the end result is really nice. This sweater was such a joy to make - easy enough to not have to think too much, yet not too plain. The neckline, the slightly belled sleeves and the finished hems all give the sweater a little oompf. Who knows - maybe I'll make this again.

...I have a long car ride ahead of me and have started picking out a new project. My sister had Baby #2, Lucy (altogether now: awwwww), last Friday, so I am going to make a little sweater. The yarn is some pretty purple Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere out of my stash, and the pattern is the Pea Pod Baby Set, an IK web exclusive featured in the Summer 2006 issue. I'm gauging this afternoon and hope to get it started before we hit the road tomorrow.

For those of you out there wanting to keep track of me on Saturday, you can visit www.ironmanlive.com and check up on me from time to time. You can even watch the live coverage from the finish line - pretty cool! My number is #2215 and my last name is Honeycutt. I do have a time goal in mind, but I'm not going to share it right now so I don't jinx myself.

One last note: I wore my Deciduous top to my Hawaii Ironman party 2 weekends ago, and it caused problems for one of my training partners. His wife is very prim and proper and thought that what I was wearing was COMPLETELY inappropriate. They actually fought about me on the car ride home. Jealous b!tch.

Deciduous

2006-10-22T06:17:00.000-07:00

I finished this yesterday so that I could wear it to a Hawaii Ironman viewing party last night. I ride with a bunch of men that sometimes forget I'm a girl (during our ride yesterday, one of them said, "Gentlemen, in 2 weeks we'll be doing Ironman Florida!"), so I have to set them straight every once in a while. Here's a shot of the back:

And here's a closeup shot of the front (and of the tan line I got from my bikini top over the summer - yes, that tan line is over 2 months old - my tan lines last forever):

I really do like this top; I just wish I had done it earlier in the summer so that I could've worn it longer this year. It'll go with me to Florida in less than 2 weeks (yikes!), but then it'll end up packed away until next year.

In Hourglass Sweater news, I'm done with the first sleeve and have started the second. It looks pretty good so far, but nothing picture-worthy yet.

And in Ironman news, I'm less than 2 weeks away from Ironman Florida. Yippee!!! I'm really excited about this one. I was excited about Wisconsin last year because it was my first one. I don't really like Florida too much, but I'm excited about the race because a ton of my friends are doing it and in spite of all the sh*t that happened to me this summer, I'm doing it. Who knows what the day will bring, but I think once I get out of the water, I'll do fairly decently. My biking is almost up to where it was pre-wreck (which is saying a lot for the strength in my legs, because I don't have much ability to use my upper body to pull myself up hills, and I can't hold onto my handlebars very comfortably yet - thank God for aerobars!), and my running is better than it was last year. My swimming sucks, but that's okay. I'm relying on the buoyancy of the saltwater and my wetsuit to get me through the 2.4 miles.

It was 40 degrees this morning - I think I'll work on a summer tank.

2006-10-14T19:50:00.000-07:00

Before my wreck in August, I had started Deciduous by Marnie Maclean (sorry for no links - too lazy right now). I put it down while I was in a cast/brace/splint because I didn't want my gauge to be different. Then, post cast/brace/splint, I started an Hourglass Pullover because I thought that something really simple like stockinette stitch in the round would be perfect for the state of mind I was in and the way my hand was working/not working. I got all the way up to the armpits of the body by last Saturday and wanted to start a sleeve, but I didn't have a 16" size 5 circular. So I picked up Deciduous again and have been working a lot on it in an attempt to get it done MAYBE by tomorrow evening. Here's a shot of my progress as of last night (and my bathroom that Mike painted while I was in Destin the last weekend of August - I was really shocked at first and didn't know if I liked the stripes, but they grew on me):

As of tonight, I have 13 rows left of the body, the straps, and the back stuff. I'm hoping that it'll be warm enough in Florida when I'm there for Ironman (3 weeks from today - yippee!) so that I can wear it at least once before next summer. It SURE isn't going to be worn around here anytime soon; this morning I wore shorts, tights, 2 pairs of socks, a short sleeved shirt, a long sleeved bike jersey, a jacket, gloves, and a skullcap under my helmet for an 80-mile ride.

And here's a picture of the Cutest 6-Year Old in America, just in case you've forgotten what he looks like:

And for your amusement, here's a picture of the page of homework he was holding:

Take a look at the first question. I think there are 2 correct spellings.

Light at the end of the tunnel

2006-09-21T09:49:00.000-07:00

At the risk of jinxing myself, I will say out loud that I think my luck is finally changing. Evidence:

1. I got my stitches out last Monday and I'm back in a brace until Thursday, then I'm free to start riding outside and swimming again. Of course my hand looks a little deformed, but at least I can start using it.

2. Last Thursday was my last day as Assistant to the Controller at this crazy-ass company I was part of since February. Mike got a promotion and a raise, so I can leave the workforce.

3. Because of #2, I have started working at the new YMCA that just opened across the street from our neighborhood. I work a couple of shifts a week as a Wellness Floor Attendant, which to me is a step towards becoming a personal trainer, which is My Dream Job. I don't make very much money right now, but I get to work in the fitness industry, and that's where I truly belong. I also am going to teach two indoor cycling classes a week, starting tomorrow morning. I've done that in the past, and I love it. I'm excited about getting back into that.

4. I'm knitting!

This is the beginning of an Hourglass Pullover using Classic Elite's Miracle. It's a slighty fuzzy alpaca/tencel blend, and I love the color. (Green is all the rage this fall.) The gauge is smaller so I'm doing the 37" size, but according to my calculations, it should work out alright.

5. The other night I ate an old fortune cookie that had been in our fruit bowl for months but I had never bothered to throw away. Here's what was inside:

"Use your abilities at this time to stay focused on your goal. You will succeed."

I am TOTALLY taping that on the top tube of my bike during Ironman.

Roller coaster

2006-09-12T09:57:00.000-07:00

This last month has definitely been an emotional roller coaster ride for me. When it finally stops, I think I want to run out of this Amusement Park of Hell, screaming, never to be seen again. In short, it goes like this:

8/17 - Bike wreck. ER doc says hand is sprained. Ice, Ace bandages, ibuprofen.

8/21 - Sports medicine doc says my hand is broken in 3 places and I've got torn ligaments that may give me trouble later on in life. Casts it, makes follow up appt for 9/21.

9/1 - My friend, an orthopedic surgeon, persuades me to see him at his office. He determines, after looking at my xrays and my CT scan, that I've definitely torn my scapholunate ligament and I'll probably need to have surgery. Schedules an appt for me with one of his partners, a hand specialist.

9/5 - Hand specialist examines me and sends me for an MRI.

9/6 - Hand specialist calls and says I definitely need surgery and I'll be out for 12 weeks but I can run a marathon.

9/11 - Go in for surgery. Expecting it to be a repair, but understanding it may be bad enough for reconstruction instead. When I wake up, my mom tells me that the doc was really shocked - when he cut my hand open, he found that my ligament is just partially torn, so he did nothing. I'm going to be in a cast for 2 weeks, and I can do my Ironman.

WTF???

I'm very confused. I haven't had a chance to talk to the doctor myself, but I'm obviously going to do that. If he doesn't call me by 2 (I left a message for him yesterday), I'll call again. I want to know exactly what happened, exactly how long I'll be in a cast, when I can start training again, what I can do when, etc. Everyone is saying, "You should be happy! You're going to be able to do your Ironman!" I am happy about that, but I'm still in such confusion about what has gone on that I'm not doing cartwheels yet. And I'm freaked out that by the time I'm out of the cast, it'll almost be time to start tapering. I have confidence in my coach that he'll get me ready as best as he can, but it's going to be crazy.

And on the knitting front, I'm having trouble picking something to do. I really want to finish my Deciduous so that I can wear it in Florida, but I'm scared if I work on it in my cast, my gauge will be totally off and it'll look wonky. So then Saturday I decided to pull out some purple Soft Kid I have in my stash. Purple makes me happy, and so does mohair. And I thought mohair might hide little gauge issues I might have. But I can't find anything I want to use it for except this allover lace pullover. I started a sleeve, thinking it may be okay because it's a simple lace pattern, but it takes me FOREVER to knit it. So then I pulled out my Nature Spun Worsted I bought last year for a Fair Isle cardigan and have contemplated using it for Tubey from knitty, but I'm scared because I've read about too many people having issues with the fit. So now I think I need to just start something completely fresh - new pattern, new yarn. I'm contemplating a Marilyn's Not So Shrunken Cardigan from Knit & Tonic, or an Hourglass Sweater from Weekend Knitting, or a Rusted Root from Zephyr Style. Anyone have any thoughts?

I took drugs a little bit ago, so maybe I need to lie down. Bye for now.

Vibrate

2006-09-08T15:20:00.000-07:00

Outkast put an album out a couple of years ago that was a 2-disc set. One disc is Big Boi's stuff; the other, Andre 3000's. Andre 3000 has a song called "Vibrate." In it he says: "And when I say motherf*cker I do mean motherf*cker."

That sums up how I've been feeling lately.

Long story short, I am having surgery Monday morning to repair the scapholunate ligament that I tore when I wrecked my bike 3 weeks ago. I will be in a cast for 8 weeks (in addition to the 3 weeks I've already spent in a cast) then a brace for 2-4 more, then I will have surgery again to take the pins out. No biking outside. No swimming.

No Ironman Florida.

Motherf*cker.

I have worked SO HARD this summer for this race, only to have it taken away from me by a flat tire and my inexperience in wrecking. ("Steph, don't you know you're supposed to tuck and roll?") My surgeon has given me clearance to run a marathon on November or December, so I guess I should be happy about that. That will give me some athletic goal to shoot for. I could run the marathon my husband and his training partner are doing in November and kick their asses. However, I prefer my marathons to be preceded by a 2.4-mile swim and a 112 mile ride. Is that too much to ask? I think not.

Anyway, during this time period in which I will not see my left hand (I am left-handed, by the way - and I repeat, motherf*cker), I have been told that I can knit. He actually was very enthusiastic about knitting - good therapy for my hand, he says. The cooler temperatures are bringing out my sweater-knitting urges. I think, for my hand's sake, I will do something simple and stockinette stitch-y on not-so-small needles - size 7 or 8, maybe. Maybe an Hourglass Sweater? If I use the right yarn, hopefully it won't be too boring. Maybe another Weasley Sweater for Hayden? Definitely not the Michael Kors sweater from Vogue Knitting that I've been eyeing. And what about the Deciduous top that's about 60% done, lying patiently beside my bed? Do I continue with that and hope my post-wreck gauge isn't different than the pre-wreck?

Motherf*cker.

Wish me luck.

What is THAT?!???

2006-08-23T15:32:00.000-07:00

Is it:

a) my finished Fad-Classic,
b) a Band-Aid on my chin,
c) an Ace bandage in my wrist, or
d) all of the above?

Yes, you astute blog-reader, it's d. First of all, the Fad-Classic. I actually finished something this summer! Woot! I like it, although I wish it was 1 1/2 inches longer. But I love the color and the way it fits me, so I'll just keep tugging at the bottom every once in a while.

Options b and c go together (and are accompanied by road rash on my knee, shoulder and hip/butt cheek, not visible in the photo). We went up to Chicago this past weekend, so I tried to get my 5 1/2 hour workout in after work on Thursday. 9 minutes and 48 seconds into my ride, I went down (and not in a good way, according to DH). I was turning a corner and just fell over. Turns out my front tire went flat. I had never had a wreck before, so this was a ton of fun. As I skidded across the road on my chin, I thought, "THAT won't be attractive!" When I popped up and got my bike out of the road, my hand started hurting. "Oh shit - I can't knit! I'm going to be on a plane tomorrow and I can't knit!" We thought my wrist was just sprained (at least that's what the ER doc told us that night) so we just kept it wrapped and I kept taking Advil. No matter how much Advil I took, no matter how many pieces of Connie's Pizza I ate, no matter how many beers/Jello shots/Red Headed Sluts I drank, it still hurt like a mofo. The doctor I saw on Monday discovered I have 3 broken bones in my hand and some torn ligaments around a fourth. Cast for at least 4 weeks, then maybe a splint for 2. I can run - good. I can swim, but it'll be REALLY awkward and I'll have to let my waterproof cast dry out for 2 hours afterwards - not so good, but okay. I can ride my bike on the indoor trainer but not outside - totally sucks. I spend my Saturdays on my bike with my friends. I don't know what I'll do without that. This Saturday I have taken care of - my girlfriends and I are going to Florida - but after that it will be weird. Oh well - at least I'll be healed in time for Ironman in November. And it could've been A LOT worse.

And if you're wondering, I have figured out how to knit. Fortunately I don't knit continental. However, my hand starts hurting after 2 rows and I'm afraid my gauge is off. (I'm over halfway done with Deciduous, which I started after seeing Jen's. Scroll down to the July 24th entry. Awesome. Yeah, I know - she did hers in July, I'm not going to finish until September. Whatever. It stays hot here for a while. And I am going to Florida in November.) I'm thinking of starting a felted Noni bag since it won't matter if my gauge gets off or I make a mistake.

Here's another shot taken in the kidney bean in Millenium Park. I thought it was cool that I could finally take a picture of myself, seeing as how I've not mastered the bathroom mirror trick:

And here are a couple of shots of Hayden's horse camp:

Isn't it beautiful?

I actually have a FO...

2006-08-16T09:09:00.001-07:00

...but no picture just yet. I finished the Fad-Classic vest and it's oh so cute in all its orangeness. I wore it to work yesterday and meant to get a picture taken before we left the house, but getting Hayden to school on time took precedence. The next time I saw my photographer, it was 8:15 at night and I was in bike shorts and covered in salty sweat from a tough bike ride. But we are going to Chicago this weekend and I am packing my Fad-Classic, so I promise a picture very soon.

And speaking of Chicago, can anyone suggest a good yarn shop or two that I can visit? Today is my husband's 40th birthday (he just recently shaved his chest - Lord knows why - so he doesn't look at day over 12!) so we're going up there to celebrate and hopefully watch the Cubs beat the Cardinals. (We're definitely going to Friday's and Saturday's games. Whether or not the Cubs can win is a totally different story.) 2 years ago I went to We'll Keep You In Stitches. Everything was in plastic bags and therefore not really easy to look at. Last year I went to the Knitter's Niche, but it's so very small that I saw everything in less than 5 minutes. I'll probably have time to go somewhere Saturday late morning/early afternoon, depending on when the Cubs game is.

Suggestions, anyone?

I actually have a FO...

2006-08-16T09:09:00.000-07:00

Dilemma

2006-07-26T16:47:00.000-07:00

Aargh - I think I'm in a knitting slump. (I said to my training partner the other day and he belly laughed. Guess I forgot that not everyone is a knitter.) I have several things going on, but I keep getting stuck.

1. Sampler Stole - no motivation to work on it because it involves more attention than I can give to it right now.

2. Rowan Cricket Vest - I am sooo close to finishing it, but I realized that when I divided for the neck, I got off-center by 1 stitch. I think I'm scared to keep going for fear that it'll be so blatantly obvious that it's off-center that I'll have to rip the whole thing out. Plus, it's very springy (blue and yellow) and we're almost into fall.

3. Morehouse shawl kit - VERY easy - just stockinette in the round - but when I joined, I twisted the stitches. Because of the 200+ stitches being crammed onto my needle, I didn't notice this until I got about 5 inches done. I don't want to start over, so I'm hoping that when I cut it (it's knit in the round then cut to create fringe), the twisting action will resolve itself. But, like the vest, I'm scared to go on because I'm afraid I'll have to rip and restart. (Does anyone know the answer to this? If the twist is positioned near where stitches are dropped and the cut happens, will the twist go away? I think it will, but I'm not sure. Ironman training turns my brain to mush sometimes.)

4. Knit and Tonic's Fad-Classic - the straps are a pain in the butt! I did the back, but when I took the provisional cast on out and put those stitches on my needles, I couldn't tell which side was the right side, and I guessed wrong. So I've ripped all of that out and tried to start over again from that point, but I failed. I have half a mind to start totally over, but I'm afraid that it's getting too close to the end of summer for this top. I don't intend on wearing it alone as a tank (I originally envisioned it looking adorable with a tight white baby tee and my white cargo capris), so it could be worn into the fall, but some part of my brain (probably the part that's turned to mush from too many training hours) is having a hard time accepting it as an all-seasons top.

So herein lies the question: do I throw all of these projects to the wayside and start with something fresh? My sister is due with her second child in the beginning of November, so I could do a quick baby thing. Or I could start a sweater for Hayden, which I always love to do. I've been so sporadic in my knitting that it probably wouldn't get done until it's cool enough to wear it. (Having over 19 hours of Ironman training to do in one week, plus the normal work/mommy stuff that needs to be done, leaves little knitting time.) The sensible side of me tells me to knit a baby hat as my Idiot Project and work on a Hayden sweater at home, but the silly side of me really wants a Fad Classic. If I could get past the stupid straps, I think I'd be good to go. My first attempt at a Knit & Tonic pattern failed (Somewhat Cowl), so I really want my Fad Classic to turn out. Anyway, what do you think???

Too many M&Ms

2006-07-24T08:08:00.000-07:00

When I was a senior in high school, I ate so many M&Ms that I puked. My poor boyfriend sat beside me on the bathroom floor and stroked my back as I threw up blue, red, yellow and brown hard candy shells. Not a pretty sight. And all of this on the day I became a lifetime member of Weight Watchers (meaning I had reached my goal weight and maintained it for 6 weeks). It was a year before I could eat M&Ms again - well, almost a year.

This morning they opened up registration for next year's Ironman Lake Placid race, held at the end of July in New York. I tossed aside my rule of not signing up for another Ironman before finishing the one I'm currently training for (Florida this November), got my insurance card, my credit card and my USA Triathlon membership card out of my wallet, and bit the bullet. I have a friend who decided that she wants to do it, and I just couldn't let her sign up alone. It'll be my third Ironman in 3 years, and my second one in less than 12 months (Florida is this November 4th, Lake Placid will be the end of next July).

I think Ironman triathlons are becoming the new M&M.

I promise one of these days I'll talk about knitting again on my blog, and I'll actually post some pictures.

If anyone still reads this...

2006-07-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

...I'm still here. My summer has turned into a whirwind full of bikes, pools, sunscreen, driving, and horses, and I have not really had the chance to blog. I hardly have time for knitting either. Poo. I have some pictures to share with you, though, and will do so the next free moment I have. Pictures of an almost-there Rowan Cricket Vest and of an especially cute little boy on his favorite horse, Vader.

For those of you wondering what is behind the mention of a cute boy and horses, Hayden spent last week at Saddle Up! camp. Saddle Up! is a therapeutic horse program for kids with special needs (autism, Down's syndrome, cerebal palsy, etc.) , and they offer a week-long summer camp for kids who are on the waitlist to get into their regular program (we've been on the list for over 2 years now - sheesh). He got to learn how to take care of a horse and ride him. He had an absolute BLAST. So, to the TRIAD camp people who wouldn't let him in: kiss our butts. We don't need your stinkin' camp. Riding horses and doing arts and crafts is way more fun than all day therapy sessions.

One second.

2006-06-06T09:20:00.000-07:00

One second is what separated me from the girl who finished 5th in my age group at a triathlon this past weekend. One second. How annoying is that?!? The way the start happened (I won't bore you with those details), I had no way of knowing, but I certainly could've gone 1 second faster. Or 2 just to make sure to beat her. Argh.

This summer has certainly been busy for me so far! The weekend after my race in Florida, Hayden and I went to Memphis with a friend. She was participating in and I was volunteering at the Memphis in May triathlon. My legs hadn't recovered yet from the previous weekend, so I was playing it smart and not racing. At no point during that race was I jealous of any of my friends who were racing. My legs were still tired and it was hot. Damn hot. It amazes me how much hotter Memphis is than Nashville. That morning it was 95 degrees. I always feel sorry for the older or heavier people who do that race because they're usually the ones who take over 3 hours to finish, and they get to melt under the blistering sun. This one guy who must've weighed over 400 pounds took 5 1/2 hours to finish (for comparison, I did that race last year in 2:38) and immediately walked right into the lake to cool off. Poor guy, but at least he's out there doing it. Anyway, we got home that night around 8:45. The next weekend I went to Clarksville (about an hour away) Saturday morning to ride with my friends. There was an organized 60-mile ride that was flat and fast, much like Florida, and we had a BLAST. The weekend after that, which was this past weekend, I went with a friend to a triathlon about 1 1/2 hours away. A lot of my friends were there, and I think we all had good races. This weekend I think I'm actually staying in town! Won't that be amazing?

My knitting hasn't been nearly as exciting or productive as my racing. I think I'm in somewhat of a funk. I have yarn all over the house and a couple of projects started, but I feel like I'm getting nothing done. I had started a little tank top out of the Brooks Farm mohair I bought at MDS&W, but I'm planning on frogging it because the yarn is doing something incredibly funky. I finished the back of my Rowan Cricket vest and have started the front, but it's not picture-worthy yet. Hopefully soon. I'm also still working on my Sampler Stole. I need a mindless, idiot project for speech therapy days or days that I'm too tired to think but can't stand the idea of not doing anything, so I may cast on for my Morehouse shawl this afternoon. I need to get back to my Fad Classic and frog my Somewhat Cowl so I can start the Faery Net Blouse from IK, but I really want to finish at least one project before doing that to give me a sense of accomplishment.

And to end this ridiculously boring post, I'll share a conversation I had with a boy from Hayden's school a few days before school let out. When I picked Hayden up at 3:00, I usually let him play on the playground for a while. I'd take my knitting and sit on the bench while he played. The YMCA has an after-school program for kids whose parents work full-time called the Fun Company, and at 3:20 the Fun Company kids would come out to the playground. Hayden loved to be in the middle of the chaos, so we'd always stay until 3:30 or so. On this particular day, this boy who was probably in the 4th grade walked over to my bench.

Boy: So, you're knitting, huh?
Me: Yes, I am.
Boy (who is now fondling my yarn): What are you making?
Me: A vest for myself.
Boy: You know, I've heard that knitting is real mate magnet, so you're bound to get a husband soon.

At that point one of his friends came over and they walked off together, so I didn't get to respond. I was laughing too hard to say anything, anyway.

Somewhat Cowl...

2006-05-18T10:14:00.000-07:00

...is somewhat ugly. At least mine is. What a bummer. Not even deserving of a picture. I should've followed my gut instinct and not attempted this pattern. Not to offend anyone, but the SWCs I've seen on the Internet (with the exception of Wendy's) aren't really all that appealing to me. But nooo, I thought that if I splurged on the Alpaca & Silk, I'd end up with the same sexy sweater that Wendy has. I didn't think about the fact that my boobs are probably smaller than hers. The cowl diminishes my small rack even more, and the back is bunchy, like there's too much fabric. If the yarn weren't so damn expensive, I'd save this for a birthday present for a bigger, more bustier friend, but I just can't do that at $9.50 a skein. I already have plans for its reincarnation, though: the Fairy Net Blouse from the Summer IK.

I actually got back to my Sampler Stole last night - woo hoo! I was watching the first part of the "Top Chef" finale, though, so I didn't get too much done. I was sad to see Dave pack his knives and go. I want to find him and eat his food. It sounds delicious. (Joe from my Baltimore plane ride thought so too. He's in culinary school and watches "Top Chef" as religiously as I do. Girls in the Providence, RI area, take note: Joe is REALLY cute, has a great New York accent, loves to cook, has a brother who knits socks, and is not gay! Go for it!!!)

Whirlwind weekend #2: brought to you by the letter F

2006-05-15T14:34:00.000-07:00

Florida. Fun. Flat. Fast. Fantastic!

We left on Thursday afternoon for Panama City Beach, an 8+ hour drive. Saturday morning I competed in the Gulf Coast Triathlon, a half Ironman race. (Actually, I should say half Iron distance race because Gulf Coast isn't an Ironman sanctioned event. But you get the idea.) 1.2 mile swim in the ocean, 56 mile bike ride, and 13.1 mile run. Florida is very flat, so I was excited to see how fast I could go. My previous PR (personal record) for this distance was 5 hours, 59 minutes, 58 seconds. My goal was to break that, but hearing about how the wind and the heat can really make this race a doozie, I wasn't sure I could do it. Friday morning I awoke to no wind and a pleasant high 70 degrees. I ran a little with a friend of mine, and we kept praying to the triathlon gods that we get the same weather the next day. Fortunately, someone up there heard us, and we had awesome conditions. Here's how my race went:

1.2 mile swim: 41:39 (goal was 47:00)
T1 (swim to bike transition): 3:47 (goal was 4:00)
56 mile bike: 2:49:58 (goal was 2:57:00)
T2 (bike to run): 1:43 (goal was 3:00)
13.1 mile run: 2:03:25 (goal was 2:00)
Total: 5:40:31 (goal was 5:51:00)

I came in 18th out of 63 women in my age group - top 30%. I was very pleased. The ocean swim wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, and the bike was really fun and really fast. The run even went well for me - at least up until mile 10. I lost my focus after that and struggled a little the rest of the way. I'll blame it on seeing a fellow Nashvillian pull over to the side of the road to puke, and another walking in pain just 2 hours after happily blowing by me on the bike. Overall, it was a great race for me. Today I am very sore and tired, but happy.

Unfortunately, I wasn't very productive with my road trip knitting. Last week I decided that my Somewhat Cowl was somewhat short, so I ripped out all of the ribbing on the bottom. I didn't have a chance to steam the kinks out of that used yarn before we left, though, so I just had to work with what was in the bag. I have about 15 rows of ribbing left to do, the neckline to whipstitch down, and ends to weave in. And it needs to be blocked. This yarn, as nice as it is, shows little inconsistencies in my stitches very well. I'm counting on a good blocking smoothing things out. Last week on my way to Maryland I started the back of a Rowan sweater vest. I finished the back of it in the car on Friday night, but I have to rip the whole thing out and start again on smaller needles. That's what I get for not doing a gauge swatch. I'm going to blame that on my plane companion Joe - had it not been for a great view and good conversation, I would've paid more attention to what I was doing. Joe - you're killing me.

I'll leave you with some pictures from the weekend:

Saturday afternoon delight.

This is what the ocean looked like on Sunday. Good thing the race was the day before! I don't know if I could've made it through those waves.

He looks like he's grimacing, but it's just the sun. That's his normal "Cheese!" face. He had a absolute blast on the beach.

Sunday's car ride back home was not the highlight of the weekend, that's for sure!

Hanging out on the beach drinking beer all afternoon isn't the right way to recover from a race, but it sure was fun!

The only true race injury I had: a gash on the inside of my right knee.

I have a Bento Box that I strap on the top tube of my bike to hold snacks. It makes it really easy to ensure you're fueling correctly during the race and won't bonk. However, it wasn't strapped on tightly enough to stay in place and kept leaning to the right. Every once in a while, the hard piece of plastic in it (that later I found out I could've removed - d'oh!) would stab me and cause me to mutter curse words that would've caused me to get an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty had the officials heard. Note to self: keep my box nice and tight. It'll make everyone happy in the end.

Whirlwind Weekend #1 (and some socks!)

2006-05-08T14:26:00.000-07:00

Sunday night was the conclusion of Whirlwind Weekend #1 (the first in a 3-part series). Friday night I flew up to Baltimore and the wonderful Eunny picked me up. We spent the weekend running, eating (me more than her, as noted in Monday's post on her blog!), getting lost, and enjoying the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. I bought some glorious merino/mohair at the Brooks Farm booth, a kit for a really intricate shawl at the Morehouse booth, a drop spindle, and some roving. Eunny showed me how to use the spindle Saturday night, but I still suck at it. Fortunately she gave me some roving to practice on so that I wouldn't waste the Bunny Balls or the pretty silvery grey wool top that I got. I need a LOT of practice before I can produce something worthy of being called yarn. Since others have already posted pictures, I won't bore you with many, but here are some of my favorites:

He looks like a punk rocker to me. Maybe he's got an iPod underneath all that hair and he's listening to the Sex Pistols or the Cramps.

So cute! Such a funny face!

Pixie Purls, Eunny and me enjoying the sun and the company during the knitbloggers meetup.

This weekend will be Whirlwind Weekend #2 - we're leaving on Thursday after Hayden gets out of school for Panama City Beach, Florida, where I will be competing in the Gulf Coast Triathlon on Saturday. It's a half Ironman distance race - 1.2 mile ocean swim, 56 mile bike ride, and 13.1 mile run. Hopefully I won't melt in that Florida sun!

And before I forget, the next part of this post should've happened last week. Bad blogger! Wednesday I got home and found my Sockapaloooza package in the mailbox! Sandra sent me some great socks:

Simply Lovely Lack Socks from the Spring 2006 IK. She used some Brooklyn Handspun in gorgeous purples, greens, and pinks. They fit me like a dream, and they're sooo soft. I just love them! Also in the package were some other goodies:

Pocky, roasted wasabi peas, a postcard from New York, and some cosmetic bags for holding my notions. (The bags are not in this picture b/c they're being put to use and have found their spot in one of my current project bags.) The Pocky and the peas are so so yummy, and the bags were much needed - I had been storing all of my notions in an old Ziploc bag. Anyway, thank you Sandra! She was at the Sheep & Wool Festival also, but unfortunately, we didn't get to meet.

And did I finish my Somewhat Cowl by last Friday, you ask? Nope. I was really close on Thursday night, but then I tried it on and decided that I may need to do some frogging. I had measured the body of the sweater last week before doing the ribbing on the bottom, but somehow the measurement was different when I tried it on and I need to add length. So I have to rip out the ribbing, do about 2 more inches of stockinette, then redo the ribbing. And I'm not quite sure the neckline is going to look exactly the way I'm hoping it will, so that may require some fiddling with. I'm doing just what the pattern says to do, but for some reason it's not turning out quite as sexy as I want it to. Of course, it doesn't help when you're trying it on with your unsexy pajamas, no makeup and helmet hair from the bike ride you took earlier in the day.

Should I...

2006-05-03T08:10:00.000-07:00

...bust my butt over the next 48 hours to get my Somewhat Cowl done so I can wear it on Friday when I travel up to Baltimore for the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, or put that aside until next week and start my Fad-Classic so I can be working on it this weekend? I've got the bottom ribbing and neckline left on the SWC, but I also have to do a 2 hour and 45 minute workout this afternoon. I REALLY want to finish it because I REALLY want to wear it because I think I'm REALLY going to like it. However, I can't drive myself crazy over it. I guess if I can get through the bottom ribbing and start the neckline today, then I'll forge on, but if I don't get that far, I'll wind the yarn for the Fad-Classic tonight and start swatching in the morning. And what color might my Fad-Classic be, you ask? I got the happiest color of orange - not obnoxious orange, not University of Tennessee orange (Heaven forbid anyone think that I'm a Vols fan!), but a bright, summery, happy tangerine orange. I've got a pair of white cargo capris and a tight white short sleeved top that I think the orange vest will look smashing with.

In non-knitting news, I've started taking Hot Yoga classes. Hot Yoga is essentially bikram yoga, a series of poses done in a 100-degree room. (Actually, our room is 99 degrees. I looked at the thermostat on Monday night.) A friend and I decided to try it out because we both have half Ironman triathlons coming up in hot weather climates (mine in Florida next weekend, and hers in Georgia in the beginning of June) and need to get somewhat acclimated to the heat. Man, it's HOT!!! The sweat just pours off of me - in certain poses, I look like I'm peeing and it's just running down my leg. (I promise I'm not peeing. It really is sweat.) When I get home, I peel my clothes off and hang them up to dry in the bathroom - that usually takes 2 days. But I do love it, though. (Except for when the woman ran out of the class Monday night and barely made it to the bathroom before throwing up. I was near the door, so that could've been an incredibly disgusting disaster.) And hopefully it'll pay off when I run a half marathon that is not in the shade at any point after swimming in the ocean 1.2 miles and biking 56 miles next Saturday.

Finally - sock pictures

2006-04-29T13:27:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to post pictures for 2 days now, but the computer I use to upload pictures kept locking up. So I tried again today and saved the draft of this post every time I uploaded a picture, and now I'm on a more reliable computer. Damn machines. Anyway, here are my finished Sockapaloooza socks, basking in the sun on our back deck:

Hayden wanted in on the action, so he offered to model:

Wait, something doesn't look quite right -

- much better. Six year old boys always have to touch their pingas, I guess just to make sure they're still there.

I'm mailing the socks on Monday. Hopefully my pal will like them. I meant to go to the post office today, but I volunteered at the Country Music Marathon this morning and was there longer than planned. (Do you know how exciting and scary it is for a Kenyan running a 5-minute mile to take a cup of water out of your hand? Yikes!)

Since the socks are done, I've been working more on my Somewhat Cowl. It was sloooow going until I finished the raglan increases, and now that I'm past the neckline, it seems to be flying. I'd really like to finish it sometime this week so I can start a summer project. Here's what I'm thinking about:

Wendy's Fad-Classic
Prairie Tunic from the Spring issue of IK
Green Gable

What do you think?

In other news, DH gave me my Mother's Day present 2 weeks early: a plane ticket and hotel room in Columbia, MD next weekend so I can go to the Sheep & Wool Festival! How fun is that?!? I'm very excited about hanging out with Eunny and Kelly again, and meeting other knitbloggers. Who else is going?

And last but not least, one more gratuitous Hayden shot:

Last weekend we went to a local community college's production of Rogers & Hammerstein's "Cinderella." I didn't know that it wouldn't have a lot in common with the Disney version, but Hayden liked it just the same. Actually, he liked it from far away - as in the doorway. For some reason, he just wouldn't set foot inside the theater, even though it wasn't that big. That's okay, though - we just scooted our chair back to the door. Doesn't this Fairy Godmother look like Glen Close?

Liar, liar, pants on fire

2006-04-25T06:26:00.000-07:00

Okay, I lied. I emailed my Sockapaloooza sock sister last night to tell her that my socks were going to be totally done before I went to bed and that I'd post pictures this morning. All I had left to do was graft the toe of my second sock and weave in 2 ends - easy, huh? But then I went to swim practice and stayed after a little to talk to 2 fellow Ironman Florida bound triathletes. It was almost 9pm before I got home, and I still had to eat dinner and put Hayden to bed (yes, he's a night owl). And I was tired from swimming, so the socks did not get done. I PROMISE that they will be finished this afternoon, though, and pictures will be up tomorrow.

Sockapaloooza progress

2006-04-18T12:49:00.000-07:00

Just as promised - a happier, shorter, knitting-related post. Here's one of my Sockapalooza socks (and yes, I have a flip flop tan on the top of my feet):

Here's another shot so that you can see the cable better (and peep my tat!):

I started the second sock last Thursday and it's going much faster than the first one. Today at work I was able to turn the heel, thanks to yet another sick computer. I expect to be done with it by the end of the weekend.

I've also been working on my Somewhat Cowl, but I'm only 7 inches into it. A pic right now of it would be Somewhat Boring. Once the sock is done, I'll be able to make more progress on that as well as get back to my Sampler Stole. And start Wendy's Fad-Classic. And start my Rowan Cricket Vest. And some baby booties for my sister (who's expecting her second child the day before Ironman Florida - poor planning on her part, I must say). And....

Warning: long post ahead, not related to knitting at all

2006-04-10T15:47:00.000-07:00

April is Autism Awareness Month. I've been wondering what to do on my blog for it (almost typed "to celebrate it", but that sounded totally wrong). I could give you the statistics - 1 in 166 kids is autistic, blah blah blah - but then I came across Cathy's blog and decided to copy her. Her son is autistic and she shared her story, so I'm going to do the same. I know all of my regular readers know Hayden and know he's autistic and know how cute he is, but I don't think I've ever shared our background. Here goes nothing:

Hayden was a typically developing little boy. He laughed, played, crawled and walked when other kids do. I had been working as a full-time staff accountant, but I became a stay at home mom shortly after he turned one and had dreams of doing all the fun things stay at home moms do - have playdates, go to the park at 10am on Wednesday, put him in Mother's Day Out program twice a week so he could have friends and I could ride my bike in the middle of the day. However, I started noticing around 18 months that he wasn't adding any new words to his vocabulary - in fact, some of his words had disappeared. I called the doctor and voiced my concerns, but he just said, "Oh, don't worry. Boys are late talkers." This conversation between he and I happened 3 times until his 2-year checkup. After that, the doctor said that maybe we should check into it. Our first step was going to the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center to have his hearing tested - normal. Then we had an evaluation done by the Tennessee Early Intervention Services to see if Hayden qualified for free therapy. TEIS does an overall evaluation, and if your child has at least a 25% defenciency in 2 areas (communication, gross motor skills, etc), they provide free therapy, whether it be speech, physical, or occupational. Hayden, of course, qualified. We started speech therapy when he was almost 2 1/2 years old. In TEIS' evaluation, they suggested I look into occupational therapy because of things like Hayden having an aversion to messy stuff like shaving cream, but I blew that off. Nobody really likes messy stuff, do they? Big mistake. Unfortunately, TEIS only pays for therapy until the child is 3, so after that, we were on our own. We enrolled Hayden in a preschool for kids with special needs. There were therapists there at school, so we didn't have to take him anywhere - the therapist just pulled him out of his class when it was time for him to work. This school didn't come cheap - the first year Hayden was there, we paid over $20,000. A college tuition for a 3 year old! Our insurance company wouldn't (and still won't) pay for any therapy, so needless to say, I went back to work. Nobody could figure out what was wrong with him, but everyone agreed he wasn't autistic. There were just some things that he did that autistic kids don't do. (What they were, I can't remember, because looking back on it, it was so clear that he was.) I had scheduled an evaluation to be done when he was 3 1/2, but cancelled it because a)everyone said that he wasn't autistic, and b)everyone said that even though he wasn't autistic, he'd be labeled as such, and that label would follow him throughout school and teachers would expect less of him, yada yada yada. Another big mistake. After his fourth birthday, though, I rescheduled his evaluation. Mike was out of town for a marathon, and Hayden had a particularly autistic weekend. I couldn't control him at McDonald's, he had a panic attack when I tried to take him to a classmate's birthday party, things like that. Mike wasn't happy that I was having him evaluated, but I decided to do it anyway. He came around before the evaluation, though, and we had come to accept that the diagnosis was going to be one of autism. That made the evaluation process so much easier, because our response to "Your child is autistic" was "We know." At the evaluator's suggestion, we took him out of the preschool he was in and got him into a program for autistic kids through the public school system. Through the school system Hayden gets speech and occupational therapy, and we supplement that with private autism and speech therapy. The speech therapist we work with (the best out of the many that we have worked with over the last 4 years) only works with autistic kids, so it's great. He's made a lot of progress over the last 4 years, but he still has a lot of work to do. He used to not be able to handle being around other kids; now he's in the thick of things when it's recess time. He doesn't play "with" his classmates, but he plays alongside of them, and that's the best we can ask for right now. His eye contact is not great, but we're working on that too. He's verbal, but 90% of the time his speech is not easily understandable (except for by me - after all, I am Mommy) or is straight out of a book, video, or computer game (echolalia is the technical term for that). He flaps his hands (called stimming) when he gets excited about something (last night while driving home from dinner he stimmed off of the street lights we drove by, and every day he flaps when he sees me coming to pick him up from school), and he laughs sometimes when nothing is going on. (I have a great 90-second video on my digital camera of his stimming off of the Teletubbies, but I don't know how to upload a video onto my blog.) He is learning how to have conversations, but right now all of it is memorized, so unless someone asks him a question the exact way we or his therapists ask him, he won't answer. But he is a great kid. He has no behavior problems; he loves to dance, sing, and make people laugh; he's pretty good at math; and he loves to give hugs and kisses. And he's super cute to boot. (And he's learning how to climb, Jen - we've been to the climbing gym twice since Thursday, and he really likes it!) With a lot of hard work, I hope that he'll be able to live a fairly typical life.

With all that being said, he did not get into the TRIAD camp. I got a letter today basically telling me that he's not high functioning enough to go to their camp. What a blow. I usually have a great attitude about our situation - sure it sucks, but he is a sweet, loving, fun kid, so I make the best out of what we got. Today, though, I've been crying and can't stop. (So please excuse any typos - sometimes they get lost in the tears.) Telling me that Hayden is not functioning enough to go to a camp for autistic kids makes me somewhat lose hope. Last week I posted that I was afraid that the TRIAD people thought I was this desparate, disillusioned mom - I guess they're right. Maybe I'm not seeing what others are. I'd love for Hayden to be the kid who shoots all the 3-pointers at the basketball game and becomes a hero - today that dream was shot down. I'm starting to think that I'm going to be one of those moms who everyone feels sorry for when she walks through the grocery store and her 25-year old autistic son is following her because he can't function without her. And now I have no idea what I'm going to do for the summer. I had planned on him going to TRIAD camp for his summertime therapy and going to a summer camp at a typical daycare the rest of the time. Now the therapy is gone, and because they don't think he's functioning enough to go to their camp, I don't think he's functioning enough to go to the typical daycare camp. I got a brochure for it today, and the things they say they do scare me. They go on field trips every Friday and go swimming every week. What if wanders off because he doesn't understand that he's supposed to stay with his class? (That's happened before.) Daycare workers aren't trained to work with autistic kids. And he can't swim, but he doesn't understand that he shouldn't jump off the diving board. So now I have to come up with an alternative plan. I don't know what that is right now, but I guess between now and May 23rd it'll come to me. I have to work, so something has to come along.

Cathy has some links on her blog to some great stuff, one of them being a sweet ESPN commercial. I urge you to visit her blog and check it out. I promise my next post will be a)happy, b)knitting related, and c)not so long.

Are you jealous? Just a little??

2006-04-05T10:40:00.000-07:00

I rode my bike yesterday when DH got home from work. I took my camera along (I pulled over to the side of the road to take the shots - they weren't taken while I was riding - I can talk on my phone while riding, but I don't think I'm coordinated enough to take pictures) so I could show you the beautiful scenery I get to enjoy while on my bike. This is the Natchez Trace Parkway, which starts about 2 miles from my house and ends down in Natchez, Mississippi:

This hill is a bitch to climb up, but it sure is fun to fly down on the way home!

This bridge overlooks Hwy. 96 from way, way up. I know you're supposed to ride on the side of the road, but when I cross this bridge, I tend to drift towards the middle. Too close to the rails is very scary, especially on a windy day.

I am so lucky to live so close to such a great place for riding.

And here's a picture of my Sockapaloooza sock:

I started turning the heel today at work. Unfortunately I didn't get to do too much because my boss didn't go out for lunch. Gah. But I am loving the way this is turning out. Hopefully my pal will too. I didn't make the sock as long as the pattern I'm using said to, but a)I think it's long enough, and b)my pal didn't specify how long she likes her socks, only that she likes them to go over the ankle.

And finally, here's a shot of my Sampler Stole and my Somewhat Cowl, laying on the new bedspread bought at Target on Sunday (gotta love Isaac Mizrahi - he reminds me soooo much of my best high school friend, Perry):

This picture really is to show you the colors, because the progress made on both is very little. One of my goals last week was to get through 3 repeats of the stole; however, progress was thwarted by too much beer and a shot of something and vodka at a friend's going away party on Saturday, and I still have 21 rows to get through repeat 3. The Somewhat Cowl will be much further along after I spend the upcoming weekend in Birmingham. Sunday morning I will be doing the Powerman Alabama duathlon, but I'll have Saturday afternoon and evening in a hotel room, doing some pre-race resting and guilt-free knitting! I'm using Alpaca & Silk - can I get a yum-yum? The yarn is HEAVENLY. Hopefully I can get it done and wear it before summer hits!

And speaking of the fabulous Wendy, have you seen this yet? So cool! It's making its way up to the front of my To Knit list at an alarming pace. Maybe I'll get the pattern after I finish the SWC. But I detest Cotton Classic - must find a substitute.

Socks have stolen the limelight...

2006-04-04T11:28:00.000-07:00

...from my Sampler Stole. It hit me earlier today that the deadline for my Sockapaloooza socks is fast approaching, and I am not even to the heel of the first one. So I guess I need to spend more time on it than just at work or during speech therapy, which means the stole will just have to wait for a little bit. At the rate I'm going on the stole, it'll make a great Christmas gift for someone special!

And to those who are wondering how Hayden's interview went yesterday: it didn't go very well, at least not in my eyes. He's just not a good interviewer or test taker. Every time he's had an evaluation done, I've thought he could've done much better. Yesterday he wasn't answering questions I KNOW he knew the answers to, and I was/am afraid that he came across as just a bump on a log. Actually, he was more than just a bump on a log - maybe a bump on a log who really enjoyed making faces in the 1-way window that separated the observation area from the evaluation room. (He loves to look at himself or dance in front of a mirror. Why not? If I were as cute as he is, I'd want to look at myself all day too.) I was supposed to stay in the observation area, but after hearing, "Where's Mommy?" 10 times, the clinician suggested I quietly sit on the couch in the room with him. It was so frustrating to sit there and not be able to say anything because I knew I could ask him the questions in a way that he might've answered them. I left there feeling glad that DH wasn't with me (he tends to get more depressed about our situation than I do) and paranoid that they think I'm some disillusioned, desperate mother trying to get her son into camp. I turned in the form that Hayden's kindergarten teacher filled out, telling them that I read what she wrote and I really don't think he displays the behavior she says he does (he supposedly throws temper tantrums at school - I haven't seen him throw what I think is a temper tantrum since he was 2 1/2) and that his assistant, who is around him way more than the teacher is, agrees with me and that she was supposed to write a little note about her perceptions to accompany the teacher's form but she must've forgotten. Then after the interview, I told them that I don't think that was very indicative of how he really is, he's usually much more responsive, and that he doesn't have this separation problem when he goes to school or to his autism therapy group. Anyway, we're supposed to get a letter in a week or so telling us if we're in and the if so, the particulars. At this point, I really don't know what that letter will say. Cross your fingers!

Jayloungers

2006-03-28T12:53:00.000-08:00

This picture of my finished Jaywalkers was taken on Sunday, when I was being completely inactive. (Gracie, although she looks like she's sitting calmly in the background, is making up for my inactivity. She's patiently waiting for the moment where Mike throws the ball so she can tear through the house after it.) I had a big nasty workout to do on Saturday, so Sunday I kitchener stitched the toe of my second sock, put them on, and put my feet up for a well-deserved bout of laziness.

Overall, I am pleased with my Jaywalkers. I love the yarn and I love the pattern. The only thing I would've done differently is make them on size 1 dpns. These are a teeny bit slouchy. But I'd rather have them a wee slouchy than too f-ing tight to get over my instep.

Because of my lacking in the skillz needed to make a sock fit properly, I have decided to go against the votes for the sock out of the Handknit Holidays book and have chosen the rib and cable sock. Not only have I chosen that pattern, I've started it. The yarn is as close to a solid color as I've seen Koigu get, so I think the cables will look fine. I do absolutely love the Handknit Holidays socks, and am anxious to see Alison's finished pair, but with the others I don't have to modify the pattern. And the less mods I have to make, the more of a chance I'll have at making socks that will fit my pal's feet.

I've not posted goals for the week lately, so I thought I'd do so now:

1. Do our taxes. April 15th is fast approaching!
2. Swatch for the Somewhat Cowl to see if I need to buy yarn. I'm going to Alabama next weekend and am planning on this being my road trip project. I might have a couple of candidates in my stash - Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere, or maybe Classic Elite Premiere?
3. Do more core exercises - specifically, 3 days in addition to my weight lifting day. I was at the bike shop yesterday to get refitted on my racing bike, and the shop owner made me do an exercise that showed me a)how important strong core muscles are, and b)how not strong my core muscles are.
4. Have at least 3 repeats on my Sampler Stole done. So far I've got 1 1/2. It's pretty, but slow going. Basketball is over (at least for the University of Memphis Tigers, and therefore also for me), though, so I should be able to knit more while watching TV this week.

And last but not least, here's the latest update on the TRIAD summer camp. Hayden has to go on Monday afternoon for a pre-camper interview to determine if he'd benefit from camp. I'm finding myself a little nervous for him! Should I put together a resume? Should I buy him a little suit, or just a sportjacket and tie? (I'm soooo kidding on the suit or the tie - I believe that 6-year old boys should dress like 6-year old boys, not little Alex P. Keatons. I know other people do it, but not this mom. Jeans and t-shirts or polos is what Hayden lives in!) Anyway, be thinking of him next Monday at 4pm CST and hope that he charms the pants off those TRIAD people!

Need your opinions, please!

2006-03-23T09:27:00.000-08:00

I'm starting my Sockapaloooza socks once I finish my second Jaywalker (which I'm anticipating will happen tomorrow night). So now's the time to finalize my pattern decision. My pal seems to be a nature-y, down to earth person who said "nothing too crazy, but pattern is fine" in her preferences. I've got some light blue Koigu (not a lot of variegated colors; just their typical variegated shades of blue) and had thought I'd do a simple ribbed sock with a small cable on either side of the calf. However, I stumbled on this idea (scroll down to her March 21st entry) when blog lurking this morning. I have a copy of Handknit Holidays, and I've loved those socks from the first time I saw them. I have only 2 skeins of Koigu, and my pal didn't mention knee-highs, so I'd modify the pattern to be shorter. I'd also leave the lace design on the back rather than the cable that Alison is putting in (I like Alison's cable, but I do know that my pal likes a little lace). So since I'm being so Charlie Brown-ish (wishy-washy) on my decision, I thought I'd ask my readers. What do you think? Ribbing and cables, or stockinette and a little lace?

A mother's work is never done.

2006-03-20T08:12:00.000-08:00

In my last post I lamented about Vanderbilt University's TRIAD summer camp. This morning I called the Autism Society of Middle Tennessee office to see if anyone there had any inside information that might help me. Long story short, I ended up calling the TRIAD office again and found out that there's ONE SPOT FOR A 6-YEAR OLD. I just about did a cartwheel while on the phone - at work - in my skirt. I have to work until 2 today, then I have a much needed massage scheduled from 230-330, then I am going down to the TRIAD office and delivering my paperwork plus the deposit money. I can't believe we're getting in. (And thank you, Michelle, for your words of encouragement. I WAS able to pull it off!) And this camp better be da bomb for as much money as they charge for it! The lady at the ASMT office I spoke to this morning told me that people come in from out of town and live in a hotel for 3 weeks just so their child can go to this camp. It's exciting that Hayden will have this opportunity, but at the same time it's sad that it has to be such a competition to get in. There really should be more services made available for these kids. Research has proven that early invention is the key to success.

Nothing exciting in my knitting world this weekend. I bought the Somewhat Cowl pattern for the Sexy Knitter's Club KAL, and I'm thinking of using some Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere from my stash. (Anyone wanna take a guess what color it is???) I'm a little nervous about the neckline, though, because I haven't seen a finished sweater that has a neckline that I absolutely love. I have an image in my mind of what Wendy's looks like, and I want mine to come out the same way. We'll see how it goes. It looks like a pretty straightforward project, so I'm planning on working on it when we drive to Irondale, Alabama (right outside of Birmingham) the second weekend of April for the Powerman Alabama duathlon. I'm working on the second Jaywalker and I've gotten through the first repeat of the center section of my sampler stole. According to one of the KAL participants, I am about 7% done. How depressing! I'm working on it slowly, while I'm able to devote attention to it, because I'd hate to rush it and make some stupid mistake. I don't have a lot of experience with lace knitting - my only "major" lace project is my Rowan Butterfly top - so I'm having to use stitch markers to separate repeats and a post-it note to help me know what row I'm on. And I've resorted to using the aforementioned spreadsheet to make little tickmarks on the rows that I've done. Stitch markers, post-it notes, tickmarks -- wow, I sound like a newbie.

My athletic endeavors were a little more exciting this weekend (and a lot more painful). I decided Friday night to run a half marathon Saturday morning. I went into the race hoping to run somewhere between 8:30-8:45 minute miles. I ended up running with 2 friends and we were able to keep our miles around and 8:20 pace, so my time was 1:49:36. I was pleased, especially since I was able to do that and talk the entire time. (Of course, as I was showering later, I thought, "Y'know, if we hadn't had talked the whole time, we could've run faster and I might've been able to beat my best half marathon time without really even trying." Runners and triathletes always find ways to not accept their times as the best they could've done.) My legs were pretty sore the rest of the day, though. Somehow my muscles aren't in as good of shape as my aerobic energy system is. Yesterday I rode with my friends and had planned on taking it easy, but of course that didn't happen. I was wasted last night. My massage this afternoon cannot come at a better time!

(Sorry this has been such a long post without any pictures. I'm at work right now with nothing to do, but my boss hasn't left for lunch, so I can't knit. Bah.)

Instant gratification 2.0

2006-03-17T18:42:00.000-08:00

This wasn't quite as quick as the Airy Scarf, and I had to rip out the top the first go-around because I had made it too tall, but it still was a quick knitting fix:

Technically a person is not supposed to wear the Ironman logo unless he/she has earned it, but since Hayden is my son, I'll allow it. This hat is a gift for a friend; I hope he'll like it.

And may I whine for a minute (okay, a couple)? Vanderbilt University has a department called TRIAD, or Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Related Disorders. Every summer TRIAD puts on a camp for kids ages 6-21. This summer Hayden will be 6 1/2, so I got excited: he can go to TRIAD camp! I've been waiting for this for 2 years. I called about it in the beginning of March and got an information packet mailed to me. Because I hadn't seen anything about the cost printed anywhere in magazines about different summer camps, I thought, "How nice - they're not charging us for this. They're taking into consideration that we already have to pay a lot of money for therapy." Wrong - it costs $900 for 3 weeks. $900! This is a day camp, mind you - 9am to 3pm. Where do they get off with charging $900! That blew my mind, but I was prepared to suck it up and pay it. However, on Tuesday I was talking to another mom of an autistic boy, and she said something about the deadline for the application. I hadn't seen that part - all I saw was the cost. So when I got home, I saw that the application needed to be received by February 15th, a month ago. I called TRIAD the next day and left a message, saying that I know the application was due in February and I know they don't make exceptions for late applications, but I didn't receive my paperwork until last week. They called me back today and left a message telling me that they may be able to work something out if my son is an adolescent, but all the child spots are full. Full? It's the middle of March - how can summer camp be full already?!?!! A camp that costs $900 at that?!?? Hayden's speech therapist had suggested I look into this other camp, which I did on Wednesday, but all the spots they have for special needs kids are full as well. WTF??? I thought I was on top of things, looking into summer camp before Spring Break. Man, I'm bummed. This is/was Hayden's only shot at having autism therapy over the summer. I'm going to call the Autism Society of Middle Tennessee on Monday and see if they can offer any help, but things aren't looking that great. I think I need a summer home in a bigger city where there are more services available for autistic kids. I do love living in Nashville, but it sucks for autistic kids.

Okay, I'm done whining, and I'll leave you on a happy note. I think I've found a new riding buddy - at least one for my indoor rides:

DH also took a shot from behind, but it makes my ass look gigantic. Must. Stop. Eating. Chocolate.

Random thoughts (and some pictures)

2006-03-14T18:32:00.000-08:00

Overheard in the elevator at work on Monday:

Girl #1: How was your weekend?
Girl #2: Wonderful! How was yours?
Girl #1: Pretty good. What happened with...
Girl #2: We found out he's going to lose both of his feet. It's okay, though.

Unfortunately, this was the point at which they got off the elevator. Man, I wanted to hear the rest of that story! Who's losing their feet? Her little boy? Her dad? Her grandfather? And how, just how, does getting news like that still make a weekend wonderful? Huh???

I'm finally Jaywalking!

Here's Jaywalker #1:

I used size 2 dpns, and it fits like a dream. Not snug at all. I got this done fairly quickly, thanks to a weekend trip to Baltimore (more on that in a minute) and a dead computer at work. I'm using the sock yarn I bought from Wendy. Cute, huh? Here's another shot (added bonus - you get to see the ever-popular Nike workout pants at a different angle!):

And here's a shot of Hayden, who kept saying, "Cheese, camera!" while I was taking pictures of my foot. (I haven't subjected you to a shot of the Cutest Kid Ever in a while, anyway.)

I cast on for #2 at work this morning while the tech was reviving my computer. Unfortunately, he was successful, so that cuts into my knitting time.

Baltimore trip

DH ran a marathon in Lexington Park, Maryland on Sunday, so we went up to Baltimore on Friday night so I could meet up with a couple of fellow knitbloggers. Saturday morning I met Eunny and we took an enjoyable walk through the Inner Harbor to Fell's Point. There we found a very small but nice yarn store, and I bought yarn for attempt #2 at the Deep V Argyle Vest. This time I'm going with Dale of Norway's Heilo in cream and camel:

Then we spent a couple of hours sitting outside, knitting socks, eating pretzels and getting sunburned. It was a terrific morning. After I left Baltimore, I headed to Old Town Alexandria and met up with Kel at her LYS, Knit Happens. I sat, knitted, and bought some more vest yarn, this time for the cricket vest out of Rowan Classic's new Summer book (no mutant sea monkeys in that one!):

Y'know, I play so much cricket, I just need a vest to wear during my matches. When the shop closed, we ate dinner at a cute Tex Mex restaurant with her hubby and had a great time. The next morning was the marathon. I ran the first 9 1/2 miles, and it was great. A little warm, but we were on this cute little island with flat, shaded roads. The rest of the marathon was run alongside a highway. Yuck! To me, running alongside a highway with car fumes to inhale and no shade to enjoy is one of the worst experiences. But he got through it, and can now cross Maryland off his list in his quest to do a marathon in all 50 states plus Washington DC:

My husband is the tall, thin one, not the shorter one with pigtails.

Knitalong news

If you're an astute blog reader, you'll notice that I replaced the Knitting Olympics button with a new one: Eunny's Sampler Stole Knitalong. We're knitting the Sampler Stole from A Gathering of Lace. I'm using Jaggerspun Zephyr in a pretty pink. Actually, I'm not using it quite yet - tried to start it last week before we left for Baltimore, but ended up with 1 extra stitch on row 3, so frogged it and am going to restart this evening - but when I do, it's going to be beautiful. Also, I think I might actually participate in the Sexy Knitter's Club upcoming knitalong. You can choose between Glampyre's Orangina or Knit and Tonic's Somewhat Cowl, or do both. I'm going to look at both patterns, peruse my stash, and see what I can come up with. And I've changed my mind AGAIN on my Sockapalooza socks, but this time I'm sticking with it: a basic rib and cable sock. Pretty and not too fussy - perfect combination.

Sounds like I've got a lot of projects calling me, so bye for now!

Instant gratification

2006-03-08T08:40:00.000-08:00

I needed a quick knitting pick-me-up after the vest debacle, so I took the mohair I bought from Wendy and whipped out an Airy Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. This is the second time I've made this scarf, and I neither time have I gotten the measurements they have in the book. It's supposed to be 36 inches; mine is close to 30. But it doesn't matter; it's a scarf and it's cute the way it is.

I've also got some other projects on the needles, but nothing too exciting to show you. I'm making a second attempt at the Jaywalkers, this time in the blue/green yarn from Wendy. I'm only 4 rounds past the ribbing, so I can't tell whether I've screwed them up yet. The colors are turning out very yummy, though, so hopefully it'll work. My idiot project is a hat for a friend who made me copies of 6 workout DVDs. At $30 a pop, that's $180 worth of DVDs, so I feel he is very hat-worthy. Because he did Ironman Wisconsin last year with me, I'm making a basic black hat with a band of red, and in the red I'm putting little black Ironman logos. I actually swatched for this over the weekend with scrap yarn (and blocked the swatch - first time ever!) and it looked great, so I'm excited about finishing the hat and giving it to him.

Haven't made any progress on my Sockapaloooza socks, other than buying some Koigu, exchanging it a week later for a different, more subtle color, and changing my mind about a pattern at least 4 times. My first thought was Pomatomus, but then after I failed at my first Jaywalking attempt, I decided that maybe I wasn't ready for Pomatomus. Then I thought about Sockbug's River Rapids, but I don't like the fact the repeat starts with a purl stitch because I can't seem to not get a ladder when doing the first stitch on dpns as a purl stitch. Then I thought about Broadripple, but I think now I'm back to Pomatomus. Ack! I've never been this indecisive about anything. I need to start the damn socks already so I can't change my mind anymore. Once the Ironman hat is done, they'll be on the needles.

Weird

2006-03-03T14:37:00.000-08:00

The Continuing Argyle Vest Saga:

I tried to felt it today. The creme parts felted very nicely, but the lilac parts didn't felt at all. So what I've ended up with is a very skinny, long felted argyle vest that is bumpy. And the ribbing didn't felt at all (it's lilac). Can someone tell me what happened? I've felted before, but this has never happened to me. I feel silly asking this - and no, I am not a new knitter - but aren't colored yarns supposed to felt? Oh well. If I can find a way to cut it up and make a little purse out of it, it'll look very shibori.

I haven't been very productve knitting-wise. I was working on the body of my Fair Isle cardi, but it was nice and warm this week, so I was having trouble finding motivation to knit with the grey Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted. Temperatures in the 70s make me want to knit springy things, like -

- the Lace Cashmere Pullover from Loop d Loop
- something from the Rebecca Soft Kid booklet
- the Prairie Tunic from IK
- the Nothin' But a Tee from Magknits (archives, not current)
- Eunny's argyle vest (yes, I do want to take another stab at it)
- fun socks (okay, socks aren't necessarily springy, but I still want to knit them more than I want to knit a Fair Isle cardigan that I probably won't be able to wear until October)

So yesterday I decided to put the cardi in a Ziploc bag and mark it UFO, and I wound the green mohair I bought from Wendy and started an Airy Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I don't think I can mess this project up. And I think it'll be darling with a crisp white oxford and some wide-leg pants.