Another FO

Here is a picture of another finished object, the Fiery Bolero from the summer issue of Interweave Knits. Although I am typically a yarn snob, I used Bernat's Baby Softee for it to make it cheap. It turned out really cute (at least I think so):



Right now I'm working on a top out of Artyarns Supermerino. The pattern I'm using is Fiesta Yarns Gelato Summer Top, and it's not the quick knit they say it is. The ribbing changes position every 10 rows, which is not the challenge for me. The challenge is doing the increases and making them fit into the pattern. I'm getting to the end of the increases, and I'm having to write them out to see what they'll look like. It's annoying, to say the least. This top better look darn cute when I'm done with it! And I want to be done with it soon b/c I've joined 2 knitalongs lately: the Union Square Market Pullover KAL and the Greek Pullover KAL. Both sweaters are in the new issue of IK. I have the yarn for the Union Square pullover (purple, of course, and blue), but I haven't done a gauge swatch. I'm a little nervous about that b/c a couple of people in the KAL have had trouble getting it using the same yarn (Rowan Cashsoft 4ply).

Today was an interesting day. I rode 78 miles with a friend of mine, who is considerably slower than me. After slowing down and circling in the middle of the road, trying to stay with her, for 40 miles, I decided to just go my own pace, then pull over to the side of the road and wait for her to catch up. I did that the whole way home (we rode from my house). It wasn't the ideal training ride, but I didn't want to leave her b/c I got left by the group I was riding with last weekend, and it was no fun at all. Then when we got back to my house, I went out for a 3.5 mile run. She laid on the floor. Before I left the house, I said, "You're not leaving, are you? Because if you aren't, I won't take the house key." (My husband and son were camping with the in-laws and were 1 1/2 hours away.) She said she couldn't move, so I went off. 33 minutes later, I got back home, and she was in her car, talking on her cellphone (the battery was dying, so she had it hooked up to the charger in her car). I went to the front door, and it was locked! (You saw that coming, didn't you?) So we were locked out of the house. Her purse and shoes were in the house, and of course everything of mine was. The only person who has a spare key lives 45 minutes away (that'll soon change, though). So, all we could do was go to her place, change into her clothes, then go to a restaurant and eat hamburgers. I was not happy at all, but I couldn't show my anger b/c she already felt horrible. I had been looking so forward to knitting in an empty house all day. I called my husband, and we finally ended up getting back in the house 3 hours later. I guess the moral of the story is to make sure that your friend is not delirious when you tell her not to shut the front door to your house.

Off to bed. Even though my workout wasn't as tough as it could've been, I'm still very tired. Knit on!

Is it September 11th yet?

I've decided that training for an Ironman is a lot like being pregnant. At first, you're so excited and happy and can't wait until you get to wear maternity clothes. You tell everyone that you're expecting and share every little detail about how things are going so far. You're tired, you feel nauseous, you cry at stupid things, but it's all good b/c after a while, you'll have a tiny, precious baby in your arms, looking up to you for comfort, love and protection. After a while, though, you get fat and uncomfortable and REALLY tired, and you hate wearing maternity clothes, and you don't want to talk about being pregnant any more. You can't wait until that baby comes, b/c right now you're incredibly miserable. I think I'm in my third trimester of Ironman training. I had a really tough weekend training wise, and I'm just ready for race day to come. I'm tired, I'm emotional (watching "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" is not a good idea for Iron(wo)men in training!), and I'm losing my mind. Riding your bike 107 miles then running 30 minutes one day, then the next day running 18 miles, all in the 100 degree heat, definitely fries some brain cells. I've been told by Ironman veterans, though, that's it's totally normal to feel this way right now. If I think I suck, then I'm doing everything right and things will be just fine. I just have to stick it out for 3 more weeks, and then we'll start tapering (cutting back on our training time to give our bodies a rest before the Big Day). I can do it for 3 more weeks. And what's the craziest thing about all of this? The moment I cross that finish line, everything will be so wonderful that I'll forget the misery I went through to get there and I'll want to do it all over again. Just like having children.

On the knitting front, I finally have a picture of a Finished Object:



This is Tempting from Knitty. I used 5 skeins of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. I really like the way it turned out, but knitting it was a complete bore. Simple projects are nice sometimes, though, especially when they turn out as cute as this one did! The ribbon I used is Hanna Silk, which I would not recommend. It frayed a lot while I was weaving it in. I've got 2 other ribbons so I can interchange them, but I haven't done that yet. One thing I'd do differently if I did this again is to use a smaller needle to bind off. I find that the sweater will start to creep down my arms and if I'm not careful, I'll end up giving people a show!

Today's my day off of work, so I've got to catch up on some household chores that didn't get done over the weekend (who has time to do housework when they're putting in 12 hours of training time between Friday night and Sunday morning?) and then do a bit of knitting. I'm working on a pattern right now that I might give up on b/c a)I can't figure out the instructions, b) I haven't fallen completely in love with it yet (with the yarn, yes; with the pattern, no), and c) I've got a list a mile long of other things I want to make . I also have to do a swatch for my Union Square Market Pullover (one of the things on previously mentioned list). I ordered my yarn from Jimmy Beans Wool last Thursday, and it came in Saturday!

Knit on!

Goodies from my SP

I finally figured out how to post pictures on my blog, so here is a picture of the contents of my first SP5 package:



There are a couple of things missing from this shot. There was a bag of yummy cookies, but they were devoured rather quickly. There was also a bar of yummy dark chocolate with raspberries, but that's been eaten. Lastly there were 2 packets of lemon-lime Emer-gen-C, but those have been dissolved in water and drunk. For anyone who needs a quick pick-me-up without the caffeine, Emer-gen-C will do the trick!

Anyway, just wanted to show everyone proof of what a great SP I have. Haven't decided what the purple yarn will be used for, but whatever it is, it'll be a)beautiful and b) for me.

Off to bed after an exhausting weekend full of LOOOOOOONG, HOT training hours. Knit on!

Testing, testing, one, two...

My sister is teaching me via phone how to post pictures on my blog, so we're testing it out. This is a butt shot of me and my son Hayden getting ready to cross the finish line at the Mountaineer Triathlon, the toughest half-Iron distance race I've ever done, in Morgantown, West Virginia. Unfortunately, this shot doesn't show any of the horribly steep hills we had to climb. And believe me, there were LOTS!!!




Aren't I courageous for putting a picture of my butt on the Internet?!?

Land of the UFO's!

Aack! How can I, the Extremely Anal Knitter, have several UFOs all over the house?!? In addition to the regular ones hanging out in my knitting room/closet, 2 more have landed in the past week. I have finished Lelah and have blocked it, but have I bought elastic to sew up at the top so I can wear it and it won't fall off? Noooooo. Getting elastic involves going to the fabric store with my son, which is a pain in the butt, so it keeps getting postponed. Maybe I'll send my husband to pick up some b/c he works near the fabric store. Also, my Fiery Bolero is done, just waiting to be sewn up. I'm very anxious to do that b/c I want to see how cute it'll be. I did it out of non-yarn-snob yarn, which I normally don't do. If it turns out to be cuter than, I may break down and do another one out of yarn snob yarn. But that decision involves me sewing up the seams and weaving in ends. It's on my To Do list for tomorrow, so hopefully it'll get done.

The reason these UFOs have landed in my house is that I've been EXTREMELY busy. (Which is also the reason I haven't posted since the 12th.) Last Friday I ran 12 miles (actually, it was 12.2, but I'm trying not to be totally anal) at 6am, went home, got ready for the day, went downtown to the National Autism Conference (during which I knitted in public - yay!), got picked up at 6pm by my husband, went to the Duran Duran concert (so much fun!), and got home after midnight. Saturday I got up at 7am, got ready for the day, went to the conference until noon, picked up a friend, went home to pack for a triathlon, picked up another friend, and drove to Chattanooga. Yesterday I did the Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon (VERY fun race - for any triathletes in the Chattanooga area, I highly recommend putting this race on your calendar for next year!), took a shower, drove home, and actually played the role of Mommy until bedtime. Busy weekend. Oof! I'm tired! Hooray for Rest Day Mondays!!!

Apologies...

... to Uncle Eddie. In my previous post, I said my Secret Pal gave me Uncle Ernie's cookies, when in fact, she gave me Uncle Eddie's. I don't know how Uncle Ernie's cookies taste, but Uncle Eddie's are great! I was too lazy yesterday while blogging to go downstairs and look at the bag to make sure I got the name right. What can I say - it was Monday, and Monday's are rest days for me. No exercise.

Yippee! A package!!!

Last Friday I got my first package from my New and Improved Secret Pal! She's AWESOME!!! She sent me some lavendar scented lotion, 2 packets of Emer-gen-C (vitamin stuff to put in your water - loads you up with vitamin C), 2 packets of Passion Tazo Tea, a bag of Uncle Ernie's Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies (yummy!), a bar of raspberries in dark chocolate (double yummy!), a bar of dark chocolate with lavendar and blueberries (I haven't broken into that yet, but I'm sure if I had, I'd be saying triple yummy!), and 3 skeins of purple Shine from Knit Picks. The yarn is a great shade of purple. I haven't decided what to use it in, but since it's purple, it can't go to anyone other than myself. Yes, I'm being selfish. What can I say? I'm going to try and get my Sister the Computer Whiz to talk me through how to post pictures on my blog later today. If so, I'll post a pic of these wonderful goodies I got. It certainly made my day.

I didn't get a whole lot of kntting done this weekend. In between watching the Tour de France (go Lance!), I was logging long training hours yet again in my quest to become an Ironman. I rode 79 miles on my bike on Saturday followed by a painful 2.4-mile run, and on Sunday I rode another 16.9 (see - the anal part of me can't say I rode 17 - I have to be precise and say 16.9) miles followed by a 16.3 mile run. I was so tired by the end of the day yesterday. I've got only about a month left of hard training, then we get to cut back and taper until September 11th. I can't wait. Geez, what will life be like after I cross that finish line?

Ding ding! Round 2!

Yay! I've got a new secret pal - and I've already heard from her! Yippee!! I'm very excited about this, b/c I was disappointed when the first one didn't work out.

Anyway, hello to my new SP! And here's a list of things about me, just so you can know me better:

1. I'm a triathlete.
2. But I didn't used to be one - in fact, when I started college, I weighed about 70 lbs more than I do now and was EXTREMELY lazy.
3. I have an autistic 5-year old son who is very funny, sweet, smart and fun to be around.
4. Even though my son is funny, sweet, smart and fun to be around, he is still more of a handful than a typical 5-year old; therefore, I highly doubt I will have any more kids.
5. I'm getting closer and closer every day to realizing a dream of mine that's been 9 years in the making: doing an Ironman triathlon. I've done very well in my training, but I can tell it's taking a toll on me b/c I've become a Hamburger Queen (guess my body is telling me it needs protein!) and I've become way more emotional. I cried this morning during the Tour de France, and felt really silly while doing it.
6. My favorite drink right now is Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper in a bottle. Cans make drinks taste funny. I also love real Coke, but only after a hard workout.
7. I love love love the color purple. One day last year, one of my son's classmate's fathers said to me, "Do you like the color purple?" I thought it was bizarre that he - a man - noticed that, but then I realized that I had worn something purple every day that week.
8. I try to knit every day. Every once in a while something happens that causes me not to be able to, but I usually can fit at least 5 minutes in.
9. I love handpainted yarns like Koigu and Artyarns.
10. I also love anything Rowan. Calmer, All Seasons Cotton and Wool Cotton are my favorites.
11. I live in Nashville, so we can't wear heavy wool. It hardly ever gets cold enough. Last Christmas, I knitted my husband a sweater out of Lamb's Pride Bulky. I was so proud of myself b/c a)I managed to keep it a secret and b) it fit him PERFECTLY, but it was too hot for him to wear very much. He wore it maybe 5 times, and sweated through a couple of those.
12. Right now I'm working on the Fiery Bolero from the summer issue of Interweave Knits, a secret project for a secret pal, and the Lelah top from Christine's website.
13. I bought the fall issue of Interweave Knits today so that I can join the Union Market Square Pullover knitalong. I've done one other knitalong, and had a blast doing it.
14. I have a serious sweet tooth. I tend to "need" dessert after dinner every night. I like Weight Watchers desserts and chocolate chip cookies.
15. My sweet tooth is under more control than it used to be: I used to eat 4 Cadbury Creme eggs in one sitting, and I once ate so many M&Ms that I threw up.
16. It took me a year to be able to eat M&Ms again after getting sick off of them, but believe me - I'm totally over it!
17. My favorite things to knit are sweaters for me or my son.
18. My son looks so cute in the sweaters I knit for him that he belongs in the pages of a Rowan book!
19. I took an intarsia class from Sasha Kagan a couple of months ago, but sadly, I still knit with one color. I think I picked up on her method of doing intarsia, but I guess maybe I just gravitate towards solid colored things (or things knit with variegated yarn).
20. I really want to learn Fair Isle b/c in addition to the Union Market Square pullover (and the Greek pullover) from IK, I'd also like to do the Fair Isle cardigan for my son. It looks pretty difficult, so I may second guess myself later, but right now I think it's a sweater he needs this fall/winter.

So there you go! Secret Pal, feel free to ask me any other questions you might have!

But sir, it's just wafer-thin...

I am pitiful: for the last hour, I watched the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest on ESPN. Why, you ask? I have no earthly idea. We watched the Tour de France this morning, then my husband turned the TV to ESPN (like he usually does when he gets a hold of the remote), and after SportsCenter was over, they showed the contest live. And I watched the whole thing. I even put my knitting down during the actual 12 minute contest! That's horrible.

On the Ironman front, I have this much time until the race starts:

Ironman Wisconsin Countdown

Yipes!!! I'm nervous, excited, tired, sore, happy ... you name an emotion, I'm probably it. This weekend was full of long training hours. Saturday morning my friends and I rode our bikes 103 miles, then Sunday morning I ran 15 miles with a friend. I'm very proud of myself for doing this. It's so amazing to think back to the person I was back in high school. I was an overweight, lazy, extremely non-active, nerdy cross-stitcher. Now I'm a fit, active, nerdy triathlete/knitter. What a transformation!

On the knitting front, I finished 1/2 of a project for my secret pal. I'm having a lot of fun spoiling her. Unfortunately, the person spoiling me has dropped off the face of the earth. She won't even respond to my "hey, are you still there?" email. I guess this happens during games like this, but it still sucks when it happens to you. Oh well. At least I'm making a new friend out of the girl I'm spoiling. But back to knitting: I've also finished felting a bag for the Autism Conference silent auction. It doesn't have a handle, so it's not totally done, but it will be by the end of the week. I'm still working on Lelah, and I've run into a problem. My gauge grew from the time I did my swatch to the time I started working on the stockinette stitch part of the top, so it's too big. But I've talked to Christine, the pattern's creator, and I've got a couple of things to try. I'm gonna keep on working on it and try her suggestion for binding off (BO over 2 sts for half of the top, then regular BO for the rest). If that doesn't work - or if it works but doesn't look good - then I'll turn the top into a skirt and get an underskirt to wear so that I'm not flashing the people behind me when I wear it in public! It'll make a cute skirt. I tried it on as a skirt the other night, and my husband loved it. But of course he did - he's a guy, and it's a low-rise short skirt that's mainly see-through lace!

Knitting (k)news

I know that lately my posts have been about triathlon or my former (and new) bike, which isn't very exciting to people who aren't anal tri-geeks like myself, so I'll update y'all on my knitting.

I finished the bag I'm going to felt for the silent auction during the Autism Conference next month. It's cute un-felted, so I'm hoping it'll stay cute when I finally get around to felting it. I'm planning on making a beaded handle, but if that doesn't look good, I'll have to buy more yarn to knit a strap b/c I used all the yarn for the bag. I'm really counting on the beaded thing to work b/c it'd be really annoying to have to buy yarn just for a strap.

I was going gangbusters on Lelah until I decided to start a project for my Secret Pal. I can't tell you about that b/c if she's reading this, she'll be able to figure out who I am! But I can tell you that I hope she ends up liking it. I like it.

Then I was going gangbusters on my Secret Pal secret project when I decided last Thursday night that I need to do a Fiery Bolero like FaeryCrafty recently did. It's from the summer issue of Interweave Knits. I'm usually a yarn snob, but I'm using Bernat Baby Softee like she did. She pointed out that boleros are pretty trendy and therefore probably won't be in for very long, and she didn't want to spend a lot of money on it for that reason. I bought the mag and the yarn on Friday and worked on it in the car this weekend to and from Morgantown, West Virginia where I did the toughest half-Iron distance triathlon EVER. I thought that b/c I had so much guilt-free knititng time and the bolero's not very big that I'd be able to get it finished in the car, but that didn't happen. I'm over halfway done, though, so that's good. It's turning out cute. For those of you who think boleros are cute (unlike my husband, who doesn't see the point), you should check this pattern out. Very easy. And, if you're not a yarn snob (or you are a yarn snob who is willing to bend your rules a little), you should check out Bernat's Baby Softee. I'm using only 1 skein for the whole thing, so it's turning out to be less than $3!!!

My Bike Saga Part 2

Let me update you on the Saga of the Destroyed Bike. After talking to the bike shop guys, we decided to get a brand new bike for me. None of this nonsense of buying a frame and having them build it up using the non-damaged parts of Ira. The new bike was ordered last Thursday and should be here by the end of the week. I'm excited about getting a new bike, b/c Ira was so old, but I'm not as excited as I should be. I guess I was too emotionally attached to dear ol' Ira. Once my new bike is here and I make sure it fits me and it's mine for keeps, I'll have to name it. Ira Klein was such a great name; I don't think I'll be able to top it. The new bike is a Kona. Since that's Hawaiian, and the Hawaii Ironman is the epitome of everything for triathletes, I'll have to come up with some great Hawaiian sounding name. My friend and I came up with Kammawanna ("Come on, I wanna kick your ass!" Or, "Come on, wanna ride with me?" Or, "Come on, wanna see if you can keep up with this speed queen?"), but my husband thinks it's a)stupid and b)a mouthful, so maybe I'll think of something else. He thinks I should name it Don, as in Don Ho, but that's a little too boring for me. Anyone have any suggestions?

Because I have only my racing bike now, I had to ride her on my first 100-mile bike ride (most cyclists call those centuries) this past Saturday. We had perfect weather for it, and the route was great. It was an organized bike ride, so there were rest stops every 20 miles stocked with water, Gatorade, and a plethora of food. We rode through some beautiful, and very hilly, areas that I never knew existed. At mile 80, we had to climb the worst hill I've ever been up. People around me were getting off their bikes and walking up it. (I didn't, though, b/c I'm a bad-ass!!!) It was hellish. At the top, there were some people cheering us on, and they had a boom box playing the music to "Rocky". I can say that was cute now, but at that point in time, I wasn't thinking anything was cute. This hill was at the top of a road named Stillhouse Hollow. I've decided that I don't want to ride on any roads with the word "Hollow" in its name, b/c "Hollow" to me means that I'm in a hole that's been scraped out of the earth, and I have to climb my way out of it.

On the knitting front, the felted bag is ready to be felted. I think it'll turn out cute. Now that I'm done knitting it, I'm focusing all my knitting time on Lelah. I want to get her done soon so I can wear her! The lace part is turning out great. We're going to West Virginia this weekend for a half-Ironman triathlon, so I have a lot of upcoming guilt-free knitting time. (I can knit in the car. Can you?) 8 hours each way means lots of kntting! Lelah's at a point where I think I'd finish her in the car, so I don't think I'll take her. I've got a ribbed top that one of the local knitting gurus told me to do b/c it'll look great on me (according to her), so I'll start that. Who knows - with all that time, I might even finish it!

I've killed Ira!

I just got back from the bike shop. Last night I went for a bike ride on my Klein, whose name is Ira (I thought a Klein needed a nice, strong Jewish name like Ira, plus Ira Klein is a good play on words for a bike - Ira Klein, I recline? - haha!), and when I got home, I forgot he was up on the roof of my car and I tried to pull into the garage. I heard this horrible noise and it took me a minute to realize that it was Ira screaming in pain. My husband was actually not mad at me; he said it was just a matter of time before one of us forgot that a bike was on top of the car, and he was glad it was me hurting my bike instead of him hurting my bike. (And I'm sure he's also glad that he didn't hurt his bike, although he won't say that out loud.) Anyway, I took it in to the shop this morning to see what needed to be done to fix him, and the mechanic took one look at it and told me it's trashed. I'm SO BUMMED. I've had him for 6 years, and he's done nothing but be good to me. And what did I do? Kill him. Fortunately I have another bike, so I'm not going to be without wheels, but it's a racing bike, and although I love her to death (her name is Pearl because she's white, gold and silver, and the paint job on it makes it look like she's got long flowing hair), she's more suited to racing rather than just a regular ol' training ride. So what's going to happen from here is the mechanic will assess the damage and we'll get our insurance company to give us a check for the retail value of the bike. From there we can buy a new frame and put the components of Ira that weren't hurt on it. But, I don't know how long that process is going to take, and I can be somewhat impatient, so this is going to drive me crazy. I guess I can look at it this way: I've got a half-Ironman triathlon next weekend, so I'm going to ride Pearl this week to get used to being on her (ooh - that sounded dirty!) again, then maybe by that time I can get a new training bike. But I really loved Ira! This sucks.

On the knitting front, I got my short row rib scarf done and it's lovely. Hopefully it'll fetch a good bid at the silent auction. I'm working on a felted bag now, also for the silent auction, and I think I've decided to make a beaded handle for it to give it some pizazz. I was watching "Jewelry Making" on the DIY network last Sunday and saw someone do that. The handle was such that it could be taken off the purse and worn as a necklace. So I'm going to try that. I'm also working on Lelah and it's turning out nicely. I'm doing it out of Berroco Lullaby in purple. Lullaby is really soft, so it'll feel good against my skin!

Almost lunchtime, so I guess I'll find some food to drown my sorrows in.

Stephanie

Mother Nature is a ruthless wench!

My goal: to ride my bike for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

My problem: my 5-year old son can't be left alone in the house and my husband has a softball triple-header after work.

My solution: get my son's autism therapist, who normally comes over from 230-330, to come over 30 minutes early so I can go for a ride while they're working.

What happened: it started thundering 15 minutes before her scheduled arrival time, and by the time she got here, it was pouring.

To add salt to my wounds: it clears up and gets sunny just in time for me to have not enough time to get ready and ride before she has to leave.

AACK!

Doesn't Mother Nature know that I'm training for an Ironman and MUST ride my bike?!?

Secrets are fun!

I got an email 2 days ago (or was it yesterday? can't remember) from my secret pal! Yippee! Can you tell I'm excited about this? I think it's going to be a lot of fun. I also got the info on the secret pal I'm going to spoil, so I emailed her yesterday. She seems really cool. She and I have some similar interests, so she seems to be the type of person I'd be friends with if she lived here (or I lived there). :)

Flick is driving me crazy! How long can it possibly take to knit 8 stitches for 15 inches?!? My original plan was to get it done so that I could wear it in Chicago last weekend, but obviously that didn't happen. Oh well. She SHOULD be done this weekend, though, so maybe I'll just have to tell my husband that we have to go back to Chicago so that she can have the debut that was intended for her.

It's raining here today, which sucks. Rain is good knitting weather, but bad riding weather. Doesn't Mother Nature know that I'm supposed to ride my bike every Wednesday? I'm supposed to swim and run tomorrow morning, so I've thought about switching that to today and ride tomorrow, but I think it's supposed to rain again tomorrow. :( I'll have to check with weather.com before I make my final decision. I may end up on my Spin bike here at home for an hour and 15 minutes. Yuck. Maybe I should look at this optimistically: if it rains today and tomorrow, maybe all the rain will be gone before the weekend and I can ride 75 miles outside on dry roads!

Secret Pal 5 questionnaire

I know I haven't posted in a while, but I've been super busy. Two weekends ago we were in Memphis for a triathlon (I beat my time goal by over 2 minutes - yay!), then this past weekend we made our annual trek to Chicago for a Cubs game. Life happened inbetween, so needless to say, I haven't had much free time.

Anyway, here are my answers to the Secret Pals 5 questionnaire. I'm so excited about doing this! My husband thinks I'm a nerd for it, but oh well.

1. Are you a yarn snob? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you? Yes, I do consider myself a yarn snob. I know it's not something to be totally proud of, but I am. I made a Rowan sweater for my son last year out of Lion Brand Wool Ease and it was so not as cute as the one in the book, and I attributed that to the yarn. Since then, I haven't used anything from Wal-Mart, JoAnn Etc. or Michael's.

2. Do you spin? Crochet? If you're talking about spinning yarn, no. If you're talking about spinning on a bike in a gym, yes. (I'm just being funny. Of course I know we're talking about yarn!) I know how to crochet but I don't do it very much. I've crocheted edges on sweaters and I made the Jessica Simpson shawl, but that's about it.

3. Do you have any allergies? No.

4. How long have you been knitting? I learned 5 years ago, but I took a break from it for about a year.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? No.

6. What's your favorite scent? I don't think I have a favorite scent. I guess I like floral smells, but nothing makes me go crazy. There are some flowers along this road I ride my bike on that smell really good, but I don't know anything about flowers, so I can't tell you what they are, which doesn't help the favorite scent situation one bit. Sorry.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Yes!!! I love chocolate, especially dark chocolate, but I try not to eat it very much. I think I'm like Oprah: I have to work out really hard to keep my weight down. So eating sweets certainly doesn't help my situation. But I do like them and do indulge from time to time! (Note to my secret pal: This does not mean that you should not send me chocolate, especially dark chocolate! By all means, bring it on! I'm going to be doing so much working out this summer while training for my Ironman triathlon that I think I'll be able to afford to eat some chocolate, especially dark chocolate!)

8. What other crafts or DIY things do you like to do? I sometimes like to sew, but knitting seems to take up my craft time, so I don't do much of it.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? I have a wide range of musical tastes, although I guess I lean more towards rock n roll. My favorites include Lenny Kravitz and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Somehow I got sucked into American Idol this past season and I really liked Bo Bice. I was sad he didn't win. And yes, my husband said my computer can play MP3s. (I had to ask him b/c I'm pretty computer illiterate.)

10. Favorite color? Colors you can't stand? My favorite color is purple followed closely by green. I don't like brown or grey.

11. What's your family situation? Any pets? I've been married for 7 years and we have a 5-year old son who's autistic. We also have 2 dogs: Rudy, a Jack Russell terrier, and Gracie, a German short-haired pointer. We got Gracie before the German shorthair won Westminster, so I guess you could say we're trendsetters.

12. What are your life dreams? I would like to complete an Ironmnan triathlon. (An Ironman triathlon is a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2-mile run.) 9 years ago when I started doing triathlons, I didn't think anything like that would be possible, but now I really think I can do it. I'm signed up for Ironman Wisconsin held in Madison this September 11th, so I'm making steps towards my dream. What would be even cooler would be to do the Hawaii Ironman. That race is the epitome of everything for triathletes.

13. What's your favorite yarn? Anything Rowan. I seem to use a lot of Rowan All Seasons Cotton. Since it doesn't get terribly cold in Nashville, I can't use any heavy wool. I made a sweater for my husband last year out of Lamb's Pride Bulky, and he couldn't wear it very much b/c it hardly ever gets below 30 degrees.

14. Any fibers you don't like? Chenille. Yuck!

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s? Anything Rowan, and lately, anything Rebecca.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Sweaters for my son or for myself.

17. What are you knitting right now? On the needles is a scarf (the Short Row Rib scarf from magknits - turning out very cute) and a bag I'm going to felt, both for the silent auction that's part of the Autism Conference being held here in July. On double pointed needles is Flick, a belt from the Sex in the Knitty issue of knitty. I wanted to finish it last Thursday so I could wear it in Chicago, but that didn't happen. I think it'll look cute this summer with the prairie skirts that seem to be gaining popularity.

18. What do you think about ponchos? I don't have a strong feeling either way. I have made 2 for myself and I like them, but I don't foresee myself making any more.

19. Straight needles or circulars? Circulars all the way, baby!

20. Bamboo, aluminum, or plastic? Bamboo.

21. Are you a sock knitter? I know how to make socks and have made some for myself, my mom, and my son, but I wouldn't say they're my favorite thing. I don't go out of my way to knit socks. I don't think I wear shoes that show off cute socks. But my son looks cute in a pair that peek out of his hiking boots in the fall and winter!

22. How did you learn how to knit? A friend wanted to take a class b/c she had been vacationing in Vermont and saw the women sitting around the fireplace, knitting. I took a class with her and 2 other friends, and I'm the only one it really stuck with.

23. How old is your oldest UFO? I tend not to have UFOs b/c I'm anal and must finish things, but I do have a couple (all with good reasons for not being finished): a crochet scarf from last fall (it got really boring to do), and a brioche rib turtleneck sweater from this past winter (it got too hot to wear when finished and I had other things to do - it's almost done, just waiting to be sewn together).

24. What's your favorite animated character or favorite animal/bird? I don't think I have a favorite animated character. I like Sesame Street characters b/c my son does, but they're not animated, so I don't know if that counts. My favorite animal would be a dog. I don't know a lot about birds, so I can't tell you the name of my favorite. Again, I saw a really pretty bright turquoise bird while riding my bike last week, but I don't know what kind it was. My most UNfavorite animal would be a frog. I am so completely scared of them it's stupid. I know it doesn't make any sense, which makes it worse. But I am not responsible for what I say or do when I see a frog.

25. Favorite holiday? I really like Christmas b/c I usually make a new sweater for my son to wear when visiting Santa, and he always looks adorable. This past year it was a cabled sweater out of silvery grey Rowan Handknit DK. My first cable project, and it was terrific.

26. Anything you collect? Not really.

27. Current knitting magazine subscriptions? I used to have one to Family Circle Easy Knitting, but I don't anymore. I'd like a subscription to Vogue Knitting, though.

28. Books wanted? The new Loop D Loop book is pretty cool. I'd also like Stitch n Bitch Nation.

Okay, that's it. Have fun, my secret pal! Can't wait to find out who you are at the end of the summer!

Stephanie

Who's afraid of a little intarsia?

Yesterday I got to take a class from famous knitwear designer, Sasha Kagan. I was so excited about it since she does a lot of work for Rowan, and I am a self-proclaimed Rowan freak. She taught us her method of doing intarsia, which involves weaving in the color not in use along the back. It was awkward at first because you have to hold yarns in both hands, but I think I got the hang of it and now want to tackle an intarsia project. I really enjoy learning new skills like this so that I can keep challenging myself.

Speaking of not challenging myself, I am done with Tempting with the exception of a) one end to weave in that has somehow created a little hole, b) little holes that have formed at each end of the underarm seams (hole count: 5), and c) ribbon weaved through the eyelet row at the top. It's very cute. I need to go to my LYS and get them to help me close up the holes. Tonight is Stitch n Bitch night, so I could go when my hubby gets home, but I'm PMS'ing and don't know if I'd be in the mood for knitting in a group. I might be daring this afternoon and take my son to the fabric store to find some cute ribbon. I'd like to wear the sweater this week.

Project on the needles:
Koigu pants - they're going to take a while to complete b/c they're put on the back burner to other projects that crop up along the way

Projects waiting to be started:
2 items for the Autism Conference's silent auction in mid-July (one scarf and one felted bag - LYS is having a big sale this Friday, so I'm going to wait and see what's on sale before I buy yarn)
1 baby gift for a friend having her second boy sometime in August - thought I might do hats for little brother/big brother - I like using the Fiber Trends hat with ear flaps in Koigu double stranded

Projects in my mind that'll probably eventually get started and cause me stress:
coordinating sweaters for my son and my niece for Christmas (little bit of intarsia - maybe a first intarsia attempt?)
cable sweater for hubby for Christmas (either Rowan or Rebecca - instead of surprising him like last Christmas, I'll ask him which one he likes better and maybe even get him to pick out yarn with me)
Daisy zippered cardigan out of Rowan winter magazine (one of Sasha Kagan's designs - she had it with her yesterday and I got to try it on - super cute!)

Those are just what I can think of right now. I have many others at home, just crying out to be knit! Can I quit working so I can knit more?

Tempt(yawn)ing

I'm so close to finishing the Tempting sweater from knitty.com, and I think I might fall asleep. It's not a very exciting knit, let me tell you. 2x2 rib the whole way. The picture is so cute, though. I'm hoping it'll all be worth it in the end. My goal is to finish it by the end of this weekend. I've got about 4 more inches to do, so it should be possible. I am going to be very busy this weekend, though, so I don't know.

I have a 5-year old son who is autistic, and one of his therapists has asked me to knit a couple of things for the silent auction being held during the Autism Conference in mid-July. She wants one of them to be a scarf, and the other is up to me. I think I might do a felted bag with some fun novelty yarn at the top. The scarf is a toss-up between Clapotis from Knitty, and Short Row Rib from magknits. I'd like to make up my mind by the time I finish Tempting so that I can start on it after that. If anyone has an opinion to give me either way, let me know.

This morning I got an email letting me know that I'm in Secret Pals 5! Yay!!! I found out about Secret Pals during the fourth installment, so I kept my eye out for the fifth installment to start. I'm excited; I think it'll be fun. My husband thinks I'm a nerd for doing it, but he thinks I'm a nerd a lot of the time. Oh well. When it gets closer to the time when SP5 starts, I'll post a list of things about me so that my secret pal will have an idea what to do/get.

So long for now! Going to do some secret knitting under my desk here at work b/c I'm bored but don't want to get caught. Sounds a little George Costanza-ish, don't you think?

I did it!!!

I did it!!! Actually, I did 2 things: I finished my Apricot Jacket, and I finished a marathon with no problems! My Apricot Jacket is beautiful. It was all done last Monday with the exception of buttons. I didn't get a chance to look for buttons until Wednesday afternoon, then a friend of mine at my LYS found the perfect ones. They're square-ish and mosiac looking, with bits of blue, pink and green in them. Their colors and geometry go well with the jacket. I wore it to work on Thursday and was astonished by my cuteness every time I saw my reflection in a mirror! It's such a great piece to knit.

On the marathon front, I ran the Country Music Marathon yesterday. Because of my past inability to finish a marathon, I was really weird about this one. I waited until the last minute to sign up for it, I didn't tell anyone except for my husband, my hairdresser, and one of my swimming and running partners that I was doing it, and I didn't taper at all. (Usually people take it easy the week leading up to a marathon by not exercising as much as they normally do; I didn't do that at all. I wanted it to feel like just another training run for me rather than a marathon.) I took it easy during the race and walked 1 minute for every 9 minutes I ran, whether I felt like I needed to walk or not. I didn't look at my watch every time I passed a mile marker, and I didn't look at the clocks at the mile markers. I didn't want to get caught up with my time; I just wanted to finish. I actually did pretty well: 4 hours, 19 minutes and 4 seconds. That's over 11 minutes faster than my previous fastest marathon. Today my legs are very tired and sore, but I'm very happy. I really wanted to cross the finish line of a marathon before going to Madison in September for Ironman, so now I can cross that off my list! And now I can stop worry about long runs and spend more time on my bike! Yay!

Off to knit now. I've got only 2 projects going: the Koigu pants from the Winter 2004/05 issue of Vogue Knitting, and the Tempting sweater from knitty.com. Tempting is my idiotic project that I do while in the car or waiting in line somewhere, so I think I'll work on my pants right now.

Knit on!

The Sleeve Saga!

I'm finally running into the problem that I've read about on everyone else's blogs but never had encountered: sleeve length. Aargh! I'm getting oh-so-close to the end of the Apricot Jacket in Seafoam Blue, and the sleeves have decided to throw me for a loop. In the magazine, the sweater comes over the knuckles of the model. I don't want mine like that, so I decided to shorten the ribbing part. Somehow, however, when I finished my first sleeve last night (thanks to a car trip to Birmingham and back this past weekend!), it was WAAAAAY too long. When I held it up to my arm, it came down to my fingers. Aack. So I did the math, ripped out, reballed, and reknit. Somehow, now it looks like it's going to be too short. It may end up being 3/4 length, which most of the time I like but I'm not quite sure will look good on this particular sweater. Double Aack. So, I guess for now, I'm going to block the back and fronts, sew them up, then take everything into my LYS and ask for their help/opinions. I should've known that this sweater would give me heartache sometime during the process. The first time I did it, it about made me want to strangle myself with some Rowan Calmer.

On a non-knitting note: why do doctors have to be so much trouble? This could be a really long story, but I'll shorten it as much as I can. I have seen my PCP for the same problem 3 times in the last 3 years: I have had random bouts of chest pain while running. I've had a multitude of tests that prove it's not heart-related. This last time I saw him (St. Patrick's Day) he just wanted to tell me that it might be something that can never be fixed and I may never be able to run another marathon again. That's not an acceptable answer. Lots of people, including people not as fit as I, run marathons just fine. I've run several marathons in the past, and I've run for 12 hours straight. Something specific is causing this problem, but he's of the opinion that people shouldn't do endurance events, so he's not even trying to figure it out. The only thing he's done is rule out heart problems (which, of course, is great). This last time, he referred me to another doctor who runs marathons. I saw him 3/31, and I left there feeling very positive that he's going to get to the root of the problem. However, since he's an internist, and my PCP is an internist, insurance isn't covering it. So now I'm trying to switch the new guy to my PCP. I've got several more visits with him about this and lots of tests that he wants to run, so I've got to have insurance cover it. When I called this morning to make my follow-up appointment, they told me I could switch. However, his nurse called me back this afternoon and told me I couldn't switch. We went back and forth on the matter, and I cried a little, and now I'm waiting for a call from him personally. I want to hear from him that he won't take me as a new patient, b/c I really don't believe that he won't. His nurse, though, I'm sure doesn't think highly of me right now, and it's such a mess. I feel like Elaine on Seinfeld when she got labeled as being "difficult". Cross your fingers that Runner Doctor will take me on, b/c I really need him to.

Rebecca RULZ!!!

I finished my wrap cardi out of the new Rebecca last Thursday and debuted it at work the next day. I must say, I was rather adorable! It's the second most favorite sweater I've done for myself. The first is my Rowan 3/4 length raglan sleeve sweater out of purple that matches my bellybutton ring. Rowan will always be number one on my list, but Rebecca is becoming a very close second. Also, I finished the back of my Apricot Jacket (another Rebecca pattern, although I should call mine the Seafoam Blue Jacket since it's not Apricot) last night in a carb-induced stupor. (My in-laws seem to serve only starchy vegetables and breads when we get together, and I usually get home feeling like crap. I guess I don't have to eat the mashed potatoes, rolls, macaroni and cheese, dressing, and navy beans, but then my plate would be empty.) It's really cute. I'm working on the left front right now. We're going out of town for a duathlon next weekend, so that'll give me a lot of guilt-free knitting time, and I should be able to knock out a lot of it.

Ironman note: less than 23 weeks! 23 weeks from now, I should be limping around, very happy and very tired. I got out my calendar today and started planning my training. In July and August, I will be on my bike A LOT. Every Saturday I'll be riding 5, 6 or 7 hours, then doing a couple of more hours running and biking on Sunday. Yipes! If this is what it takes for me to cross that finish line happy before midnight on September 11th, though, I'll do it.