Ready to be gifted

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

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

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!

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

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?

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

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

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'

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?

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...

...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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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):