It is indeed a purple mystery.

Happy New Year's Eve, everyone! This is really sad - it's after 9pm on New Year's Eve, and I'm blogging. Not only am I blogging, I'm wearing navy blue socks, dog-hair-covered black yoga capris, and a stained sweatshirt from my first half-Ironman, I have no makeup on, and my hair is all straight and sticking to my head from when I swam early this afternoon. Sheesh. And I call myself a member of The Sexy Knitter's Club.

Anyway, let's move on to the Mystery of the Malabrigo Shrug:

Back in September, Mike and I visited The Knitting Tree while we were in Madison for Ironman. I bought some wonderful Malabrigo to make a shrug that the owner of the store, Melissa Matthay, had designed. The colors are Purple Mystery and Lettuce. Because of other knitting must-dos, I didn't get to it until yesterday. To my horror, the pattern is wrong. It's very vague and there are typos - not little typos (well, there are some of those too), but big honkin' ones. Like "K1, k2tog, k8, yo, k until 11 sts, yo, k8, k2tog tbl, kl" for the left front. A) those are the same instructions as for the back. B) there aren't enough stitches to do that whole thing on. No schematics, no number of stitches you should have at any given point, no increase instructions given for the left front when there were increases on the back. (I've never done a sweater that has increases on the back but not on the front. Have you?) I quickly became obssessed with this shrug and was determined to figure it out ASAFP. I changed my workout schedule for today so that I could be home at 10am and call the store when they opened. Someone (a man, or a woman with a really husky voice) took my number and said that "Jackie" would call me back in a couple of minutes. He/she also told me that Melissa no longer owns the store, so I'm assuming that Jackie bought it from her. I stayed home until 1:30, but never got a call back. My guess is that they figured there's not a huge rush to call me back since I don't live in town and won't be frequenting their store very often (if ever again - not because of this incident, but because I don't foresee us having a reason to be in Madison, WI again). Or maybe they just got really busy. Either way, they forced me to do something I've never done before: write the pattern sort of on my own. Egads! I'm soooooo not a creative person - I'm very anal and can follow directions very well, but when it comes to coming up with ideas on my own, I fall short. I went on the assumption that the instructions for the back are correct, then backed into numbers for the left (which became the right somehow) front. I also used this picture as best as I could. I've sewed the right front to the back, and so far, so good.


There's some striping on the sleeves and the edging, which I'm going to use the Lettuce for.

Isn't it pretty?

Lettuce hope that I can forge on and make this shrug as wonderful as the one I tried on in the store back in September and wanted to roll around naked in. (If you've ever touched Malabrigo, let alone knit with it, you'll understand why I said that.)

Promised pictures

Without further ado, I present to you Mike's Christmas sweater:



This is the Man's Cabled Sweater out of last spring/summer's Rebecca magazine (the one with the cute short-sleeved purple sweater on front - I'm too lazy to go upstairs right now and get my copy to see what number it is) done out of Jo Sharp DK Wool. I'm very pleased with it.

Here's a closeup shot of the front:


And here's a sleeve:


As you can tell, once I was done with the ribbing, there wasn't a row that didn't need a cable needle. I do love cables, but I think I am cabled out for the time being!

I've got some more pictures! I was in a Vintage Christmas swap, and this is what my swap partner, Mo, sent me:

It's an ornament made out of a vintage spool covered in vintage Christmas paper. It's filled with little candies. I think it looks great on my tree, don't you? And if that weren't enough, her kids made this for Hayden:

A bar of soap with a Cinderella figurine inside! She saw the pictures of him with his princesses and thought that he might like it. Of course he does! It's great tool to use to get him to remember to wash his hands after using the bathroom. She and her kids are so thoughtful.

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig.

After an action-packed Christmas Day, we are home again, trying to resume normal life. We had Christmas morning at our house, Christmas afternoon with my in-laws about 45 minutes away, then Christmas night in Memphis with my family (a 3-hour drive from our house). We came home the next day, so a lot of time was spent in the car. Fortunately, I do not get carsick from knitting, so I got a couple of repeats done on my Gryffindor scarf. Man, this is going to be one long scarf! It's just plain stockinette stitch, but it was really nice to have something totally mindless to work on after knitting myself into a cabled frenzy finishing Mike's sweater. Today, after doing some out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new toys cleaning and organizing(believe me, our house does not look like it's home to only 1 child), I pulled out one of my old UFOs: a brioche rib turtleneck out of Artyarns Jazz. Last year I finished the back, front, and sleeves just in time for it to warm up outside, so I put the pieces in a plastic bag. I'm working on the turtleneck part now, so maybe by the end of the week I'll have a new sweater to wear!

I have no knitting pictures to share right now, but I'll leave you with some Christmas goodies:


Ho, ho, ho!


Hayden's Paw-Paw is teaching him how to use the drums that he and Mimi gave Hayden for Christmas. Unfortunately, the drums did not stay at their house.


This is Hayden wearing his Prince cape, giving his cousin Dorothy/Snow White a kiss. (Hayden, of course, was very jealous of Dorothy's Snow White dress.) He looks more like the Grim Reaper than a Prince in this picture.


Aaah, much better.

Why are Hayden and I doing a happy dance*?

For the same reason I made a change to the WIP sidebar - I finished Mike's sweater tonight!

And I've got tons of time to spare - it's only 11:20pm.

With that being said, I will not be sneaking upstairs to do some secret knitting tonight on those ornaments I mentioned yesterday. I think Mike would kill me.

Pictures will be coming in the next couple of days. Until then, everyone have a safe, happy and healthy holiday!!!



* - This is technically our silly dance, but I'm calling it our happy dance for tonight. Happiness usually accompanies silliness, anyway.

Crap.

I'm at work with nothing to do, and there's a TON of stuff I need to do outside this office! I have presents to buy and sleeves to finish knitting. Crap.

My back STILL hurts so I haven't exercised since Tuesday night (which is a long time to me) and I have found how good the turtle caramel popcorn is that we have in the kitchen here. Crap.

I have to go to Toys R Us tonight. Crap.

And now I have to knit a couple of these ornaments I just found on Julia's blog. They're just too pretty not to knit, and I know my mom and my sisters would love some. And I've got both green and purple leftover Kidsilk Haze in my stash. Crap.

Can Christmas be celebrated on the 26th this year? I think one more day would give me enough time to get everything done.

To leave this post on a positive note, though, I called my husband at home to see if he had made an attempt at winding the pink mess that was hanging in our bathroom. After teasing me for a while, telling me that he ended up throwing it away, he told me that there are 3 balls of it waiting patiently on the dining room table. What a good boy.

I travelled to the Isle of Fair...

...and had a really good time! This is my husband's ski hat out of Rowanspun Chunky. (This is the Super Secret Present that I spoke of in earlier posts. He reads my blog sometimes, so I couldn't mention it. He's off work now until after Christmas, though, so I feel pretty sure he's not going to visit my blog. Reading knitting blogs is not his idea of a fun way to spend vacation time.) I used the Jayne Cobb hat pattern floating around on Craftster and used part of a chart out of the Handknit Holidays book. I'm planning on doing a Fair Isle sweater for myself after Christmas (or should I say Festivus? I'm watching Seinfeld right now) and wanted to get some practice in. I think I did a pretty okay job! It was fun. I'm looking forward to the sweater. I'm also looking forward to giving my husband this hat. He said he wanted a fun ski hat with ear flaps and no pompom - this fits the bill! He'll be really surprised because he won't be able to figure out how I fit this in, especially without him noticing.

And while we're on the subject of my husband's Festivus gifts, progress on his sleeves was thwarted today by my ever-so-precious son. After lunch, Hayden found the Kool-Aid and said, "Dye yow, Mommy? Pink!" It didn't take much twisting of this Mommy's arm - we got dressed and drove up to Angel Hair Yarn Company to buy some yarn to dye. Although I don't wear shoes that show off my socks, I've been inspired to do those cute Jaywalkers that everyone is crazy over. So we bought some Sheperd Baby Wool 4 Ply and went to Kroger to pick out some more colors. Then we came home,


wound the yarn,


picked our first color (he chose Pink Lemonade),


and dyed the yarn. (Looks like I need to clean my stovetop!)

My original thought was to dye the whole thing pink then go back and do part of it red (Tropical Punch), but so far I like the way the yarn didn't soak up the color evenly, so I may keep it as is. It'll turn out different shades of pink, I think. That's if I can wind it into a ball from the mess I have hanging to dry in the bathroom. I tied the hank in 4 different places, but I think my knots were so loose that the yarn slid out. What's drying in the bathroom is such a mess that I didn't want to take a picture of it. If it works out - if my husband can untangle it without divorcing me - I'll take a piture then. Wish me luck!

Last scarf done!

Thanks to my staying home from work today (yay for school breaks!) and an episode of MTV's "The Gauntlet II" last night, I was able to finish the last of Hayden's therapists' scarves. This one was dyed with Arctic Green Apple, and it's not as bright as you'd think a green apple would be. Next time we'll use more Kool-Aid packets. I'd also like to try my hand at doing multi-colored dyeing.

Next on the list are Mike's sweater sleeves. I'll work on those a little today, as well as a Super Secret Present To Be Revealed Soon (hopefully by Saturday!).

Sunday goal setting

Well, I met all my goals from last week except the exercise one, and that's because I've developed some sort of pain in my lower back that has kept me from running since Wednesday night. My trainer thinks it might be sciatic nerve pain, so I've got to be really careful about stretching and maintaining good posture. Also, no running this week. I can bike and swim as long as it doesn't hurt. And I'm getting a massage tomorrow. Hopefully this will go away soon because running is the thing that I love the most, and is the easiest to do around the holidays when the gym is closed and you can't go for a swim or a Spin class. I did end up exericising 9 hours and 18 minutes, so I really wasn't that far away from my goal. And there's still time left tonight. If I want to, I could jump on my Spin bike for 45 minutes, which is what I was supposed to do today anyway (in addition to the hour run that I attempted this morning but had to stop 7 minutes into it).

And on the knitting front, not only did I finish the front of Mike's sweater, I sewed the shoulder seams, finished the neckline and did the ribbing on both sleeves! Yippee for me! Maybe there's hope for a FO by next Sunday after all!

The yarn dyed for the third and final therapist scarf is hanging in my bathroom. Hayden chose Arctic Green Apple. It didn't turn out nearly as bright as I thought it would, but it's still pretty. More like a seafoam green than a green apple. Mike and I will wind it tonight and I'll have the scarf done in time for Hayden's therapy session on Wednesday.

Here are my goals for this week:

1. Finish Mike's sweater by Saturday night.
2. Do all my swim and bike workouts.
3. Stretch and rest enough for my back to get better.

There's also another goal I've secretly set in my mind, but I can't blog about it because the person it pertains to sometimes reads this blog and I don't want to give anything away. But, once I meet it, you'll find out about it!

7 Great Things About Being a Triathlete in December

1. You can go out for a bike ride and have fun with people who, in 5 months, will kick your ass.

2. Bike rides are about having fun, not about speed. They're about seeing who can coast the furthest down a hill.

3. 40 miles is long. (Come May and June, it almost won't be worth me getting on my bike to ride only 40 miles. And that's not meant to scare off anyone who's thinking of taking up triathlons. That's because I will be Ironman training. Yes, I am crazy.)

4. You get in the shower after a riding your bike in 43 degree weather and laugh because one of your toenails is blue. Geez, I must've been colder than I thought I was!

5. You don't have to go fast in the pool or during a run. In fact, you WANT to go slow. This time of year is all about perfecting your technique and building a great aerobic base.

6. You can eat a lot at all your holiday parties and not feel guilty about it because you, being the obsessive training junkie, are going for a 12-mile run in the morning then for a 45-minute spin on the indoor bike later that day.

7. You laugh when meeting up with your friends for a bike ride in the 43 degree weather because you don't recognize anyone. Sure, you spent countless hours with these people every weekend this past summer, but that's when you basically didn't have clothes on.

Promised pictures

Here are the sweet things that were in my SP package: chocolate, chocolate, and chocolate! And some organic snackbars. (I ate the banana bread one yesterday. Delish!) And some more Greenies for Rudy and Gracie. They give you props for those, Wendy! I think you can tell in this picture that I've already broken into one of the chocolate bars. YUMMY!!!


Here are the smelly things from the package: lavender body lotion, lavender bath gel, lavender foam bath, lavender shampoo, a lavender lotion bar from the Lavender Fields that are near her house, and peppermint foot cream. She's ensuring that nobody can call me Stinky! There's also another tube of Disney Princess toothpaste for Hayden.


And here is the softest, silkiest thing: a skein of 100% bombyx silk handpainted yarn in lovely shades of violet and purple. She said she had "Ironman Stephanie" in mind when she did it! Go ahead, stroke your monitor - feel the softness of the yarn. I've been fantasizing about what I'm going to make with it ever since I got it.


Here's a picture of the contents of the UPS Urgent package that was delivered to me last Sunday. I've been coveting that Folk Shawls book ever since I saw Eunny's Fir Cone shawl. I've got some alpaca silk laceweight yarn in my stash waiting to become something out of that book.

And one last shot:

This is our tree that we FINALLY decorated this past Wednesday. See the box underneath? I'm in a Secret Santa swap, and that's my present. I'm not supposed to open it until December 23rd, but man, is it tempting! I actually received it about a week ago but kept forgetting to mention it. I hope the person who sent it to me hasn't been reading my blog and wondering if it ever got to me. This is proof that it did.

Okay, I must return to my husband's sweater. By this time next week, I'd like to be ready to sew the sleeves in. Right now I'm a couple of inches past the armholes on the front and I've done the ribbing of both sleeves, so I still have quite a bit to do.

Compa Secreta revealed ...

... and it's Wendy!

She's been a super terrific Secret Pal - er, Compa Secreta. I got a package from her yesterday that included sweet things, smelly things, and the softest, silkiest thing EVER. I want to carry it around like a woobie always. Pictures will come later, I promise. You should check out her blog if you want to see cute dogs and wonderful handspun, handpainted yarn. She has an online store, too. Once I finish my husband's sweater, I'm going shopping!

Are you thirsty?

Here are the Kool-Aid scarves. The blue one is a keyhole scarf, and the red/pink one is just a plain ol' scarf. Pretty cute, eh? Gotta love the garter stitch - it flies by and is done in no time. We gave the blue one away last night, and she seemed very appreciative. One more to go. Its recipient will be at our house tomorrow for an in-home session, so we'll wait until Friday to dye the yarn. Hayden has picked Artic Green Apple.

Just in time!

Actually, I have almost an hour and a half to spare. It is now 3:35pm. At 5pm, Hayden and I go to speech therapy, our last session until February. The last end of the therapist's scarf just got woven in! I took a picture of it and of the first scarf, but my husband did something to the computer and I can't post pictures right now. Will do so later. One more Kool-Aid scarf to go! This one will be Arctic Green Apple flavored/colored. I think the next time I do some Kool-Aid dyeing, I'm going to try multi-colored. Eunny just made some really pretty self-striping sock yarn to do another pair of Jaywalkers.

Another picture I owe you is one of what the UPS man delivered to my house on Sunday: the book that was the subject of the Dirty Santa game that got blown way out of proportion last week and 3 skeins of some pretty purple yarn. There wasn't a return address or a note, so I can't be sure of who sent it, but I have a pretty good idea. Thank you - unnecessary, but thanks nonetheless.

Also, I had to disable the comment function on my blog. Sorry. Got tired of hearing about what a mean and hateful person I am and how I need to crawl in a hole and stay there. Somebody hiding behind anonymity really has it out for me.

Sunday goal setting

Well, I met my goals from last week: I finished the back of Mike's sweater on Friday night, and I did all of my swim and strength training workouts that I was supposed to do. I actually did all of the workouts my trainer gave me, so I was pretty happy. I got quite a bit done on the front of Mike's sweater yesterday, but today hasn't been as productive. I ran this morning, took Hayden to "The Nutcracker" this afternoon, then we went Christmas tree shopping followed by dinner at my fave sushi restaurant (where the chef is Japanese!), so not much knitting has been done. That's okay, though - Hayden and I had fun together, and that's more important.

This week's goals are as follows:

1. Finish the front of Mike's sweater by Saturday.
2. Finish therapist scarf #2 by Tuesday so I can give it to Michelle.
3. Dye the last batch of scarf yarn.
4. Complete at least 10 hours of the scheduled 11 1/2 hours of training.
5. Don't drink too much at the Christmas party I'm going to Saturday night that I won't have the energy to do anything on Sunday.

Those are some lofty goals, so I better put my knitting clothes (I wear a 10 year old sweatshirt, a pair of teal colored sweatpants that are even older, and some blue and white handknit socks that used to be my aunt's when I knit at night - my husband can hardly keep his hands off me) and attack that sweater!

Come up and see me, make me smile

My Compa Secreta left a comment on yesterday's post, and she suggested I make a list of things that make me smile.

This ALWAYS makes me smile:


And as of last night, this makes me smile too:

Yes, it does look a little small, but the ends are curling up, and my husband is thin. I've held it up to him and it's going to fit just right, I believe.

I think I need to crawl in a hole for a while.

Don't you get really bothered by people sometimes? Here's a list of the people whose heads I might chop off soon:

1. The office manager at Easter Seals. Hayden used to go there for speech therapy, and I paid for every session we attended at the time of the session. Somehow one of my checks got posted to someone else's account, so we're still getting bills from their billing company. Several months ago I talked with the office manager and sorted this all out (or so I thought), but now I find out that she must've suffered short-term memory loss after our conversation because we still have a balance according to their billing company and no matter how many details I can recount for her of our conversation several months ago, she still thinks we owe money. So now I have to recreate all of the information I gave to her months ago and give it to the billing company so I can prove to them that a)we do not owe any more money, and b)she's a total idiot. I had problems with the billing company at the private school Hayden attended when he was 3, too. Maybe these larger companies/whatever you call them think they can just overcharge us and because we have other things to do and worry about than look over our bill and make sure it's correct, we won't catch it. Doesn't work with me. I'm very anal and organized, so I keep track of everything. And I used to be an accountant, for Pete's sake! I have my undergraduate degree in Accounting and my MBA in Finance - there's no tricking me into overpaying!

2. People who think that all wool is a) too warm to knit with, and b) yucky because they associate it with some gross outfit their mothers made them wear 20 years ago. I was having a conversation with 2 women I work with, and they just don't see the beauty in the Jo Sharp DK (100% wool that doesn't pill - yippee!) that I'm using to knit my husband's sweater with simply because it's wool. All wool is scratchy. All wool is too warm. All wool is yucky. I eventually just had to walk away and take pity for their poor, ignorant, Red Heart-loving souls.

3. People who, when playing Dirty Santa, don't take other people's needs and wants into account and steal gifts just for the sake of stealing. For hypothetical purposes, let's say that person A ended up with a book that she had been coveting for months but she hadn't been able to buy because the only yarn store she goes to has been out of it. (Sure, she could buy it on the Internet, but she'd really rather give her money to the LYS she loves so dearly. Or receive it as a gift.) She's got certain projects planned (but she can't talk about them yet because they're Super Secret) that she needs that book for. When it came time for person B to pick a gift to open or steal someone else's, B went after the book. A let her know that she really wanted this book and that she'd be upset if B took it, but B did it anyway. If I had been person B, I wouldn't have done that. Yes, I know, that's the way the game is played, but I also try to be nice to people and let them have what they want. Maybe that's just me.

But this is all hypothetical.

And I'm not playing Dirty Santa anymore.

How Kool is this?

From this:



to this:



to this:



This is one of three batches of yarn Hayden and I are dyeing for his therapists' scarves. The color shown here is Strawberry, using 2 packets per 1 skein of Galway. (If you're an astute reader, you'll notice that the packet that Hayden is dumping into the pot is blue and not pink. That's because that picture was taken while dyeing the second batch using Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade, which is making a pretty pale turquoise color.) An article I read in Knitty said that you need 1 packet per ounce of yarn, and a skein of Galway is 3.5 ounces, so I figured I'd use 4 packets. 4 packets per skein, Stephanie, not 4 packets total. I realized when I got home from Kroger that I had bought half the amount of Kool-Aid needed. Duh. So my color isn't as saturated. Oh well. I kinda like what we got. And Hayden is enjoying helping me, which is totally Kool. When he saw the pots out on the stove for the second batch, he immediately went to our dining room and got his chair to stand on. Every time he poured a packet in, he'd say, "Yay! You did it! Good job!" What a cute little boy. I just want to eat him up.

Doesn't the last picture look like a man with a funny crooked nose? Maybe I'm just silly, but that's what I saw right off the bat.

Aack! It's growing!

I f*cked up tonight. Hayden and I went to his speech therapist's house today for our regular session, and I took with me one of his autism therapist's scarves to work on during the session. (I usually sit right at the table while they're working so I can observe and carry over the things that she does at home.) Michelle, the therapist, saw it and commented on what a pretty color she thinks it is. (It's one of the Kool-Aid dyed scarves. I'll post pictures maybe tomorrow, if you're lucky.) Our conversation went like this:

Michelle: How pretty! I love that color!
Me: Thanks. Hayden and I dyed this yarn using Kool-Aid, and I'm going to make Marcy and Laura scarves for Christmas.
Michelle: Wow, that is so cool!
Me: Thanks. It was really easy. I'm not making one for his teacher, though, because I don't really like her.

Okay, so what does this mean? This means that I now have to make Michelle a scarf because she knows a) that I'm making Marcy and Laura scarves, and b) that I'm not making a scarf for his teacher because I don't like her. The paranoid side of me says that I must make her a scarf or else she'll think that I don't like her. I was already planning on knitting something for her, but it wasn't going to be a Christmas gift; she's due with her second child at the end of the month, so after I get all my Christmas stuff done, I was/am going to knit her a baby hat. But that's a baby gift, not a Christmas gift. Dammit. Looks like I gotta buy 2 more balls of Galway, do some more dyeing, and whip out a scarf before next Tuesday's session. Hee hee: I said "whip out."

On that note, I did a search for "keyhole scarf" (I'm anal and must have a pattern for everything, and I thought a keyhole scarf would be good for Michelle since she'll have a newborn and an 18-month old and needn't worry about scarves being wrapped correctly), and one of the results said "Fun Fur slit." Ha ha! Do you knit that out of pink yarn with some brown eyelash?

Greek Pullover

I guess my computer was just tired of downloading pictures last night, because today it seems to be working just fine. Anyway, here's my Greek Pullover:



The yarn is Rowan Kid Classic, which I love. The color is red, which I own none of, but have decided that I love nonetheless. The sweater looks good without the ruffles I have decided to forego, thus saving myself time and heartache - that I most certainly love. The sweater can be worn with black pants as well as my favorite jeans that I'm modeling here - that I definitely love! What I don't love is that the neckline is so wide that it feels like it's going to fall off. It has caused me to buy a strapless bra, which I also don't love. Should I have made the smaller size? To me, it looks like it fits me the way it's supposed to fit. Maybe the model had the same problem with the neckline that I do. In the picture in the magazine, she's looking down and her long hair is cascading down her chest - maybe she's covering up brastraps that are peeking out, or maybe she's just not wearing a bra at all and letting her hair cover up any nipple activity (after all, we're talking about Interweave here, not Rowan or Rebecca, who are more than happy to show us every nipple on all their models).

Anyway, I like it.

Sunday progress report (and a couple of pictures)

This is the Fluffly Lace Cowl out of my Compa Secreta mohair. I went to Target today and bought a long sleeved purple shirt that this cowl will look stunning with. (The black top was fine, but it didn't have the wowza factor I wanted. I think this purple top will.) You can't see the color very well in this shot, but there's a beautiful mix of blue and purple throughout. You also can't see the lace pattern that I used. Overall, I guess this is a pretty shitty shot of a very pretty cowl. Sorry.



Here is the progress I had made on Mike's sweater as of Thursday night. I've worked on it a lot today, so it's further along. Unfortunately, it's not quite to the armholes, which is the goal I had set for myself for the week. I've got about 3 inches to get there. I might be able to do it tonight, but I also have to pick up the house since my cleaning fairy just called and said he'd be over in the morning. (We have a couple of gay men clean our house once a month, and my husband has dubbed them our cleaning fairies. My original name for them was Agador Spartacus.)



This is a picture of Hayden modeling my 2-year old niece's hat that I finished last night. It's just a simple hat out of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece and Online Smash. It was painful working with the novelty yarn after the Faux-Fur Halter fiasco, but I didn't have to work with it very long, and I knew it'd be adorable on a 2-year old. If I get a wild hair up my butt in the next 3 weeks, I may even sew (you didn't know I sew, did you? used to do it for money for other people's kids, as well as smock) a coordinating jacket. But don't count on that. (What Hayden is doing in this shot is sitting on my bike which is sitting on my trainer. I'm a wuss when it comes to riding in the cold, so I've turned my bike into a stationary one until the temp gets above 45 degrees again.)

And for some reason, just as I'm trying to upload the one decent picture I have to share with you, it's not working. Figures. I'll have to post it later this week. I decided not to put the ruffles on my Greek Pullover, so it's done. I wore it while running errands today to see if I'd like it as is, and I do. I had to go to Target and get a strapless bra for it, though, because the neckline is really big. I like the sweater, but in hindsight, I would've made the smallest size.

Now I'll report on my goals that I set for myself for this week, and I'll make my new ones. I met 2 of them - I didn't let Hayden's teacher bother me this week (of course, I didn't see her very much because Mike took him to school 3 out of 5 days), and I finished the St. Jude's 1/2 marathon in Memphis in under 2 hours. The race was fun. Our friend Amy went with us, and we all did what we wanted to. Mike and I ran together, and our finishing time was 1:57:33. I felt pretty good, and I had enough gas to kick a little in the last 1/2 mile. There was a girl wearing an outfit that I didn't like, so I decided that I had to pass her. Then there was a woman who looked like a total nerd, so I had to pass her as well. The nerd was a little bit of a challenge, and for a moment, I was scared that she in all her nerdiness was going to beat me by something stupid like 2 seconds. One big thing that I like about this race is the fact that you get to run by the Target House, the place where families of St. Jude's kids stay while the kids are in the hospital. There's always tons of people in front of the Target House, cheering the runners on and thanking us for helping raise money for St. Jude's. Some kids are even out there, and it lifts your spirits to see them and slap their hands as you go by. One very funny thing happened yesterday: the entertainment at about mile 10 1/2 was just a DJ playing fun music loudly. As I went past, he was playing "Da Butt." ("Doin' da butt/da da de da...") I noticed that he was directly across the street from The Pipeline, which is a gay bar. How appropriate - "Da Butt" near a gay bar! I got a kick out of it. As I was telling this to Amy after the race, she said that when she passed that guy, he was playing "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy." She didn't see the humor in that at the time because she didn't know there was a gay bar right across the street. (I used to live in Memphis and was a fag hag to my high school's only openly gay guy during my senior year, so I know where all the hot spots are.) Geez, I think the DJ knew what he was doing! I wonder what other songs he played? "Over the Rainbow"? "It's Raining Men"??

I didn't meet my other 2 goals, but to no fault of my own. I didn't get to ride my bike for the hour I was supposed to on Wednesday because my plans got a little screwed up, and I didn't ride today either because I think the combination of the race and sitting in a car later the same day caused my IT band to hurt. IT bands are nothing to mess around with, especially for a runner, so I'm taking it easy and icing it a couple of times a day. Mike's sweater is not quite to the armholes, like I mentioned earlier, but I may get there before I go to bed tonight.

This week's goals will look something like this:

1. Get the back of Mike's sweater done.
2. Do all the swim and strength training workouts done for the week.

That doesn't sound like much, but I think it's reasonable. I'm not going to tell myself that I'll complete all my workouts this week since my IT band is messed up, and I'm not going to set any other knitting goals because the back of the sweater will be quite enough!

Off to pick up toys, fold clothes, and do some knitting!

I slept with my cable needle last night!

As I was making the bed this morning, I discovered the cable needle I've been using on DH's Christmas sweater laying so innocently between the sheets! Ha ha! I do LOVE doing cables, but I didn't realize I wanted to sleep with them! The sweater is coming along quite nicely. I'll post pictures once I stop knitting for a moment long enough to take a picture of my progress.

I also need to post a picture of the finished Fluffly Lace Cowl done out of the mohair my Compa Secreta sent me. It's really pretty. Very fluffly, very lacy, very purple-y. I worked on it a lot last weekend at my parents' house, which is where we're going (again - egads!) tomorrow night, so I'll have to be sure to take it with me.

Finally, I stopped by my LYS (something which I wasn't planning on having time to do yesterday, but because DH changed my plans around - much to my displeasure, by the way - I had over an hour to kill there) yesterday and bought some white Galway. (I also made another purchase, but it's for A Project That Must Not Be Named right now.) Hayden and I are going to Kool-Aid dye it so I can make scarves for 2 of his autism therapists. Hopefully we'll have time to do that either tonight or Sunday afternoon. I'm supposed to ride my bike for 2 hours on Sunday, but there's a 70% chance of rain and a predicted high temperature of 50 degrees, so I have a feeling a bike ride is not going to be happening (also much to my displeasure, like DH's change of my plans for yesterday). I should look on the bright side, though - more time to dye yarn and to knit the cables I'm so dearly in love with!