The men in my life are making me crazy!!!

Actually, my husband and Hayden are just fine; it's my male coaches, both in person and on my Spinervals DVD, that are doing the trick. My swimming coach is a young stud named Jason. Last Wednesday he gave us a workout from hell with times that I was supposed to be able to hold but was so far off of them it was silly. I came home and wanted to knit a little, just to do something that would make me feel good, but I was so tired that I couldn't. And he just stands on deck and laughs. Mean little boy. Then there's Coach Troy, the guy on my Spinervals DVD. Spinervals are indoor bike workouts, and they kick ass. My husband got me one for Christmas, and it's one of the harder ones they have. I did it Thursday night and was cussing Coach Troy an hour into it. Then there's my coach/trainer that puts together my workouts for the week. He does in on an online program so that I can go in, get my workout, and log it afterwards. Two weeks ago my schedule had 12 hours and 15 minutes' worth of workouts on it - I did just fine. This past week my schedule had 13 hours and 45 minutes' worth of workouts on it - I almost met it (I did 13:06 and have very good reasons why I didn't do the remaining 39 minutes) and I was fine, but wondering why I'm doing so much when it's still the off-season. I emailed him and voiced my concerns about whether or not I'm doing too much too soon and told him I wanted to talk to him about it, but he hasn't called or emailed me back yet. However, he put this week's schedule out for me to look at: 15 hours and 15 minutes!!! WTF??????? I was training 15-17 hours last June, July and August - it's not even February yet!! And this year's Ironman is 2 months later than last year's Ironman was, so I have to hold my focus for even longer! I know he knows what he's doing and I know he can explain it to me, which is what I really want him to do. I will try to meet my schedule for the week, but this time I'm not really sure I can. That's a hell of a lot.

Anyway, onto my goals from last week and goals for this week. I posted earlier this week with a picture of my finished Feather & Fan scarf, so that goal was met. I finished my Gryffindor scarf this afternoon (FINALLY!!!), so that goal was met. (I technically cut it short, though. The pattern said I needed 14 repeats, but I only did 12. There was no way I would've been able to do 14 with the yarn I had, even though I ordered the amount the pattern designer said to order, then when I got finished with 12, I said, "What's the difference between 12 and 13? I really want to be done with this already," and bound off. It's still plenty long. I will post a picture later this week when I'm presentable. No shower today.) I've already talked about my exercise goal, which leaves the Jaywalker goal. That got nowhere near being met. I did work on it a little, but not nearly as much as I should've. I do have a good reason for that, though, but it's one I can't talk about right now. I will later.

Goals for this week:

1. Get to the heel of my damn Jaywalker already!!!
2. Buy Eunny's argyle vest pattern (the minute she makes it available) and get my yarn for it.
3. Complete at least 14 hours of my training schedule.
4. Decide what should be my Knitting Olympics event - the Fair Isle cardigan or the argyle vest - and start on whatever didn't get chosen. I keep going back and forth on which one I should choose. Both involve color work, which I don't have a lot of experience with. The vest will be more challenging (I think) with respect to the color work, but the cardigan will be more work in general because it's a cardigan. What do you think?

Feather & Fan-tastic!

The standard "Honey, take a picture of me before I go to work so I can blog later" shot, except I'm sitting at the dining room table rather than standing against our yellow accent wall.



Here's the "I want a different shot so I'm taking it by myself in the bathroom after work" shot. Somehow other bloggers can take better pictures of themselves than I can. I haven't mastered that part of knitblogging yet.



Finally, here's the "I'll take a picture of it not on me so that everyone can see the detail" shot because my husband said, "Nobody's going to be able to see the scarf against that purple shirt" this morning.

I have to send a shout out to Wendy for this beautiful scarf because I believe the beauty of the scarf lies in the yarn that she handpainted for me. Yeah, the Feather & Fan pattern is classic and lovely, but this silk really kicks it up a notch. I felt very pretty and sexy wearing it today. Now that I'm home, however, I'm back in my usual Nike workout pants and - no, not a white cami - a sweatshirt. No reason to wear silk and high-heeled boots at home (although my husband might beg to differ if the two of us were home alone, nudge nudge, wink wink!).

In other knitting news, you must go to Eunny's blog and check out her latest creation. It's the coolest argyle vest, and I'm anxiously awaiting her to offer us the pattern so that I can stop everything I'm currently working on to knit this. I envision mine being done in white and pink. Very girly and preppy, neither of which I am, but I like to mix it up a bit, and I really think this would be so cool-looking with some wide-leg white pants and a pink Oxford. Don't you?

I'm going to be an Olympic athlete!

Not the real Olympics, mind you. The Knitting Olympics. I found them on the Yarn Harlot's blog. How fun is that??? You have to cast on during the opening ceremonies and you must finish before the flame goes out. 16 days. You can pick whatever project you want (which makes this an awesome KAL to be in - I can choose something that's already on my To Knit list rather than adding something, which is what normally happens when I get sucked into signing up for a KAL), but it must be something that's going to be challenging to complete in 16 days. I'm considering either my Fair Isle cardigan or a lace shawl. What do you think?

I also joined Sockapaloooza this morning. I know, I know - I haven't posted much about knitting socks. But I am working on my first Jaywalker, and I have made socks before. For some reason, I've been having sock-knitting urges lately. I think I need to go buy some Crocs in a fun color so that I can wear them with socks. After I ride my bike with my friends on the weekends (hey, that rhymes!), I could change my socks and put on my Crocs (hey, that rhymes too! this is turning into some sort of knitting rap!) and look really cute. At least my feet will. And maybe that'll make up for what the top half of me looks like after riding for several hours - smushed helmet hair, dried snot on my gloves from where I wiped my nose...

Sunday goal setting

It has rained all day here and I watched "Million Dollar Baby" this afternoon, so I'm in a terrible funk. I must stop watching sad movies! When I watched "The House of Sand and Fog" I cried so hard I could hardly breathe. Maybe a bit of blogging will cheer me up...

I met all my goals for the week. I finished 10 repeats total of my Gryffindor scarf; I started and have 40 inches done of a Feather & Fan scarf using my purple silk; I bought my size 1 dpns so I could cast on for the Jaywalkers (which I have done this afternoon - I'm only 3/4" into the ribbing, which is not exciting, so that's why there's no pic); I ordered the rest of the Nature Spun Worsted for my Fair Isle; and I completed all of my training hours for the week. I actually would've gone over my training hours if it hadn't started to rain halfway through my run this morning. Running in the rain is one thing; running in 40 degree weather when it's raining and thundering and lightning is another. Damn that Weather Channel - they said it wasn't going to start raining until after 10am, and it started before 8:30. I felt great throughout all 12 hours and 20 minutes worth of training I've done this week, which was terrific. Ever since my Ironman back in September, I've had weird little injuries that don't ever happen to me, so it was nice to not be injured for the second week in a row and to feel like I'm finally back to normal.

Here are my goals for this week:

1. Finish both the Gryffindor scarf and the Feather & Fan scarf.
2. Get to the heel of one Jaywalker.
3. Complete all my training hours for the week. (I have no idea what those are, though, because my trainer hasn't posted this week's schedule online yet. Usually that's done by 5pm, so I don't know what's up.)

It may be a little tough to get all my training in this week because I'm going to my triathlon club meeting on Tuesday evening and Mike and I are going skiing this weekend, but I'm really going to try. My anal and obssessive side hates it when I can't complete all the training I'm supposed to.

Some good news I didn't share last week: I got another job and gave my 2 weeks' notice at the law firm last Thursday! Yippee! I'm so relieved - it's going to be so nice to work somewhere where I feel like I fit in and I don't have to make up for everyone else's lack of personality. Remember John Lithgow's character in "Footloose"? (It's fresh in my mind because it was HBO Friday night.) The managing partner of the law firm I currently work for is him to a tee. During a will signing I was witness to the other day, he made a comment about how his daughters probably would already be married if he had let them date before they turned 21. Poor girls. Either they're horribly repressed (like their dad) or they're total hellions. Anyway, the place I'm going to is an investment company, and I'm going to be the assistant to the controller. I'm still going to be overqualified (I have my undergraduate degree in Accounting and my MBA in Finance), but it'll definitely be more interesting than answering telephones and sorting mail. And I'm going to be within walking distance of my favorite LYS, so that's another plus!

Off to do some Jaywalking!

WIPS (both present and future)

Here are some pictures of a couple of WIPs and yarn that already knows what it wants to be when it grows up:


My growing Gryffindor scarf. Bor-ring to knit, but I'll feel cool in a nerdy sort of way when I get to wear it. To make it in true PoA style, I have to have 14 repeats. I'm on my way to the 10th one (which will be done by Sunday, because that was one of my goals for the week.)



A Feather & Fan scarf using the silk that Wendy sent me during SP6. I'm loving this.



My Sunday plans including casting on for some Jaywalkers using this Kool-Aid dyed yarn. (I bought my size 1 dpns 2 days ago, thus crossing off another goal from my list.) I love how the Kool-Aid was not drunk uniformly by the yarn, making a pretty variegated pink. Maybe some of the fibers were scared of the Kool-Aid beacause they had heard of James Jones.



Can't go without having one sweater waiting in the wings. These balls of Nature Spun Worsted will become a Fair Isle cardigan for me (which I will be doing in the round and steeking - even though I've never steeked, I'm not afraid of it, thanks to Eunny's great tutorial - check it out!). The grey is the main color. And trust me, the colors go together better in real life than they do in this picture. Sometimes I think my camera wants to portray me as being colorblind. I intend on starting this on the way to Perfect North next weekend, where my husband will be skiing and I will be tubing and knitting. (I am not skiing because a) I suck at it, just like I suck at rock climbing, and b) I don't want to risk hurting myself right before triathlon season starts. By not skiing, though, I'm going to have some great knitting time, so I'm totally not complaining.) Hopefully the rest of the grey will get to me by then. I had a bitch of a time finding some. I ordered only one skein from Patternworks before Christmas because I wanted to make sure I liked the combination of everything. A couple of days ago, I tried to order more of it from Patternworks, but it's out of stock and isn't expected until the first week of February. Not good enough for me. A couple of other Internet stores were out of it as well, but I found it at Woodland Woolworks. They're shipping it out tomorrow. Yay for Priority Mail! And yay for meeting yet another goal for the week!

I've said it before, I'll say it again....

Mmmmmm, Malabrigo. I finished my shrug last night:


Here's a shot of the back:


(The reason you don't see my face in any of these pictures is because I rode my bike for a couple of hours this afternoon, so I have major hair issues. Aah, the weekend is a time for unattractiveness. And yes, I spend a lot of time in white camis and black workout pants. I realized last night that I'm wearing them in a lot of pictures. It's what I live in when I'm at home, especially on the weekend.)

I. Love. This. Shrug. I love the design. I love the contrast of the green against the purple. I love the purple. I love the incredible, ridiculous softness of this yarn. But you know how they always say that if you're using a variegated yarn to work with 2 skeins at once, switching after a couple of rows? If you look at the sleeves, you can tell I didn't follow that rule. I never have and it's never been a problem. Until now. One sleeve is definitely darker than the rest of the shrug. Dammit. I noticed the difference when we were winding the last skein. Hell, my husband even noticed the difference. I just tried to ignore it and hoped that there'd be enough lighter parts to make it flow. I don't think it looks like crap, but I do wish I had followed the switching skeins rule. But I'm not redoing it - I have too many other things to knit. Chalk it up to handpainted yarn and a lesson learned.

And here's a question I need your opinions on: should I get some kind of closure for the front? The shrug they had in the shop was worn open, but I kinda like mine closed:


What do you think? If closed, what kind of closure? I definitely don't like the idea of crocheted ties, I know that much. I'm leaning towards some kind of metal closure. Throw some ideas at me, please!

Speaking of other things to knit, I told myself last night that I would only work on my never-ending Gryffindor scarf this week and not start anything new. I really would like to get it done before Harry graduates from Hogwarts. It's so mindless, though, that I get bored. So we wound the beautimous skein of purple silk that Wendy dyed for me and I'm going to start something tonight. (By the way, Wendy, my husband and I want to compliment you on the way you wound this hank. It was by far the easiest stuff we've wound!) It's been calling my name for too long, and I can't ignore it anymore. I'm thinking of the Chevron scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts or Edgar from Knitty. Two totally different ideas, but I like them both. Kinda like the fact that I like both Miller Lite and Guinness Stout beers.

Off the subject of knitting, I rode with my friends today, and we made a stop at this little country store that lots of cyclists stop at. They've got picnic benches outside and bathrooms, so it's a great place to take a break, buy a candy bar and a Coke, and socialize a bit before getting back in the saddle. It's an odd store: it's a deer check-in station, a little grocery store, a meat-and-three where you can sit and eat a good country breakfast or lunch, a nightspot for musicians who live in the area (and in Nashville, there are plenty!), and I think you can buy gas. When my friend and I went inside, there was Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins! They were just sitting at a table in the middle of the store, eating and talking. We Nashvillians have celebrity sightings quite a bit (Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, both Brooks & Dunn guys, Pam Tillis, Alan Jackson, Clint Black, Ray Stevens, and Dolly Parton are the ones I can remember running into), but I think it's really cool when I run into musicians that have been around a long time. I used to listen to the Doobie Brothers a lot when I was little, so seeing Michael McDonald was really cool. And Kenny Loggins is on Hayden's Elmopalooza DVD which he has been watching all weekend. I kinda wanted to tell him, "Hey, I've been hearing you sing "One Small Voice" on Elmopalooza all morning long!" but I didn't. They're people too, and I'm sure didn't want to be bothered.

Okay, I know this is turning into a long post, but here are my goals for the week:

1. Get 3 more repeats done on my Gryffindor scarf.
2. Start a scarf with my silk yarn.
3. Order the rest of the grey yarn I need for the MC of my Fair Isle cardigan. I'm using Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted, which my LYS doesn't carry, so I'm getting it from Patternworks. My colors are grey, 3 shades of pink, and 1 purple. Purple - can you believe it?
4. Do all the workouts on my training schedule (over 12 hours' worth - yikes!).
5. Buy some size 1 dpns so that I can finally jump on the Jaywalker bandwagon.

Malabrigo is the comfort food of yarn.

Today was definitely Friday the 13th for me. I had planned on getting up and running before work, but 30 minutes before my alarm was to go off, it started thunderstorming. Then, when I got to work, I had a shitty day. Every was so rosy when I was hired almost 3 years ago; it's a different story now. I think our managing partner is still angry at me for making the mistake I made before the end of the year (partly my fault, but partly their fault for rushing the work I was doing), and he's angry because I took a vacation, and now he's even angrier because I let him know that I have to come into work late next Friday because Hayden has a 9am dentist appointment, then the following Wednesday I have to leave early because there's a meeting scheduled at school to determine what kind of therapy and assistance Hayden will need for next school year. I let him know that Mike usually takes Hayden to his annual checkup at the dentist but I'm taking him this time and Mike will stay home with him this Monday when school is closed for MLK Day. I figured that it'd be better for me to come into work late one day rather than miss an entire day. I also let him know that the school meeting couldn't be scheduled for after school because there are a lot of people that need to attend it and during school hours is the best time to get everyone together. The rest of the day he did not talk to me, which has been par for the course lately. Boy, what a fun environment. Sorry that I a)have a child and b)like to do things outside of work like take my family on a vacation for a couple of days (not even a full week). I guess they think that because I work part-time, I don't need vacations. Oh, and c)I have a personality (something that nobody else in the office has).

Anyway, after spending 5 hours in The Office of No Fun, I came home, ran for an hour in the wind and spitting rain, then curled up with Malabrigo. Mmmm, Malabrigo. Malabrigo is like macaroni and cheese - so comforting and warm. Except that if I spent as much time with macaroni and cheese as I have with Malabrigo lately, I'd be fat. This is what I accomplished:


Pretty cool, huh?


Well....almost done.

Altogether now...

Awww, how cute!

This is the hat I made for Hayden's speech therapist's new baby girl. This hat has become my new Standard Baby Gift. It's Fiber Trends Earcozies Hat. I usually use Koigu KPPM double stranded, but I went with Tahki Cotton Classic this time because a) I had some in my stash, b) it's not been really cold around here, so I thought cotton might be better than wool, and c) it's a pretty shade of lavendar. Cutie Patootie.

Speaking of Cutie Patooties, check these out:


Snow White and Bashful Hayden



Sleeping Beauty fell in love with Hayden and was ready to dump Prince Phillip!



Belle must've not thought Hayden was much of a Beast because she gave him a hug!



I think he makes the best Prince Charming EVER.



Mike thinks that Jasmine is the hottest Princess of all (besides me, of course).



Isn't Mulan supposed to be Chinese?



Hayden performed on stage with Belle. I think he's found his calling.



This is what his face looked like every night when he went to bed. Princess kisses galore!





Here's proof that we met characters other than Princesses during our trip. Notice how it looks like I'm only a head?



And last but not least, the Big Cheese, the Head Honcho himself - Mickey!

The Curse of the Goddess of Warmer Weather Sweater

Finally, a picture of the Brioche Rib Turtleneck in Artful Yarns Shakespeare! This is my Goddess of Warmer Weather Sweater. (And in real life, the sweater goes much better with those pants. The color of blue in the sweater matches the pants exactly. I swear I'm not colorblind.) Last year I got all the pieces done and was ready to do the seaming and the turtlenecking right when it got warm. So in the Ziploc bag it went. Since I've finished it this year, it's been unseasonably warm and I've worn it only once (and almost broke out into a sweat whilst doing so). And I didn't think to take it to Disneyworld, where it was in the 40s and low 50s on Friday and Saturday.

Overall, I like this sweater. The yarn is soft and pretty, although as I said before, it was a bitch to work with because of its fragility. The pattern was super easy, but not incredibly boring due to the brioche rib. I really like the brioche rib; however, the stitch makes the turtleneck be a TURRRRRTLEneck. I kinda feel like a look a little space age-y. I guess I could've picked up less stitches and it wouldn't have been as big of a turtleneck, but then it might've looked like a neckbrace.


Here's a closeup shot of the brioche rib on the sleeve. Someone told me to use a lifeline during the brioche rib because it was such a difficult stitch to do, but I didn't have any trouble with it. Maybe I'm THAT good of a knitter. Ha!


In other knitting news, I won a contest! Another one! I participated in the Hand Knitted Gift KAL that Alison hosted, and yesterday she put everyone who had earned a gold star into a hat to randomly draw for prizes. (Well, she just put our names into a hat - putting everyone into a hat would've been a logistical nightmare.) I won a ball of Rowan Calmer in white. Yippee for me! Anyone who knows me knows that I am a Rowan Whore, so I am excited about this. I've got a couple of balls (hee hee - I said "couple of balls") of Calmer in my stash already, so I can add this one to it and see what neat project I can add to my To Knit list!

M-I-C-see ya' real soon!

We're home, unfortunately. Time to return to the real world and leave the magic of Disney. We had an absolute blast. Hayden got kissed by princesses a million times, performed on stage with Belle (from Beauty and the Beast, for those of you not up on your Disney Princess facts) twice, met Mickey Mouse, watched me scream my head off as I rode Splash Mountain, and rode Snow White's Scary Adventures* at least 20 times. (Had I known there was going to be one ride that he'd want to ride for hours on end, I would've taken some knitting along! Just kidding - maybe.) My husband ran a decent marathon, and I discovered a new attraction: The Scary Bathroom in Room 6939 of the All-Star Movies Resort. I guess the food drenched in oil that I ate on Friday didn't agree with me, because I spent Saturday morning in the bathroom getting rid of it. Throwing up while on vacation is not fun. I spent Saturday in the hotel room watching TV and knitting while Mike and Hayden went to the Magic Kingdom. That TOTALLY sucked, even though I was knitting. Fortunately I was completely back to normal on Sunday and could be a good mom while Mike ran his marathon. I have lots of pictures to show and will do so later when I have more time.

Off to do unpack, do laundry, and prepare for the dreaded return to school and work tomorrow morning. (I made a big mistake at work on December 30th, so that's not really an enjoyable place for me right now. Maybe my time away washed it from their memories. Or not.)


*On this ride, Doc says. "It's the Quicked Ween - er, the Wicked Queen!" Every single time I heard this, I couldn't help but think, "Hee hee - he said weiner!"

You just won the Superbowl, Nakedie! What are you going to do next?

I'm going to Disneyworld!!!!

Yup, we're flying out this afternoon and will be back on Monday evening. Take care everyone, and I'll post all about our trip when I get back!

Resolutions, schmesolutions.

Since I am Miss Anal and Miss Love to Make Lists, here are my New Year's resolutions:

1. Have 1 night each week be a TV-free game night. Hayden got a lot of cool games for Christmas, so we need to get them out. (One of them is Operation. I didn't remember how freakin' hard that game is!)

2. Finish Ironman Florida in 13:30 or less.

3. Finish the Gulf Coast Triathlon (half-Ironman) in under 6 hours.

4. Knit from my stash.

5. Learn new techniques like Fair Isle and lace.

6. Organize a fabulous race (running, that is) in the fall to raise money for the Autism Society of Middle Tennessee.

7. Send something to family members on their birthdays, even if it is just a card.

8. Knit mostly practical items. It's frustrating to spend time knitting something that is cool but can't be worn very often. "Look how cool this is! I'm going to put it in my closet for everyone to admire!"

9. Help Hayden become more independent. It's really easy to just do things for him like pick up his toys or get him dressed so that it can be done quickly, but he doesn't learn that way. And I certainly don't want to have a son who I still have to dress when he's 10 years old!

That's it. Last year I put "Try a new recipe once each week" but seeing as how I don't like to cook at all, that fell by the wayside very quickly. I have a husband who is willing to fix dinner while I knit, so why not let him?

Since it's over 20 degrees cooler today than it was yesterday, I got to wear the Goddess of Warmer Weather Sweater. I'd love to show it to you, but for some reason Blogger doesn't want me to. Maybe some other time. I think in an earlier post I said I used Artyarns Jazz to make it. I must've been on crack at the time, b/c that's not it at all. It's Artful Yarns Shakespeare in shades of grey, blue and cream. While I like how the sweater turned out, I will never use this yarn again. I had to be very careful b/c it had a tendency to break. I had to weave in more ends simply b/c the yarn had broken and I had to attach a new one. What a pain.

And here's my progress on the Malabrigo Shrug:


I did some eyelets on the front that line up with the eyelets on the back, but the problem is that they're so close to the edging that you can't really see them. Maybe if I block it after it's done, I can get the fronts to lay down better and you can see the eyelets. (I've been bad about blocking lately. I get so anxious to get something sewn together that I skip the blocking part. Bad knitter, bad!) I'm going to finish one sleeve and sew it in to make sure it works before I do the other one. The sleeves have the same purple and green ribbing at the cuff.

Two wheels, wind, and some rednecks

Today it was 70 degrees, so to not ride a bike outside would've been a sin. Nevermind that a storm was blowing in - it was warm outside! (Tomorrow it's supposed to be 48 degrees - WTF?) So on January 2nd, I rode in shorts and a short-sleeved bike jersey with my friends. I guess I was anxious to go and got ready a little too early, so I took advantage of the 5 minutes I had to spare before going to meet my friends:


My husband took this of me because he thought it was funny that I was dressed to go for a ride but I was sitting on the couch, knitting. I find nothing funny about that. Perfectly normal.




Today was also a day for the a-holes to be out in full force. Around here, we call them rednecks. As we started out, we formed a pace line (one cyclist right behind another, riding single file - you also get the benefit of the person in front of you shielding you from the wind resistance) with me at the rear. About 5 minutes into our ride, I heard squealing brakes behind me, and my heart rate shot up to about 300bpm. I looked behind me and saw some damn redneck in a van. I could tell that he had slammed on his brakes not because he was about to hit me, but because he thought it would be funny. Funny? I beg to differ. Scary, mean, and downright dangerous is more like it. I was quite shaken up, but we turned off the road (not even a busy one, mind you) soon afterward, and I calmed down. Later, we had to deal with rednecks in pickups zooming past us and more rednecks driving by and yelling. I don't know what the deal was today.

In addition to rednecks, there was wind to deal with. Wind that made you feel like you were riding backwards. Wind that took your words away. Not fun. Fortunately, the headwind that we had going out turned into a fun tailwind coming back in.

Tomorrow I will post pictures of my Goddess of Warmer Weather Sweater (every time I work on it, it gets really warm and I can't wear it) as well as my progress on the Malabrigo Shrug. It's coming along quite nicely, I must say. Only sleeves left.