Lessons learned

I finally, finally finished the Trellis baby sweater for my friend Lauryn's baby girl. I love how the sweater came out, and am now inspired to knit an adult sweater for myself. Lauryn is a knitter herself, so I wanted to make something she would really appreciate. It is knit on size 7 needles in Rowan All Seasons Cotton. I love the way the cables "pop" with this yarn and will use it again in future cabling projects.

Here are the lessons I learned in my first sweater:
1. Cabling. I am now officially a cabling addict. I love them and would much rather cable than color-knit any day!

2. Seaming. I tested out seaming on a smaller side project I did while learning lesson number
3. If I had know easy it was, I am not sure I would have dreaded it so much in the 2 years I have been knitting. I am convinced that I took so long to make the sweater because I wasn't sure how I would sew it together when I was finished.

3. Always buy extra yarn. Repeat: always buy extra yarn. I ran out when I was half done with the collar. Fortunately, I was able to pick up an extra skein with the same dye-lot on E-bay, but had to wait a few days when I was so close to finishing.
Update: Several weeks later I realized I had had an extra skein all along, it was just buried my very disorganized closet!

4. Knit on Cast on method: stretchy, easy.....I have now tried several other methods of casting on that produce much nicer edges for garments.

Fingerless Mittens

Now that Christmas is over and my sister has seen her gift, I can post the photos of the fingerless mittens that I made her.

These are done in Mission Falls 1824 Wool on Size 6 Double-Pointed needles.

The pattern is Fetching from Knitty.com.





These were a lot of fun to make, and knit up quick. It took me slightly more than one skein of yarn to make them. I really like this yarn, it is very soft for a wool yarn, perhaps because it is superwash.

The second picture is how I wrapped them. I made a 3 stitch I-cord and put a tassle on each end and used it as my "ribbon". I think my sister was as fascinated with the ribbon as she was with the mittens!

Running Playlist

In the last year I have learned the merits of running with music. I never understood before what the fascination with running with the little white headphones really was. I was a purist, it was me and the road, and music is for cheaters. But something happened while I was attempting to train for my third marathon this year. I was struggling. Running 16 miles by yourself can be really daunting, so the desperate me grabbed my IPOD and went out for a 16 mile run. By the end, I was hooked. I had a soundtrack to my running and songs to pump me up when my energy was down. I still don't listen to music while I am running with the running club, or with other people (and yes, some people do do that), but now when I run without a partner, it is me, the road and my IPOD. For those interested, here is my running playlist. It might seem like a lot of music, but I have actually run for long enough to get through the whole thing and start from the beginning again.


Baba O'Riley The Who
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You (The Quiver Mix) Led Zeppelin
Brick House The Commodores
Bring Me To Life Evanescence
Bulls On Parade Rage Against The Machine
Do the Evolution Pearl Jam
Enter Sandman Metallica
Everything Zen Bush
Freedom Rage Against The Machine
Going Down/Love In An Elevator Aerosmith
Going Under Evanescence
Hail, Hail Pearl Jam
Hangnail Nickelback
Hella Good No Doubt
I Come From The Water The Toadies
Killing In The Name Rage Against The Machine
Kung Fu Fighting Carl Douglas
Leave R.E.M.
Let's Go For A Ride Cracker
Long Train Running The Doobie Brothers
New Year's Day U2
Not To Touch The Earth The Doors
One Thing Leads To Another The Fixx
Party All Night Quiet Riot
Pour Some Sugar On Me Def Leppard
Remedy The Black Crowes
Running No Doubt
Soul Man Sam & Dave
Star 69 R.E.M.
Strong Enough Cher
Super Freak Rick James
Superunknown Soundgarden
Tainted Love Soft Cell
The Distance Cake
The Fly U2
Through The Never Metallica
Vertigo U2
Wake Up Rage Against The Machine
Without Me Eminem
You Could Be Mine Guns N' Roses

More Knitting Projects

Here are a few more things I have created. Here is my first hat and mittens. They are knitted in Encore Worsted with the edge on Size 5 Needles and the body on Size 7 Needles. This is a pattern from my first knitting book, but I adapted the patterns to be knit in the round. Unfortunately, the book is lost somewhere in my apartment and I can't seem to find it, but I will update this with the name of the book if I find it.
This is a garter stitch scarf that was my first complete project. It was knit on Size 11 Needles in Rowan Wool-Cotton and Trendsetter Yarn Shadow Metal Held together. This is still one of my favorite things to wear!
I should have some more pictures soon, as I am currently working on Knitty's Trellis Baby Sweater in Rowan All-Seasons Cotton. (Yes, this is the same one I posted about back in March.) I had to take a break and knit a few other things, because as beautiful as the pattern is, sometimes you need to knit things that allow you to talk to other people or that you can work on in front of the television.

I am also working on a pair of fingerless mittens also a Knitty.com pattern. (I seem to use their patterns a lot!) The pattern is called Fetching and I am using Mission Falls 1824 Wool. This wool is so soft and is nice to knit with.

I am also knit a hat from Last Minute Knitted Gifts for Dave with a big B in Bengals colors. I still have to weave in the ends and make a pom-pom. I adapted this pattern to use a Bulky Yarn instead of a worsted one. I will post more details once I finish it.

Knitting Projects

I recently finished my first pair of socks. They are the Socks 101 Pattern from Knitty.com. I like the fact that this pattern allows you to make socks for any yarn and for any size feet, but I am not a big fan of the toe, so I might play around with the pattern next time. These ones were done in Encore Worsted on Size 6 Double-Pointed Needles.



This is an IPOD Cozy I created awhile back. It was knitted with Rowan Wool-Cotton on Size 5 Double pointed needles. It is a simple Knit 2, Purl 2 rib with a 3-needle bind off. The yarn is a little slippery for a cozy and the IPOD slips out of it easily, but hey, it was leftover yarn, so at least it went to use!

I Like You

I recently bought the new Amy Sedaris book I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence.

Laugh out loud funny and I was reminded of my friend Adrienne while reading through it. Adrienne is a fantastic cook, and although this book wouldn't neccessarily assist her in that realm, I think she would find it humourous in the same way that I am.

Here is an example of Sedaris' suggested invitation wording: "We are having a barbeque on Saturday the 4th of Julune and would love for you to come. The charcoal will be glowing by two! Bring one of your children."

The book is brimming with dry wit, and is at points what is true about the ettiquette of hospitality, but which no one would dare say out loud! Although it is meant to be funny, much of what Amy writes has a hint of truth to it.

I highly reccommend this to anyone who appreciates the Daily Show/Colbert Report type humor.

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Engagement Photo

  

New direction

I haven't posted in a while. The past year has been a whirlwind and now that I am on a stretch of nights and can't sleep, somehow I came back here. Dave and I were engaged in March, and my running, although still a part of my life, has taken a backseat to work, school and wedding planning. Everyday I am amazed at how much is happening in my life. It is both frightening and amazing. Dave is an amazing man and he treats me like a queen.

I am not sure where I will take this blog from here. Perhaps I should just start posting again and see where it leads.

Christmas is approaching again and I can't wait to spend some time with my family in Connecticut. We will be up there for a few days before its back to Philadelphia and back to work. Dave is not working right now, which has been stressful, but at least he has a few interviews lined up and some promising things on the horizon. Christmas will be a much needed break.

PR!

So I have been training vary hard over the past few months, and yesterday, I finally got to test how well my training would pay off.

Saturday night brought a Philly Runners Dinner at Marra's in South Philly. A large group attended, and Ryan kept us all amused by scheming to steal cake from 4-year-olds celebrating their birthday. I have to admit the cake did look awfully tempting. And I think we could have taken the 4-year-olds.

Sunday morning I woke up at 6 am and had my race morning meal of sweetened oatmeal. Out the door at 6:30am to pick up Andy and Bear for the ride down to Wilmington. Left Philly at about 7 am and by the time we got to Wilmington it was on and off pouring and not looking like a great race day. I was nervous and pumped for this race at the same time. I had trained very hard, and wanted the result to show it. But I haven't had many great races in the last year, so I didn't want to be dissapointed again.

The cannon went off, and we were on our way. I don't tend to run my races with other people (even other Rhilly Runners members) because I tend to get sucked into faster or slower paces than I want. Usually this ends badly. My target goal was 1:50 or 8:23 min/mile pace.
Mile 1: 8:15
Mile 2: 8:11
Mile 3: 8:19
Mile 4: 8:17 These 1st 4 miles I got into a good pace groove. A little under goal pace, and I wonder if I will pay for this later. I feel great though
Mile 5: 7:54 Bump into Marita and Erin and run with them for awhile. But their pace is a bit too fast so I slow it up going into the hills.
Mile 6: 8:41 Arg, hills. I slow down more than I had hoped but continue on.
Mile 7: 8:49 Hills continued. Somewhere near the end of this mile I see Seebo and Kevin and Ian and a few others making there way back. This pumps me up and I gain momentum.
Mile 8 & 9: 16:42 (Avg 8:21) Even though the big hill is over, a series of seemingly endless smaller hills ensues. I am running strong though and feel great. I know I am running a great race.
Mile 10: 8:19 By the end of this mile I know that I have a PR even if I slow down significantly for the remainder of the race.
Mile 11: 8:19 Pretty consistent.
Mile 12: 8:03 I think we are going downhill here, but I also was booking it, knowing I didn't have much left, and wanted to PR by as much as possible.
Mile 13 + 0.1: 9:11 The hill at the end nearly killed me. I came around the corner and felt like it was time to sprint, but could not go any faster. My body was already at it's max. I am floating when I cross the finish line....

1:49:03 Chiptime in my second half-marathon. 1 minute under my goal time of 1:50 and a PR by nearly 4.5 minutes. I can't help but wonder what I might have run without any hills!

I slept most of the way home, and I am very sore today, but as tired as I am, I feel awesome. A few days off, and an easy week, then I start in training for Broad Street.