remembered sentences from my first grade reading primer, which featured a brother/sister duo with the eerily prescient names, ann and david; their dog was zip, also the name of our family dog. little did i dream i’d grow up to run, run, run as the book says.
anyway, back to the present, i ran in my first spring event yesterday, during the only hour of the day when it was actually dry here. we woke up to a cold, drizzly sunday after the most gorgeous of saturdays, but i was determined to do it, rain or shine—gotta get used to it, right? and it was just a 5K—i can stand any weather for three miles.
that said, i was immensely cheered when mister knitspot roused himself to come along and play photographer; having company along turned a chilly, gray afternoon into a chilly, fun one.
thank goodness i wore the long tights, vest, and earband; i almost left the house in just knee pants and a long sleeved shirt. and thank goodness we got started on time; it was getting colder by the minute out there. and yes, that guy in the plaid shirt DID run barefoot the whole way. he won his age class, too.
after i ran by, mister knitspot moved around back to the finish line to wait for me and take more pictures (it’s nice having a photographer along!).
the first male finisher arrives—wow.
the first female finisher arrives—again, wow.
and some minutes later . . .
the first knitspot finisher arrives—WOO-hoo!
i even won another prize—this time i placed third in my age class, but i bet i won’t place as well when i run events in nicer weather, with more competition, haha. still, not too bad at all; i beat my own 5K time by 90 seconds and i’m thrilled with that.
haha, as we walked out i mentioned to david that last year at this time, i was run/walking, just barely able to run a whole mile without stopping and i didn’t run three full miles continuously until the end of july. but since then, i’ve seen steady improvement; it’s pretty cool, once it takes.
one more shirt and some other goodies to send to amad.
this coming saturday i run my first 10K event; i’m hoping to run as well in the race as i do in training. i’ve been feeling really good during my six-mile runs lately; it’s a very comfortable distance for me, long enough to get entirely loosened up (unfortunately, that takes about twenty minutes for me), short enough to take full advantage of every inch of good energy—i actually end up with better average time per mile over this longer run than in the 5K.
i was freezing by the time we got back to the car, so when we got home i stretched out and jumped into a hot shower as fast as i could. then i got right to work on a spicy thai curry for dinner—just the ticket to recover and warm up.
mostly this involves a whole bunch of chopping and then fast, fast, stir frying so that everything cooks to an exact crisp/tender doneness. i was really glad to get off my feet to knit for a bit, while david wahed the dishes.
my sculling cowl/infinity scarf is nearly done—i’m working to the end of my skein just to see how far it will go.
now that i can lay the fabric flat, you can hopefully see why i’m calling it sculling—it looks like a crew race to me.
the pattern for this is all done and dusted; it just needs a nice modeling photo to go with it. hopefully, i’ll finish the knitting tonight and block it tomorrow; maybe get one of our helpers to model it for a friday release.
i have quite a pile of blocking to attend to actually; i would love to make that a priority for this week. i also have a bunch of pattens to write up but a knitter needs some variety to stay fresh, right? and some of these things i could be wearing if only they were done.
like this gorgeous sticks and stone cardigan sample that karolyn knit up in woolen rabbit sporty, colorway olive tweed. she sent all the knitted pieces a couple of weeks back and they were here when i got home from one of my trips. but things have been such a whirlwind lately that i still haven’t blocked and stitched them together. shame on me—i could be cuddled up in this sweater right now (it’s still gray and chilly today)!
i do want to get a couple of things off the needles as well—budgeting a shrinking amount of knitting time is a constant challenge.
and then there is this deliciously cuddly gnarled oakwoods sample knit up for us by phoebe in our romney/merino special DK, which will be our next knitspot yarn offering. i’m almost sure it was blocked already, but it got a bit rumpled in the mailing, so i thought i’d give it a little going over. this was knit from some of our first sample batch, which went on to get some tweaking in a second sample batch.
the yarn is a little overspun, so not the best for stockinette projects, but performs excellently in a lace pattern like this one, which has aggressive push and pull in both directions (helps to stabilize the fabric so it doesn’t bias). its beautiful sheen accents the directional changes in the fabric creating a shaded patina effect on the leaves—simply luminous.
and my personal favorite part of this design really stands out here; the transition between motifs where the leaves appear to dissolve into vines—it’s so organic and interesting, like something gone wild.
we have a small number of these skeins (maybe forty?) that we are going to offer in kits with a version of the pattern that is modified to suit the gauge of this yarn (mostly to make less repeats). look for those very soon.
and then we have our second test batch, which is the one we’re basing our production on—i showed you some samples from that a while back; anne marie is knitting a bloch ness test sample in it. these both will be up for sale soon in our online shop.
and here’s something we haven’t seen for a little while—yarn with some color in it, haha. this is a batch of sea pearl from briar rose that chris gave me back in october, which i’ve been dreaming on ever since. it is so the perfect blue for me—kind of an iris blue, wouldn’t you say? one of those darker grayish ones?
i was supposed to knit another india print henley with it. india print has turned out to be one of my favorite sweaters—it’s mid-weight fabric and pretty openwork, combined with just-right raglan shaping (not at all baggy) and soft fiber blend make it one that i go to again and again, especially for traveling. my second favorite lately is probably my blümchen, knit in sea pearl. it’s so easy care yet dressy looking; i wear it often (i have it on right now, in fact).
so it was natural that i thought of knitting the henley again in sea pearl. but then i got thinking (and this is why i haven’t started yet); i already have two india print henleys—why knit a third copy of an existing sweater when i could design a new one with the same outlines?
the project has been on my agenda for the better part of the winter, even though i know exactly what i want. i’m not reinventing the wheel—i want the same sweater with different patterns and this time, a full cardigan, not a henley.
i even have the main stitch pattern picked out from a swatch i did about two years ago when i was preparing to knit blümchen that i’ve never gotten out of my mind. i love the subtle texture of this fabric with its linear pattern; i know just what i want to do with it. lovely, right? all i need to get started is to draw up a couple of charts. why haven’t i done it then?
well, i keep telling myself i have to finish what’s on my plate first and right there is the sticking point. i’m just never done. but i think this time i’ll wind up the yarn. i have a little time at home now and if i get the charts done by the end of the week, i can start over the weekend and go at my own pace. this project may even travel well in its early stages.
maybe spring fever is just the catalyst i need to get going on it—a little misappropriation of time in the name of startitis may not be the worst thing i could do with my time this week.
today we have knitting class in just a little while, so this morning i went out into the rain drenched yard to pick a beautiful bouquet form david’s flower beds. we have some really stunning daffodil varieties this year and a range of new tulips. that was my request in the fall—to get some fresh colors (we had a lot of the same dark purple and red tulips with white daffodils). now we have a great range of colors and finally they are all blooming.
our apple tree is budding out and starting to bloom, too—i caught it just at the right moment,when the buds are cracking open. last year it didn’t really bloom, probably due to late-hitting frost; i think we had just a few flowers. so i’m excited that there is a nice number of blooms dispersed over the whole tree.
sigh, it’s going to be pretty this time . . . .
