One more week

I got myself up to Baltimore this morning for the Joy of Finishing. I learned a couple of old things but most of what I had learned, I knew. However, it was good to be given very specific instructions and see what it looks like when you're seaming correctly. I also did pretty well at the Market today. I spent < $20. Don't ask me how much I had spent before today, though. I didn't leave until 1:30 since there was a Ravens game on and I wanted to avoid the pregame traffic.


So, I at least feel like I have an idea of what I"m doing for finishing. I almost feel like asking Amber if I could finish one of her many unfinished sweaters for her. But this week is going to be CRAZY and I've got too much stuff to do. I doubt I'll knit much on the plane. I'll be too tired! Before this week is through, I need get the little flower pot pens to Patricia for the shop class piece. Then, I need to make 3 more Swarvski pearl necklaces. And a blue cabochon necklace for my cousin. I must say though, I'm very uncertain if I should give it to her. On the one hand, she did want me to make her jewelry 2 years ago and I really don't know what else to get her. On the other hand, I don't know if this is her style and it could very well go up on the website and going to a more loved and appreciated home. I'll post a picture of this when I get a chance.


Bad day with the spinning wheel. Spinning wheel did not want to spin counterclockwise and I was unable to ply my yarn. Boo!


I'm thinking of knitting up knee highs with some Lisa Souza Sock! Yarn in Mars Quake. I love love LOVE that color way. The reds and oranges and the black. I think it's because I'm an Aries, taking after Aries (for the Greeks), also known as Mars to the Romans, the god of War. Aries are fiery and energetic and full of passion. Hey, I need a refill on my energy pills here! I think this would be toe up socks knit in all stockinette. I'd love to do some sort of lace pattern but I think the lace and the colors would cancel each other out. That would suck. If I do this, I would need to order another skein.


I started balling up the Ruby red Lisa Souza mohair for Wing-o-the-Moth. It looks like it may not be lace weight mohair so I'm thinking that one just needs 900-1000 yards to make this, and if it's a bigger gauge, I'll end up with a bigger shawl. I would prefer to go bigger in size than smaller so it will work.

Well, time to go work on flower pot things.

Projects, projects, everywhere projects

This should be the "I spent a lot of money, part 2" post, but I REALLY don't want to think about that right now. What do I have on the needles right now? I did finish the Somewhat Cowl...

• Rowan Anna socks - must turn heel on second sock and complete foot


• Hopeful - but I think I'm ripping this out. I don't know what I'm doing with the yarn
• 
  
• Tubey - some more knitting and I could be done. Maybe I'll bring this on the plane with me, in case I need a warm sweater on my trip. It would be the stupid knitting I was looking for


• Charlotte's Web

I bought a ridiculous amount of yarn this weekend that could keep me occupied through 2007 and maybe beyond. I certainly have enough laceweight to complete 1 lace shawl per month through December 2007. So, what would I consider to be "on queue"?

• Frost Flowers shawl in the Persian Red Tencil I bought at VA Fiber Festival


• Snow Shawl


• 2 Wings of the Month shawl - 1 in the backordered Doceur et Soie for my pregnant officemate Svitlana, and 1 for myself in shades for Red from Lisa Souza mohair


• at least 2 triangle shawls, and some additional number of triangle or square shawls.


• A pair of toe up socks using Socks That Rock in Puck's Mischief and I'm just going to knit until I run out of yarn.


• An additional 4 pairs of socks


• Simple Knitted Bodice in a long sleeve in Silky Tweed and maybe an additional scarf

I spent a lot of money - Stitches East - Part 1

Stitches East, market preview.
Amber and I went up to the market preview since we're both registered for classes. First stop, Blue Moon Fiber Arts and Socks that Rock. First, I got some sock yarn:

The colors from left to right are: Puck's Mischief, Puck's Mischief, Harlotty, Purple Rain, Scottish Highlands, Rolling Stone. I got 2 skeins of the Puck's Mischief with the thought in mind that I'd make toe up socks and see how far up my leg they would go. That's 360 yards per skein of the light weight.


Then, we found the bags of fluff that they have, died in the color ways. The bags come with instructions to spin your own fluff to the specifications of the Socks That Rock yarns:

Then we kept walking and we got copies of Victorian Lace Today signed by the author. I have been waiting for this book to come out not only because of the lace patterns I've been admiring in there but because of the photographs. The pictures were set on the estates used in my favorite version of Pride and Prejudice: The BBC filming with Colin Firth.

After that we met Lily Chin, who is a well published designer and one of the fastest crocheters in the world. Another book signing.

Then we made our way to Lisa Souza who was made famous by Lime N Violet the podcast.
While there, I picked up 3 skeins of El Dorado in the Olive Tones color way to make a nice little shrug. El Dorado is a 70% Mohair, 30% silk mix. yum.

After that, we wandered around some more. I think we were both pretty tired at this point. I saw some lace kits I plan on going back and getting this weekend. We also found some cute hedgehog and a knitted squirrel at Yarn Barn. For tonight, I leave you with a gratuitous picture of yarn and fluff:

Awake for once

It's the first night since the marathon since I've been up past 10. I'm a little behind on the pictures.
Amber got me some spinnable fluff as a congrats you finished the marathon present. I need a picture of that. I also got some blue spinnable fluff from ebay. Need a picture of that too. I also (finally) finished the Somewhat Cowl. I need to block it and then take a finished picture. There are some "I still need to sew in ends" pictures but I'm going to wait until I'm finished. I've turned the heel on the second Anna sock. I've also got 4 Swarovski pearl necklaces to string up and a blue cabochon necklace to finish. I think I"m going to give my cousing the blue cab. I'm leaving in less than 2 weeks. Now that I've regained my energy, I need to stop sleeping so that I can finish all of this stuff. Plus, there has been some upheaval at work in the last couple of days so I've reprioritized and trying to get everything done and all the information I need before I leave on my trip. Yeah, cryptic, but I've been told that some people I work with check my blog to see if there's a picture of me, and they've been on holiday and I don't think they've been told of the news yet.
I knew I'd be working myself to death before I left. At least I don't have a marathon in the upcoming future to train for.


Speaking of which, I have started looking at marathons to do for next year. I mean, imagine what I could do if I trained properly! One is the New Yorkmarathon, but that's a lottery system since I can't run fast enough to qualify for a guaranteed entry. Another is the Mayor's Midnight Sun Marathon up in Ankorage, Alaska. You start running at midnight. So I'll worry about that stuff after I get back. Don't think I'll get back into a regular training pattern til January anyways.

I finished! And I'm alive!

And I finished on my own 2 feet! I was going to bring a disposable camera but I left it at home. Instead, I pulled out the trusty cell phone and took pictures at various mile markers. Now, we get to relive that exeperience here, while I'm lying motionless on my bed. Here's the course map in pdf format. Warning that it takes a while to load.
My actual thoughts in bold.

Here we are before the start. Reshma on the left, me on the right. Don't we look clean and not sweaty? Our start actually got delayed because after the first wave left, there was some "security" issue that had to be cleared up

While approaching mile 1: mmm...Chipotle. Hey Starbucks. The office is just 2 blocks up, I could go use the bathroom there

	Mile 2 up Lee Highway. This hill was a lot bigger than I had expected. The pack was still thinning out here. I didn't get to take a picture in Rosslyn cuz it was just too crowded.
	Spout Run, as we're headed to GW Parkway and the Key Bridge. Lots of wooded areas. Guys are lucky that they can just run off to the side and shield themselves if nature calls. Not so easy for women.
	Grr...hill. Almost into Georgetown. Almost into Georgetown where there are oranges.
	Georgetown and Mile 5. Where are those oranges???
	Need to take the long sleeves off. This is a good place. Must also pay attention to side of road for a hidden wooded area to use the facilities.
	Still in woods. Still no good places to run off into nature
	This means we're almost out of Rock Creek Park, right? Really must find some place to go because I can't go on the Mall
	This area had potential...some wooded area by the river. Yes, I went

So, I didn't take any pictures on the Mall cuz I was tired then. However, between miles 12 and 13, the high school marching bad was playing Rock 'n Roll part 2, so while most people are yelling "Hey!", I was yelling (and pointing) and doing the Cornell hockey version of: "da da da SIEVE! dada dada da da da da SIEVE! WE'RE GONNA BEAT THE HELL OUTTA YOU. F'em up! F'em up! Go CU! " That pepped me up. So around the mall and down Independence and back towards the Tidal Basin. My leg started to cramp up bit just before mile 15.

Welcome to Hell

Hain's Point and East Potomac Park is really awful because there really isn't much there. I had been running 2 lamp post lengths and walking 2 lamp post lengths. At mile 18 is the 'tortured look' of the Awakening. As many point out, it's appropriately fitting. It was sometime after this that my leg cramped up again after a little bit of running and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to finish. I decided that if I walked the rest of the way, I should be okay. I just kept moving, wasn't hard, legs were on autopilot at a brisk pace. They were also telling us that if we kept moving, we'd make it across the bridge before it was opened up to traffic. Now the goal was "Beat the Bridge". I was very tempting to stop at the medical tent and just stop. I think that was when I hit the wall. I also put my long sleeve back on just before exiting East Potomac Park. It was getting cold.

	THE BRIDGE! THE BRIDGE!
	Beat the Bridge, baby! This was the other side, on Virginia soil. I'm almost there and the first checkpoint is passed and if I can keep walking, I can finish. No Recovery Bus for me!
	Where are those Jelly Belly Sports Beans? Are they all out? Crystal City is so evil to be floating the smell of BBQ.
	mmm...Five Guys. It's just up the hill from the finish. mmm...grease...I want a little cheeseburger with ketchup, mustard, lettuce, tomatoe, fried onions, sauteed mushrooms. I can just smell that grease
	Mile 26. F-ing 2 tenths of a mile up a f-ing hill. I knew this was coming but still.
	I'M DONE! I'M DONE!

Post race, we stopped in the office to use the bathroom and went to Five Guys. I forgot to get ketchup and mustard. My legs are starting to stiffen up, but I'm alive. Supposedly, I finished 6 hours, 32 minutes and 42 seconds. And here's the "Don't try this at home" part. All summer, the most I had run was 20K, which is about 12.4 miles. I was trying not to do this whole "If I've done half the distance, the other half wouldn't be that hard" deal like I did last year with the VA Beach Rock N Roll Half marathon. Somehow, though, it did work out that way.

Marathon morning

I can't f*ing believe I'm doing this.

Even my stars are telling me to finish up.

From my daily horoscope email:
Dear judy,
Here is your horoscope
for Friday, October 27:

Peak productivity is within your reach. The stars urge you to buckle down, get serious and, above all, tackle at least one of those projects that you had vowed to finish many, many weeks ago. You can do it!

Damn you Doceur et Soie!

So, my Doceur et Soie is backordered and will take at least 2 weeks to get to the distributors before it will even think of shipping out to me. Boo hoo. I was hoping to work on Wing-o-the-Moth while away. In this case, I may ball up the tencel and start in on...Frost Flowers. Damn you, Eunny Jang!
And did anyone get the Woodland Woolworks catalog in the mail? OMG. If I had the time and money. There are actually some interesting designs in there I'd like to try out.
Okay. Focus. Focus.

• Finish other Anna sock


• Finish the Somewhat Cowl sleeves so I can wear it out and get opinions on the body

Spinning wheel, got to go round

"What goes up, must come down. Spinning wheel, got to go round." - "Spinning Wheel" Blood Sweat and Tears.
You know what, the axel goes up, and sometimes it takes an extra push from my hands to go back down. And THEN the spinning wheel turns.

This week was week one of spinning. I like it! Beads are like crack. One of my friends said the yarn is like weed. Spinning...I say it's something like morphine or opium. I'm happy and sedated.
I'm borrowing Patricia's spare wheel since I don't have one (yet) and spinning, spinning, spinning...WHEE!!!!!!

Tote Exchange loot

I got my bag from the tote exchange. I like. It's black with a dark grey stripe...perfect for me in winter since I like those colors. Would you believe that in the winter, I tend to dress darker, partly because I spent a lot of time with New Yorkers but also because if I wake up grumpy, bright colors will make me grumpier? Black and dark grey don't make me grumpier. And this bag is big enough to lug some knitting around in. I also got some tea candles (yay!) and some candy (mmm!).

I've got ... a sock ... oh yeah!

Well, I've got part of a sock. It's my first pair of socks. The Anna socks from Rowan, #40 I believe. I've read enough of other blogs to know to switch from my size 2 needles down to 1 when I approached the ankles. So far so good!

And a different view

For your listening pleasure, the inspiration for the title of this post.

Unsuccessful

I put on shorts today. Along with a sleeveless top. And for good measure, I put something long sleeve over that...for before I warmed up. This was before I stepped out of the house. After I stepped out of the house, it still felt a bit cold, but that's okay.
Then I got into the car and saw that it was 30 something degrees. How did no one mention this critical fact to me? So my plan to run 16 miles today did not come to fruition. I ran maybe the first 2 or 3 miles. And then I was over in East Potomac Park. And my muscles just didn't work. The river side of the park was ridiculously cold with the wind blowing off the river. So I walked around East Potomac park and got back to the tidal basic and walked myself to the Smithsonian metro where I returned to my car. Overall, a not so successful morning. I did decide to knit myself a wool cap because the wind blowing against my head was giving me a headache.

why?

Why? Why? Why? Someone needs to explain to my why I signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon. Because tomorrow morning, I'm getting up before the crack of dawn to run something like 15-17 miles. And I'm already tired and getting more tired just thinking about it. So, why did I sign up for MCM? It's not like I can blame my friend Reshma this time. I was the one who signed up for it.

I think this is going to be my route tomorrow: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=491610. Gotta love google pedometer. How does one replace close to 2000 calories? Judy needs to replace at least 1500, for fear that she will get another headache that doesn't go away until she goes to sleep tomorrow night. Judy is really tired. That's why she's talking in the 3rd person.

Leaves

Class on Sunday. Now it's time for sleep.

Being bad

I'm being bad and not going to the gym today. TeeHee. :-)

The next Monday and Tuesday nights, I'll be at Springwater taking the spinning wheel class. I can not tell you how excited about this I am. I've even started pricing out wheels! Someone had mentioned to me before about spinning all sorts of hair, even human hair and I didn't think much of it. Well, today, I was actually thinking...hmm, my hair does seem to build up and clump up in the bathroom and become this ball of hair that gets to be a bit disgusting if one is not careful to remove it. Anyone who's ever had long hair knows what I'm talking about here. The short hairs don't stick together as well. Of course, this led to the thought of, "well, I guess that why you want to start off spinning with longer hair because they stick well together" and I started wondering about taking the hair off of my bathroom floor and spinning that into fiber. Like I said, being bad.

"Douceur et Soie"

Anyone have any interest in splitting a bag (or two) of this with me? I'd like to get Cafe Au Lait (8845). And by splitting "a bag (or two)", I'm also willing to get two bags and split with someone...
This is laceweight yarn, 70% mohair, 30% silk. 25 grams, 225 yds per skein. 10 skeins per bag. $82.50 per bag.
I want to use the Cafe Au Lait to make the Wing-o-the-Moth shawl.

Another knit along

I found another knit along for me. It's the hockey knit along, to knit some items for charity while watching hockey, now that the season has begun. Funny, I found it while I was knitting watching a night of hockey after a long off season.

My First Fiber Festival

I was going to go to the MD Sheep and Wool Festival this past May but I ended up down in New Orleans at Jazzfest because my friend John was moving to Germany.
Today, I went to the Virginian Fiber Festival. Note that it's been raining here for a couple of days and we didn't know if it has also been raining down there. Well, it was and so it was REALLY muddy. Helena drove and her car is pretty low to the ground. We got stuck trying to leave and there were guys in the parking lot whose jobs were to direct traffic but they ended up pushing cars out of the mud and onto solid ground. Our shoes?


I must say, the running has come in handy because I've worked my way through a few pairs of sneakers. I had chosen to wear the oldest pair of sneakers I had, those would be the ones that are not white. I threw in the orange ones as a comparison of what my shoes normally look like. And you can see that the mud seeped into my shoes to my socks and splattered onto my jeans.
Loot you ask?

1. 
   

   On the left, it's Euroflax Linen. It feels rough but after a few washes, it becomes really soft. On the right, that over a pound of lace weight tencel in "Persian Red." Mmm...laceweight...

   
   



2. Roving. I don't spin...yet. But I'm taking the wheel spinning class at Springwater Fibers in a couple of weeks with Helena and Patricia. Helena and I decided to buy some roving as inspiration. The braid is a merino/cashmere blend. I like cashmere.

   
   



3. Click on the picture, enlarge it. Yes, that's right, you read it right. Size 000, 40 inch circular needles. I like laceweight. If you didn't know that I'm a little crazy when it comes to the knitting or beading, you really have not been paying attention to my blogging.

I arrived with only cash, and I came home with cash. Whoo hoo!

October 2006

goals.
I don't think I accomplished any of my goals from September. Wait, I did finish the grand dutch spiral necklace and I need to post a picture.
Somewhat Cowl? I'm working the sleeves and I may re do the body. I'm also just about done with the Autumn Leaves pattern since class is next week.

For October, I hope to:

1. Finish the Somewhat Cowl, whatever form it is in (only if I don't have to order more yarn)
2. Line my Tote Exchange bag. This needs to arrive at its destination by the last day of the month.

Ya, that's it. I may have additional items like...make necklaces as presents for my relatives. So much to do!

The Knit Goes On

We did knit tonight, even if the the founder of the Sweet Life Knitters was far far away. I was knitting my Rowan Anna socks. I'm otherwise still working the sleeves (on two circulars) for the Somewhat Cowl. It's getting bulky to be lugging around.

Saturday, I'm supposed to teach the beginning florals class. If no one signs up, I'm going to the VA fiber festival. Hmmmmmmmm...

One of the blogs I read is the Yarn Harlot's blog. She and her significant other of many years finally got married. I was moved (?) by today's post where there was a link to an organization for the unmarried and otherwise single and I must say, it struck a cord. I like my singleness. I like the freedom. I don't mind men, I like men in fact. But unlike most people in my life who feel that I need to get married, I am perfectly happy on my own and am willing to wait until I find the right one. Apparently, there's a name for people like me. It's called quirky alone and how did I score on their quiz?
How quirkyalone are you?
Your score was 91. Very quirkyalone:
Relatives may give you quizzical looks, and so may friends, but you know in your heart of hearts that you are following your inner voice. Though you may not be romancing a single person, you are romancing the world. Celebrate your freedom on National Quirkyalone Day, February 14th!
Ya.

Overwhelmed

I think I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. So many projects that I've started and in the middle of. A few projects I need to finish with actual deadlines. Projects in my head. I've been very tired for the past couple of weeks and made time out this weekend to actually take naps. I don't usually take naps because I feels as if there's way too much other stuff to do.

The Somewhat Cowl is not finished. I'm working on the sleeves. Then I'd be done...except that I think I may rip out the body/waist shaping and redo it. I'm bringing it to snb to get opinions, after I've finished the sleeves.