Running

So not only did I take a month off from blogging, but I also took a month off from running.  Yes, I’m paying the price for it now, but what can I say?  Every once in a while, one fascination will override an existing one.  The happy news with running is that I love it so very much that I *always* return to it!  ;)  I logged 3 miles a couple of days ago along with a return to the seriously brutal workout Tae Bo Get Ripped Advanced.  Whew, boy – did I ever pay the price for THAT!  My legs have been so sore as a result (mostly due to the squats from the Tae Bo, at least).  In spite of being hit with DOMS, I got my feet to the street again yesterday, logging a short 2 mile run.  Not my speediest, of course, but by the end of the run, my legs felt much better than when I fell out of bed trying to get up that morning.  LOL

Knitting

I’ve been really busy in this area as well.  I finished the oldest manlet’s sweater only to turn around & cast on for the youngest manlet’s sweater.  Both wanted the Hacky Sack Hoodie from Son of Stitch ‘n Bitch, of course.  A bit of a boring sweater to knit, but perfect for mindless knitting while watching movies, TV or what have you (*smirk*).  I had finished up the 2nd one some weeks back, but I had forgotten that he wanted the pocket on his.  So last weekend, I picked up stitches & added a front pocket to it, following the instructions in the pattern for the number of stitches & increases so that it would be very much the way it would have been had I remembered that he wanted it.  I think he’s going to find it a little too small, though.  :(  I haven’t shown it to him yet, nor have I snapped shots of him in it.

Also, I picked up my sock yarn blanket again & started working on it here & there.  I actually made quite a bit more progress on it, adding another 3 or 4 rows.  I also sat down & worked out the math so I now know exactly how many rows/squares I’m going to knit on it.  431 squares!  Wowza.  It will have 21 rows by the time I am finished with it.  Right now I’m sitting at 30% complete on that.  :)

My latest sock design has been really tough to work out.  I love the colorway, it is utterly FANTASTIC!  I’m designing the 2nd pattern of 4 for ShelbyB – she has some stunning Harry Potter themed colorways.  I really cannot say how much I love her sock yarn.  :)  Anyway, I’m working on a design for her Lucius Malfoy colorway.  I am on my 4th design idea for this colorway – I came up with different ideas, started knitting & then frogged 3 times before this one.  Sometimes colorways can be tough to work out a pattern for – you have to find just the right stitches to show off the colors, rather than focus on stitches that represent the character, if that makes sense?  Lucius begs for a cable intensive pattern, but cables are lost with this gorgeous colorway…  so I had to find a compromise.  I think I’ve finally got it right!  I’m almost done knitting up the first sock.  Once that is done, I’ll write up the pattern and have my test knitter tackle it.  I already have someone lined up to test knit, yay!

Sometimes test knitters can be tough to find.  I’ve had test knitters before, but sometimes they drop off the grid and you don’t hear back from them.  I have high hopes this time round because my test knitter is very enthusiastic.  {{{hugs}}} to ya, sknitsofrantic!  ;)

Blogging Break Reason: Doctor Who!

So yeah.  Every extra moment that I had available the past month has been dedicated to my renewed love for Doctor Who.  I admit it.  I am a total Doctor Who geek (“enthusiastically obsessed” with it) – as you all already know.  I was able to work through every single episode that has been aired of the show.  For those of you that don’t know, that’s 758 episodes (as of April 10, 2010), spanning from 1963 to 2010 (and includes the 1996 movie as one “episode” count).

Now…  I used to watch Doctor Who whenever I could find it as a kid.  That was tough to do here in the States, because the only channel that ever played it was PBS.  The classic Who episodes would make up one story – so “An Unearthly Child”, the very first story, was actually made up of 4 episodes, with little cliffhangers between each episode.  Well…  I can honestly say that I never got to watch an entire story arc as a kid because my local PBS station didn’t seem to get that.   So I would get one piece of this story with the Fourth Doctor, then the next time I would get another piece of a different story with the Third Doctor!  Very frustrating, it was.  All repeats, of course.

Since watching all of them, I found that my order of preferred Doctors has had a few changes.  No surprise, of course.   The biggest change was that I didn’t used to care much for Jon Pertwee (Three)…  but after watching his episodes from the beginning to the end, he has moved way up on my list of favorite doctors.  He even rivals my love for 5 and 8 (who I desperately wish had gotten TV episodes).  He just might have become my 2nd favorite Doctor, truth be told.  I’ll have to re-watch some episodes before I decide for sure.

So now my list is something more like this (from most favorite to least):  10, 5 or 3, 8, 9, 2, 7, 4, 1, 6   Yes, I’m sure you’ve noted that 11 does not appear on my list yet.  The jury is still out on him – as a matter of fact, the jury is sequestered in some cheap miserable hotel because it’s going to be a LONG time to reach a decision on this one.   I do not like Eleven, but I do not dislike him either.

**WARNING – THE LINK BELOW LEADS TO A DOCUMENT THAT CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR SERIES 5**

So, the series 5 spoilers are contained here in my commentaries on the first 2 episodes.  Click at your peril.

Some of my friends firmly believe that I don’t like the new Doctor because he’s not David Tennant.   While I wish so badly that he was still doing Doctor Who, I really do understand his decision to stop doing it.  I’m really looking forward to seeing him branching out more so that other people can really appreciate how talented the man is.  Because he is just brilliant.  Ask anyone who has seen ‘Recovery’, ‘Casanova’, ‘Einstein and Eddington’.

Now…  do I hold all of that against Matt Smith?  No, not at all.  I loved Christopher Eccleston & I honestly didn’t think I would like David Tennant as the Doctor at all.  All I had ever seen him in before Doctor Who was Harry Potter, so I had this image of a madman with a flicking tongue to go by.  But I instantly loved his Doctor.  Matt Smith, on the other hand…  I don’t dislike his Doctor, but I wasn’t immediately charmed by him either.  Only time will tell if I’m going to warm up to him or not.  After all, look at how I felt about Jon Pertwee initially – and now he could very well be my second favorite Doctor – if anything, he’s definitely tied for that spot.  ;)

Today’s Ravelry Search

So, Earth Day is arriving soon, yay!  I love it for 2 reasons – because it’s Earth Day and it’s also the anniversary of my officially becoming single again.  Hee!  Have fun with these, remember that they are not my own & to view the pattern page, just click the picture.  :)

* I love illusion knitting, it's always fun! :)

Celebrate doubly by knitting up a shopping bag to eliminate "paper or plastic?"

* SO cute!

* Pretty little baby hat, isn't it?

* Another shopping bag - crochet this time!

Oooh, I love this slouchy hat! :)

* Adorable, just adorable! The sweater is cute too. Hee!

Wow. This shawl is stunning - you *must* click the picture & see the other pics to get the full lace details! It's just lovely.

* OMG, this sweater is so cute! I definitely faved this one. :)

Love this vest!

* Free pattern!

Happy Friday, everyone!