Running

Well, I haven’t been doing spectacular on this front this past week.  For various reasons, I have been sleeping *terribly* every night.  The most common reason for my repeated waking through the night?  Mosquitoes.  In my bedroom.  Leading me to stalking around my room like a madwoman, fly swatter in hand & swinging at the damn things mid-air, cussing all the while.  I think I must look like some John McEnroe wannabe hollering “You can not be serious” when that happens.

Anyway, when the alarm has gone off, I have simply been too tired to run, so have reset the alarm & gone back to bed all week.  Today however, being Saturday, I was able to get in a solid, but slow, 3 miler.  It felt good to be out there and my end time was not too much slower than what I’ve been doing.

Knitting

So last weekend I worked my tail off on the knitting/crochet front.  I joined the Harry Potter Knitting/Crochet House Cup this term.  I do not know what I was thinking.  LOL  I signed up for all 6 “classes” and finished my homework for every single one over last weekend.  Yeah.  Anyone care to guess what House I’m in?  *snerk*  Anyway, I now have a set of tawashi, Golden Snitch earrings, Ravenclaw handspun mitts, a bath matt, a dishcloth and a hopping pot all done & in my projects on Ravelry.  Whew!  Since I got all the homework done so quickly, I then signed up for the Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L.  My plan?  To finally finish a version of an afghan for Dad.  I’ve had the same yarn lying in my closet for 2 years now with this intent.  I have crocheted, ripped back.  I have knit and ripped back.  I knit again, and gave up with it still OTN.  This time, I am determined to get it done for Father’s Day, doggone it!!

I also cast on for my newest sock design.  I haven’t knit too much on it, as my time has been taken up by HPKCHC, of course.  I will be returning to the socks shortly.  In the meantime, I have cast on for a shawl, but more on that in a sec…

Star Trek, Noro & a missing blogger

Yes, I know!  I have been missing!!  My apologies to you few regular readers.  I promise to do better!  I’ve honestly been feeling rather guilty about not running and therefore didn’t want to blog much either.  he he he

Today I took a trip across the Bay with 2 of my friends from knitting group.  We visited a well known LYS over on the Tampa side – I had never been there & neither had one of my friends.  What an absolutely fantastic shop, I must say!!  They just moved to this location, so everything was brand new.  They have tons of tables/chairs for you to sit down & knit, chat or sip on a latte.  They even have a table next to the patterns so that you can sit & peruse the magazines, books or patterns in comfort.  Gorgeous yarn selection & very friendly people working there, I sure wish it was a bit closer to home!

I had an uber-happy few moments at this LYS.  I wore my Severus socks, which were in plain site since I wore capris.  When we walked in, one of the ladies working there took one look and said “OH, I know those socks!  Those are…  Snape?”  I said “Severus, actually.”  She complimented them & I thanked her.  I’m quite sure that she did not realize that I am the designer of them, as later on in the visit another lady complimented my socks…  and the first lady spoke up again & said “Oh, there are matching mitts for those socks, too!”  Despite my eyes & nose burning & twitching from the new paint & flooring, I walked out of there on clouds.  :D

I picked up some knitting magazines, a crochet magazine, some gorgeous Claudia handpainted sock yarn and 3 skeins of Noro Silk Garden.  I have been wanting to try this yarn for such a long time – and could not resist the chance at getting some!  I splurged.  I have now cast on for a shawl with the Noro – breaking my usually stringent rule of one knit & one crochet project at a time.  *sigh*

After the visit to the LYS, I then met the IRL BFF at the movie theatre to see Star Trek.  I knew I was going to like it from the previews.  Ok…  I knew I’d like it because I really like Zachary Quinto.  LOL  He plays my favorite character in the one TV show I watch, Heroes.  He’s so good at being Sylar.  It was fantastic to see him in a rather different role – and I think he knocked it out of the park playing Spock.  I loved the movie in spite of a storyline that I had not expected.  I hated what they did to Vulcan, truth be told.  And the guys that played Bones & Scotty? Perfection.  I loved their lines as well as their portrayals of these 2 characters.   I have every intention of going back to see this one again in the theatre.  :)

Today’s Ravelry Search

So, on to the fun stuff!  Here are some results from today’s search – don’t forget, just click the picture to see the pattern page on Ravelry.  :)  So many results from this search, I am definitely going to do another one at some point in the future!

* Wow! I love this scarf, it's a lovely crochet pattern that sets off Noro so well.

* Oooh, this is such a cool idea, too!! :D

* CUTE!! Now I'm thinking I need to get some Noro sock yarns, too... he he he

* On to the knit items - the colors are so pretty, even a more simple pattern looks stunning!

* Of course, the ever famous Noro Striped Scarf! :)

* Noro is definitely one sock yarn that looks fantastic in entrelac!

* I love this hat. No. I LOVE this hat! :D

* Another truly stunning hat!

* Not the pattern I'm following, but very cute!!

* The stunning & well known Lizard Ridge!

* So pretty! It's almost tempting to knit my first sweater... LOL

* One for my friend A! Knitting with crochet. ;)

* Speaking of... I love the way the colors fell in this scarf! ;)

* Free pattern

Happy Saturday, all!