Knit Run, Purl Run

Running

Work kind of got in the way yesterday, so I ended up not running & not even getting my pushups done.  Ah well, I’m making up for it today!  Already got 100 pushups done today, if I feel up to it, will squeeze in a few more as the day wears on.

Ran 5 miles this morning, and surprisingly enough, I got them done in the best time so far this year, maintaining under 12mm for most of the run.   Woo Hoo!!  My 5 mile run is actually one of my favorite paths, even though it is one of the most challenging.  I run down a major road, which goes down a steep hill, levels out, then up & over a bridge to the beach.  I run out to this local, odd little bar with a homemade kind of car in front, then back to a little park/boardwalk where the BEST water fountain in the entire county is located.  I’m telling you, the water there is ice cold & just perfect!  :D  The return trip is the killer because I have to go back up that monstrous hill.  Back when I had the Garmin (before it got Dane damaged), I knew the elevation, but I forget what it is now.  Let’s just say I’m not up to running the entire way yet.  LOL  Anyway, I ended the 5 miles with a pace of 11:58mm.  I was *very* pleased.  :)

Happy Birthday!

The oldest manlet turned 16 today.  It’s one of those days when you feel so proud, yet still sniffly sad ‘cuz your baby is growing up so damn fast.  :)

Knitting

Yeah, I’ve been bad on the knitting front…  haven’t gotten much done.  Worked a bit more on the Candle Flame Shawl, but that’s about it.  I’ve been a bit preoccupied with my other project…

Tattoos!

I originally was supposed to go with my IRL BFF to get my first tattoo a couple weeks ago.  Since I was struck with bronchitis, I had to cancel since I just couldn’t sit still long enough without coughing my guts out.  SO…  today was the big day!

I had thought to get a charm bracelet, of sorts, but made of ivy.  Then have charms put on, hanging with ivy tendrils…  but it just wasn’t quite coming together for me.  Weeks ago, I’d had a different plan…  and I luckily had those ideas printed out & in my purse.  That’s what I ended up with instead of the charm idea – main problem being that I didn’t want anything too big & the charms would have lost  way too much detail for me to really be happy.  So I now have one on either shoulder, one for each of the young manlets…   I can’t wait to get rid of my braces – I always seem to look so doofy in pictures now that I have them on.  Trust me, it’s worse when I smile & show teeth.  LOL!

My IRL BFF has a knack for snapping shots with my eyes closed! LOL Note the artist in the background? He did an AWESOME job! :)

Up close shot!

Yup - eyes closed AGAIN! LOL

and the up close shot!

The artist was amazingly patient, put a lot of work into my ivy charm bracelet idea…  and in the end, had very simple tattoos to put on – and I had already had them printed up for him, so he didn’t have a ton of work involved.  When I get my other ideas firmed up & drawn up, I will definitely be back to see him!

Today’s Ravelry Search

In honor of the day, here are some of the results from today’s search!

The classic "Mom" tattoo!

I should make these with "Knit" and "Purl"!

Cute shrug!

What a cute sweater! :D

Tattooed Tommy

And, just to celebrate the other main event for today:

Have a piece of cake!

Happy Saturday, all!

Running

How’s that, J?  First on the post!  LOL

So, yup, got the first run of 2009 finally under my belt.  Man, did it ever SUCK!!  My excuse here is that I took the big guy with me and that *always* slows me way down.  Tons of stopping so he can smell the bushes, grass, trees, etc.  plus anyone passing us by on the trail has to stop us to pet him & ask about him.  We managed to get 3.11 miles done.  In just under 50 minutes.  Yeah.  LOTS of stopping for sniffing & talking, obviously.  LOL!!  Hell, I can *walk* faster than that on my own.

However, in all fairness to the big lug, I did plenty of huffing & puffing.  I’m really out of shape and it is just so freaking sad.  But it felt good to create my 2009 running log & log those first miles!  :D  I was good & mapped out a plan for the entire year, too.  I made sure to do a really slow buildup and once a month, put in an easy recovery week.

Knitting

WOO HOO!!  I finally got to knit yesterday, too!  It was lovely to catch up on some reading, but I totally missed knitting.  I finished up a 4th Boyfriend Hat to send away to an online knitting friend who’d asked for donated hats.  Now if I can just drag my tookus off to the post office…  LOL

OH!  My oldest manlet totally LOVES his soap sweater – and asked me to make him another one already!  I’m thinking he probably wants it for his father’s house as well.  Seriously, if you haven’t tried them, you SHOULD.  Knit with wool yarn, you completely cover a bar of soap.  As you use it, the yarn will felt & you have a built in washcloth/exfolialater at the same time!  They feel great & lather up nicely with the right soap.  The ones I made for the guys were all done with Ivory soap.  Awesome little gift.

Vacation is nearly over

Yep, back to work on Monday.  *sigh*  The worst part?  Being sick for nearly my entire vacation, so I don’t really feel comletely relaxed & ready to go back to work.  I totally love my job, but after 2008, I really need that extended feeling of total relaxation.  I figure probably 60 to 70% of 2008 was spent working 60 to 80 hours a week.  It was a truly UGLY year for the projects.  I sincerely hope that folks have learned the lesson & won’t continue with the totally unrealistic deadlines…  but in my cynicism, I am kind of doubting it.

Today’s Ravelry Search

So, without further ado, here are some goodies from today’s search:

Ok, probably only funny to Monty Python fans, but I got a giggle out of it - Run! Killer Rabbit!

Running Horse Hat

This is another pattern that just totally tickles me - Running With Scissors!

This would be really cute for someone that loves turtles.

Here's the closeup - I love that the designer found turtle buttons, too!

These were designed to commemorate the designer's first marathon - I just LOVE that!! :D

Ok, this is made of teh awesome!! ;)

I'm not sure why this one turns up in the search, but had to include it because I simply adore this pattern!

Too cute & crochet! ;)

Happy Saturday, all!  I’ll be off to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button soon.  :)

Happy New Year, all!

Rang in the New Year with my young manlets again – they’ve been with  me every year since 2000, so this has really been a tradition for us.  :)  Had a bottle of champagne, my favorite – let them both have a taste.  As usual, they both spit it out.  LOL  Luckily, I’d gotten them their own bottle of sparkling grape juice to go with my own.  We watched the ball drop in the last few seconds & ran outside to watch the various fireworks everyone set off around the neighborhood.   Otherwise, it was the round of phone calls, video games & playing with the K-nex sets that the youngest got for the holidays…  and yeah, they are thrilled that Mom has let them cuss a bit now.  he he he

Stitches update

Yep, forgot to mention – I have to deal with the stitches for 12 days, rather than the “usual” 7 days for stitches since they are on the palm of the hand.  W00t.  LOL  Anyway, still no knitting due to the stitches…  and no running due to the bronchitis.  Hopefully I’ll be running again soon – tonight will be the second night of no Nyquil, so it’s getting better!!  :)

Today’s Ravelry Search

So it’s a brand new year, YAY!  Today’s search nets the following patterns…

Keeping me in stitches

So my oldest manlet is a fiend for olives.  He’s always adding olives to the grocery list & the guys at Subway know by now to seriously load his turkey sandwich with tons of ’em.  For Yule, I found a 3.5 pound can of sliced olives for him as a funny gift.  It was a HUGE hit with him – he opened it right away & he sat there eating them with his grandfather as we finished opening gifts.  (You already see where this is going, don’t you?!)

Yesterday, I was putting the can back in the fridge after moving it to find something else.  It slipped.  I caught it.  Sliced open both hands, luckily the left hand was just the thumb & only needed a bandaid.  The right hand, not so lucky.  3-4 hours and 5 stitches later, we were back home.

My first "real" stitches!

At least it was a dual purpose visit – she checked out my lungs to make sure I didn’t have pneumonia while I was there.  It wasn’t, which I already knew.  But she gave me antibiotics & cough meds anyway since I’ve had the stupid bronchitis for over a week.  She said if you have the nasty cough a week into it without it getting better, then it’s time to start meds.  Good to know for the future since everyone kept giving me grief about going to the doc.  LOL

Knitting & Running

With the bronchitis, I couldn’t run, of course.  But now with the damn stitches, I can’t knit now either!!!  *sob*  I’m hoping that it stops hurting before too long & I’ll be able to knit soon.  Guess I’m up for reading a lot the next couple of days!

Today’s Ravelry Search

Some selections from today’s search:

LOL - searching for stitches was fruitless, of course!! ;)

It's a hat!

ROFL - pasties!! :D

Black olives stole - cute!

Crocheted olives, of course. :)

Happy Monday, all!

Holiday celebration #1

So my young manlets came home last night after spending their week with their father.  I had chores for them to do first before we would open gifts and amazingly enough, they got them all done in record time.  (LOL)  Everyone seemed very pleased with all their gifts, and only the youngest seemed a wee bit disappointed.  I hadn’t spent any money on video games this year, because I told my sister that’s what to get them.  Video games are the main thing he looks for, of course.  Though I think having found him the last 2 movies with Jay & Silent Bob in them (Mallrats and Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back) seemed to help make up for it.

All were very pleased with their slippers & no one got that I had MADE them at first.  My oldest asked why I hadn’t gotten him blue…  I told him I didn’t have enough blue yarn.  He didn’t get what I was saying, so asked “didn’t they have yellow?”  I finally said “I’m sorry honey, I made them with yarn I already had.”  Everyone heard that & my father says “You made these?!” and his jaw literally dropped.  I said that I had & explained how it worked, knitting them up really huge, then felting them in the washer.  It was definitely a very rewarding moment for a knitter.  LOL

Oh, and Rocky handled his saddlebags amazingly well!  We put it on & left it on him the rest of the evening to get him acclimated to wearing it & he did great!  I hope to snap some pics of him soon, he looks very cute.  :D

Holiday celebration #2 & the tattoos

So today I was supposed to go with my IRL BFF and her daughter to get tattoos.  They would be my first as well as my IRL BFF’s – her daughter has a couple gorgeous ones already.  I have the designs already picked out & know exactly where I want them.  But with being so sick, I can’t stop coughing – which means I cannot sit still long enough to get them done.  *sob*

This afternoon we had to the other side of the Bay to visit my sister, where we will exchange gifts again.  I am hoping it goes well, that everyone is ok with the fact that I haven’t bought them anything, but made all of their gifts this year.  They have had plenty of warning, as I’ve been telling them this all year.  At least they won’t say anything in person about it if they are disappointed.  But my sister is actually really cool about handmade gifts – she seems to really appreciate the work that goes into them.  :)  I woke up feeling so badly, though, I am half thinking I should send everyone over without me, I’d hate to give everyone my cold for the holiday, too!

Running

Sorry, J – there is just NO way I can run – I cough just getting up to walk to the kitchen, so not much to say here.  LOL

Knitting

So the last gift I’m working on (except for the baked goodies, of course) is pillowcase edgings for my sister & her DH.  They just remodeled their bedroom & painted it in 2 shades of purple.  So I bought some plain white pillowcases and crocheted a light purple edging for them.  I have to sew the edgings on today.  I haven’t got anything else OTN except for Dad’s afghan, of course.  Naturally, I just didn’t have time to get that done.  I’ll keep it going & plan it for Father’s Day, I think.

Today’s Ravelry Search

Not that you have time to finish some of these in time, but New Year’s is coming soon!  :)

This sock pattern is free on Ravelry

What a lovely crochet square for an afghan!

CUTE dishcloth!

Cute bag from Interweave Crochet

Not a huge amount in today’s search, but some cute things anyway.  :)

Happy Holidays!

Today is Christmas Day, of course.  I don’t celebrate Christmas, but I hope all of you that do have a very Happy Christmas.  My holiday has come & gone already, but of course, I have not yet celebrated.  That will come this weekend.  It’s a bit difficult to celebrate when the kids are at their father’s house.  :)  I stopped fretting over these things – the way I see it is this…  it doesn’t matter WHEN one celebrates.  It is the love, joy, peace & happiness of the entire season that is what matters, no matter WHICH holiday one celebrates.  Spending a warm & wonderful time with family, being kind to everyone, helping those in need however you can – these are the things that matter.  These are the things that I deeply wish would be carried throughout the year.

Running

Yes, I’m still sick.  No, I haven’t run in a few days.  Yes, I am chomping at the bit to get out there.  No, I won’t go running before I’m fully recovered.  *sigh*  I do intend to do a bit of strength training here & there, though.  Squeezing in some pushups & crunches where I can surely cannot hurt, right?  :)

Knitting

Just finished up a second Boyfriend Hat.  I just love how fast this pattern knits up, seriously!  I’m going to make a third one for my oldest.  He would love something blue, but I haven’t got a good blue yarn to use for him, so he’ll have to make do with black & white.  :D  I’m also hoping to crochet up some edgings to sew onto pillowcases for my sister & her husband.  They just redecorated their room & I thought some pretty pillowcases would be a nice gift.  Will see how I’m doing on time, anyway.  I’d wanted to knit the edgings, but I can crochet much faster.

Today’s Ravelry Search

Here are some selections from Today’s Ravelry Search:

Pretty little chart!

Love these stockings, very festive!

Baby Santa hat! Cute!

Crochet snowflake, just lovely.

This would be a lovely small gift.

Isn't she adorable?!