Knitting Updates
I've been a busy little bee since last we spoke. I raced for the finished line and cranked out my third hat for Operation Gratitude during the knit-in event. I felt quite accomplished. The 100 hat goal was met by the time the hats were picked up. We all felt great!
Once I finished my last hat, I picked up Salt's scarf for a whirl. I've been busily knitting on that when she's not around, which means on my lunch break at work and in the evenings when I have time. Here's the progress I've made so far:
It's not terribly true to color. You know how hard it is to get true life color on a little point and shoot camera (operated by a novice). Here's a close-up of the real beauty of this yarn:
I get so many compliments on this yarn when I'm working on it at Knitter's Anonymous. I am pretty sure that Salt is going to love it. I love it!
Next to update is my scarf for the Red Scarf Project. I chose the Men's Martian Scarf (this is a Ravelry link, so I'm pretty sure you would have to sign in or sign up to see it, but there's a picture below of my progress).
To be honest, I didn't like it when I first started knitting it up. Here's why: I didn't realize that it called for a lighter weight yarn than I was using, so it looked clunky and I couldn't see the pattern forming. So, I stuck it in my project bag and let it sit for a week or two then I decided to give it a try again. Once I finished one pattern repeat I fell in love! It's such a nice looking scarf. The best part is that even though it says it's a "men's" scarf, I think it would be suitable for either gender. I wouldn't mind wearing it at all!
Here's what I had as of Saturday.....I've since knitted another repeat and a half. It looks SO good!
As for the rest of my projects they've been sitting aside. I will go shopping for yarn for my niecey knitting on the 1st....money's tight until then! I plan to get their do-dads finished by the end of the month, then only have my brother-in-law's stuff to go. If I like the hat pattern I may just crank one out for Pepper too...we'll see how much time I have though.
That said, I still feel pretty good about getting things done this year. All of my projects are relatively small (as compared to the two gigantic afghans I made last year). I had a long look at my "to-do" list and while busy, it seems reasonable.
Stash Updates
We went on vacation the weekend after Labor Day, and I made sure to stop in at the LYS. I picked up two delicious balls of some Rowan Creative Focus Worsted in the Cobalt colorway.
I'm not sure what I will do with them....but I may just keep it for myself whatever I do make!
At Clovis Fest this past weekend, I ran by my LYS to drop off some hats my mom had knitted for Operation Gratitude and to pick up my birthday present...remember that wish I had made to have the Knit Picks interchangeable circular set....yeah, I decided they were worth way more than the necklace. So I had Wino get me those instead. (Oh, how my priorities have changed since I learned about the wonderful world of fiber arts!!)
Whilst there, I also picked up a couple goodies, two skeins of the Geek Chic Minion Sock Yarn in colorways Lady Macbeth and Dryad:
Keep in mind this is ONLY available through my LYS...and it's locally dyed yarn! Fantastic! No clue what I'm going to make with those either. Probably just some vanilla socks for practice, but they'll be yummy!
Running Updates
For my non-knitting, running friends: I've taken on a new challenge. You all know how much I have been struggling with motivation for the past 6-9 months. I don't know what has come over my brain, but it's been a dark and stormy cloud of "let's-eat-everything-in-sight-and-sit-on-our-butts-and-do-nothing." I fell off the healthy wagon, and gosh-darn it, I'm ready to climb back on!
I recently got asked to walk a half-marathon (that's 13 miles folks!) with my aunt in November. I am nowhere near in shape enough to do that without ending up at the hospital! So I'm going to remedy that with an accelerated Couch to 5K regimen. I'm going to be running 5 days a week using C25K as a guide, perhaps modifying it slightly as I progress. That should have me ready for my race in October and at least in some semblance of physical fitness to walk 13 miles the following weekend (yes, I did say "the following weekend" - perhaps I'm biting off more than I can chew? I'm motivated, that's what matters to me right now).
I did week 1, day 1 on Monday. It was easy, actually surprisingly easy since I haven't ran much since October last year. Yesterday I tossed on week 2, day 1 and that was challenge I needed. I'm excited and I plan to lose these last 20lbs so I can start my Weight Watchers maintenance phase and make it to Lifetime membership before February (that's an arbitrary goal, it means nothing to me other than just having a goal in mind).
I seem to have found motivation again, and I plan to keep it. This is my busy season with knitting gifts, running/walking plans and NaNoWriMo right around the corner. Busy seems to be my motivation. I seem to remember a vaguely religious quote: Idle hands are the devil's playground....this seems to ring true for me!
