Sometimes I Commute by Bike

And when I do, I often stop for groceries on the way home. My Trek doesn't have a basket, or anywhere to store my purchases, save my backpack. More than once, I have tried to balance a grocery bag of food on each handle bar. It is precarious at best, and has resulted in the ruination of at least one of my chico bags from the near constant brush against the tire spokes as the bags swing.

I've been looking at bike baskets, which aren't too expensive, but I worry that I and my Trek are not retro enough to pull off the wicker basket. And though my bike is uncool enough for the metal basket, I just don't like it.

If I had a million dollars, this is probably what I would get. Just pile in groceries, children, flowers, gardening tools. Genius :) Since I am not a millionaire, and you probably aren't either, they are having a contest.

There's Been Some Knitting...

Not much though. I have one more week of classes and then one final and then I will really have to start knitting up a storm.
And start swimming again.
And start biking again.
And start running again.
It's rather amazing how my exercise habits just completely fall apart under the guise of "busy-ness"...

Yesterday we had our first summer day. It was in the 80s and sunny and gorgeous. It's amazing what one warm day will do to plants. Our lawns are now summer green, the bulbs seemed to have started blooming overnight.
So, of course it was cold and rainy today :)

It's all fine by me because I only have one more week of classes!

Hey Look, It's Only Been 3 Weeks....

I've been having this love-hate relationship with the blanket I'm knitting.
I love the way it looks in the pattern, and all of the finished pieces on Ravelry, but I hate the way it seems to be coming out :)

It started off pretty horrible as you can see in the picture above. I re-knit the middle twice because I thought somehow this would make the stitches I picked up along the edge somehow more even.

*snort*

Somehow it did not register in my sieve of a brain that all those itty bitty triangles *ahem* "squares" would mean all these itty bitty ends to weave in. Or the fact that there might end up itty bitty wholes from all the joining and cutting and knitting and cutting and joining....Somehow I even managed to knit the square backwards or upside down. Which of these, I'm not even completely sure, all I know if that when you see the side with the middle square not having the stripe around it, all of the other squares do have stripes.

Does anyone know what I did wrong?

To keep my sanity, I have chosen to ignore these things.

I'm going to play on the fact that the blanket will be handmade and flawed and beautiful despite it's flaws. Plus, babies tend not to be picky about stripes and holes and unevenness in blankets.

Right?
The booties, though not done, are just not a priority to finish. I love the little bunny buttons I found, but I couldn't get my camera to focus for a close-up. So just take my work for it: bunny buttons=super cute :)
Two more weeks of classes....

Has it Really Been a Month?

A month is gone and I really don't have anything (knitting-wise) to show for it.



I started a baby blanket for my sister and restarted it. I have have finished the elephant pieces, but haven't sewn it together or stuffed it....and I still have to weave in the edges on the baby bootees....you know how I heart finishing :)



I have made some jewelry, but given it away before I took pictures. I made a metal bead and am working on a "mandent" for Matt, which is looking promising.

I also got the OK to run (finally!) and am up to 2 miles at a relaxed pace. I'm pretty happy to be able to run again, even if our Spring seems to have regressed for the time being, and I don't really have the time to do it more than a few times a week. I look forward to running shorts weather. Soon. Please?



My sister's baby shower is in about 8 weeks, so I really need to get on that elephant and blanket. I just really want to knit something simple that I don't have to consult the pattern every two rows or have to seam or put things together. Also, I'd really like to have time every night to sit down with some knitting, but that's my fault.



Instead of knitting, on the nights I don't have classes, I got sucked into The Cider House Rules. Books have a way of really been getting in the way of knitting...or accomplishing all of the things on my To Do List.



I was only supposed to have two classes to worry about; then the undergrad got me all excited about beer brewing, which is a really fun class. And as soon as I find someone to sell me their used equipment, I'll be having some beer brewing fun. All of my classes are really cool, it's just so much time.



I have about 5 weeks of classes left, and until then, there won't be many posts, or much progress :) I passed up the chance to read Stephanie Myer's vampire love story, The Host, in an effort to keep on keeping on.

Dreaming of Spring

Is Spring here yet?

Warmth and flowers and exercising outside without fear of falling on the ice....
all of these things I presently wish for even though I wouldn't really have time for them until classes are over...

Is it Summer yet?

Parade of Unfinished Projects

I haven't been blogging because there's nothing done.

I haven't yet finished the stuffed elephant that I swear people on Ravelry have been claiming to finish in a night (I do covet a faster knitting speed).
I had some issues with pattern wording. I tried to get help from Ravelry but the comments were all useful, for example: "pattern wording is confusing."
This is the first time Ravelry has failed me.
Luckily, my co-worker's mother is a knitting guru, so she helped me. (Thanks Jess's Mom!) So someday I will finish this, but not today.
They had you knit the arms in one piece and sew a seam. I figured out that this was unnecessary by arm number two...but man I do hate sewing seams.

Excuse the blurry picture, it's hard in the darkness to get a decent picture that allowed you to see the trunk.

I still have yet to seam and sew the buttons on Saartje's Bootees. I feel like the buttons make the booties, so I've been putting off the process of button searching. This pattern takes up almost more time sewing seams than knitting....have I mentioned how much I hate sewing seams? After I finished knitting and seaming the first one I, of course, found a seamless Saartje's pattern.

I realize the saying is live and learn, but sometimes I wish I could skip straight to learn :)

Speaking of learning, after 5 weeks of jewelery class (read as 20 hours in the studio) all I have to show is this silly pendant. I learned soldering, to make a bezel cup, and the process of finishing a piece. I am quickly developing a true appreciation for why any and all unique jewelry costs so much. The process is time intensive, even when you are skilled. Also, silver is expensive, and while I'm normally a silver/white gold person, I find myself appreciating the colors of the new gold (not gold, just golden in color) and copper...probably because of the relative affordability in price.

Matt's Scarf

I finished it awhile ago, but as soon as I wove in the ends, Matt took it and replaced his old scarf, which I have to make "disappear." It took a few days to catch him in the scarf with a camera, and I was not given time to properly arrange the scarf on the model, but you get the idea. It would look nicer blocked, but that'll probably have to wait until spring.

While I like to have options for accessories, Matt really likes to have one, and only one set of everything.

One pair of exercise pants.

One hat, one scarf.

One bathing suit.

A pair of black dress shoes, a pair of brown.

One set of sneakers for running/tennis/walking, which he will not replace until they are literally falling apart.

We've come to a healthy compromise where I sneak new shoes in the house. I remember putting all of my running shoes in the shoe rack when we moved in together and him staring aghast. Granted, there are about 6 pairs of running shoes in there, but only one has enough life for long runs. Another pair I use for short runs, another pair I use for tennis or the gym when I'm not running, another I use for walks, and the last pair I use for anything that's to get really dirty. OK, that's only 5...there may be an unused pair in there....but when you train for marathons, you go through 2 or 3 pairs, depending on mileage, and while they won't have enough cushion to run ten miles, they still feel fine for other activities.

I've almost finished a pair of Saartje's Bootees, but there's still the seaming and buttons to finish, maybe this weekend. I've also been working on an elephant for one of the many babies that will be born this year. It just doesn't look like anything yet.

This is my first week of all 3 classes, to 3hr + night classes on Monday and Tuesday, and it's really exhausting...and the weeks not over yet. Still an exam tomorrow, luckily it's on beer. No really. Wanna hear about the German Beer Purity Act? :)