A contest, but not here

Nothing new to show, I've been too busy with running, soccer, Matt's birthday BBQ, and cooking in preparation for my brother's college graduation this weekend. Oh, that and realizing I never updated my passport with a name change, and it's now "strongly suggested" for travel to Canada. Grumble, grumble, grumble.

So instead, I found you a contest at: The Land of the Knitsaur You have until the 31st to enter any three measurements and you get a chance to win. Don't forget to mention me!

Vermont City Marathon

My most recent excuse for not knitting:

I had a whole post about the marathon and how it went, but Blogger ate it, and I just don't have the heart to rehash, so the high points:

Beautiful weather, great crowds, great running partners (see photo)

Droopy hands, I don't know why (again, see photo)

Marathon PR now minus one hour (yes, that's huge amount of time to take off, and I won't be able to take another hour off in one race again)

Have recovered enough to run tough hilly trail race 48 hours later.

Thinking on signing up for the Maine Women's Half in September and then I could sign up for the Hartford Marathon in October and do the the half as a training run....

Two weeks of knitting and all I got was this lousy triangle...

I don't really think that. I'm actually quite pleased with the slow progress I'm making. We won't talk about the sock. The sock and I aren't currently getting along, which is all my fault. How did I not figure on stitches not falling off needles if I just threw the knitting in a bag with no dpn holder on?

Le sigh.


It's just that many other things have been going on in the past two weeks.
I ran the Corporate Cup 5K last thursday in Montpelier, which then required going out for dinner and not getting home until 10:30 at night. That's our "Corporate" Team in Training in front of the Statehouse. There were almost 2000 runners and walkers there. It was a ton of fun, and great to see so many people out and active on a weeknight.

I got my bike back with a new chain and it's like a new bike (the husband also got his first ever road bike and we've been spending some time on the bike paths. Yes there are many in the area. I heart Chittenden COunty)
We also changed the landscaping in front of our condo from perenial beds to more traditional landscaping (ie landscaping the condo landscapers will take of, because apparently they get paid to ignore perennial beds). After hearing an estimate for how much it would cost, we decided to do it ourselves. After a week of back and forth it's done, and I'm still uncertain as to whether the landscaper was just poor at the dealing with the people side of his job or whether he was just having a bad week or whether he just thought communication by ESP is acceptable. In any case, much less work, and much more money later, I will say it does look nice. But I can't wait until I own a home where the only gardening approval I need is my husband's.

I am on week two of tapering for my marathon this Sunday, and despite the lack of running, I seem to be managing to fill the time with other physical activities...which I think I'm not supposed to be doing. Training schedules are for people who run fast anyways :)

The Banishment of Yarn Monsters

My swift has arrived. Yarn monsters are henceforth banished.
I might need a life :)

Not only is this swift amazing and functional and completely collapsible, it's also my first Etsy purchase. And, by the way, fairly cheaper than the other swifts I've been looking at online. Bonus.

I have been knitting, I just have no pictures to show. I cast on the Austermann yarn on the birch dpns for my first socks. However, right now it's only a cuff, so it's not very exciting. And because I am such a fast knitter *snort* I also cast on for my first shawl. I decided on the Juno pattern, and I'm just delving into chart 2 of the Juno pattern on Knitty. Matt picked that pattern as his favorite of the ones I'd been looking at....but I think it's because he is uncomfortable with triangular shawls :) So no pictures of that because while I think it's all very pretty and pink and shawl looking, there is also not much lace to look at yet. There will be more knitting in the future because my marathon training is now officially at the "taper" stage. Which means I don't have to run a lot. And I get to eat lots of pasta. But who am I kidding, I always eat lots of pasta...