One knitting disaster after the other

I discovered yesterday, after looking at pictures of Loppem FO's on Ravelry, that I had made a mistake in the cables and needed to take it out and start over. Just in case you're thinking of making this sweater - be aware that the booklet contains an enormous amount of errors. The chart is totally wrong, for one thing, and is missing one symbol definition entirely! I did have the errata and had corrected my booklet but missed the missing symbol definition so I was doing one twist wrong. Nothing to do but take it out and start again. So, perfect excuse to start swatching for the Ingrid, right? Right. Blunder #2 - I didn't order enough yarn!! I don't know where my head was but I need 2 more skeins. I didn't want to start futzing with that until I know I can get two more skeins of the same dyelot so I will call LittleKnits later this morning and find out if I can drive up there this weekend and pick up the yarn. So that meant I had to frog my 20 + rows of Loppem, which I did, AND cast on again, AND did the lower band and 3 chart rows. I wasn't able to stay up late again after the previous night.

The weather is just stunning! It's going to be nearing 80 today. I will have to get out and run a little early today. I drove in because today is the day I go to my new salon! I am excited! I am going to get my hair back to WAY less blond and more reddish/brown. And start growing out this hideous excuse for a haircut as well.

It's going to be nice all weekend and Mr. M wants to go on another bike ride, so that's what we'll do this Saturday. We are going to go the opposite direction of where we went last time. We're taking my route to work, then going a little farther to Gasworks Park for a picnic, then back home. He will now finally understand why I arrive home in such a mess - that huge long hill coming up from the trail. He got new bike pants, and gloves so hopefully it won't be as painful for him as last time. I'll try to be gentle. ;-)

BBQ chops

Mr. M loves salmon. Especially cooked on the BBQ. He also loves butter (well, who doesn't?) and uses it liberally. Last night he brought home a rather large piece of salmon to cook on the grill. I got some vegetables ready (yummmmm with fresh herbs from my garden!!) and got them going. It's a really big gas grill - three or four dials .. I forget, and a rack on top - it's huge and he always gets all of the burners going even for a small thing. Anyway, the vegetables were nearly done and he took this huge piece of salmon and put about half a cube on butter on top of it, put a loaf of bread on the top shelf to warm it up and closed the lid. Can you guess what happened next? Anyone? Yes, fire. Big, huge, smokey, the whole grill involved grease fire. Smoked and burned the vegetables so that even he couldn't eat them. Blackened the bread. The fish - not done. I finished it up inside under the broiler while he got the fire under control. By that time is was WAY past hungry, so I had a piece of salmon and some chardonnay and called it dinner. He needs to cook more. His BBQ chops are WAY off. Maybe twice a week? :-)

My yarn came for my skirt yesterday but I didn't want to start it. Because I'm not using the yarn called for in the pattern and the pattern is translated from some European language, I am going to have to swatch and swatch to figure out what needle size is going to give me gauge. So I will leave it to this weekend when I've got more time and patience. I worked some more on the Loppem. In fact I just-one-more-row-ed myself to 11 o'clock, which is late for my bedtime. I'm glad I decided to frog the Radiate. The Loppem is a much nicer design and I think I'll get more wear out of it than I would have the other.

Just one more row

Having decided that the Radiate was not going to make it, I had no other project in mind. I am waiting for the cotton to start my next skirt, called Ingrid. I got the pattern from Louet. I am going to make it in a beautiful periwinkle blue cotton. I didn't feel like picking up the Rockstar Jacket, nor my socks. I wanted to keep using the yarn I had been using for the Radiate, a spring green llama/silk blend from Royal Yarns. I finally settled on Loppem, which has been in my queue since before the leaflet was published. I cast on for it after dinner, got the lower edge done and 9 rows into the cable pattern. I haven't done any cables for a while so I was not wanting to put the knitting down until a little after 10 when I was too tired to see. Then I got into bed, promptly fell asleep and continued to knit in my dream. Since I spit spliced the yarn for Radiate I am just knitting this new cardigan right from the old. Tidy. Or lazy? No. Tidy.

I rode AND ran yesterday - still don't think I'll be ready for the race this weekend but maybe I can do the race in Fremont in June. I think it helps, running around my neighborhood on the weekend, because it's hilly and I get a better workout there than on the trail. I am going to run Thursday and Friday, because I have to drive Friday and I'll be all nice and rested. Yeah ... maybe I will be ready for June.

Taking the easy way out

I did visit the new salon and made an appointment there for this Friday. I needed to cancel my appointment with my old stylist - the appointment was set for this Thursday. I put it off and put it off and finally this morning when I got to work I called her salon and left a message on her machine. Nine years I've been going there but I just didn't want to talk to her because I am afraid she'd argue with me. So - I left a message. And if she does call I'm not going to pick it up. I just feel sorry for my husband because if there is any flack, he's going to get it when he next goes for a haircut.

The extended weekend was just what the doctor ordered. It was GREAT weather too. The new Star Trek movie, which we saw Thursday night, was very good and well worth going to the Cinerama to view it. On the way to dinner that night we happened to drive by the J&M and saw that it had gone out of business and the auction of its contents had taken place earlier that day! I have a picture that has been on the wall of that place for ... well, I'm not going to say how long but I was 23 when it went up. My husband really wanted that picture so, since he knows the auction house owner, he called him the next day and found out that one person had purchased all of the pictures. On Friday he went down and spoke with a person at the J&M who was supervising the auction and told her the story and left his business card in the picture frame. Hopefully we'll get it back, or at least be able to copy it.

During my stay-cation I took two 20 mile bike rides - one with my DH yesterday but it was too crowded for me to have a good ride. Him on the other hand - it pretty much wiped him out. He's not used to it. I also got the vegetables all set and planted some lettuce and more herbs on planters for the deck. I got lots of good knitting done as well, but I have decided to frog the Radiate. The sleeves are giving me fits. The pattern says to knit them flat - but that is pretty much impossible. The other option is to do it in the round (duh) but on 2 circulars and because of the pattern I was not able to keep the edges from the ladder effect plus it's all purl and, quite frankly, I don't like reverse stockinette. I have tons of great patterns so I think I'll just rip it out and use the yarn for something nice. I am actually just marking time until my yarn comes from Little Knits to make my new skirt.

So now it's back to work and back to the real world and it's even supposed to rain today! But nice all the rest of the .. SHORT .. week! Friday a new hair stylist! I am going to have her take me back to the nice reddish brown I had. My ex-stylist was making my hair too blond and not listening to me. Hopefully this new one will fix me up. I have been hating my hair for too long!

Oh what a gorgeous day!!

I am having a little "staycation" to stretch my long weekend into 5 days. Today I wanted to sleep in but it is SO gorgeous outside I just can't! After breakfast I'm going to have a run, then get cleaned up and do a little spa stuff. Then pick up a couple things I need at the mall and at 12:30 I'm going to have a consultation at a new hair salon. I still feel moderately guilty -- I suppose the real guilt will set in when I actually call and cancel my appointment next week. Ah ... who am I kidding? Guilt has never been my thing. It'll just be uncomfortable because I know she's not going to be professional about it. Ah well ... that's life.

Tonight we're going to see the new Star Trek movie -- can't wait! Tomorrow I hope to get a little gardening and a lot of knitting done. Supposed to be nice all weekend. Maybe we'll even go to the Folklife Festival. Choices abound.

I'm calling it Friday

I know it's Wednesday, but I'm taking Thursday and Friday off this week to make a longer long weekend. The weather is supposed to be nice and it's a pretty good time work-wise to take a few days. So woohoo!! TGIF!!!

It's also noon knitting day and I forgot my knitting!!! I was busy putting the dishes away and yapping to Mr. M and then I realized I was late and I ran out of there and didn't remember until I was nearly a mile away from home. I couldn't go back - I was running late as it was. I did remember to bring a magazine so I'll go up at noon anyway and see if anyone has also brought some pattern books or something. I did more work on my socks last night. Not too terribly exciting. I am going to get going on those sleeves tomorrow, probably. I should get some pictures up.

There is one part of the Burke Gilman trail that is so bumpy that I regularly lose a pannier or two going through it. It is the part that parallels 36th Avenue NE, right between the Metropolitan Market and the bridge. I noticed on the way home last night that someone has spray painted the big cracks and bumps with neon orange paint, leading me to believe that it is going to be fixed soon. Yay!!

After nine years I have finally decided to leave my hairdresser and find someone else. It's not going to be easy since I've known her since I got back from Paris in July of 2000 and she is responsible for me meeting my husband. So. It's going to be hard and I'm just going to have to be honest-ish with her and tell her I just want a fresh perspective. Hopefully she'll be professional about it but I'm not holding my breath.

How's this for annoying

Last night is was raining so hard it woke me up. It went on all night and even this morning when I woke up it was not just raining, but POURING! It had started to slack off at about 7 but was still coming down pretty hard, so I decided to drive in. My rain gear is somewhat lacking in efficacy in that my jacket is new and works great, but my tights and shoes and my head and face get really really wet. I need a new helmet with a visor and I need water resistant tights and some of the neoprene boots to put over my shoes for this 8 mile ride. It didn't used to really matter when I was riding about 3 miles but now, it's important, especially when I'm coming in to work. I got about half way in, down by Children's Hospital and the pavement was dry! It looked like it had been raining but had stopped hours ago. Errrghghg! I guess on the good side, I'll have a nice dry run this lunchtime.

I worked for a bit on my socks last night as I was relaxing and watching old Star Trek re-runs. I am at the point with the Radiate that I need to sit down and get out a pencil and paper and figure out exactly how I'm going to do the sleeves. I am thinking I'll get out my pattern for the Simple Knitted Bodice and adapt those sleeves for this cardigan. They fit well and I like the bell sleeve - where it starts and where it ends up, size-wise. I'm going to do them two at once on two circulars, like socks. And that's always a bit tricky, dividing up the stitches and getting that first round going. After that it's not so bad. So that's not a project I can just tackle when I get home from work. I have decided to extend this 3-day weekend by taking Thursday and Friday off as well, so one of those days I can get that project started. Hopefully Thursday.

Steve only has one show, on Saturday, so on Thursday afternoon/evening we're going to go downtown to the Cinerama and see the new Star Trek movie. It's going to be a perfect place to see it. Paul Allen bought the old theatre a few years ago and made it state-of-the-art digital. And it's always been THE place to see big films. I'm looking forward to that.

It was a gorgeous weekend

Wow -- it must have been in the high 70s this Saturday. I got to the Fred Meyer garden center around 10:30 and already it was packed. There weren't too many vegetable starts left - well I should say there wasn't much variety. And no lettuce. I didn't feel like going to fight the crowds at Lowe's or Home Depot so I took what they had - some tomatoes (2), some cantaloupe, red peppers, green peas, and some herbs (lots of basil!!) then I bought some seeds. We'll just have to wait and see if they come up. I am thinking it might be too late.

I got home and cleaned out the beds and planted my starts and the seeds. The beds look so sparse! Maybe this weekend - I am taking Friday off to make it a nice looooong weekend - I will go to a larger garden center and maybe find a few more starts. Or, I did buy some lettuce seeds, so I might make up some planters. Last night Tink was barking and whining and I think I know why - there was evidence of something being in the vegetable beds last night. I had put the seed packets (with a few left over seeds) in the dirt to mark where I had planted things and they were gone. The little plastic pickets marking the plants were disturbed as well. I hope this doesn't become a problem. I didn't remember any animals in the beds last year, but of course they were well established by the time we moved in.

On Saturday night I had some knitting ladies over for food and frogging. We had such a fun time! I didn't get much done - that wrap is a bitch! I did get the edging taken out, then I had to just plain cut some mohair out. Others did quite well. We will have to do it again soon.

So it's Memorial Day weekend coming up and the weather, after our sunny weekend, has gotten bad again. But according to the forecast it's going to get nice again starting Thursday. I am going to take Friday at least off, but depending upon how things are going here I may take Thursday as well and have 5 whole days off! I seriously doubt we're going to be having any vacation this summer. I might as well start looking forward to London in October and/or Paris in November.

Bike to Work Day

It has been "Bike to Work Week", and today is "Bike to Work Day". That means that the Cascade Bicycle Club sets up little stations along the trail where you can stop and get a snack or some water or a new water bottle, sign up for the club, get maps, etc. etc. I stopped at 55th where they had set up a station next to the Metropolitan Market and got a new water bottle and some water and a nice piece of orange. It was set up like at the K5 finish line with cut up fruit and pastries. I was thinking how nice it would be to be able to stop along the way to work and sit there and have a piece of fruit or, if somebody was really thinking, have a coffee stand there. That would be totally awesome in the summer and fall.

I had some troubles with cars today. That is not a usual thing but today I had two cars blow through intersections and nearly get me. And on campus, where the trail crosses a road onto the campus from 25th, some JERK in a truck nearly ran me over! Typically normal drivers treat that intersection as a 4-way stop. Bikes stop or slow and the cars stop and let us through. The guy in front of me was waved through by the car in front of the black truck, went through and the car went and then I was coming up. The black truck hesitated so I figured he was stopping for me like the other car did, but then he started to go just as I entered the intersection! Of course he stopped again as I went through, then yelled at me as he drove away. So I flipped him off. Not my usual style but what the heck. He was being a jerk.

I had an awesome run yesterday afternoon although I got soaked to the bone again! It wasn't raining when I walked out and in fact looked as if it was going to clear up, but I got down to 15th and the raindrops were big and heavy. What the heck -- I was already out there so I just kept going. And it was a great run! Somebody told me once at a race that there's more oxygen in the air when it's raining and that's why I feel better and stronger when I run in the rain. I don't know though .... that sounds a little crazy. It couldn't be that much more oxygen in those raindrops.

I got the last increase row done on my Radiate yesterday evening. I think I'll finish up one more ball of yarn on the body and then do the sleeves before I finish off the body. I still am unclear on how long I want it to be.

I am excited about getting to the nursery tomorrow and picking out my vegetable starts. It supposed to be very nice all weekend so I will be able to at least choose them tomorrow and maybe start cleaning out the beds before I have to get ready for my knitting ladies. It's going to be a great weekend!!

Can you say "Drowned rat"?

Holy cow! I got soaked to the skin yesterday on the way home. My socks .. I could have wrung them out, they were so wet. Oh it was POURING rain! I did make it home in record time though because I was peddling like I was being chased by rabid dogs. Man, that was miserable! I couldn't wait to get in the shower. Poor little Tink did not get a walk, but Mr. M is doing an early show today, so she'll get a nice long walk this afternoon.

LOST was awesome last night! Nothing was answered, of course, except we got to see Jacob. It is hard to believe that football season will be over before LOST comes on for its final season. Only 3 months until football starts, so I think I can hang on. :-J

I drove in today, so that means I MUST run at lunchtime. There is work being done on the trail at a point that would mean I have to either climb a very high hill or go down the hill and drive in extremely dangerous traffic with no bike lane. Besides it's still raining. It is going to be nice for the next few days. That's perfect timing because I must get my vegetables and herbs planted this weekend. And maybe we can go see the new Star Trek movie!!!

Will I make it?

Three hours of LOST tonight! Three hours!!! The first hour looks like a retrospective regarding the time travel, according to its title. Then a two hour finale. It goes to 11 o'clock which is late for me. But I think I'll be able to do it. I accidentally slept in today - Mr. M got up early so I turned off my alarm thinking I'd wake up when he got out of the bathroom, but I didn't and he didn't wake me until it was nearly 7 and he realized he didn't hear me. I was only 30 minutes late but I must say, that extra 30 minutes of sleep was sweet and I feel great! I'll be a zombie tomorrow, probably.

I'm slogging away on the Radiate cardigan. This portion - the lower body - is pretty boring. I'll be doing another increase row in about an inch, then I'll knit until it says to stop in the pattern - 11 inches from the arm hole - and do the sleeves, then try it on to see how long I want to make it. And to make sure I have enough yarn to do the button bands.

Have you noticed how light it is staying at night? I love it. Except it makes me feel like a lazy bones when I hop into bed to read and I can still see a bit of light outside.

Making friends with the wind

It was very blustery again last night for my ride home. The winds were swirling though, so there were a few times when I had a tail wind. That was SWEET! The two times I got nearly blown over ... not so sweet. I did make the ride in good time however, so I shall keep a good thought for wind. Especially tail wind.

Unfortunately, since I had gotten such a terrible night's sleep Sunday night, I was exhausted when I reached home. Thankfully Mr. M had the time to give Tink her walk, so I hit the showers, put on my lounge-y pants and got dinner going. Can I just say how much I LOVE Trader Joe's? Their fish is just out of this world. Last night it was the mahi-mahi. My favorite is the garlic marinated tuna, but the mahi-mahi is right behind it. Easy to cook and nutritious and yummy to boot.

I got some good knitting done on the Radiate -- pictures soon -- and I had to make myself stay awake. I read for a few minutes and I must have been fast asleep by 9:30. I feel great this morning though. The wind woke me up once but I closed the windows so the blinds would not rattle and I was off to sleep again.

Saturday I'm having a frogging party at my house. Or a take-out party, or an un-knit party. The idea is that we all have projects that we've made that we find out later we're never going to wear (like my stupid shawl, or a couple bulky sweaters I made very early on) and that yarn can better be used in something else. It'll be a fun way to spend a Saturday evening. Since Mr. M has to work again. It beats sitting there watching stupid movies with the dog.

Round tireds round tires

How many times do I have to remind myself. When my tired get low it is MUCH harder to ride. Steve pumped up my tires for me yesterday and I had a much easier ride in, even though it was blowing a bit.

It was a pretty okay weekend. The weather was gorgeous Saturday and Tinkerbell got a grooming and I met up with a friend at Northgate after dropping Tink off and we did a little shopping. I got a nice skirt and a pretty top. Then it was just a quiet evening of video games and knitting. Boring .. yes, I know. I need to find another hobby besides Mario Kart.

I had a lovely long chat with my sister this weekend and she and her boyfriend are planning on coming up for a visit around the 4th of July. Yay! Now I have a reason to get the spare room done right. We have just had a little single bed in there and Mr. M's son uses it when he has school vacation. Mr. M. told me to make it as girlie and feminine as possible so his son won't be too comfortable there. Can do!

The ol' double whammy

I got it last night on the way home -- wind AND rain. For a while there in the afternoon it looked like it was going to get nice. At least it had stopped raining. But around three I was looking out a window and the sky was looking rather ominous. Sure enough, just as I was walking out the door in my shorts(!) it started to pour down rain. I didn't want to go back inside and strip down and change into my long pants so I just went for it, knowing I could have a nice hot shower when I got home. By the time I finished climbing the hill up to Sand Point Way at 110th the rain had stopped and the sky was clearing. Crazy spring weather!

I didn't get any knitting done last night although I do hope to get a good bit done on my sweater this weekend. Steve has to work Saturday so I will have plenty of good knitting time. Tink is going in for a grooming and boy does she need it! And I've got to stop at the mall for a couple things so there will be some considerable running around to be done. But in the afternoon - all me time!

I know there's science involved ....

Why oh why must I have headwinds coming AND going from work? It just doesn't seem fair! My pace was off by almost four minutes today because of the wind and I'll bet you anything that it's going to be blowing in my face on the way home as well! At least it wasn't raining.

It was the penultimate Lost episode last night -- of the season, not the whole show. It does have one more year to go. But holy cow has this been a weird season or what? And convoluted! And confusing! I just hope that what Jack is proposing to do next episode will bring them back to present day because all this time travel is confusing the dickens out of me!

Before the show was on I did have time to do a couple more rows on the Radiate. I finish this row I'm working on now and do another increase row. Although I'm not a big fan of reverse stockinette, the slipped stitches make a nice rib and I think it'll be cute. Especially with the sleeve modifications.

There's a big sale up at my LYS today and this weekend. I am still on my self-imposed yarn diet so I must stay away. It's not easy, but I am going to be good for a change.

And the big news?

The weather -- again. Wind and rain and lots of it! I had to get up and close the windows in the bedroom last night because the wind was blowing so hard! It was starting up on my way home last night. I had a really rough ride home because of the headwinds. And all of the offices except one on our newly renovated southwest side were wet this morning. We're lucky that our windows don't leak at home because they face directly west and they were getting the brunt of it.

Despite the noisy outdoors I managed to get a good night in. I do NOT want to end up with a sleep deficit like I did last week. That was brutal. I am just one of those people that needs a full 8 or, even better 8 1/2 hours of sleep. I've always been like that. And if I get into a deficit situation and can't sleep in, I am a mess.

Mr. M went out with a friend for sushi and beers and blather last night, so I was on my own. Since we're going out tonight I had my Cinco de Mayo celebration while the boyz were out. I had purchased some cheese with habanero peppers in it, so I made some guacamole and grated some of that cheese and a couple little corn tortillas .... pretty tasty.

I worked a bit more on the Radiate - need to do four inches from the underarms and then another increase row. I am doing mods on the sleeves. I really don't like the idea of a cardigan with short sleeves so I'm going to do increases between the ribs and make the sleeves belled. I think that will look nice.

And now .... oatmeal!!

Zoom!

That is the sound the weekend made. I hardly remember it! I was so wiped out Friday that I just collapsed when I got home and fell asleep for more than an hour! I hadn't even changed out of my bike clothes!

Saturday I had a lovely sleep in, did a few chores, grocery shopping, and then it was time to drive out to Auburn. My DH doesn't generally do concerts but he does this one every year. It's a country music show - not my favorite type of music but this year the headliner was Darius Rucker, aka Hootie from Hootie and the Blowfish. He has gone country and I must say that I totally enjoyed the show. He put in some songs from his Hootie days and he was awesome! And the venue is small.

I went to the early show so I was home by 8:30, got my iPhone fixed up -- I had to restore it because it got all messed up the last time I tried to sync it. Then I played some Mario Kart and knit and watched TV. It was a nice evening. And then yesterday -- zoom! I did laundry and worked on my Radiate and we barbecued some steak and now here I am, at the start of another week. It is going to be rainy most of the week but at least the cold weather is now behind us.

I am hoping I can get back into running this week. I did run last week but I was so low energy it hardly even counted. I hope I can get a better workout. I doubt, at this rate, I'll be ready to race at the end of the month.

How to tell if you're playing too much Wii

Little bits of tunes play in my head. There always seems to be some song or another stuck in there and playing over and over, whether I'm conscious of it or not. Lately I've found myself humming along to that music and lo and behold, they're all songs from Mario Kart!! I should be ashamed, I suppose, that I play so much Mario Kart that I can sing the melody to each of the races. I gave myself a break from my Wii last night though and just knit.

I was wiped out yesterday. My ride in was a chore, I got my running gear on at noon and went out to run and ended up jogging 10 minutes, walking 3 or 4, jogging again. It was brutal!! I had absolutely zero energy. And the ride home - again quite the chore. I managed to drag myself inside, had a shower and then collapsed in my comfy chair and read the paper and then knit on my Radiate. My DH took care of dinner last night - and lucky, too, because I wasn't about to cook a meal. I worked on my two toned sock while watching a little TV and fell into bed at 9:30! I do feel moderately more energized today and my bike ride in was not quite so trying. In fact, I was right on pace. I can only surmise that I am low on energy because my sleep got messed up early in the week. Tomorrow I'm sleeping in!!!