I finished the mitts.

Talk about a quick project!  Each mitt took only a couple hours to knit.

I think I was supposed to make fingerless gloves for him a few years ago.  Originally they were supposed to be so he could wear them to drink beer on cold Thursday nights with the running buddies. He has been running in the mornings instead of afternoons for a couple years now.  So the mitts are no longer needed for the original purpose.

The yarn is the same Vanna's Choice that I used to make the cap for cold days at the fire station.   So maybe these can be used at the fire station too.  I still call them Beer-Drinking Man Mitts anyway.

In Progress

Beer-drinking man mitts!

Got one done in a couple hours yesterday.  It was quick!  Tonight I'm casting on for the second.

That's not a man hand modeling.  It's me.

A Knitting Blog? Yes, Once Again!

Lately my life has been filled with many good, exciting, fun, fulfilling things.  But none have been knitting-related.  A couple weeks ago I rearranged my schedule for the summer and knitting has once again made an appearance in my life.  I thought it might be nice to finish some stuff rather than cast on new things.  I finished the navy blue fireman hat which I last posted about.  Then I finished this shawl.

This is called Carson and it is a design by Romi.  I began this shawl last fall when the pattern first came out.  I worked away, excited to see two balls of yarn turn into something lovely.  I got to the 10-row edging.  I made a mistake in row 8.  So I set the project aside.  And then real life interfered.  My company was having difficulties.  I hurt my knee and had surgery.  Those two things gave me a huge amount of free time but I got nothing done.  (The more I have to do, the more I get done.  The less I have to do, the less I get done.)  

January came.  I started a fabulous new job at a much more stable company.  My knee was back to normal and my mileage increased.  My life was going great!  Everything else fell by the wayside.  I am not a person who defines herself as a knitter.  So while I missed it, it wasn't that big of a deal.  Still...I own so much yarn!  I really needed to knit and reduce that stash.  But first, I should finish some of this stuff that is oh-so-close to being done.

So I picked this up.  How long could it take to finish three rows?  Um, longer than I realized.  But now it's done!

I think it looks like a sunset.

I love knitting with wool, especially fingering weight wool.  I remembered that as I finished this.

While I was out photographing the shawl, I saw my sago palms doing whatever it is they do at this time of the year.

I think the above photo is of the male.

So this must be the female.

I'm not really sure, but they are very interesting plants.  Please excuse the appearance of plants on a supposedly knitting blog.

HFD Hat

My boyfriend is a firefighter.  He likes to wear a beanie cap (as he calls them) to keep his head warm at work on cold winter days.  He has a navy blue Dallas Cowboys hat that he wears a lot.  Of course it has a star.  The Cowboys star is not a fire-department approved logo.  He's been told not to wear that cap.  But the fire department does not provide a hat.  So I told him I'd make him one.  I did!

The pattern is called Cambridge Watchcap.  It's really simple to make.  And it looks pretty good.

OK, yeah, I did start this project during the winter.  I finished it over Memorial Day weekend.  Not exactly the time of year one needs a knit cap in Houston.   At least it's ready for the first cold weather of 2013 in, oh, maybe November.

He looks kind of grumpy here.  I interrupted his viewing of Trouble with the Curve for the photoshoot.

What's Been Going On?

Apologies to Amos Lee.  I do love your music, so hopefully you'll forgive me for borrowing your song title.

Nope, not much of a blogger anymore.   Can't say I really ever was.  I did it to join knitting/yarn swaps back in the day.  I am fairly sure I have only one reader (hi, Ariel!) so I don't think I am missed.  At this point I am posting mainly to document events only for myself.

So what's been going on since I last posted?  

I finally donated my Project Linus quilt!  I finished this over my Christmas trip home.  But immediately afterwards I started a new job.  This was physically closer to the donation location, Quilt N Sew in Katy, but I was so busy during my lunch hours that I kept putting it off.  Finally, about a month ago, I was able to go and donate it.  I received a really nice call from Houston's Project Linus lady.  She assured me the quilt would be loved by someone, probably a little boy.  She told me that last year, 2012, Project Linus donated 8227 blankets to children in need.  That is both amazing and sad.  I had no idea the Houston area required so many blankets for sick or abused children, but felt so glad to know my quilt would comfort someone in need.  It also inspired me to make another one in the future though that's certainly not underway just yet.

On to a lighter subject:  a coworker got a group of us dog parents together to visit the dog bar/dog park.  I had been here when it first opened.  It was fun to go back again.  (In case you are wondering, I don't spend much time in bars unless I'm there waiting for a table in the restaurant.)

Yesterday I was busy on a trip to the oil field.

And today our group celebrated our achievements with a crawfish boil!

And there is no knitting to document as of now.  Maybe later?

Boston

I'm not going to lie, the Boston Marathon bombing hit me really hard.

The Boston Marathon was first run in1897.  That's amazing right there.

I have run that race four times:  1990, 1996, 2000, 2004.  I've been a runner almost as long as I can remember, a marathoner since 1990.  I won't go into the personal reasons for running those years, but I can tell you how welcome Boston has made me feel each and every time I have run there.

If you haven't run Boston, I don't think you will feel the same way I do.

First of all, to those of us who are just average recreational runners, running in Boston is the highlight of our athletic careers.  One must run a marathon in a certain time frame previously in a fast-enough time to qualify to run in Boston.  Not just anybody who wants to can run; you must qualify.  For many of us, that's a huge goal to achieve and we are happy with that.  To actually go, wow!

The energy in Boston that weekend is incredible!  There are so many people who come from around the world to run, who are so excited, and the city of Boston embraces us!  There is never a rude word about the people who show up and crowd the city.  Everyone is so welcoming.  The hotels, the restaurants, the cab drivers, everyone!  This is Patriots Day, a holiday in Massachusetts.  People are off work, out of school, and in high spirits.  The Red Sox are playing at home.  (Off topic, but one year we went to the Sunday game vs. the Yankees.  How fun, how many fights broke out in the stands--like nothing I've ever seen--such a rivalry!)

Yeah, the hotels, restaurants, cab drivers welcome the extra income.  We understand that.  But then it's Monday and the marathon.  That's when you really see the true Boston citizens.  They line every inch of the marathon route from Hopkinton to Boston.  Runners pass biker bars and the bikers raise their beers to us.  We pass little kids who are so exited to high-five us, while the whole time I am thinking that I am just an ordinary person.  At the halfway point we run the gauntlet of Wellesley women.  You can hear their ear-piercing screams long before you reach them.  The sound sends a chill down my spine, makes me run faster and taller, and truly makes me feel like an Olympian.  During the Newton Hills, the hardest point for those of us who live in the flatlands, fans are cheering and encouraging.  Eventually we persevere and arrive in Boston proper, where the end is so near yet so far.  It's tough but the crowds are out there cheering.  There comes a time when a runner ceases to see or hear anything but that finish line.  And we cross it.  Hallelujiah!  This is the highlight of an ordinary runner's career.

And someone tried to mess with it.  At first I thought of the runners.  But then I realized the people who were the victims were our supporters, the people who make the running of a marathon so much fun.  We runners really appreciate them for everything they do.  They cheer, they give us something to look at and ponder,  they take our minds off the pain.  They are the ones who hold up the signs with the current score of the Red Sox game.  They are incredible people who cheer for RANDOM STRANGERS as I saw in a photo gallery on the Runners World website.

What happened was so wrong.  The criminals will get their due. And the marathoners and their supporters will be out in record numbers next year.   We will not let them win.

Update

This is a knitting blog (primarily) and I haven't posted anything since the beginning of January.  Does that mean I have not been knitting?  Yup.  So what happened?  I switched jobs at the beginning of the year.  I am very happy, very busy, very excited!  I work longer days Monday through Thursday and get off by noon on Friday.  I love this schedule!  But by the time I do all my other weekday stuff, there isn't much knitting time left.  Oh well.  I have been very good at not gaining stash.  

I'm not NOT knitting (I do a bit when I can) but there isn't anything finished to report.

So what am I doing during my free time?  Various things that are important to me (which I never post about here), laying on the couch, and having my usual adventures.  At this time of year, in this part of the world, that includes crawfish boils.  Here's a photo from a few weeks ago when my boyfriend and I went for crawfish on a nice sunny day.

As I learn to balance my life in its current state, I will add knitting back into the mix.  So posts will be coming, eventually, as I finish the in-progress stuff.

Another One

I am totally in love with infinity scarves this winter.  Here is my latest.  It's the (free) Honey Cowl from Madelinetosh.  I used about 400 yards (instead of the suggested 525) so mine is not quite as wide as the official Madelinetosh version.  The yarn, Sublime Lustrous Extra Fine Merino DK, has a bit of a sheen to it.  So this is my blingy cowl.