The Big Day!

Today was the MiracleKids Triathlon at Lake Ann in Chanhassen. 

 

Having a great day out with some of the other almost-900 kids there!

He swam 

and biked

(That's him in the white and red shirt coming down the entrance into the transition area after his bike ride.)

and ran

and raised $535 dollars for the Miracles of Mitch Foundation. Thanks so much for all your help!

A good time was had by all!

If you'd like to see all the photos, there is a slide show here on my Flicker photograph page. Enjoy!

Knitting-wise, I'm three-fourths of the way through the waist ribbing on the MGJ cardigan and it's been very fun. I'm hoping to start some sleeves tomorrow, after my own triathlon - the Saint Paul Triathlon. 

Saturday Seven? No photos yet but it was two sweaters, a pair of shin guards, a pair of soccer socks, a mixer blade, and two tee shirts. Very dull stuff.

Just in case you felt like you've read this before

Apparently, I write like Cory Doctorow.

See?  They gave me this to prove it!

I write like
Cory Doctorow

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Now, which book should I choose?

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom?

For the Win?

I must appeal to young-adult knitters - or adult knitters who are young at heart!

Not really Irish - but faking it very well!

Last Thursday, I was listening to an edition of  the Clockwork Cabaret podcast and heard them discussing some very yummy cupcakes called (of all things) "Irish car bomb cupcakes."

The creator based them on a cocktail drink that I've never tried but believe me, the cupcakes are very rich and very tasty.

Middle Daughter and I must have been craving some chocolate because we gave them a try.

The cupcake batter has Guiness in it, the ganache filling has Irish whisky and the butter frosting has Bailey's Irish Cream in it.

Middle Daughter did say, "All my icing is going to have Baileys in it from now on!"

Our icing was tasty - but not as pretty as the original's.

I was trying out a new icing kit and let's say - I need more practice.

They are so rich I had to limit myself one a day. Everyone had one. 

After two days, I had to freeze the rest so we wouldn't overdo it.

Saturday's Seven was shorts, pants and polo shirts from Youngest Child. Fall must be just around the corner!

More knitting today on  Mr. Greenjeans. I'm on the cabled ribbing right now - my dream gift would be a cable needle on a necklace. I have lost two so far!

Time flies

when you're trying not to sweat. Things are hot, hot and hot here. In fact, the other day at the beach - too hot to knit. And for me - that must be hot! 

When in the air-conditioned indoors, I have been working on the Mr. Greenjeans sweater - now in the Small size - and it's working out well.

Youngest Daughter or Youngest Son wasn't around to model this one so I set up my dressmaker's dummy with my measurements. And it's looking like a good fit!

I particularly like the yarnover increases at the shoulder - very tidy.

I actually managed to pull together a Saturday Seven last week and since I was dropping it off at my local church rummage sale, I decided to snap a picture. Five teeshirts, one pair of jeans and a pair of pajama pants. Let's just say "Someone" won't be missing them from her dresser drawer!

If the weather permits this weekend - we will probably be out and about doing something fun. Hopefully, you will be as well!

Funny how things catch up with you

I really thought I would have at least one pair of socks done by now. 

The Vampire Boyfriend Socks? About two inches. 

The Hedgerow Socks? Almost to the ankle.

The Mr. Greenjeans cardigan? Ripped back, cast on again in a smaller size 

and about collarbone length.

Not even a neckwarmer size!

With my hand now officially declared fractured and in a brace, knitting has become difficult. 

And you know why? The yarn catches on the velcro on my brace!

 Knit, knit, knit - pull the yarn out of the brace - knit, knit, knit. Just a little tedious! 

And purling? Oh, man - purling takes forever!

I'm thinking of wearing a sock over my brace (which, ironically, I wear over a sock for padding) to speed things up.

On the bright side, spinning is absolutely no problem. I don't know why but it doesn't make anything sore and I've been using my time wisely.

Once upon a time, GFMelissa gave me this unpleasantly dirty, messy fleece.

It wasn't her fault it was a dirty fleece - someone had actually given it to her about six months before. And, bit by bit, last winter, I cleaned it and washed it and carded it. 

Over the last two weeks, I spun and spun and finally ended up with a pretty basket of yarn.

From left to right, starting inside the basket were three skeins of a soft black/gray, one skein of steel or dark gray; then outside the basket, two skeins of black with coarse long white hairs, one bobbin of light gray singles and then two skeins of dark brown/grey. 

Enough for a traditional gansey - if you don't mind itchy rough wool. 

There was one more bag of dark, extremely VM'd ("vegetable mattered") wool left but I think I'm going to pitch it. Or something. Maybe I'll need it come the nuclear winter but . . . maybe not. 

As for the basket o' yarn, I'm not really sure what I'll be doing with it. The Minnesota Knitters' Guild has a charity program knitting hats and gloves -  this may be the stash for that. 

But I did feel very good about getting it all out of the fiber stash and into the yarn stash.

One of the things I was doing while spinning was watch Eddie Izzard comedy films. Uniquely British and a bit foul mouthed but very, very funny! 

*And for the Saturday Seven - socks. Seven small pairs of sports socks. Even I have bad weeks for giving things away!

No longer good society . . .

Hey, if Guinifer says "Jump off a bridge," we all jump! Enjoy . . .



Although, I think the second rule of Jane Austen Fight Club should be, "Learn to knit."

If you are totally confused, you may need to reference these two works:

Pride and Prejudice and

    Fight Club 

Oh, this is just getting better and better . . .

Or, what the difference an inch or two makes.

So, my gauge has been off about half a stitch and I'm making the medium size of my Mr. Greenjeans sweater.

 Sometimes that isn't really a problem - sometimes it is. And today it is. 

I think this may be a result of my sore hand (more about that later) but I'm not really sure. 

It could be the iffy nature of the "worsted weight" Briar Rose Abundance yarn. I am actually getting perfect gauge for the yarn - just not for the Greenjeans sweater. From the front and side - the gauge looks good. Nice, even. However, from the back - whew, look out! One big sweater coming by!

Yikes. So, later today, I'll be ripping this back. Back to casting on for the small size. I've never actually made a small sized sweater before! But I think that the change in gauge demands it. 

As for my sore hand - I'm going to see the hand doctor on Monday. It's been getting better but (small problem here) every time I swim or bike - it becomes very, very sore. As I'm supposed to be doing another big swim in August plus a triathlon, I'm gonna be needing that hand. Luckily, running - no problem. 

Youngest Boy and I have been running three times a week and I've been running my own distances on the other days. Let me tell you - you get much better tan lines swimming than running!

As for my Saturday Seven - 

One pair of pants, a grey teeshirt, a pair of soccer shoes & shin guards, one pair of soccer socks and a mini potholder loom.

And a copper compost pot. Try singing that to the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas!"

A great day out with the kids!

Not my kids, mind you, but the MiracleKids Triathlon at Lake Nokomis.

Bikes everywhere! 

This is a kids triathlon where kids raise money for families with children with cancer. 

It's sponsored by the Miracles of Mitch Foundation. 

"For his final wish, Mitch made his family promise they would keep helping cancer kids and he sealed it with a “pinky swear” made with his father.

The MOMF is the non-profit formed in 2003 to fulfill that pinky swear. Today it is one of the very few charities that provides direct support to families who are treating a child with cancer.

The MOMF has two major giving priorities:

To provide cost of living financial assistance to the families of children diagnosed with cancer, and

To facilitate an individually tailored quality of life initiative for that child and their family.

The MiracleKids Triathlon is by far the MOMF’s largest fundraiser of the entire year. If not for the hard work of each MiracleKid raising pledges and the generosity of each and every donor, the foundation would not have the funding needed to support cancer families across Minnesota."

There are two races - one at Lake Nokomis in July and one at Lake Ann in August.

Today I was lucky enough to be the USAT waiver volunteer at Lake Nokomis - I handed out waivers to parents who were registering their child atheletes - and then I got to cheer on all the swimmers as they exited the water and ran on to the bike transition area.

That was one long gangway from the lake to the parking lot but those kids were just flying! They were very excited and I saw that continue later at the run to the finish line! Smiles all around and lots of friends holding hands as they crossed the finish line. 

For some time there has been a "2010 Miracle Kids Triathlon" button that leads to Youngest Child's First Giving page. 

Yep, YC is racing at the Lake Ann race in August. We've been running together three times a week (for a mile at a time), biking and swimming together as well. He's progressed to Level Four in swimming lessons this summer and got his first bike with hand brakes. We've gone to the MoM swim training at the Foss Swim School and we are planning to go and bike the Lake Ann course in August.

According to YC - he's ready to rock! 

I know not everyone is able to give and that many people have already planned their giving but if you are able to make a pledge in any amount - this is an excellent cause. And if you are able to volunteer at the Lake Ann event, I'll see you there!

Third time was no charm

Lovely, eh? 

But this was one of the flatter sections. And shortly afterwards, at almost the end of the bike course portion of the triathlon I was training for, I crashed my bike. 

Luckily, my first biking injury was just a sprained wrist - yea! - but no vacation triathlon either.

This view was the bloodiest but not that bad.

At this point in my day, I was longing to get out of these bike shorts!

Since typing is a bit hard, I'll be getting back to you later.

And the knitting is on hold for a bit as well . . . 

Things I learned from Plarn

Last week I took a class all about knitting with Plarn. You do know what Plarn is, right? Plastic Yarn made from recycled plastic grocery bags.

Lesson #1: Plan on a long evening at home. Making plarn involves cutting up lots of plastic bags and then connecting them.  Me? I was watching back episodes of Stargate SG-U: 1.0.

Lesson #2: Plarn rustles. No knitting with plarn in church! It starts out fairly wide but as it passes through your hands, it stretches and becomes much thinner. But it also makes a lot of noise . . .

Lesson #3: Plarn is easy to make mistakes with. The stitches blend together and it is very easy to lose track! I've been frogging quite a bit for using recycled plastic bags.

Lesson #4: Plarn can be very pretty! Eventually I will have an Ilene Bag - a very nice, stretchy shopping bag. Until then, though, I just have plarn.

And just in case you wanted to see a work in progress - check out Kate E. Austen's "How to make Plarn" video tutorial . . . 

(Oh, and that Saturday Seven? Pretty sure it was more than seven but I took two shopping bags full of dishes, trays, mugs and jackets over to a rummage sale. It was going to rain so I just skipped the photograph and dropped it off. Use your imagination!)

My new sock?

Okay, so I was overwhelmed by the sock love going on at the Minnesota Knitters' Guild's June "Sockapolooza" meeting - all kinds of sock techniques displayed made me hungry! - and I started another pair of socks.

The "My Vampire Boyfriend" sock from Knitty.com is a knit-a-long project over at Ravelry.com and now it's giving me heart palpitations!

I'm using some lovely Claudia Hand Painted Yarn (Fingering Weight) in the "Rubies Playing" colorway. It's a deep, rich variegated red. The pattern? Grrr. I've ripped back twice.

I'm thinking a nap should clear things up. I had a 1 mile swim this morning and while it was an okay workout and not that hard of a distance, I really had a problem sleeping last night. Lots of sighing!

The rain held off and my time was about seven minutes slower than in a pool. 

(Editor's Note: Times were posted today and my time was actually 31:12 - that's actually only 1 minute slower than my pool time! Yea!)

And I ran into fellow knitter Shelly Kang! She was doing the 2 mile swim and looked fantastic!

Today's Saturday Seven starts out pretty slowly - no photos except for a "Kent Co-Pilot Kids Tag-a-long bike." 

Our neighbors gave it to us after their own grandson stopped using it. Youngest Child is biking on his own now and we needed to find it a home. So, off to Freecycle with it!

Running with the big dogs, er, guys!

By 9 a.m. this morning, I'd run a 5k race, had a beer and brat and was on my way home. As Mr. Daisy said, "This could be a recruiting poster for the Army!"

For some reason, Mr. Pringles led off the race, the Lederhosenlauf 5k at the Germanic-American Institute. 

I was happy it was an early morning - it was pouring rain by 10 a.m. After knocking back a few chores, I think it's time for knitting and watching "James and the Giant Peach." I've started Not Plain Jane's Hedgerow Socks (only down 2-at-a-time as in 2-at-a-Time Socks: Revealed Inside. . . The Secret of Knitting Two at Once on One Circular Needle Works for any Sock Pattern! - a great resource!) and they are at the tricky getting-the-pattern-set-up part so I'm not taking them around town just yet.

As for that Saturday Seven, I found three curtains (from who knows where!), three tee shirts and a pair of sweat pants. 

When you have curtains you can't remember buying, you have to many curtains!

World Wide Knit in Public Day - coming to shop near you!

I'm not sure where I'll be for WWKIP - I'm thinking of going to Lila & Claudine's Yarn & Gifts on the 19th but here's plenty to choose from:

Alexandria, 206 Broadway, Central Park across from The Runestone Museum, Hosted by: Beth Olson on June 12, 2010

Circle Pines, Double Ewe Yarn Shop in Circle Pines, Hosted by: Kelly at Double Ewe on June 12, 2010

Mahtomedi, Lila and Claudine's Yarn & Gifts, Hosted by: Kirsten Skoglund & Polly Hart on June 19, 2010

Marshall, 349 W Main St, Hosted by: Janna Milbradt on June 17, 2010

Minneapolis, StevenBe: 3448 Chicago Ave. S., Hosted by: StevenBe on June 20, 2010

Minneapolis, Top of the Hill near the Peace & Rose Gardens in Lyndale Park, Hosted by: Ravelry knitters ChrisRKnits and PurplePurlGirl on June 20, 2010

Rosemount, Yarn Garage: 2980 West 145th St, Rosemount, MN 55068, Hosted by: Yarn Garage on June 19, 2010

Warroad, Soulutions, Hosted by: The Warroad KnitWits on June 12, 2010

Winona, Farmers' Market, Hosted by: Blandine on June 12, 2010

Where will you be knitting this weekend?

My, oh, my. A Knitting Gun!

I should be swimming right now (getting ready for a mile open water swim next week!) or even running (race tomorrow, though. Don't want to get too loose!) but intstead, I'm fiddling around on the internet. And I found this:

http://www.designspotter.com/product/2010/06/knitting-gun-Strickwaffe.html

I know that while I'm swimming, I'll be mulling over what I could make with a knitting gun. A vest? A handbag? Hmm . . .

Rainy days make for spinning days

This has been a week short on knitting - literally. I've been making chenille washcloths again.

The great thing about washcloths is that they are extremely portable - even more than socks - and if you make a mistake, no one will know. The chenille yarn (the remains of Crystal Palace Yarns Cotton Chenille from the last set of washcloths I made!) is extremely forgiving!

Today has been my first day using my Lendrum since Shepherd's Harvest - I've just haven't had the time to get things set up - but I've been spinning with a vengeance. That wretched free fleece? I've worked it up into a series of greys and black yarns and I'll be using it for something where itchiness isn't a factor. Hats? Bags? Mittens?

I've been using this rainy Saturday for spinning mostly so I can get caught up on episodes of Stargate Universe.

This is a fabulous sci-fi show with a plot very much like a "lifeboat in the stars." Using the Stargate technology (from the two previous Stargate television shows), survivors from an alien attack have ended up on an ancient starship going goodness knows where. They are trying to get home, all get along and figure out the ship's controls at the same time. Very intense! And it has Scottish actor Robert Carlyle as a good/bad scientist . . .

I did take a break to assemble today's Saturday Seven. Luckily, Oldest Daughter is moved to a new apartment this past week and supplied me with some cast-off clothes.

A pair of jeans and two tops came from her - I contributed two turtlenecks, a swimsuit cover-up, and a cycling jersey. I think this covered all the seasons! Back to SGU!