One Year Later

Exactly one year ago, I wrote my first post for this wee little blog.  At the top of my to-do list today was to work on redesigning things a bit (I started a bit last night, so excuse the mess) and finalize some renaming ideas that have been bouncing around my head.  I ended up scrapping the to-do list to enjoy the holiday with my family.

I spent the afternoon at Patapsco Valley State Park with Mike and the puppies.  We did a little hiking, but the highlight of the trip was the river.

Rugby loves to swim, but Juno, not so much.  She will wade in and splash happily, but that's always been about it for her.  Today watching Rugby was too much to take, and she eventually followed us out.

Despite the picture, she did venture out far enough to need to paddle.  It was her first voluntary swim.  I'm so proud.

I think they had a good day. 

 

The only bad thing about swimming in the river?  Bath time.

But now I have happy and clean dogs.  Just no time to spend playing with the blog.  I made the right decision.

Happy 4th of July!

Leyfi Pullover

I finally had time and decent enough light and a willing photographer to get some shots of my finished Leyfi Pullover.

Pattern:  Leyfi Pullover by Romi Hill, from Interweave Knits Fall 2010

Yarn:  Tahki Yarns Bunny

Needles:  US 10 and 10.5

Started:  July 28, 2010; Finished:  Dec 2010

This sweater was both an easy knit and a huge headache.  It was a complete impulse cast-on.  I didn't swatch, wasn't sure I had enough yarn, and couldn't be bothered to even knit the sleeves on the same size needles as the body  (US 10 for the body; 10.5 for the sleeves since I happened to have a 10.5 16-inch circular and I hate magic looping sleeves).  It's kind of a miracle it came out at all.  Even more amazing is that I'm really happy with it despite some major mistakes.  Early on, I discovered I had completely botched the upper part of the lace yoke (that would be what I get for trying to knit a lace pattern at 4am).  I agonized a bit over this mistake, but in the end, I decided not to rip and kept on knitting.  Deep down I was convinced that these mistakes would drive me crazy even when the sweater was finished.  But I'm pleasantly surprised that I don't care (much).  Even close up, there really isn't anything that jumps out as being wrong.

Now granted, even in that photo, I can point out the mistakes, but I'm fairly certain that most people don't see what I see (and if you do, just lie).  I've worn it happily twice now and accepted compliments without feeling the need to say, "thanks, but, look right there--don't you see all these glaring mistakes? I must be the worst knitter ever".

Other than my unintentional lace customization, I knit the sweater pretty much according to the pattern.  The pattern calls for you to hold two different yarns together, but I used a single ply bulky wool that I had in stash, which worked out just fine.  My only modification was to add some waist and hip shaping.  Even with the shaping, Leyfi has a relaxed fit which I'm finding rather refreshing to wear since most of the sweaters I knit this year are very fitted.  I love the nice long loose sleeves in particular, and the whole sweater is cozy and warm and comfortable and I love it.  Isn't it great when that happens so unexpectedly?  

Maybe most importantly, the nice neutral color doesn't show dog fur.  And yes, that comment is really just an excuse to add in a gratuitous puppy picture. 

With Leyfi finished, my WIP knit-down has hit a speed bump.  I'm slogging away on the Chelsea skirt, but progress is slow and tedious.  Only eleven days left of 2010, and I hope at the very least I'll be able to knock out the last pair of socks. Only time will tell...

Overscheduled and totally worth it

This past weekend was one of the busiest of my life.  I knew when I scheduled two big events back to back it was going to be a little rough.  At the end of it, I was sleep deprived and exhausted, but it was totally worth it.

Part I: Saturday
At 6:30am Saturday morning I was on the road on my way to Westminster, MD.  Not for a bike ride this time but for an agility trial.  In my very first post, I mentioned that I do agility training with my dogs.  For those unfamiliar, dog agility is where you train your dog to perform certain obstacles (jumps, tunnels, stuff to climb over, etc) and the purpose is to run your dog through basically an obstacle course as fast as you can go without making mistakes.  Each course has different challenges, and on Saturday I ran a total of eight courses with Rugby and Juno.

At over eight years old, Rugby still has some serious spring:

Agility trials used to make me really nervous.  For someone as self-conscious as I am, the whole performing in front of an audience thing is nerve-wracking.  Then think about fear of making mistakes combined with having to rely on partnership with a dog. Recipe for disaster!  But sometimes life forces you to be exactly what you are trying to avoid, and me and my goofy spaniel were often the center of attention not for stellar performance but because of all of Rugby's amusing antics.  It was pretty common for Rugby to take off and zoom around the ring or run over to say hi to the judge.  Once he left the ring to bury his head in a pile of prize toys and another time, he followed his nose right into a kitchen to see what was for lunch.  When I stop and think about it, I'm rather proud that I kept going with agility rather than giving into my fear of embarrassment.  At some point I decided to love Rugby for being exactly what he is--an unpredictable goofball.

As he's matured with age, Rugby is less of a clown at agility trials, and while he certainly still spaces out and wanders away, sometimes he puts it all together really well and we had 3 successful runs of 5 this weekend.

Juno has much more focus than Rugby but is still new to agility competitions so she can be a goofball in her own right.  As she finished a run and before I could get her leash on, she jumped over the ring gating to go say hi to a friendly-looking Corgi.  It's good she's carrying on the family tradition.  Here she is navigating her way down an obstacle.

The little girl did quite well for herself.  I only ran her in 3 courses, but she did well enough in one to earn her very first "qualifying score" and first place ribbon, which I promptly displayed on her crate.

What a good little girl.

It was an exhausting day.  I didn't get home until after 8pm and barely had enough time to pack some things and try to get to sleep before the alarm went off at 4:30am.

Part II: Sunday
On Sunday morning, I left the house even earlier than on Saturday, this time for the Iron Girl triathlon.  By 6am I was setting up my transition area in some light rain, and by 7:30am, I was in the water about to start the race.  I'm somewhere out in this big pack of swimmers.

Swimming in a group like this is always an adventure, and I definitely got knocked around a bit in the beginning, but then I settled in and just swam.  I felt like I had a strong swim, but my time was a little slower than I was shooting for.  That meant I really needed some speedy transitions.  Mike barely caught me running by on my way to grab my bike.  That would be me there in the bright blue top.

Despite the rain, the rest of the race went pretty well.  I had an average bike, but with a crowded course and wet roads, I was okay with that.  I was able to quickly transition to the run, and had my best run on this course (which is no walk in the park--okay, well, actually it is in a park, but it's still a tough run), even sprinting full out at the finish. I think I'm verging on actually considering myself a real triathlete. No pictures from the end of the race since Mike was busy volunteering. I came home and not surprisingly, passed out for the rest of the afternoon.  It was a packed weekend from start to finish but I loved just about every minute of it.

Where's the knitting? But what about knitting?! No worries, there was knitting--a decent amount actually (there's a lot of waiting around at dog trial), but I'm saving that for next post.  Psst....Goodale is finished.

Overdue Introductions

I really can’t believe I’ve gone this long without a post that revolves around my two beloved dogs, Rugby and Juno.  They are a huge part of our family and even some vacations are planned around doing activities with the pups.  This weekend, we headed up to Shenandoah National Park to go camping.  While  Rugby (8 yrs old) has camped with us several times, this would be the first camping/hiking trip for our little Juno (2 yrs).  The pups piled into the car Friday evening and off we went. 

Juno found the traffic a little tiresome.

We arrived just in time to set up our tent in the dark.  Rugby and Juno were not of much help.  The next morning, the pups explored the campsite.  Rugby was quite at ease.

But poor Juno still wasn’t sure where to put herself.  

We set off for our first hike, with Juno acting a little unsure of herself at first.  After a few climbs over some rocks and splashing around in the river, she decided this whole hiking thing was pretty cool.  Rugby and Juno trotted happily ahead of us for the rest of the hike, heading down to play in whatever water they could find, and usually cooling us off in the process when they would come out and shake it off.

 

After lunch, a nap, and another long walk, we all settled in at the campsite.  Rugby and Juno passed out after the long day, and me?  I knit. 

I love camping if for no other reason than in the evening when there is nothing to do but relax around a campfire, I can happily knit without feeling one shred of guilt that I should be doing something else.  On my lap is my current shawl project:  Wandering by the Moor (Ravelry pattern).  The yarn is Brooks Farm Duet which I got at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival last year.  When I started this project I really underestimated how little I would want to work on a wool/mohair shawl in 90 degree heat, but it was perfect for the cool evening in the mountains.  It was a good weekend.