KIP
 
Last night, Mot and I went to the Bella Fleck and the Flecktones concert at the Woodland Park Zoo Tunes event. It was super fun! While listening to the music, Mot studied and I knitted on Elise. One day, she'll be finished! The front is going a lot better than the back which is quite exciting.

Then when we got back to the house, I saw one of these



in the front yard. Unfortunately it wasn't alive. I quickly ran inside and Mot told me I'd have to take care of it. After watching the TiVo'd Amazing Race, I worked up the courage and asked Mot to come out and help me. I got the pooper scooper and the trash can. And..... I couldn't do it.

Mot was telling me that if I were on the Amazing Race, I'd have to do it and to buck up. She even mentioned that this would be a good blog story! All those things could not sway the fear I had in me. I'm deathly and insanely scared of birds. I'm positive they will peck your eyes out -- alive or dead!

So there we are in the front yard with Mot trying to get me to work up the courage and me holding the pooper scooper and crying. I went in for the scoop and touched the bird with the shovel and screamed and ran away. At this point, Mot announced that I was having a nervous breakdown over a dead bird! I told her that it had West Nile Virus and that we were all going to die. Finally after much begging on my part, Mot did the scoop. I think she felt bad for me. Then I quickly wheeled the evil trash can out to the curb even though garbage isn't picked up until Friday. But it's out there and I'm not touching it again! I may need to buy a new garage can and have them just take the whole thing away.

So after this, I go to take Roux out in the back for his last wee before bed and there is a huge (seriously the size of a rabbit) rat sitting on the fence taunting both of us. Roux so wanted to get it but I decided it was time to go back in and we'd try again in a bit. So 10 minutes later I try again and the rat is still sitting there! I had to throw a rock to get it to leave!

What an evening! I hope this evening is much calmer as I'm planning to meet up with the knitting group at Third Place Books for some biscotti, good conversation and knitting!

 

Sights seen while running
 
This morning, per our usual routine, Julie and I met at 6 a.m. for a jog around Greenlake. It was fantastic and quite unusual for the following reasons:

1) I had my fastest time around ever! 2.9 miles in 34:16 minutes.
2) It was a beautiful, and not too hot morning.
3) About 3/4 of the way around the lake, we saw a man with a rather interesting creature (resembling a rabbit with a rat face and a cat tail) on his shoulder. After staring at each other in a confused fashion, I announced that what we had just seen was blog-worthy and that I would be googling when I got home. Unfortunately I had little go upon. While I could describe in person what I had seen, I wasn't sure if Google would understand me. I started by typing "Rodent-like Mammals" and came up with lots of stories about bones and fossils. OK so no go on that...I revised it to "Rat-like animals" and found this picture! 

 

This is what we saw! It is a Chinchilla from South America and commonly (not sure how common!) kept as pets in North America.

So while you people in California have Venice Beach, I have Greenlake and boy are there sights to be seen there!

Here is an artist rendering of a Chinchilla to give you better idea of the tail.



Also last night I went and saw the Mutual Admiration Society at The Moore. Made up of members from Nickle Creek and Toad, The Wet Sproket, they were amazing! What a great show!

Happy Day!
 

15
 
Yep, 15 miles. That’s how far I ran yesterday. That’s further than some people’s commutes to work! Just so you know it was a GREAT 15 miles with no splints and no pain. Well my entire body did get tired at mile 14 but I think that is to be expected.

For those who want to know if Roux joined me for this adventure, I can say he did not. He did get a slow and short walk immediately afterwards. He’s only run up to 4 miles and 15 would do the poor puppy in, especially after his peanut butter doggie biscuit parfait fest on Friday!

He did get to go on a 3 mile run this morning! Can you tell how excited he was about it?



Do we get to go for a run? Let’s go! Let’s go! Stop taking pictures of me and let’s get running!

I think he was also excited that I finally got a picture of my first pair of finished socks! 



I’ve also cast on for my second pair of socks but they aren’t interesting enough to take photos of yet.

Little to no knitting was completed this weekend due to the OUTRAGEOUSLY hot temperatures on Saturday. It was HOT! DAMN HOT! Thank goodness that Sunday was much cooler, allowing me to run my long run, otherwise I’d be thinking about it and not doing it. I ran 2 miles on Saturday and it was too hot. I had to jump in the lake!

Today I leave you with a picture of Julie taunting the pups with treats!

Swamp Monster


This is from a comic by Basil Wolverton

I got up way too early this morning (4:45 a.m. to be exact) and went swimming in Lake Washington with some other crazy friends. I felt like the Swamp Monster but it was beautiful watching the sun rise as I swam from Madison Beach to the Seattle Tennis Club and back or about a mile in total distance.

Here is the Seattle Tennis Club as viewed from my vantage point in the lake. OK I was a bit closer to shore. No one needs to panic here!



You know this was quite fun and now I have more time tonight to knit on my Elise sweater. I want to finish this beast!

P.S. Roux will be getting his doggie peanut butter parfait. He gets tons of treats and is such a spoiled doggie!

Doggie Biscuit Parfaits
 


Roux here! I wanted to pipe in about Doggie Biscuit Parfaits. Rebecca likes parfaits and I think we need to convince her to make me a doggie biscuit parfait layered with sweet, sweet peanut butter. In fact, I think she bought me some peanut butter biscuits that would just about be right! Really I implore you to convince Rebecca to make me some Doggie Biscuit Parfaits. I've been good for her and I ran three times this week!

Hey, go visit Maggie's website. She just had a grand adventure with a Great Dane!

Now back to dreaming about Doggie Biscuit Parfaits...

Parfait Addiction
 

 
I have a confession to make. I’m hopelessly addicted to parfaits and I’m not sure that I’ll be able to pull myself away from this dependence which is trying to suck me under. I mean almost anything can be made into a parfait! There are yogurt parfaits (that entry drug that get me headed on this downward slope), ice cream parfaits, pudding parfaits, fruit and granola parfaits, and parfait parfaits. You see anything can become a parfait. I’ve even begun to make yarn parfaits.
 

 
I can’t break free of the parfait spell that I’m under. I can’t live without my daily parfait. It’s becoming such a craving that I’ve begun to want a parfait with every meal. In fact, I need a parfait right now!
 

Music, Sweet Music
 
I splurged yesterday on something other than yarn because you can't take yarn running with you.  I got myself a running music machine!



This little bitty  player straps to my arm while running and provides over 6 hours of music. Perfect for training!

I spent some time playing with it last night and used it this morning for my run. Fabulous!

Oh and today I got an offer on my current job. As of tomorrow, assuming I accept the offer, it will be permanent with 4 weeks vacation! I hear France calling me!

Poncho Beginnings 
  

 
As you can see from the poor photo above, I cast on last night for the best poncho ever! So far, I’m having lots of fun knitting this project. Last night as I sat on the porch watching Roux play with his stuffed gorilla, I found this to be ideal summer knitting. My only complaint is that I have to carry around six skeins of yarn when working on this project. Due to this, it is not a portable knitting project. Instead, I’ve been carrying around my cloverleaf socks and since I only have about an inch completed, I do not have photos to show today. Once the pattern begins to show itself more clearly, I’ll get some photos taken to show off my handiwork.
 
I think Roux is getting used and excited about morning runs. My only issue with this is that today was not a running morning. I have my running group tonight so I run in the evening on Tuesday. Unfortunately Roux doesn't know what day is what and woke me up at 5:30 a.m. all ready for a run. I took him on a short walk but he looked so disappointed when I left work for this morning. He'll have to get some running in this evening! I know he wants it! At least splints aren't keeping Roux down!
 

Knitting Runner
 
I've been running a lot the past week. My coach said that I needed to bring my running up to four times a week. While it only meant adding one more day of running, it was a bit harder than I expected. I've also added the challenge of running before work. Now that is a huge success!
 
Thursday morning I went for a jog around Greenlake with Julie before heading off to work. Partway through the afternoon, I kept thinking, "I have to run after work and it's really hot" or "Must not forget to run!" Then I would remind myself that I had already run and that I didn't need to do it again. Before I could remember that I'd be thinking about how I needed to go for a run.
 
Another running challenge has been the splints as Racheal calls them. The splints have been trying to take me down. First I tried rest (a few weeks ago), then I tried icing and stretching, now I've decided to move on! I'll still be icing and stretching but I'm not letting the splints stop me from running! I've also switched to some sensible work shoes. Less heels, more flats.
 
I picked up the new Interweave Knits this weekend and am trying to hold myself back from beginning this!
 

 
I have a few UFO's to finish up and a poncho to start! I think tonight will be the cast-on for the poncho though.

Soon these
 

 
will become this!
 


Can't wait to cast on this evening! And because I ran this morning (damn the splints!) I have more time to knit! Morning running is all around a great thing!

Get Your Knit On!



Last night I knitted and I knitted until my eyes were blurry and The Amazing Race was over. And yet! I still didn't finish the socks. I am on the toes though and just need to decrease the stitches from 28 to 10 and kitchner that toe! I expect to finish these off today. Pictures to come of the one normal sock and the latest one with a red foot due to lack of proper yarn planning.

Tonight is dedicated to watching Lance on the Tour de France and doing some bike training of my own. Roux will be busy playing with Zubin so I hope he's exhausted when I get home.

Until then, here is a photo of me (the blogger) and my blogging co-star, Matya taken by one of my favorite knitters, Mary who also happens to be Matya's Mom. (Hi Mary!)

Someone has a case of the Mondays

Not me! but I'm sure someone in the world does :)

This weekend was busy, busy with lots of fun and activity. I continued this fun by running Greenlake this morning at 6 a.m. with Julie.

She was so excited she danced!



This is why one should never dance near a camera owned by someone with a blog!

I finally developed the pictures of the cutest baby hat ever and my first two colored intarsia knitting project!



and here is the nice and neat inside --



Sock Update -- I almost finished the socks this weekend but then I ran out of yarn. What the? So I made a stop at Hilltop and purchased a skein of red sock yarn so the toe will be a different color than the rest of the sock and the other one but it will still look good!

Sock Crazy

I've decided that there has been enough slacking around Supergirl's house lately. In order to squelch that procrastination problem I've developed (you know the one -- where you surf knitting blogs, read about knitting, wind up some yarn, read patterns, but just don't actually do any knitting), I have set some high knitting goals for myself.

1) I will finish my second sock this weekend. I am on the heel so it is entirely possible.

Sock as of this weekend posing with finished first sock.



2) I will also finish Elise by the first week of August. I've finished the back -- see!



And now I just need to cast on for the front. I did shorten the back around the neckline and want my knitting teacher to tell me if I did it right or horribly messed it up.

3) Since I have my last Knit to Fit class on Monday, I will start my Debbie Bliss cabled sweater.

4) Finally, I will finish my Weekend Hooded Sweater by mid-September.

All of this is bearing future sparkily items that could distract me from actually knitting!

Oh now that is pretty and so sparkily...

Dogs like to play!

Last night was a great night! I finished a baby hat for a co-worker. It's super cute and pictures are on the way. The hat was made with Mission Falls 1824 cotton in Navy with Burgundy hearts. I love the way it turned out and plan to make more for other friends. It's a quick and simple hat with amazing results.

Also last night, another dog I watch came over to meet Roux. I got great photos of the two of them playing which will be shown on the blog soon. The most amazing part of this is that Zubin isn't very social with other dogs. OK usually he tries to attack them but we took our time introducing Roux and Zubin down the street from the house, then both dogs took turns sniffing the neighbors 9-month old cocker spaniel named Jesse. She is the sweetest pup! I love her! Once that was done, we took them in the yard and once we were settled let them off the leashes to play. And play they did! Poor Roux was tuckered out by the much younger and more entergetic Zubin.

In fact, here is where Roux sat all night after Zubin headed home!



He was so happy! And this morning he was up at 5:30 a.m. wanting to play with Zubin again. Looks like another doggie play date is in the future!

Mail brings Presents

A very long time ago, I saw that the Colinette Vintage Knits Poncho KitI had been coveting over at Wendy's site was on sale via the Internet. So I ordered it in the terracotta colorway. I waited for my package with impatient glee. After much delay, I finally received it last week! Here is my new poncho yarn in it’s unwound glory.



Because it was unwound, this meant I needed to get one of these!

.

After much winding, here is my yarn ready to be knitted up into a fantastic treat (after this picture was taken, the blogging co-star and I wound up the mohair.)



Roux had a great weekend and celebrated the Fourth of July with Mot and I. Here is Mot and Roux growling at the loud fireworks.



And here I am bothering Roux while he’s trying to sleep. There is no sleeping when there is fun to be had!



I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July!

It's all about Roux



I've started my long housesitting gig and so far, so good. Roux seems to be enjoying himself and hasn't eaten or stolen any yarn yet! He's been busy cracking me up and entertaining himself. Mot come over the other night to practice eye, nose and throat exams (for nursing school) on me and Roux loved seein her! One of her "tools" has a light on it and we entertained ourselves by making Roux chase the light. It's the little things that make me happy.

I have not forgotten about knitting though. I've been hard at work on the second sock.



Pictures of the first sock will be posted as soon as my sister in law uploads the picture *hint*hint*

I also have a surprise photo to show you soon...