Knitamazoo(tm)

I can’t believe how long it’s been since I last blogged. I’ve just been so busy with work and biking lately that the computer has moved lower on the list of priorities. So what have I been up to? Let’s see . . . biking! As of today, we have biked 16.7 miles for the week and 28.4 for the year. Not bad for two novice riders. We did 6.7 this afternoon as it was sunny, warm and just perfect! Tomorrow it’s supposed to rain so that will be a knitting day.

Speaking of knitting, I’m sure I’ve finished up some stuff since I last posted. Let’s see, I finished the mate to my ankle socks and that’s about it. I started my toe-up sock class this past Tuesday. The figure 8 cast-on tried to kick my butt, but (heehee!) I finally conquered it and here is the result of my perserverance. I used Schaffer yarn’s Lola on size 5 circs. The color is accurate here and you can see my perrenials coming up in the background. Hooray for spring! I’ll be casting on for the second sock tonight so I can work on it during the hockey game tonight. (Go Wings!)

I love this yarn so much (it’s 100% merino wool - superwash!) that I just had to add another hank to my growing stash. Since it’s a DK weight these socks knit up super fast. Gotta love that instant gratification! I also went out and bought a 3-drawer plastic bin on wheels to help store my growing yarn collection. (I think the yarn multiplies on it’s own but my wallet says otherwise.)

So I emptied out a basket that had yarn in it and now it’s filled with something else. He’s just too cute!

(Now if he would only stay in the basket and off my chair I’d be super happy. Bad kitty!)

Wow! I haven’t had this much to say in quite a long time. I have no idea where to even start. I guess maybe I should start with the most awesome news I received today. My very first pattern ever is going to be published!! It’s all rather surreal right now. I’m so excited about it! It’s a sock pattern done on 2 circs called Carribbean Twist. I used Koigu KPPPM in this lucious blue that just made me think of the warm, blue Carribbean waters. Kelly at the LYS did the test knit for me and we’ve tweaked the pattern just a bit. I’ll let you all know when it actually gets published and printed.

We did quite a bit this weekend. Saturday afternoon was sunny and warm so we packed up the bikes and headed for the Celery Flats. (Kalamazoo was the place to grow celery back in the day.) Before we knew it we were approaching the bridge that goes up and over one of the roads here in town about 1.5 miles from where we started. I was behind my hubby and started to build up some speed to make it up the hill when he takes a sharp right down a little trail that goes to the creek. I manage to follow him but the trail makes another very sharp right and I lost it. I went right off the trail and fell over. I’m still sore from that fall and I totally blame hubby. (I’m sure he’s trying to kill me.) We ended up turning around anyway as the trail was flooded a little further along. We had to backtrack a bit to get the speed up to go over the bridge. All in all, we ended up riding 7 miles Saturday afternoon. (I didn’t think I had any bones in my butt, but I found them on this ride!)

Sunday we took a trip to Lansing. We stopped in at Moosejaw which is a sporting goods store. We ordered the bike rack for our SUV through them so we had to take a little trip over to check them out. The store in Lansing is small but was pretty nice. We ended up buying 2 camel packs for the longer bike trips we plan on taking. (Like 7 miles isn’t far enough.) We also stopped in at Threadbear’s. Yarn overload! This store was the largest yarn store I’ve ever been in. I ended up walking out with 2 hanks of Koigu KPM and that was it. It was so overwhelming! (Pictures to be included in this weekend’s Flash Your Stash.)

And finally, yesterday. My mental health day. I got 3 loads of laundry done in the morning and then spent the afternoon knitting and chatting at my LYS. I’ve never been able to do that and it was a lot of fun. I think I need more mental health days. (Especially now that the cold and snow are back. Yuck!)

In fact I’m almost sure of it. As you may (or may not) know, hubby and I purchased bikes a week ago. It’s been blasted cold ever since we bought them so riding has been out of the question. Yesterday wasn’t too bad though. Temps were hovering around 50F and the sun was in and out. So when we got home from work we saddled up and took our first real ride. Now I haven’t been on a bike since I was oh, I don’t know, let’s just say it’s been a mighty long time. Hubby has been telling me that he isn’t out of shape, he just doesn’t have any shape. So I’m thinking maybe we’ll go around the block a couple of times, one maybe one and a half miles max. Oh no, hubby keeps going down other streets and leading me further and further from home. By the time we got back, we had gone 100 3 miles!! Our first ride! My legs were like jello, I had to blow my nose so bad, and I could have sworn I was never going to get my underwear out of places it should not be. After I got inside, blew my nose and manged to extract said underwear, I felt pretty good. It’s supposed to be really nice this weekend so we plan on doing some more riding. But I’ve warned hubby that we need to build up our butt leg muscles slowly and not try to bike across the state quite yet.

No ride tonight though, it’s knit night for me. I’m excited because I’ve finished writing out my sock pattern and sock #1 is all knitted. I am in love with how this Koigu KPPPM colorway (P850) knitted up. I hope to have a picture up soon. It was so much fun to watch how the blues and purples all swirled together as I knit. I can’t wait to show it off tonight. I’m going to wait to do sock number 2 for a little bit yet. I spent so much time knitting and re-knitting this one that I need a break from it. So this morning I cast on 2 socks on 2 circs and am going to try my hand at some short-row heels on this pair. I was able to get the cast on before I had to leave for work but they’re not even joined yet. Of course I blame that on the fact that I had to wind both hanks of yarn before I could cast on. I just don’t understand why my cats couldn’t have had that all done for me. They knew I wanted to do this and the least they could do was get everything ready for me so I could start right away. Lazy critters!

I can’t wait for spring to get here! What I’m really looking for is the warmer temperatures. You see we just purchased brand new bikes, helmets and a bike rack for our SUV and I’m dying to ride. In fact I want to ride so badly that when we brought them home last night, we donned our helmets and took a spin around the block despite the freezing temps. They were calling for ice and snow last night but we got pretty lucky. Last night that is. As I walked out of the building to go to lunch, it was snowing (mixed with a little freezing rain for good measure.) But I was just looking at next week’s forcast and they are calling for temps in the 50’s. So maybe, just maybe we’ll be able to get out and ride a little. I choose the Trek 7300 with the lowbar in a really nice blue. Sorry the picture quality isn’t better. I wish I had taken pictures outside but I was frozen. So here is a picture of my bike in my living room. And no, I didn’t get a picture of hubby’s bike. I promise better pictures when the sun is out and we can ride.

Let’s see . . . this is a knitting blog, last I checked anyway, so I suppose I should include some knitting content. I actually haven’t been doing a whole lot of knitting lately. In fact last night I sat down and started typing up the sock pattern I’m designing. I’m almost done with the gusset on the sock but I think I’m going to rip it out and make the smaller size for myself. But at least I know the larger size works in some crazy, odd sort of way. (Don’t ask.) I’ve even come up with a name for the socks, but my lips are sealed. It will probably kill Kelly (she taught our socks on circs class) when I rip this sock out tonight at knit group. Maybe I should swing by home first so I can grab my camera to get the look on her face when she sees me frogging it. She just might croak!