First Cables

I'm attempting to make this cap from knitty.com which involves knitting some cables.
So far, so good.

Diagonal Keyhole Scarf

Yarn stash busting continues. Easy keyhole scarf pattern from Knit Simple. Next time I make it I think I'll make it a tad shorter.

Twisted Curiosity

I did it. I signed up for my first ultra-marathon – the Capon Valley 50K (31 mile) trail race in Yellow Spring, WV.

What is wrong with you? Why would you want to do this?

After finishing a handful of marathons, I suppose I wanted a new challenge. Sure, I could just try to improve my marathon time and I do still plan to work on that. A trail ultra has a raw appeal to it that’s akin to hugging a lion. No, it can’t kill me unless I fall off the mountain, but there’s definitely something intimidating about it that stirs up feelings of anxiety. Maybe it’s the longer distance. Maybe it’s having to run through forests and streams and up mountains. Maybe it’s not having the convenience of the port-o-potty every five miles and encountering a bear when nature does call. Even though it’s only 5 more miles than a marathon, there’s a possibility that I won’t finish within the 8 hour time limit.

Many of the ultra race reports I’ve read talk about the highs and lows that runners feel during a race. A lot of people say that ultras stir up all your self doubts and cause them to bubble up to the surface. I believe it. But they also say that the sense of accomplishment knowing that you gave it their physical, mental, and emotional all is unmatched. I suppose it’s my twisted curiosity to find out if they’re right that makes me want to give it a try.

The race isn’t until May 8th, 2010 but I’ve paid my registration fee and even have reservations at the B&B that is at the start/finish area. Now all I have to do is train.

Savageman Hat

I knitted this hat this weekend while traveling to/from Deep Creek Lake and while hanging around the campground. The pattern is called "Felicity" and is easy and quick to knit.

Savageman Weekend Recap

A mid-week weekend recap...

Saturday – Had to do my run solo since I needed to start earlier than the rest of the group so that Esteban and I could head out to Deep Creek Lake for the Savageman tri. We got on the road around 11:30pm and had our temporary “grasshut” up and furnished by 3:00pm. Steve’s tri buddy Joe was kind enough to let us borrow some cots and sleeping pads – not exactly what most would call “roughing it” but I didn’t mind.


I spent the rest of the afternoon knitting a hat in the great outdoors while Steve and Joe picked up their race packets and checked in their bikes. After the pre-race pasta dinner we stopped for coffee (hot chocolate for me) to warm up since it was getting a tad nippy. Sat around the campfire for a bit while the boys mixed up their drinks for the race then hit the sack.

Sunday – Since the race didn’t start until 8:30am and since we were within walking distance to the start, we actually got to sleep in until about 6:00am. (Most of the other triathlons required us to get up around 4:00am.) Savageman has only been around for about 3 years but they certainly seemed to have their act together. They even had a shuttle to a section of the bike course called the Westernport “wall.”

“The wall” is this street in the town of Westernport that has an average grade of 25%, max of 31%. The last section of the street is in horrible condition – lots of ruts and potholes. Any triathlete who makes it up the street on their bike gets a brick with their name engraved placed in Westernport. Both Steve and Joe made it up, but I watched plenty of others topple over. (They only get once chance. Video from last year here. I didn't have the heart to video tape anyone who fell in front of me.) Here's a pic of a random guy; his face pretty much sums it up.


The hilly course took its toll on the guys so I watched them hobble around for a while after the race. (The silly things we do for fun.) After some much needed showers, we headed over to Uno’s for dinner then spent the rest of the evening around the campfire.

Monday – I had originally planned to go for a run, but breakfast and coffee around the fire won me over. We packed up camp so that we could hit the road only to find out that the U.S.S. Grassi wouldn’t start. DOH! Joe and Steve went into town to pick up a new battery and we were finally homeward bound 3 hours later.

In a New York Minute

Saturday - After the trail race, I quickly showered, ate lunch, and packed before heading up to MD to pick up my brother, sister, and BIL. We were meeting our cousin Ollie from Belgium and his friends in NYC. They were visiting NYC for the week and Saturday night was the only time all of us could meet up. So up the NJ Turkpike we went. We checked into our hotel room in NJ, hopped on the bus to NYC, and met Ollie and his friend Joris in front of Toys R Us in Times Square at 8:00pm.

We only had a few hours to spend with them so we ventured over to the Hard Rock Cafe for some chow and Stella Artoise in honor of our Belgian guests. Ollie's lady friends joined us a few hours after they had gotten their fill of Macy's (5 hours worth!). They don't have big department stores in Belgium so the gals had a great time shopping American-style. An exhausting day, but worth it to see Ollie and company.

VA Happy Trails Women's Half-Marathon

On Saturday morning, my running pal Mandy and I ran the Virginia Happy Trails Women's half-marathon at Fountainhead Park. Even though we had run the course a few weeks ago for practice, it was our first official trail race. The race kicked off at 8:30 with the guys from the Happy Trails Club singing what else but "Happy Trails".

The first mile or two of the course was a bit crowded making it difficult to pass anyone since it was single track. Passing on the trail requires a little more planning since you have to make sure there isn't a tree or some other obstacle when you go around the person in front of you. I found the course was a little easier than the first time I ran it and managed to pass people fairly easily on the uphills. (Guess I have my elephant-sized quads to thank for that.) I finished in 2 hours 20 minutes which is about 25 minutes slower than my road time but I'll take it. Mandy finished about 9 minutes after me. The post-race spread included pita chips, hummus, fruit, and brownies.

Cardigan Gone Bad

Remember that cardigan I started waaay back in May? Well, I've continued to work on it off and on even though I'm actually really bored with the pattern. Even though it's not done, the other day I finally got to a point where I could sort of try on the cardigan.

The front is meh. It's too big for me even though I thought I got the gauge down before I started. I'm disappointed in how it hangs; not very flattering at all. I've been really frustrated with this pattern because it doesn't include any pictures at all for how the piece is supposed to come together. There are a few people on raverly who are knitting this same cardi, but they haven't posted any pics to show their progress so I've been winging it. (Maybe they were bored with the pattern too?)


The deal-breaker for this patter was when I saw the back. Something has gone awfully wrong. I realize I'm not done with the piece yet, but something tells me that nothing I do is going to take care of that gaping hole in the middle of the back.

Part of me would like to make this right and frog (rip it) the offending section of the cardigan. I've spent a lot of time on this sucker to abandon it now. BUT, the pattern is soooo boring, the instructions are so not helpful, and even if I do manage to fix it, it's still going to be too big for me. So for now, this project will go into hibernation. Nighty night.

Keyhole Bow-Tie Scarflette

This super-easy keyhole bow-tie scarflette's pattern is from the Knit Simple magazine's Fall 2009 issue. It's made using Naturally Caron's Spa yarn in Ocean Spray. Next time I think I'll make it a bit shorter and also keep better track of my rows in the bow-ties so that they're a little more even.

Hubby Hubby

Ben & Jerry's renamed flavor. Click the image for details.