Recapping the week

I had a heck of a week. Easily the craziest week I've ever worked. I work for a museum and we were changing over the gallery. One show came down on the 21st, and two more were up by the 28th. Including one that required us to produce all of the text panels. I worked at least 9 hours every day, full tilt.

I did manage to get a little bit of knitting in. A few times I just knit on my plain jane stockinette sock, but once in a while I got up the energy to work on my Evenstar shawl. I don't have a recent photo, so this will have to do.


I'm now on chart three - one round is 560 stitches. Tiny stitches. In Alpaca with a Twist Fino, which is one of my absolutely favorite yarns. Still, it will be a while before this shawl gets finished.

And I started half marathon training this week. Here's what the week ended up looking like:
Monday - 4 miles, speed intervals
Tuesday - full body strength circuit (x3), 17 minutes of cardio
Wednesday - 2 miles running, 2 miles on the AMT (like an elliptical, but better), followed by an hour of power yoga. (Should have been 4 miles running, but I ended up on the corner treadmill at the busiest time - that treadmill had its own climate. The air was completely still and humidity was high. I swear there was condensation on the machine. It was awful.)
Thursday - Rest day (okay, I was actually on my feet all day assembling exhibits, but no additional exercise.)
Friday - 30 minutes recumbent biking, 15 minutes incline walking
Saturday - 6 mile long run. Ran the first three in Yaktrax on snow and ice. But it was outside, which was awesome.
Sunday - Upper body strength (x3), 15 minutes recumbent biking, 34 minutes brisk walking.

Looks like a lot when I write it out like that! Here's the schedule for the upcoming week:

M- 5 miles, hills
T- Strength, 30 min interval cardio
W - 4 miles easy
Th- Strength, 30 min interval cardio
F-Rest
Sa-7 mile long run
Su - Rest

Let's see how it goes!

A lace scarf and the start of training

A couple of weeks before Christmas, I started a Falling Water scarf. I originally meant it to be a Christmas gift, but since it had to go by mail, after about 4 inches, I decided to make a hat to gift instead.

But since I had already knit 4 inches, I figured why not go ahead and finish the rest of the five feet or so I prefer from a scarf. And let's finish it before January so it's not hanging over my head, unfinished. So I did. It's a beautiful lace pattern, but I was bored to near tears knitting it. And since I didn't really have an emotional investment in it, my arbitrary deadline was the only thing that kept me working on it.

It is lovely though.


Yes, I was very lazy blocking it, so it has faux points instead of being straight along the edges. I think it looks nice, and I guess that's what counts.


I knit this scarf using a cashmere yarn from the fine folks at Keystone Art and Craft. The yarn is recycled from sweaters, and it's very very fine, so I held it doubled. The yarn broke once, because I was yanking at a knot. I'm very pleased with how soft and airy this scarf is.

On the running front, tomorrow marks the start of my training cycle for my April 15th half marathon! I've got four miles with speed intervals on the calendar. And, as the car is covered with about a foot of snow, I may be doing this outside, in the dark, in the snow. Should be a heck of an adventure.

My training plan has me running three times a week, strength training twice, and doing cardio cross training two or three times a week (strength and cardio cross are on the same days). In addition, I'm hoping to keep going to my Yoga Fit class once a week (on my easy run day) because I adore how yoga makes me feel. I'm excited to be training again. I love having a goal.

A little bit of knitting

I've had the book Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi for a while now. A couple weeks ago, I asked my husband to pick out something for me to knit. So he picked the tiny Easter bunny, and asked that it be an albino rabbit. Okay. I can do that.


Except that an albino rabbit would have a pink nose... We both think that this tiny rabbit might be the tiniest bit evil and, you know, plotting our demise. Luckily the cat seems to keep the rabbit at bay. Even his tiny fluffy tail.


For myself, I knit a tiny gnome. Love those gnomes. I knit this little guy up in a couple hours of watching this and that on Hulu one morning. Both he and the rabbit are knit out of scraps of sock yarn that I had in the stash.


The gnome mostly lives on the bookshelf. The rest of the world is dangerous. It's quite easy to fall into a box of yarn and lace and never be heard from again.


Or to be suddenly snatched and eaten by a creature many times your size with claws and sharp pointy teeth.


Best to stay in the bookshelf, safe and sound, navigating the great crevasses and chasms of science fiction with a friend.