Oh bugger

This is what my current pair of socks looked like while I was waiting for the bus this morning:

This is what they looked like when I got to work.

I had the sad duty of coming to terms with the fact that, although I was almost done with Chart 3 (of 4) on the leg, the sock was too big. Just too long. And if I kept going, I might not have enough yarn for sock #2. So I spent my bus ride imitating a froggie. My socks for this month might have to be some quickies for the girls instead of these bad boys.

Speaking of the girls, I did manage to get some modeled shots of Boo in her Tomten.

Last night watching TV.

I think she likes it, because she wouldn't take it off until bath time, resulting in a lovely ketchup splotch across the front from dinner.

She wore it again this morning, so I think this one is a keeper!

Please note the pink Dora Crocs, three Dora books clutched in one hand, and 'Raf under the other arm. She is prepared for the day.

How not to train for a half-marathon

1. Start training about 4 months ahead of time and get a fairly consistent schedule.
2. Lose a couple of long runs to Thanksgiving and general laziness.
3. Go home for two weeks over Christmas and run maybe three times.
4. Have your longest long run (12 miles) occur two weeks before race day.
5. Come down with a cold 5 days before race day and don't run at all.
6. Arrive at the starting line on Sunday morning saying "What the hell".

Despite all that, my race yesterday was way better then I had any right to expect. I had a complete brain cramp and thought I beat my time from last year, but I checked results this morning and discovered that actually, I was 7 min slower this year. Big deal. Given the amount of training I did, I got off easy.

It was a gorgeous day for a run. I try to not be too humbled by the fact that the top women marathone runners finished twice the distance in less time (!). Hey, I've got at least 80 lbs on most of them. Yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I was still in the top 50% of my age group, which pleases me. And my pace was pretty consistent throughout. It's amazing - I did 12 miles a couple of weeks ago that was an absolute death march after mile 7, and ran 13 yesterday and enjoyed* most of it.

Thankfully, Ironman did not beat me. Of course, he ran twice the distance too. I actually had enough time to get my stuff, my finisher's t shirt, change my clothes and wander out to the course before he came in. His race went pretty well too, but he missed qualifying for Boston by a mere 3 minutes. He was annoyed. Now we're just both stiff and sore - thank goodness my work environment includes elevators.

Next post: a finished, 2 day (!) Morning Surf Scarf guaranteed to cure winter doldrums if Houston had any. Today, with sun and upper 60s it's not necessary, but maybe in a few days it will get cold again and I can wear it.

* Which is to say, I wasn't grimacing in pain the whole time, but enjoying picking out rabbits and listening to the music along the way. The spectators for this event are fantastic - there are rock bands, DJs, a marching band, even a drum section set up along the course. Makes it all go by so much more easily.

FF: Sunshiney

There's a great Ravelry thread I've been following for a while now, where people post pictures of their handspun projects start to finish: fiber, spun yarn and FO. A brief discussion there generated a new group that I've joined - Ply by Night. This is a spin/knitalong, where everybody buys the same fiber and colorway, and then knits it up. For the first venture (January/February) we're knitting the Morning Surf Scarf.

Since I'm fascinated by the change from fiber to yarn to knit, this was the group for me. We picked superwash merino from Crown Mountain Farms in the "Sunshine of your love" colorway. My fiber arrived right before we left for vacation,

and the day we got back from Boston I started spinning the singles. Let's hear it for spinning as recovery from 17 days with two small children!

The top was very interesting - one side was really saturated, the other side had splotches of white. I decided to try and blend those as much as possible, so I split the top into quarters, and then spun from two pieces of top held together to blend the saturated and white stretches. I ended up with two bobbins like this.

I knew I wanted to chain ply, since I really like the way a 3-ply looks in dropped stitches (as seen in my mini-Clap, also with handspun), so while I was home sick the other day, I plied everything up, soaked it for a bit in warm water and Eucalan, and hung it out to dry. I didn't really do any rough finishing since this is superwash, and the overplying evened out well after finishing.

Before finishing

Having finished a Tomten, and reinvigorated my mojo for another long-slumber WIP, I was going to hold out this stuff as a carrot to get some other things done. But...I couldn't do it. I now have about 8 inches of scarf already hanging off the needles. It's amazing. Should be done by Monday.

Final yarn stats: 126 yds of chain-plied superwash merino (8 oz!), 11-13 wpi before finishing, about 10 wpi after finishing.

FO: Two Tomtens

Last night, in the throes of an oncoming cold that had my brain leaking out my ears and unable to do anything remotely complicated, I finished Boo's Tomten. Staying home today gave me a great opportunity to do the crocheted edging and sew on the buttons.

Pattern: Modular Tomten by Elizabeth Zimmerman (I used the version in the Sweater Workshop)
Yarn: Lamb's Pride Bulky from the stash, with additions in Pink for Devil's version. Devil's Tomten: 2.5 skeins of purples, less then 1 skein of Really, Really Pink (chosen by Herself). Boo's version: 3 skeins in Blue Magic, plus Lamb's Pride Worsted in Creme held double for the edging/buttonholes.
Needles: US 11/8.0 mm, size 10.5/6.5 mm hook
Start/finish: never mind
Gauge: 3 sts/6 rows per inch
Comments/mods: first for Devil's jacket. I was really limited by the amount of purple yarn I had in the stash, so we went to the LYS and she picked out some pink for stripes. I didn't bother with a hood, and used the pink to add button bands once I'd finished, since she tried it on and it was a wee bit small. She picked out the Flip Flop buttons herself.

For Boo's, I had plenty of yarn, so I did the hood - I think it ended up a bit small, and I used every scrap I had. Instead of grafting the top I did a three needle bind off.

The buttons were some I had lying around. I wanted to finish this today because they're predicting 20-something degree temperatures around here in the next few mornings. Which means there's a small chance I might get a modeled shot. Very small.

Time for me to head off for a nap. Begone damn cold!

Boo's sweetheart

Boo has a new favorite person. Her uncle came to visit last week, courtesy of a work trip to Houston, and she picked up right where she left off over Christmas. Her initial response to him was deep suspicion with a tinge of There's-No-Way-I'm-Hanging-Out-With-Him-Are-You-Insane-Mama? She gradually morphed into OK-He-Can-Exist-To-Read-Stories-To-Me.

But now? Now they are best buds.

Ironman likes to say that there are two types of people in the world, Mama and not-Mama. Usually the not-Mama's get the short end of the stick.

I think it must be something about my familial genes, because my brother seems to be doing OK as far as Boo is concerned. The only bigger highlight of our trip to the Science Museum was this:

A very confused (and hungry, one assumes) Rice paper butterfly.

While Boo has a new love, so do I:

Aracaunia Ranco sock yarn. This is the start of my Science Geek socks, and I am absolutely head over heels for this yarn. It's not the softest in the world, but it has something toothy about it (that's the best word I could come up with). It grips the needles well, is as totally unsplittable as yarn could be, and is knitting up into a lovely variegated fabric. It's too bad (good?) that I'm turning over a new leaf in my yarn acquiring habits, because I could see insulating my house with this stuff.