Stuff

Dress No. 1 got the most votes, but I'm still not convinced. Maybe I should take the dress i have to a seamstress and see if anything can be done to make it work. I'll keep you posted of the progress but a part of me wants to order one of those dresses even just to see how close to the picture it would end up. They can all be made in 3 weeks for $150-200, not a bad deal even if they don't end up exactly like the picture.

In other news, I participated in a Secret Pal on this Polish website. What great fun, my package came on friday from a girl in Lodz, Poland and these were the contents:

Two skeins of beautiful blue colored yarn, 2 of my favorite chocolates, other candies (yum!), wonderful rasberry tea, knitting magazine and little lady bug clothes pins. So cute!!

The package I sent went to a really nice girl in Gdansk, Poland and I think she was happy with what i got her:

Also the wedding shawl and V's wedding socks are completed. Satisfied with both and glad they are finished!

Next on the horizon is this little beauty:

As for running, I'm planning on a 12 miler on saturday. Marathon training is in full swing!

Vote for your favorite!

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Ok, now vote for your favorite dress on the right. I have a wedding dress but have decided that it doesn't look like i want it to look so here are some choices. Don't look at the color any dress would be in off white. So, what do you think?

Diet

This week I started a "diet". I use that word loosly cause I don't think depriving yourself of what you like is a good thing but nevertheless I decided to mainly cut out sugar, eat less processed food and more fruit, vegetables, and protein. So far this week I've done great no sugar in my coffee or tea, no pepsi and no sweets. This morning one of the guys decided to bring in donuts, ok i can do this no problem, even though he brought my favorite (he knows i love these) "boston cream" donuts. But I got my bitter coffee and went on my way, then the other lady that i work with brought birthday cake for one of our bosses. Ok this is just too much, I caved and had a piece. Good thing I'm running 12 miles tomorrow.

how can you say no to this? at least it had fruit on it ;0)

A little about running

So my poor blog has been all about knitting (btw, socks and shawl are almost finished), so here's a little about running:
Official training has started for the Akron Marathon (Sept 26th) 100 days away. What??
So last weekends long run was 10 miles and this Sunday it'll be 12 and on from there. This time I will be doing 1-16 miler, 1-18 miler, 2-20 milers and 1-22 miler, which is a lot more than any other marathon training. I think last year when i trained for Akron my longest run was 19 (I also think i got injured on that run), hopefully that won't happen this year. The other problem is that I will be getting married the weekend before which is also making me wonder about my training but I guess time will determine what happens. All I know is that no matter what I will run the Akron Marathon, finish, get my medal and go home happy. I would love to beat my time from last year which was a PR at 4 hours 11 minutes, but Akron is a tough course and I won't get my hopes up.

V's socks

One week, one sock completed (first one ever)! Now if i can only make the other one. My thoughts: knitting socks is way too labor intensive for something so small that is mostly covered up by pants!! But it is interesting to see how it works. I do enjoy figuring out how things come together, but that's no surprise after the last sweater. I started these on 4 double pointed needles but thought i would poke my eyes out and switched to two circulars (much easier).

On Saturday night, now one is finished!

New Sweater Finished!

Well it's done! I can't believe that it's done! but it is and I love the color!
First 0f all this was quite a difficult and interesting pattern and the mere fact that I finished it, sewed it together, and weaved in ALL the ends is an absolute miracle. Secondly, it turned out a little smaller because i don't know how to read gauge, and I'm not exactly flat chested like the model in the pattern, (which for some reason i didn't even think about). So I had to add two extra rows of the crochet border for it to even come close to fitting and only 2 buttons instead of the 4. But you live and learn right?? So it's done and at times does look like I'm "busting out of it" (Vince's Comment) but I'm happy. Now onto finishing the wedding shawl and some socks for V.

Memorial Weekend

Had a great time on my knitting weekend!! Went for a great 5 mile run on the nicest golf course (Peek'n Peak) that was quite hilly, but fantastic with awesome views. Knitted at the pool and ate some fabulous food. Even got a tan, Yay!

Love this view!!

On the knitting front, made great progress on the wedding shawl and the asymmetrical (muti-shape) top is almost completed. If I didn't continue to screw it up it would have been done by now, but it's a learning experience.

Wedding shawl at the pool

The Girls!

No PR

So this morning my friend email me that her time for Cleveland has been changed, quickly I looked up my results and mine was changed too. Damn it!!! No PR 1:56:41. I had 1:56:43 on my watch but figured I didn't stop it as soon as I crossed the finish. I'm disappointed but it is only 1 minute right? One minute = no PR ;(

Cleveland Half - Race Report

Well Cleveland went retro this year!! Very cool, all the marketing had retro/vintage logos and the medal instead of being the typical blue and red had orange, bright green and yellow in it. It's adding a lot of pizazz to my medal wall for sure. Super Cool not to mention the famous spinning guitar! I can't believe i've done this race 4 times now!
That being said I thought it was awesome especially since i PR'd (yep 1:55) absolutely thrilled!!! (and on 4 hours of sleep cause i can't put that stupid asymmetrical cardigan down and was knitting till midnight and had to watch some SNL with Will Ferrell before i finally fell asleep at 12:30). That breaks down to an average pace of 8:50, with mile 10 and 13 at 8:35 which makes me super happy. Now if i could just do that for a full marathon!
As for the race itself, the weather was absolutely perfect 50s with clear skies, sun and some wind. Started downtown ran toward rock and roll hall of fame and then around the browns stadium then headed over the bridge toward west side of downtown and into lakewood then back to downtown on the highway by the lake. There were parts of the race (at least the half) that didn't even feel like you were in Cleveland but some much cooler place by the water :0). Reversing the route did make it a little more hilly instead of pretty much flat but i didn't mind. Good Race Cleveland, be back next year!


It was so nice that I hung around after to see all my friends finish! My throat is killing me today from cheering everyone on. It was really exciting watching the marathon finish, I was in awe of some of the finishers, amazing!

with Jolene at the start

with Karrie after half

Jolene and Karrie at the finish

Elaine (red shorts, black shirt) sprinting to the finish!

with Krissy after the full marathon

Cleveland Half

Sunday is the Cleveland Marathon, woo hoo!! I will be running the Half and I'm really excited for the new course. For the most part they just reversed the course but I think it's going to make a big difference and again will be nice and flat. I'm also excited for my two friends that are running the Full, they've trained a lot and I'm looking forward to see how they do. Good Luck Girls!!

Also, I will be changing the medal picture above on Monday. Three medals will be added. So the questions is should i continue to add medals (currently they are organized from first race to the latest race)? Should I take the 5K, 10K, 15K, 10 miler medals down and only have half marathons and full marathons on the rack?? Should I organize them by color or distance?? or keep ones that I've done more then once together?? So many possibilities, so little time!
The curtain rod that I'm using still can expand so i could keep it the way it is for a lot longer but is it too much??

Anyway, wish me luck on Sunday (last half marathon until September)! and Akron Marathon training starts on the 25th.

Asymmetrical Cardi

Picked up the new Vogue Knitting on Friday and am totally in love with this cardi!! I know what you're thinking, but YES would totally wear a shirt with it. Anyway already started it and so far have one sleeve and one circular part for one side. Really hope i can pull this one off cause it's so dang different and asymmetrical. Mine will be teal, pictures to come.

Back to Knitting

Here it is the baby sweater I've been working on it's from a Debbie Bliss book "Special Knits". It's an Ohio University sweater as both of the parents of the baby that this is going to went there. Overall, pretty quick knit except for the sewing part which took a little longer. But I'm happy with the end result. This is the best model I could find to show the finished item.

Also, made this quick hat for a good friend. Hope she likes it!The wedding shawl that I've been working on for the past month has been ripped out. Yep the entire thing, almost cried while doing it but I wasn't happy with it. Now I have to start over. Yuck!