List of My Projects Either In Progress or Waiting to Be Started and then Left In Progress for a Very Long Time

I've made a list of projects: (either in progress, not yet started, to be frogged and ones that are faint images far, far away)

1. Penny Straker - Galway Sweater, Back finished, working on first sleeve (still.
2. Ohio Knitting Mills - Father Knows Best Cardigan, Back finished, Left front finished; right front in progress (this is a very plain vanilla sweater, so it goes quickly) Best to knit while watching the TV. No pattern to follow (really), so no worries that the pattern goes awry.
3. Kit of 6 Mittens (shows the seasons of the year; From Knit Picks)- Yarn has been rolled into balls; Patterns have been photocopied; All I have to do is start knitting
4. I have fabric that I bought to make a jacket that has African-type designs, including three leopard panels and a panel with a variety of animals on it. I have the pattern, but the challenging part is piecing all of these panels together to make it all flow. So far, I have cut several strips of fabric to add to the leopard panels, but nothing sewn. I have done a lot of creative thinking on this so far, which is the hardest part of the entire project. Ha!
5. Cardigan with Dancing Ladies on it. I've started this project several times, and every time the design does not work out. I've tried following the pattern from right to left, which works on the right side, then left to right on the wrong side, and it does not work. I've started in different parts of the design, but still is not looking right. This project is getting very close to being frogged.
6. When (not If and I'm being optimistic here) I finish the Penny Straker cardigan, I want to make another one.

I have a quote in my sewing room: It's a long way from creation to completion.

Ain't that the truth?

Since I was not able to exercise for two days, my body is revolting. Well, not revolting in the sense it's disgusting (but that too), but in the sense that it is craving those endorphins. I'm sure I'll feel better, too, once I come back from the gym. Cardio sounds like a plan today, but it will have to be on the TM. I went out earlier to the post office, and it is cold out there!

Another thing I haven't done in awhile (because of the rain last week) is riding. The forecast doesn't look to wonderful for this Sunday, either.

This is becoming more of a running blog lately.

Ran outside on Monday because the weather was sunny and the temperature was somewhere in the 80s! Ran to the Lincoln Memorial, around it, and back to the office. Much longer route than when I go to the Washington Monument and back. If I do the Monument again, I'll have to figure out how to make it a little longer. Maybe go around it twice instead of once? I'll have to take that under consideration.

Yesterday and today I did the run/strength training/run routine. Tired, once again.

Dave's mother was in the rehab center getting physical therapy and yesterday we found out she dislocated her hip (of course,the one that she broke a few weeks ago). The doctor who first saw her at the hospital thought that maybe it could be popped back in, but the orthopedic doctor said, no, she has to have more surgery. Today, she is under the knife one more time and for a 92-year old, this is not a good thing.

Continuing work on my "plain vanilla" sweater when I came upon the pocket instructions. Apparently, I can't read. I read the directions about 3 times, and today I was ready to email the author of the book when BAM! it hit me and I realized what I was supposed to do. At least I didn't make a fool of myself in an email, but nonetheless, I have already complained to my knitter-friends that the instructions MUST BE WRONG! OK, I did make a fool of myself, but hardly publicly. Well, publicly now because I just posted this on the Internet. Dumb.....

You are SOOOoo Lucky.

Once again, I have forgotten my journal about the South Africa trip, and in addition, I've been busy at work. So, double luck to all.

The weather was so nice on Monday that I went outside and ran to the Washington Monument and back to the office. Of course, six million other people were outside, too, but I muddled through. As I was running back on the home stretch to the office, I saw a couple "smooching" on the street corner, and I could not resist saying, "Get a Room". The woman laughed as I sped by. I'm thinking it's a good thing I was running because who knows what repercussions could have happened.

So, today is Wednesday, and the weather forecast is looking fairly well. Should be in the mid-60s, so we'll see if I go outside today. I am getting quite annoyed with the TM and staring at the walls of the gym even though there are TVs there. Who wants to watch a) ESPN, b) CNN, c) HLN, or d) TNT with reruns? Anyway,everything is closed-captioned, and who can read all that stuff while trying to run? Not I, boy.

Day 3 Back at Work

and everything is the same as before. Of course, I didn't expect it to be any different, but a gal can hope, right?

Started back at the gym on Wednesday and took it easy. I walked for 10 minutes at 4.0-4,2, then ran for 10 minutes at 5.5-5.6, then walked again. Did 30 minutes and about 2.5 miles. Yesterday, I walked/ran for 10 minutes, did assorted upper and lower body exercises, then 10 minutes on the rowing machine on 8 resistance. Today, I'm hoping to up the ante and see how things go with running.

Forgot my journal,so everyone has lucked out.

I did take some knitting with me; a plain stockinette sweater and my Aran fisherman's sweater. I did work on both a little but, but once we hit South Africa it was just too darned hot to knit, even in the A/C. But, that's how I was able to work on my journal instead of knitting.

Tomorrow Sara and I are going to go XC schooling. Sara is doing a show on April 9, but I'm just going along for the fun of it. And it is fun.

Dave's mother is getting a little bit better. Oh, she fell and broke her hip while we were gone. She is 92, and the doctor said she had to have the surgery or she would be bed ridden. It's going to be a long row to hoe, but we are hoping she will recover.

Unfortunately for Sara, she ended up being to go-to person while we were gone. She did a fabuouls job and was able to take Dave's father to the hospital and to see some rehab facilities that Dave's mother has to go to for her physical therapy. But, now that we are back the responsibilities have been handed over to Dave.

South Africa Recap

We took the plunge about two weeks ago and made the trip to South Africa. Since it takes 16.5 hours to get there, we were wondering if aliens had taken over our brains that we would sit in an airplane over the Atlantic Ocean for such a long time, with a stop at Dakar, Senegal. What?

Left on a Thursday evening, arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa on Friday evening - 6 hours ahead of the U.S. Fortunately, we had made arrangements for a hotel stay that evening and got a rental car and fresh start the next morning. The reasons? One, it would be dark; two, they drive on the left-hand side of the road; three, no street lamps in sight in this country. What?

Once we got the car and all our bags stuffed inside, we headed out to the Kruger National Park (an animal reserve) and promptly got lost (reason four not to head out at night time). We were able to proceed, but ended up taking a little bit of a different route than originally planned. Reason Five: Never believe a) a South African's estimate of time it takes to get anywhere; b) never believe a South African's estimate of distance to get anywhere. After driving with a few rest stops on the way, it took us 6 hours to get to our timeshare, only 400 meters from the Paul Kruger Gate of the reserve.

The timeshare was good; no A/C except in the bedroom; the place did have fans, but because it's right on the edge of a wild animal reserve (and monkeys like to get into the rooms and destroy everything looking for food) we were not allowed to keep our windows open. Hence, anywhere in that timeshare except the bedroom was stifling hot. We learned to adjust. We hardly spent any time in the timeshare, anyway, and with the A/C on in the bedroom, sleeping was no problem. We have tons of pictures, but not ready to post.

That's it for now; must find my journal to bore everyone with more day-by-day descriptions of the trip.

Another Finish

Back of the sweater is finished! Pats self on back. Sleeve is started. Surprisingly, this pattern is not as difficult as I had anticipated. Will post a pic of the back soon. I do a lot of thinking about doing something, and when I finally do it, it wasn't really that hard. Gee.

Not much else; time has flown by and I'm so ready for nice warm weather. I've had enough of this.

I vowed not to buy any more yarn, but since I will be on a very long airplane ride, I bought some yarn to make a plain, vanilla V-neck cardigan. It won't take too many brain cells to knit.

Running inside is getting very boring; I'm losing my eagerness to do same. I have been doing the 60-second switch just to mix things up. That is chaning the resistance every minute; You just don't know how long that one minute can be when you don't have any breath and you know that any second you will just flip right off that darned ol' TM.

That's about it for now. Not much has been happening here. Just time flying by,

Start and Finish

I took the weekend to START the Penny Straker Galway Cardigan.







I did say FINISH, and I mean that I finished this shawl about a week ago; it's been blocked; and here it is:

This is a close-up, sorta, of the beads that I used in this shawl.






This is a full view of the completed shawl.