A good week?????

Indeed, it was a good week for me. Oh, not financially-wise -- we all know what's gone on with the stock market this week. We've lost a good 30% value on our retirement accounts as of right now. Good thing I have no intention of using that money any time soon.

But in other aspects, life has been good. I managed to get in 2 really good walking workouts during this week, AND get out for 3 bike rides as well. I'm still behind in my school work, but I'm not as behind as I was a week ago. Knitting-wise, I finally (!) finished working on that cardigan. I wish I could say I actually finished it, but alas, they did not give me nearly enough yarn. I would need probably 2 more skeins for the size they had me knit up. Guess they need to update that pattern a bit. So, now I've started a pair of socks for my MIL, and have a request from my SIL to knit up some legwarmers for my incredibly, adorable nephew. Every time I see a picture of him, my heart just melts... he really is that cute! I wish I could see him in person before, ya know, he grows up! Hopefully soon!

Oh, I wanted to share with all of you the wonderful hat I made with my friend Gherkin's homespun/handdyed most awesome yarn. Please check out her Etsy shop here .

This is the pattern Slanted Lace Hat by OrangeKnits , very easy pattern, even for a beginning knitter.
Onward!

Just an update

Quick update. I've been able to get back into a better groove this week with workouts. Of course, having Monday as a holiday helped out with that! But the best part, it's cool enough in the very early mornings to get outside to workout!

Monday: 2.25 (about) racewalking, after which point I ran into my friend Carol whom I haven't seen in a long while. I walked with her and her dogs the rest of the way home, so a little over 3 miles covered.

Tuesday: this is technically a rest day since I have to leave for class so early and don't get back til much later in the day. However, I walked from my car to class and back rather than taking the shuttle, and I know that distance is at least .5 mi each way, so I'm taking advantage of that little distance on those days.

Wednesday: a planned 3 miles racewalking became only 2 miles after encountering a loose dog on my path and changing directions. Oh well. These things, while annoying, happen sometimes. Not sure of what my pace really was as I didn't wear my Garmin and had to switch to regular walking right in the middle so as not to get the dog's attention. I do know that it felt like a great workout and I was pushing a lot during the last .75 mile or so.

Off to shower and to school. Thankfully today is just 2 lecture classes and I'll be home by lunchtime. I have tons of homework/reading to do, not to mention the lab writeup and research paper that I need to start today as well, so it will be a busy day.

OTN: STILL working on the SWTC cardigan, almost done with both front panels. Hoping to finish that tonight during baseball, and maybe even casting on a sleeve (I told you this kind of project just goes on and on).

Have a great day everyone!

Onward!

Chugging along

Sometimes that is what it feels like when I'm on the treadmill. Just chugging along. Same speed, same cadence, same, same same. OK, so what can I expect on the treadmill right? It's by far my least favorite way of getting in a workout. Aside from the lack of scenery and fresh air, I'm always a bit anxious on the treadmill. I've watched people fall off of this thing, including one time earlier this year where a woman fell off and landed right on her face. She knocked herself out, had a seizure in front of me, and really scared me to pieces. I still have vivid recollections of those scenes every time I hop on the machine myself. Not exactly great visualization for a decent workout. I persist only because I know it's a temporary thing, and in the not-too-distant future, I'll be out at the track, or better, on the roads putting miles behind me.

So today's workout was again, a 3 miler at a consistent pace on the treadmill. My left hamstring is awfully tight for some reason (too much stretching the other day?), so I took it especially easy today. Tomorrow is an off day for cardio, so I'm hoping to get out to the canals on Sunday for a nice 6 miler. Pray to the weather gods for no thunderstorms!

On the knitting front, I finished knitting sock#1 of my Dbacks socks and need to get the black 'D's on them. I also finished the back of the SWTC cardigan. It's the largest piece of the 5 pieces that make up the garment, so hoping the remaining pieces go quickly. I really want to get it done and return it to SWTC to get this monkey off my back. My new sock yarns from San Fran arrived and I'm itching to get those on the needles. Also, I'd like to feel free to spend some time dyeing and getting my Etsy shop up and running before I start school again on the 25th of August.

My husband is in Maryland completing the final preparations for moving the parents here. They will fly here tomorrow morning. I'm nervous, anxious, and at the same time, feeling impatient for this whole thing to happen. I'm anticipating that the first several weeks will be chaotic and difficult. My hope is that things will go smoothly, but I'm not holding out hope for that. I just hope it's not any worse than what I'm anticipating. Time will tell.

Congratulations to all those who competed last weekend in Spokane at the Master's Nationals!! And also to all of the athletes at the Olympics!!

Better than expected

So school started yesterday for the kiddo's and things are better than I expected. Last year was filled with the torture of getting them up and ready to go every morning. Whining, complaining, nagging. And that was just from me! This year, different story. I know it's only been 2 mornings, but both mornings, the kids got up on their own, got themselves ready, and even got themselves breakfast this morning. I'm a bit in shock and thinking this can't possibly last the whole week. But in the wee corners of the back of my mind, you know what I'm hoping for! All year baby, all year! I can dream, but I won't hold my breath....

Anyway, today started out with a 3 miler on the treadmill. New shoes haven't arrived yet, so I threw on my old trusty Chinese racewalking shoes. I love them, but they have the support of a ballet slipper. I try to save these for intervals on the track and actual races on the track only. They served me well this morning in a pinch. I am a bit sore, as predicted from the weight workout yesterday, but nothing too noticeable. I wasn't fast on the treadmill, but was consistent throughout the whole workout, keeping the same speed all the way through, and not stopping once.

On the fiber front, I got busy winding skeins of undyed sock yarn from the cones I purchased last month. Gecko yarns won't be hitting Etsy until at least the end of the month as I just haven't had time to devote to winding and dyeing. But when it does open, I will have plenty of great colorways to offer. I'm almost done winding the 20 or so skeins that I want to open with, and dyeing is the quicker/easier aspect. I should be able to dye all of them over the course of 3-4 days which will happen next week. Squeee! I can't wait!

I've still got my Dbacks socks on the needles, as well as the SWTC cardigan. I'll be continuing progress on those today too. Once I double stitch the Dbacks "D" on the one pair, I'll post a picture for you all to see.

The in-laws are moving here this week. My husband is flying out on Thursday and will fly back with them on Saturday. My mother-in-law's room at the nursing home is all ready for her, and we are adding a few things she requested like a recliner chair, and a sewing machine. Yep, she can still get up and operate a sewing machine! I'm a little anxious over taking on this responsibility and keeping their presence here from effecting our lives too much, especially for my kids. But I think we've hashed out a lot of predictable problems as much as we can and we're as ready as we're going to be. It would be nice to feel some reassurance from his sisters regarding what we can expect from them as far as visiting the parents and care of them when we're on vacation and such, but it's become obvious that they can't be relied upon for any reassurance at all. Such is life.

Onward!

Inside track to Beijing

Just FYI for those interested, an acquaintance of mine (more of a friend of a friend, although I've met him before), is competing for the US in the Men's 50k Race Walk -- Phillip Dunn! He has a blog on blogspot for others to follow along on his trek. I've added the link to my favorite blogs on the right, go check out his blog and let's all cheer him on!

Tempered by fire

That's what they say is the best way to purify a metal, or other substances. It improves it, brings out the best in whatever that substance is right? It's not altogether different in some of the aspects of my life either. Racewalking, knitting, family issues. The same concept can apply to all of these.

This morning I got up very early and was out at the track by 6am. It was still hot. Really hot. Freaky hot for so early. I managed 4 very slow, just plain ol' walking miles on the track. I'm still not yet reaccostumed to this heat. For just plain ol' walking (ok, I did one lap racewalking really slowly, but really it doesn't count for much), I finished in exactly 1 hour. But I know that getting out there, even in this heat, even just plain ol' street walking, will help in the long run. As those new capillaries are forming in an effort to cool my body off, I know they will still be there once the cooler temps arrive, and I start speeding up again. All those capillaries will be available to shuttle oxygen rich blood to those working muscles. So while I wouldn't call today's workout a quality workout, hopefully it will add in a quality workout later down the road.

Yarn-wise, I'm being "tempered" by working on a project for a yarn company (South West Trading Company). It's a cardigan, one of my least favorite kind of projects. This is the kind that must be knit up in pieces, and then sewn together. So while each piece is not exceptionally large, it still feels never ending. Once I'm done knitting one piece, there is still another piece to cast on and knit. Then another. Then another. Then another. And even after that, then I have to knit the buttonband. And the neck border. And piece the thing together. And add a button... and ... and... you get the picture.

This type of project really tests my resolve and perseverance to stick with something this long. Especially when it's not even for me or a gift for someone special in my life. My motivation? Well, in payment for all my time and work, I'm usually paid in yarn from the company. This time however, rather than receiving a same quantity of the same yarn from the project, I'm going to request a fiscally similar quantity of their undyed sock yarn for my upcoming business. I think that makes really smart business sense! So I press onward with it. If I plan my day out well today, I might even get piece #1 done today.

Nevertheless, I simply cannot bear to only have this project active in my world. So last night, after working 5 inches of said cardi, I cast on Retro Rib Socks (Evelyn A Clark) in a Regia variegated yarn. These will be a Christmas present for a male member of the family.

So the plan for today: finish the back of the cardi; continue working on the Retro Rib Socks (maybe make it to the heel flap); and wind at least 5 skeins of yarn; watch the baseball game at 1pm; and lastly, attempt a crockpot method of making my Panang Beef dish.

Onward!

Short but sweet

My apologies for the rant in my last post. Just sometimes, things need a way out, and right now, this blog is it. So, for today I'll keep it really short.

No workout today, just couldn't fit it in.
Did finish my Mirrored Nutkins today. I'll take a picture tomorrow in the daylight (flash really doesn't do justice to the colors in knitwork).
Working on a swatch for the SWTC Jaded Cardigan. If I get gauge, I will cast on tonight to get that started.
In-laws will be moving here likely sometime before the 12th. Husband found a nice place, although it is in the nursing care section as they (nor anyone else) seems to have spaces available in assisted living. Given the problems we've had getting the final approval for assisted living in the last several places, this is the best bet to get them here sooner rather than later. We have little paperwork to get completed for this place, so hopefully everything will be expedited this time. The relatives are still breathing down his neck, but husband is just ignoring it knowing he's doing everything he can already.

Plans for tomorrow include a short workout in the morning, followed by chainsawing a large portion of a tree in the backyard that is hanging very low recently and rubbing on the roof. Then off to knitting in the morning, a movie with my son in the afternoon, and possibly another in the evening with husband. That'll be a nice treat. We haven't been on a date in a couple of months.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! Hoping on Monday I'll have a bit of an update on my upcoming Etsy shop opening.

Taking those first steps. Again.

I finally made it out for a real racewalking workout. First one in about 3 weeks and probably only the 2nd one this whole month. While not exactly like starting at square 1, it did sorta feel that way. As I pulled on my shoes this morning, I was almost nervous about this workout. Like I was doubtful about my ability to even go the (relatively speaking) short distance of 3 miles, let alone racewalk the whole thing. I got my iPod on, and as I stepped outside and warmed up a bit in my driveway, I realized that I had forgotten my Garmin. On second thoughts, I decided to leave it at home and just use the chrono on my regular watch. Did I really want to see how slow my pace was? Nah. Not that having the watch mattered much either. I'm apparently so out of touch with my workouts that I forgot to even start it. And I didn't even notice until I was about 2 miles into the workout. Freudian slip perhaps?

I ended up not racewalking the whole distance afterall, but mostly due to the heat which I've become unaccustomed to since Greer. Afterall, 3 weeks in temps that rarely went above 80 and were mostly in the 60's makes the blood a bit thicker. At 6am this morning, it was already approaching 90F here. I will need to re-acclimate to the conditions here before attempting anything too intense. Luckily, by the time that happens, temps will start coming down anyway with the approach of Fall.

I have not raced in well over a year now. I'm thinking that I should jump back into some events to help keep me motivated and accountable. I do know that when I was racing all the time, I was in great shape, and rarely if ever missed any workouts. I don't feel as competitive as I used to, but still enjoy a fun event, especially if shared with friends. I'll have to take a look at some local race calendars and see what's coming up in the Fall. And this year, I intend to participate in at least several judged racewalks in the winter. Last year, that was also my intention, but that nasty Valley Fever took me down for pretty much the whole Winter and much of the Spring.

On the needlefront, I'm almost done with my Mirrored Nutkins. I have just finished the gusset decreases on sock #2 so I'm in the home stretch. If I actually finish those today, I may finally cast on for the SWTC Cardigan that I've been meaning to start on. I'm meeting up with the knitting GRRRLs tonight which I'm so looking forward to. Haven't seen most of them in 3 weeks, and some, I haven't seen in over a month due to being away on vacations.

I need the destressing right now due to some family issues that have come up (again) with my in-laws. We are trying to move them over here, but are having serious problems with a location to place my MIL, who has Parkinson's. More than once now, we have located a place that is within a reasonable distance from our home, that has space, and looks acceptable, and were given lots of assurances that they could take on the care of her. However, when it came down to the final assessment, they say no, that she needs nursing care. And then we are back to square 1 with finding another place. Of course, this occurred again on Friday while we were on vacation. There was little we could do being away from home, over the weekend, and traveling via train. We jumped on it on Monday (mind you, we came home on Monday at around 3am), but despite all of that, some of his other family members are just breathing down my husband's back and b*tching at him. I don't think they really have a clue as to how much time and effort it takes to secure a place for their mother. I really feel for my husband who's taking time away from his job (which I sure hope he doesn't lose due to taking all of this time away), trying to balance everything, trying to shield me and the kids from the effects of all of this, and dealing with the complaints from his other family members. After taking on the extra $1600/month mortgage on this house that we bought for the express purpose of being able to take care of their parents, giving up private education for our kids, welcoming them into our home for the rest of their natural lives, agreeing to the commitment to take care of them for the rest of their natural lives, you'd think they'd be a little more appreciative. Or at least say thank you. We have not asked them to help out with the additional monies we will surely be spending just to have them here, let alone asked them to contribute to the additional mortgage we've taken on for their care. We've not asked them to do anything other than come here once, maybe 2x per year, so we can go on vacation. They won't even agree to that. My husband has flown out there no less than 2x per year every year for the past 5 years. Not to mention the combined 30 days they've spent here, with ME taking care of them, over the past 20 months so that they could be free from worrying about them over their vacations. You'd think they could at least give up 7 days per year between the 2 sisters. Nope. Instead they heap abuse on him and treat him horribly. And then they wonder why I don't want one of them in particular to ever come to my house. Yeah, like I would welcome someone in my home who has been sickly disrespectful to my husband. Not. My husband should be sainted for doing this, and putting up with all the abuse without retaliating. He's a better person than me.

OK, that's probably about enough for now!! I intend to have a great day with my kids (only 11 more days til school starts, I'm not looking forward to it, summer should be longer). Hope you all have a great day too.

Working it out

Returning from vacation is like backing a corkscrew out of the cork of a wine bottle. Everything is in reverse and I'm trying to put things back in their places. But, if the vacation is a good one as ours was, my perspective has changed a little since we were here last. After living in such tight quarters and out of luggage for 10 days, and always being aware of catching trains or buses on time, suddenly I feel that there has been disorder in our life prior to this vacation. And that needs to change a bit. While I'm enjoying relaxing on the super rigid time schedules, I do recognize that we do need a bit of time organizing in our lives. I need to make time, or schedule tasks, throughout my day, rather than leaving those things to fall in wherever or whenever I feel like doing them. Nothing to rabid, just a little sense of predictability might be a good thing for us.

So today, I got up, again too late to do a racewalking workout outside, and biked to the store for the few items I had forgotten or needed since grocery shopping on Monday. Yesterday's workout consisted of pool running and lap swimming for about an hour. I wasn't really timing myself, but rather, gave myself a window of time and focused on having a quality, rather than quantity workout.

I also need to spend more time focusing on my upcoming Etsy shop, and so, need to devote at least some time everyday working on winding skeins, and dyeing them so that I'll have enough product at the get-go to make it worthwhile for people to check out my shop. There's no sense in opening a shop with say, 3 skeins for sale.

Of course, multitasking is a must. I love watching baseball games and can certainly knit, do some cleaning, or wind skeins of yarn while doing that.

It's all a learning process, but I'm in a good place right now to make these changes since I've been out of my normal element for several weeks now. So here's to making things more productive but more enjoyable!

For more pictures....

of our train trip... rather than post them all here... take a look at my Flickr page... a link is on the right hand side of the page. They are all in a set labeled "California Train Trip" (or something like that). I'm still not done uploading them all, still have about 100 pictures to get in there, but there's plenty to see already, hope you enjoy them!

On the knitting front, I've finished one of my Mirrored Nutkins and now feverishly working sock #2. Have yet to start the SWTC cardigan, but perhaps will cast on for that sometime today. The cardigan is knit up in their luscious new yarn called "Therapi". It's a wool/silk blend, with some jadeite in it also. Really is lovely yarn to work with (when is silk not lovely to work with). Does split ever so slightly once in a while, but really not often. It doesn't felt well, but can be spit spliced (someone explain that to me). I'll post some pics later this week if I do cast on so you all can take a look-see.

So the next few weeks will be very busy here in the Kneedler's household: recouping from our trip; school starting for the kids on the 11th; starting up my business; and my in-laws will be moving here from Maryland. My mother-in-law has been suffering from Parkinson's for the past 15-16 years, so she will be moving into assisted living or a nursing home. My father-in-law will be living in our guest house for the time being, although I suspect that won't last more than a year or so due to his recently degrading health as well. Thank G-d for knitting and racewalking to keep me some sanity, I could use all the help I can get!!

Speaking of racewalking, that has been missing a bit in my life this past month. Honestly, I think I've walked once so far this month. With the vacations, there just wasn't much opportunity or time, so that has fallen by the wayside for several weeks. But I knew that would happen, and now that we're home again, I'm ready to get my training up and running again. It's very hot here this week, and workouts will need to be very early in the morning. I'm thinking I should start with some 30-60 minute workouts in the pool instead with the flotation belt on. Pool running is a great alternative here in the desert when 'quality' road workouts are nonexistent once it gets too warm (which is anytime after about 8am). I'm looking forward to going to Dave's advanced camp in October, so I better get my butt in gear for that. Then in late January, I'm hosting a regular racewalking clinic here at my home. If you're interested in learning to racewalk, Dave's weekender clinics are second to none. See his website here to learn more: Dave's World Class Racewalking

Back in May I had mentioned that the kids and I were looking to lose weight over the summer. I'm happy to report that we were successful!! I lost about 10lbs, my older Boy lost something like 15lbs or maybe more, and the younger boy lost about 8lbs. Not a huge amount on the grand scale of things, but definitely steps in the right direction. Surprisingly, I didn't gain any weight on vacation despite eating crap pretty much the whole time (although we did make efforts to control portions and make smart food decisions). I guess all that walking around and lugging around the huge duffle bags and backpacks all the time helped out too. Yay again for train travel!!

Lastly, just wanted to mention again how cool it was to travel by train. Not only did we get to see scenery not available from the concrete highway, but it was actually a very eco-conscious mode of travel. It is 17% more efficient than air travel, and 21% more efficient that traveling by car - on a per passenger per mile basis. Awesome!! In addition, when in our various locations, we used the local mass transit, especially in San Francisco, every chance we could. We rarely sat in a car for the entire 10 days, which is awesome for a family vacation for 4 covering more than 1000 miles.
I found that using an Amtrak pass was the most economical as well, and highly recommend that anyone thinking of traveling via rail consider getting one. One price covers all your rail needs over a set period of days. And it's usually far cheaper than buying each rail ticket on its own. Check it out here: Amtrak passes

Onward.......