Seattle Half Marathon Finisher

I just got home from walking the Seattle Half Marathon. It was a lot of fun but I'm beat!

Here I am before the race in front of the Seattle Fit booth. Seattle Fit is the group I trained with to prepare for the race.

 

This is the starting line. There was over 11,000 people between the Full and Half Marathon Races.

 

And here is the proof that I finished the race. My medal:

 

 

Here are my stats for the race.

Overall Place	Division Place	Chip Time	Official Time	Split 1 (10K)	Split 2 (6.9 miles)	Pace
853	111/125	4:08:58	4:10:26	1:53:05	2:17:21	19:07

Now it is on to training for the Rock N Roll Half Marathon in June! But I'm taking December off first! :)

A Hat Fit For A Brother

 

 

Another Xmas gift down! This one is for my brother. The original is called A Hat Fit For A Boyfriend. It was a quick knit. I started yesterday, got about 4 inches in and decided I needed to go up 2 needle sizes and so I ripped it all out and started over today.

It is supposed to be a skull cap that just covers the ears. I hope it is long enough. I'm used to longer hats.

Project Info:
Pattern: A Hat Fit For A Boyfriend
Needle: US 7 / 4.5 mm
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted Solid in Douglas Fir (1/2 skein)

Seattle Xmas Tree Lighting

My friend, Myra, who lives in downtown Seattle near the Space Needle invited me to go see the Westlake Center Xmas Tree Lighting yesterday. She has a wonderful view of the water and Harbor Avenue across it on Alki.

 

Because I'm still relatively new to the city and because I mentioned that I had never ridden the Monorail which passes by her building, she suggested we take it down to the Tree Lighting. I was smiling like a 10 year old riding an amusement park ride for the first time!

The tree lighting was fun too. There was a couple of choirs and Xmas carol singing. And then right before the lights were to come on, the sound went out. But they were still able to do the count down and light up the tree.

 

I got to wear my La Chapeau hat for awhile but it was actually not cold enough to wear it so it didn't stay on much.

 

 

Project Info

Name: La Chapeau Pattern from the November Lucky Lurker Club at A Swell Yarn Shop
Needles:
US 1 / 2.25 mm
US 2 / 2.75 mm
Yarn: 1 skeins A Swell Yarn Shop Duet Sock Yarn in Beau Monde (Exclusive Lucky Lurker yarn)

Disco Thanksgiving

 

You can always expect something lively at my brother's house for Thanksgiving. This year the theme was "Disco Dining". It included a wonderful feast along with 70's music and disco light. (He tried to get a fog machine, but to no avail).

 

As you can see it is true what they say about white males and dancing. ;)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing y'all a Happy Thanksgiving! Many of you have been very supportive this year and for that I am grateful! Have a good one!

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Today I'm off to share Thanksgiving with my brother, his girlfriend, and my Mom. I'm making deviled eggs and green bean casserole. Right now the eggs are on the stove.

Here's the recipe I use to make hard-cooked eggs from the Betty Crocker's 40th Anniversary Edition Cookbook:

Place eggs(s) in saucepan. Add enough cold water to come at least 1 inch above eggs. Heat rapidly to boiling; remove from heat. Cover and let stand 18 minutes. Immediately cool eggs in cold water to prevent further cooking. Tap egg to crackle shell. Roll egg between hands to loosen shell, then peel. If shell is hard to peel, hold egg in cold water.

Betty is anything but not thorough! But since I rarely make hard boiled eggs, I pull this out every time. Crazy huh? Who doesn't know how to hard boil eggs?!?

Here are the recipes I'm using for the Deviled Eggs and Green Bean Casserole. (Sorry Betty... technology is putting you out of business)

Garter Stitch Hat

Finished this tonight at knit night. Thanks to Angi for trying it on over and over again to make sure it fit right!

This was a simple pattern I made up to go long with the Garter Loop Through Scarf I made. First, I casted on 110 stitches and worked in K1P1 for about 2 inches and then switched to Garter Stitch for 5 inches. Decrease 10 stitches every other row until the last row is K2TOG all around. Cinch up remaining stitches. Weave in ends.

Needle- US 3
Yarn - Rowan Tapestry 1 Skein

I really like the Rowan Tapestry yarn. It is very soft and goes really far. I bought 3 skeins originally and have one left after making the scarf and hat. If I have time before Xmas after finishing other gifts, I may make some fingerless gloves to match.

Actual Knitting Content

Yes, I remember that this is a knitting blog. So here are some updates:

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Last night, my friend Tammy came over to learn how to knit socks. Granted, it is near impossible to learn how to knit socks in one evening, but I did get her started on DPNs which she had never used before.

I'm having her knit a basic cuff-down afterthought heel sock. I also cast on with her so we could work through doing the join in the round and the start of the K2P2 ribbing.



The yarn is Lane Cervinia Calzetteria in a lovely Blue, Green, Purple mix. And I'm using Size 1 DPNs, although I plan to switch to a circular needle after I have the ribbing of both socks knitted.

I got to show of my swift and ball winder too which she hadn't seen before either. I was almost hesitant to tell her about the dark side of knitting, Ravelry, but I did. We can always use another good knitter!

I'm also knitting a garter stitch hat to match the the Garter Stitch Loop Through Scarf I finished recently. Both are Xmas gifts.



I'm using Rowan Tapestry yarn. I need to check the needle size but I think it is a 3 or a 4.

And my final WIP for Xmas is a pair of Fetching wrist warmers in Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light on size 1 or 2 needles.



I have some other Xmas knitting gift ideas in mind but I'm waiting to start them until the Xmas gifts I have on the needles are done first. And the socks... well they have to wait too. That is if I can keep my hands off of them!

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ETA: Here's a picture of Erica with my Myvu glasses on at knit night last night. These thing rock! Check out the demo on their site.

Prop 8 Protest March

History was made all across the USA and the world. Where you there?

This pictures is from the Seattle march. You can see more here.

P.S. If you see me in the photo pool, leave a link in the comments! :)

Join The Impact

Saturday, in cities all across the USA, there will be rallies and marches protesting the passing of Prop 8 in California and the discrimination GLBT's suffer everywhere. Seattle's Rally starts at Volunteer Park. If you are in Seattle, I hope you join me and all my GLBT sisters and brothers, in this show of support against discrimination.

If you aren't in Seattle, you can still show your support at a rally or march in your city. Find out more at Join The Impact.

Happy Birthday Dad

November 7, 1944 - May 23, 2004

Vacation Yarn

While I was in California on vacation I stopped at several yarn stores. I didn't pick up a lot of yarn but here is what I did pick up:

Colinette Jitterbug at Ball & Skein & More in Cambria.



Colinette Taos at Ball & Skein & More in Cambria



Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light at Yarns...at the Adobe in San Luis Obispo



Ranch Of The Oaks Alpaca at The Village Spinning and Weaving Shop in Solvang



I also stopped at a couple of other yarn stores but didn't make any purchases. My favorite of those was Loop and Leaf in Santa Barbara. I visited the store on my way to the airport and didn't get to spend a lot of time there. They had a wonderful assortment of yarns including Hand Maiden and Habu. I hope to get back there again on my next visit to California in December.

I also did some knitting while I was in California. I finished one Garter Stitch Loop-Through Scarf using Knit Picks Telemark in the Aubergine color way and size 3 needles.



I started another one (and finished it after I got back) using Rowan Tapestry in a pink and gray color way.



I plan on giving both of the scarfs as Xmas gifts. I have two balls of the Rowan Tapestry left in my stash, so I'm going to make a matching hat or wrist warmers with those.