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Sorry it’s been so long – I’m finally resurfacing from finals. I have one left, but it’s no big deal. I’m basically done! Gloriosity!
So.
We biked. Around Lake Tahoe. It was intense. I don’t have any pictures from the ride yet, because we used disposable cameras and I haven’t finished it yet. But it was breathtaking. It SO made the 7-mile climb starting at mile 80 worth it when you came around a corner and saw this incredible view of this gorgeous lake. Here’s my helmet:
And here was me:
And then after we finished, I ran into a parked car. We had these giant buffalo on our helmets (because the rest of our chapter is from Buffalo…) and I was trying to copy our coach and duck under a rope hanging maybe five feet high while on my bike, and I veered to the side. Only there was no space to veer. So I crashed and left a big scratch down the side of a black SUV. The people were standing right behind it loading the trunk, too – and they didn’t notice until I called to them!
Me, lying on ground beneath bike, trying not to sob: Excuse me – I’m really sorry, I just ran into your car!
Them: Oh, it’s a rental – we won’t tell if you won’t. Are you okay?
Me: *sigh of relief and pain*
I was rather scraped up. But my bike computer still only said 99.75 miles when we got back to the hotel, so I rode in circles on the sidewalk until it said 100. You can’t work all day not to get that satisfaction! Here was my bike shoe after:
Yeah.
Oh, and another story from that. One guy on our team is a pastor, probably about 60 years old. His wife has lymphoma, and she actually had a relapse during our training. During the ride, he crashed going downhill at twentysomething miles per hour. The medical team had to pick him up – he even cracked his helmet. But after they fixed him up, he got back on the course and finished – 7-mile climb and all! He had been talking earlier about how he talked to teens and was disappointed to find that when he asked them who their heroes were, they were inevitably some actor or athlete – someone who makes a lot of money and lives glamorously. I told him after the ride (and I usually don’t say stuff like this out loud, so it took a bit of courage, mind you) that he was more of a hero than any of those people. Because it’s so true.
Oh yeah, and my birthday is tomorrow! But my dad is out of town, so we did the ‘family celebration’ yesterday. We went out for hibachi, which was fun – but it was a bad day for it. It’s obscenely hot. So we pretty much sweltered in front of towers of flame wondering when we could return to the air-conditioned car…but the food was good! And then we went home – my mom had made me strawberry shortcake! – and I got the family presents. Got some sweet loot:
- iTunes card
- an iPod shuffle! (for running and such) And a ‘puck’ case for it.
- three shirts – a biking one and two T-shirts, one biking-related (this one if anybody’s curious)
- A Life is Good keyring – to which I promptly transferred my (lonely – I hopefully get car copies when I pass my road test!) key and other paraphernalia
- A book of short stories about time travel
- KnitPicks interchangeable needles!!! As well as stitch markers and a new set of cable needles – the two knitting artifacts I never fail to lose.
- that reference thingie that tells you how much yarn of various gauges you need for stuff
- a book of Japanese knitting patterns…I’m going to need some help reading those…but they’re pretty neat.
And then tomorrow – on my birthday, when it’s supposed to be over 90 degrees – we’re biking 40 miles. We signed up awhile ago – we knew we’d be in shape from the century ride. But I’ve done basically nothing athletic all week because of finals. And we just got our bikes back (they had to ride back cross-country in a truck) today…so that should be interesting…
And finally, I’ve resumed the lace scarf I started on the NYC trip, and I’m almost done with the Prom Socks. Pictures will come…at some point.
P.P.S.: Another box appeared in my sidebar…box of ambisiosity. Probably not a word.
P.S.: I entered a contest. All you have to do to enter is measure your hands so Knitasaur can design some sweet gloves, and you get a chance to win yarn! And please say I sent you!
Wow, I haven’t done a real post in awhile. With AP’s, biking, and the violin recital, I have had little to no time.
First off – some FO’s:
Pattern: Braided Neckpiece by Teva Durham, from her book, Loop-d-Loop (ravelry link)
Yarn: My mom’s handspun BFL
Needles: 9, I think…
Mods: My gauge was 3.5 instead of 3 so I had to add a few stitches to everything
Comments: I love how it turned out, but the woven part was a bit tedious – lots of ends to weave in…
Also, I’m really proud of that first photo. I’ve been drooling over brooklyntweed’s photography, and actually asked him advice awhile ago – I think this is the closest to his caliber I’ve ever gotten. :D (the second photo’s just to have some idea what it looks like on a real human)
Incidentally, it’s also a good cat sleeping bag.
Pattern: Lucy Bag from Two Old Bags (ravelry link)
Yarn: Harrisville somethingorother
Needle: 10
Mods: None
Comments: As evidenced by the fact that this is the second one I’ve made – I really like this pattern.
(this one’s mainly because you can see my new haircut, which I really like)
Pattern: My own, general vicinity of stitch numbers obtained from Sweater Wizard
Yarn: Nashua Creative Focus Brushed Alpaca
Needle: 4, maybe?
Comments: It’s a bit scratchy – hopefully that will be remedied by blocking. But it’s also a bit small. My sister might end up wearing this more than I do.
(we had fun photographing this one…)
Pattern: Chain Link Scarf by Teva Durham from Loop-d-Loop (ravelry link)
Mods: I did each loop in a different stitch instead of all stockinette, also I have no idea if I used the same number of stitches as she called for in any case
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Angora
Needle: 7? I should keep better track of these things – it’d be good to know what needle I used for various yarns…
Comments: Angora…soooffffft…
All of these except for the sweater will be possible prizes at a raffle tonight at my brother’s recital to support our bike ride. We did the same at my recital on Friday and raised over $200!
‘K, now that I’ve finally posted all those…Oh, but there will be more! I’ve vowed to myself that from now until I have many fewer UFO’s/WIP’s than currently, I will finish at least two of them for every one new project I start. I call this endeavor The Finishing…sounds dramatic. I hope to have significantly reduced the pile by the end of the summer. And for awhile, there will be lots of FO’s because I’ve realized I have a TON of almost-FO’s. At least two scarves and some hats, among other things. Because those are the kind of things I start on a whim when I need a project to do doing a movie or something.
Anyways, my life…AP’s are done! Finals approach, but not too quickly. My violin recital went really well. I’m biking a lot. Oh yeah, and my sister, two of my friends, and I were a trivia bowl team yesterday and we came in second to win movie tickets! And that’s the Cliffsnotes version.
Sorry for the lack of posting. I’ve been going crazy with AP’s coming up and biking getting ramped up since the 100 miles is in less than a month! Unfortunately, that’s not really going to change now. Don’t expect much until after Physics, ie May 13th or so.
I’ve kinda given up on the contest, but here’s another halfhearted plea along with a nod at the fifty different links to it around here.
On the bright side, knitting has been happening a bit! There are two almost-FO’s in the works.
*goes back to drowning in studying*
Please, please, please enter the contest! Even if you can only spare a bit! We’re getting kinda worried because we’re still over $3,000 away from our goal…
And if you can’t afford anything (but seriously, look at that yarn!), at least spread the word through your blog! You’ll still get entered for a surprise drawing at the end!
Come on, guys! I want to get to $100 so I can give away that gorgeous yarn!
*nods at the forty different places on this page at which the contest is linked and doesn’t link it again*
My first contest! I’ve created a WP-page for it here, but below is exactly what it says.
Yep…it’s my first contest! My mom and I are co-running this to support our efforts for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society – scary thought: We’re supposed to have all the $9,600 in about a month, and we’re only about a third of the way! So, inspired by Stitchcounter’s contest, we’re running one, too.
What is this stuff you will win, you might ask? Welllll…yarn, of course! (this contest functions as a nice destash for us, too) Here’s the outline:
- For donating $10, your name will go in the figurative ‘hat’ once.
- If you mention this contest on your blog and link to it, you get another entry (yes, you have to donate first, but feel free to mention it anyway. You’ll still win good karma!).
- For donating, $50, your name will go in the hat six times for being so generous!
- If some kind soul out there donates $100, they automatically win!
- Otherwise, after each $100 donated, a drawing will happen and whoever wins will get the yarn – for teen readers out there, this obviously means you’ll have to provide me with your address, so keep any parental-imposed limitations on that front in mind.
- Every once in awhile, assuming I remember, everyone who’s donated and hasn’t won anything will get thrown into a drawing for some more yarn!
- If you donate, email me at fiberfiend6891 AT gmail DOT com with your full name (or whatever name you used when donating). If you win, I’ll email you for your address.
- Remember donations are tax deductible and support a great cause!
DONATE HERE!
Current Yarn up for Grabs:
Past Winners
(List will go here)
And ten thousand more to go…
-James Taylor
So we biked outside today. And we have these new pedals with shoes that clip into them so you get more power on the upstroke…
I think the last time I fell off a bike, I was eight. And I was a lot closer to the ground. This is going to hurt tomorrow. More than it does already, that is. Well, off to rehearsal. And missing the swim banquet.
P.S. It would hurt less if you donated…all this would be worth it! *winks at sidebar*
I’m sick. AGAIN. All the fluey stuff was almost gone…and then I got this cold thingy, which is cough, stuffy/runny nose, headache, little fevers, and throat exploding every time I swallow. It SUCKS. So how can I still be having a good day, you ask? Well…
- I got my SAT scores, and got a 2290! HuzZAH! I’m never taking them again!
- This weekend is a 3-day weekend!
- We’re closing in on 25% of our TNT fundraising goal. This is good because that means they won’t charge my mom’s credit card, but also intimidating, because it feels like we’ve done a lot of work to only be a quarter of the way there…so please donate, everybody!
- And awesomest of all…Lime and Violet featured my Mutant Bunny Hat in a blog post! They called it ‘most fashionable bunny-featuring spring knit.’ :D This is really exciting for me, though – I mean, they’re practically famous! As evidenced by today’s blog stats…
We’ve got a spinning (like biking, not yarn) class this evening, though, which I’m NOT looking forward to, what with barely being able to breath out my nose, feeling my heartbeat pounding my ears from just walking up stairs, and my throat hurting. Urgh.
For cross training, today we did a local St. Patty’s Day (which, incidentally, is my parents’ anniversary…I should get them something…)-themed race. It was five miles, and I surprised myself by meeting my goal of finishing under an hour – 56:something! :D It was also really fun, because tons of people got really dressed up. I wish I had pictures to show…Ah well.
Anyway, whilst showering after said race, I got to pondering – the cold you feel after running in the cold (sweat + wind) is very different from the cold you feel after a shower or when you have a fever or after skiing. But, for me, anyways, if I’m hot, I’m just hot. There’s not much distinction. Just thought that was interesting.
If you’re a fan of puzzles, check out Killer Sudoku Online. You can play Killer Sudoku (a way cooler variety of the classic, in my opinion) daily, or peruse their archives, all also playable online or printable. It’s pretty sweet.
Anyways, just a quick post. I’ve got to go teach later!
Do they become disgruntled?
-joke courtesy of my friend. I thought it was funny.
Anyway, happy Pi Day, everyone! Have some pie:
Yeah, I prefer apple, too. Or carrot. But this’ll do.
Anyways…yarny stuff! An LYS is having a moving sale, and despite only intending to buy two skeins, I was coerced into buying a sweater’s worth of gorgeous Silky Wool, the color of which reminds me of the famous Tuareg of mmmmalabrigo. Doesn’t it look similar?
It was truly challenging to even begin to capture the true glory of this color. Especially when you get a sweater’s worth for under $60! AND when your mom pays because she knows you’ll let her steal it sometimes!
Also, a sleeve!
The second one is going more quickly because I’m copying my previous shaping rather than figuring it out. I’m getting pretty sick of this sweater and have sooo many cool projects lined up, that I really want to finish it soon…
Team in Training goes decently well…although we had to ask for an extension on our fundraising – 25% of the funds were supposed to be in by today, but we got a one-week extension. It’s still going to be tight if we even make it, so I again implore you or anybody you know to please donate! (Link in sidebar) We sent out about a bajillion letters and I’m selling doughnuts at school to raise money, but it’s still coming fairly slowly compared to the total whopping $9,600 we need to get in the end. I think we’re a bit over $1,000 at the moment, and we need $2,400 by next Friday. Agh!
