FO Friday: 2012-03-30

Yay! I finally have some finished objects to post! Both are the products of testing patterns for designers.

Cold Shoulder Pullover - This is done in tunisian knit stitch (tks) and uses a simple short row technique to shape the shoulder/armhole. Pattern has not been posted to Ravelry yet.















Bobble Fringe Scarf - An interesting technique that starts with a mesh and works a chain into the mesh.  Very clever.  This pattern isn't available yet either.

WIP Wednesday - 2012/03/29

Yes, I know today is Thursday and I'm a terrible blogger.  But the alliteration just isn't as pleasing as with the 'Wednesday' in the subject line.  Besides, I wasn't ready to take pictures and all that stuff yesterday.

So, do I have WIP's to talk about?  Does a dog have fleas?  I've got more WIP's than I can list.  I'll just do the top 5 or so.

1st my big news.  I was contacted by CGOA to mail in my portfolio for review for the Crochet Master's Certification.  Finally!!!! I mailed it Saturday and they confirmed receipt on Tuesday.  It has been assigned to a reviewer.  The email from CGOA said the the reviews can take up to a month and two reviewers will examine it.  So, I may not know anything to 2 months or more.  But at least I'm seeing some activity after waiting 9 months to be contacted to mail it in.

Modified Snowflake Afghan:  I've finished the body of the afghan and have started the edging.  I had 3 rounds of edging done when I decided to change how I was doing it, so I've actually done the edging twice.  Still have a couple of rounds to go and I'm thinking the afghan is too square.  But I'm dealing with that.

Bumbleberry Pie afghan: Didn't work on this one at all this week. Still lots of squares to be joined.  This is part of the Granny-A-Day CAL.  I think I'm about ready to finish making squares and start an edging, so will need another square project for the CAL.

 

Betty's Tunisian Tee: This is made in an entrelac fashion, but it's not easy to see in the pictures.  I gained a few rows this week.  I've tried to photo it around something since the bottom triangles have been joined in a circle.  At least I'm not still ripping out everything I'm putting in, I'm actually making some progress.

Spiral Afghan:  The spiral afghan that I had started last week has been undone.  Although I like the pattern, the yarn and hook didn't give me a soft drapey fabric.  I'll have to re-try this one later.

Poppy Afghan:  My poor, poor Poppy Afghan.  I frogged the edging back to the 1st round which is a round of dc.  I haven't decided whether to remove that round as well.  My options so far for rescuing the afghan are:

1. Take all the edging off and just leave it un-edged (I don't think that's a real word).
2. Take the rest of the edging off and start over with a new color.  I just can't see the edging I had planned in red though.
3. Either leave the dc round on and just finish the afghan there
4. Or try to do a different edging that will take less yarn and only uses what I have rescued from the previous, unfinished edging.

 

Stash Bag:  I got tired and needed to do something small with no pressure so I started a stash bag - 

 

Biking - the first day

Finally, the day I've been waiting for.  It's been over a month since I got my road bike.  I've been training for 6 months now.  Today is the day.  I'm going to take my bike out on the road for the first time.  I've been riding it stationery on a trainer since I got it so today is the first day I get to actually RIDE it.  Coach says we're supposed to bet in 100-200 base miles before the riding season starts in 2 weeks so I'm starting today.

My plan is to practice in the parking lot behind the strip mall close to my house.  There is a bike shop in the mall and the guys there are really helpful so I should be close to assistance if I need it.  I'll drive to the parking lot from my house because I've never had to mount the bike, dismount, start, stop or use the brakes.


So, I drive to the parking lot and walk around to the back of the van to get the bike out ....... and hit myself in the head with the back hatch.  Ow!  I don't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing that I already had my helmet on.  Good thing because it protected my head.  Bad thing because I'm pretty sure I hit my head because I misjudged the distance because I had the helmet on.   I mostly just shoved my glasses into my face, so my nose is a little tender now, but no permanent damage.

Ok, ok.  Now I have to get on the bike.  I lay it over like the coach showed me and swing my leg over.  Hurray!  It worked.  Uh,oh.  I just remembered that coach said you should check the pressure in the tires at least once a week.  I swing my let back the other way and get off the bike.  Open the back hatch back up, carefully keeping my face out of the way.  I get the tire pump out and look at the valve stem on the tire.  Hmmm, there's a funny little thingy on the end of the stem.  I turn it to open the stem.  Put the hose from the pump on the stem and psssssst, all the air comes out of the tire.  Now I have a flat tire ..... and the funny little thingy broke off in the tire pump hose.  Now I have to visit the bike shop for help.  They helpfully sell me a new inner tube and show me how to change a tire and air it up.  No, I still haven't actually done it myself.  While I'm there, I also buy a new stem bag for the front of my bike to carry my nutritious snacks in for when I actually ride for more than an hour.

Now I'm ready again.  My checklist - helmet, yup, sunglasses, yup, water, yup, tire pressure, yup, sunscreen, yup, snack, no.. but I don't intend to ride very long today.  Again, I do the little trick where I lay the bike over and swing my leg over it and get on again.  Whew!  It worked again.  I spend the next 45 minutes riding back and forth in the mostly empty, back parking lot.  Practicing turns (you do not turn the front wheel, you lean), practicing stop and starts, practicing using the gears and brakes.  I've forgotten about my shaky start.  I'm a serious bicyclist now.  I'm good.  I can ride.  I just can't get off the bike.

When it's time to leave, I carefully stop the bike and lay it over to get off.  Stopping was okay, standing on one leg, laying the bike to one side to bring the other leg over.  Uh-oh, my balance went out the window and I lose it (need to do more core work).  I start to tip and I'm unable to catch myself.  Heroically trying not to fall on the bike, I fall over it and land on my backside in the parking lot.  I'm sure the roofers on the duplexes behind the strip mall are trying hard not to laugh.  It was not graceful or pretty.  I humbly got up, put the bike in the van and drove home.  I have a tender nose, sore wrist and knee, and a couple of bruises on my leg; but I'm going back out tomorrow.  I only did 6 miles in the parking lot, I need more base miles.

2012-03-24: The Week That Was

Where do the days go?  Seems like the week just started and it's already done.  Just did mostly routine things this week.  Boring!  But it didn't feel boring all week.  All of my crochet stuff can be seen on my Ravelry Project Pages.



Review of the week:

• Fitness/exercise (the diet has been mostly kaput)
• Saturday -  HIT on the bicycle in the evening
• Sunday - HIT
  
• Monday - weight training in the morning (upper bod)y, HIT
• Tuesday - HIT
• Wednesday - Water aerobics (the fitness center has lost their lease so water workouts may be coming to an end)
• Thursday - Zumba in the morning, Bicycle Spin Class in the evening
  
• Friday - weight training in the morning (legs), HIT
• Crochet FO's
  
• Cold Shoulder Pullover Test
• Bobble Fringe Scarf Test
• Crochet WIP's
• Snowflake Stitch Afghan
• Sunburst Granny Afghan
• Bumbleberry Pie Afghan
• Stash Bag
• Betty's Tunisian Tee
• Other stuff
• Got my hair cut on Friday
• Talked online to #1son several times.  We both like bicycling, only he does more actual riding than I do.
  

WIP Wednesday - 2012-03-21

I may not complete this post before midnight, but I started it on Wednesday!  These are my current WIP's (well, at least the ones I can get to).  Wherever possible, I have provided information to the pattern information.

Bumbleberry Pie afghan: Making slow but steady progress on this one. Lots of squares to be joined.  This is part of the Granny-A-Day CAL.  I think I'm about ready to finish making squares and start an edging, so will need another square project for the CAL.


Bobble Fringe Scarf test:
Signed up for this test on 2012-03-11.  I rummaged around for some #5 yarn. I don’t use it very often and was not optimistic of finding any any in my stash, but there was some in sack of yarn that I got through freecycle last week. Yippee! Don’t know for sure yet how to combine the colors, but it should be suitable for testing.  Progress has speeded up today since the test is due on the 23rd of march.  I've finished the base grid and am ready to make the vertical chains.


Betty's Tunisian Tee:  I worked on this one a little bit at the doctor's office today.  Joined the 1st 2 triangles into a circle and started the 1st block.  This is made in an entrelac fashion, but it's not easy to see in the pictures.



Snowflake Stitch Afghan:  no change on this one this week


Spiral Afghan:  I started this one to see if the yarn from the Snowflake Afghan above would like this pattern better.  I do like the way it looks.  Do NOT like the way it feels.  There is no drape or softness at all. This one will be re-incarnated into something else.


Poppy afghan:  My field of poppies on white met with a disaster a couple of weeks ago when I spilled (well, I dripped) some tea on it and I tried to wash it.  The red yarn faded and all that snowy white yarn turned a very light pink.  The pink isn't a bad color, I just didn't have any of that color to finish the border.  I've decided to remove the partially completed border and replace it with a red border.  Not exactly what I had envisioned, but I think it's a way that I can salvage the project.  This one is also part of the Granny-A-Day CAL mentioned above.

WIP Wednesday - 2012-03-14

These are my current WIP's (well, at least the ones I can get to).  Wherever possible, I have provided information to the pattern information.

Cold Shoulder Top test:  Deadline on this test is 2012-03-15.  I've got all the seams done and I'm working on the ruffle.  Should be done today.


Bumbleberry Pie afghan: Making slow but steady progress on this one.  I love looking at stacks of squares.


Bobble Fringe Scarf test:
Signed up for this test on 2012-03-11.  I rummaged around for some #5 yarn. I don’t use it very often and was not optimistic of finding any any in my stash, but there was some in sack of yarn that I got through freecycle last week. Yippee! Don’t know for sure yet how to combine the colors, but it should be suitable for testing.


Betty's Tunisian Tee:  This one is almost in hibernation.  Every time I take it out to work on it, I end up unraveling it back to the base triangles.


Snowflake Stitch Afghan:  This one is my fair project and I'm not very happy with it, but I'm too far in to switch now.  I've started doing the border, although you can't really see it in this picture.  I do not like the way this yarn is pooling/striping.


Spiral Afghan:  I started this one to see if the yarn from the Snowflake Afghan above would like this pattern better.  I do like the way it looks.  Do NOT like the way it feels.  There is no drape or softness at all.  I may have to try again with a bigger hook.