back in the saddle and almost at the end of the race...

Lots of goings on here in diplomatica-land. While d has been furiously finishing school work, I've been busy crafting and getting back in the normal swing of things with exercise. I've gotten the OK to bike again. I went out with ll on the bike path on Saturday. So much trepidation, but lots of fun. I went slow - it was the first time I'd been back on clipless pedals since my fall in July.



I started to take pictures of my vintage clothes for an etsy shop I'm going to open. I just need to wrangle d for a moment and have him help me create a banner.

I can see the end of the road from the goal of making my Christmas gifts. I just have one small snag - figuring out what to knit for d. I told him about the sweater curse, so that's out of the question, per his directions. I just need to make up my mind and cast on. He liked the cowl for his birthday last week, so at least my knitting mojo is okay.

Intervals...

Exciting news! I really am running again! I didn't really post about this earlier because right after I started, I got a cold that has decided to linger past the Thanksgiving weekend. I've done several interval runs. It's great to actually run, not plod. Between my numerous lunges, calve raises and stretches, this is a great energizing activity. I'm hoping to have this jumpstart a better workout routine during the holidays.

I haven't been feeling the digital photo bug, so I'm woefully behind on spinning, knitting, cooking and exercising photos. I've been ordered to get back on my road bike for short rides, so hopefully this will spurn on some photos. It's just so dark here (besides the time I'm cooped up in my office). I think I need to make a light box.

Okay, off to drowsily celebrate D finishing his model and presentation for studio. He still has two more big assignments for the term, but this was the big one. After being awake for 36 hours, I'm not sure how much celebration we'll be doing. Probably a beer, dinner and falling asleep to our Netflix selection.

Fuzzy warmth

It hasn't been snowing here in the Willamette Valley, but is has been quite chilly (and foggy - darn inversion) the past few weeks. It's made us turn on the heat and me crave knitting a warm, squishy sweater instead of the smaller, xmas gift knits I've been cranking out for awhile now.

One thing that's made it so much easier is the addition of the Monday night knitting group I've started to attend down the street. It's great to a) meet other people that love to knit as much as me, b) take the dedicated time to talk and knit purposefully for a couple of hours, and c) learn a few things (tonight was about slapping handspun yarn to help set the twist - a much better method than weighting it after soaking). Which reminds me, I'm actually getting a much better feel for spinning and plying. The recent skeins have really improved. I gave one to my aunt on Friday and she seemed to enjoy the color palette. No pics just yet since some of it is yet to be gifted...I'm excited to spin some recent fiber from a wonderful woman who lives up the hill from me. You can see her blanketed sheep as you walk up to her studio - so cool!