Knitting Bag of Shame

There is a bag of knitting sitting on a random shelf that has been there for almost half a year now.  The bag holds a third finished scarf, the required needles, and a few balls of yarn.  The bag also must have my motivation in it, as I have absolutely no desire to finish this project.  The problem I’m finding with this particular scarf is that it is BIG, LONG, and WIDE.  I am using a double strand to make it THICK too.  This scarf also has no pattern, other than stockinette stitch and colour changes where I see fit.  Even though I am using a bigger needle (8mm), the scarf seems to be taking forever.  As I have no pattern, I don’t have the comfort of knowing if I am on row 32 of 65, or 10 of 100.  I have no idea how far along I am, and that makes it seem like it will never be finished.  Also, every time I hold the scarf up around my neck it doesn’t feel or look any longer, which doesn’t reassure me that an end is indeed in sight.

What keeps me from just ripping out all the stitches and washing my hands of this GIANT scarf, is that I really want the finished product.  I am knitting it to match my Grandma’s Coat, and I have already put so much time into it, that it would be a shame not to finish it.  I worked on it for a few hours last week, but now it is back in the bag along with my motivation to complete it.  :(

Is there a project you’re working on that you want to finish but it seems like it will never get done?  Maybe we could encourage one another! :)

Oh the Places You’ll Go

I recently found out that my bicycle seat was too low.  It has unfortunately been too low for two cycling seasons.  When I first bought my bike, I adjusted it from it’s original settings to what I felt was comfortable for me to ride.  Over the past two years I have gone (what I thought was) great distances on my bike.  It turns out, what I thought was “comfortable” was actually placing all the work to power my bike onto my knees.  Now that the seat has been moved up, the power to move my bike will come from my thigh muscles, as well as the force of my entire body.  The former “great distances” I’ve gone, are really only the beginning of how far I can go. I am pretty excited about where I will be able to ride to this summer.

I often ride on the Simcoe County/Tiny Trail system, and last summer I built up my endurance to make it to the next major (ha!) intersection, about 9 km away.  The whole ride was 18 km (there and back) and took an hour and a half.  It was my biking distance goal last summer and I succeeded near the end of the season.  I only made it there once, but I was pretty proud to have made it there at all! 

This spring I have been doing a lot of walking and postponed hoping on my bike until just a few weeks ago.  I have only been on a handful of bike rides this season, and after a recent one, someone who knows a lot more about bikes than I do, commented that she thought my knees were bending too much when I rode, and helped me adjust my seat to a proper height (thanks, T!).  So when I set out on what was only my fourth ride of the season, I made it all the way to that long dreamed of major intersection from last year.  It took me three months to get there last year, and only a week this year.  I also made better time too!  And I didn’t feel exhausted for days afterwards.  Amazing!

I have the whole summer ahead of me and am really looking forward to longer distance bike rides.  I picked up some padded cycling gloves, a bike lock, a portable air pump, a patch kit, a bike-mountable water bottle, and an ‘on the road‘ tool kit.  Now, I not only have the power to go further, but with these accessories, I also feel more secure about being farther from home.

Now to plan a distance goal for the summer.  The farthest I’ve cycled is 18 km; we’ll see what the new record is at the end of the season!

Paint it...Yellow

I spent much of last week painting my bro’s kitchen.  The previous tenant had half painted it, meaning some of the walls were yellow and some were gray.  It was like that for two years.  I said I would paint it over March break - but only got around to it now.  That’s how it works when you “hire” family! :)

The joy of painting my brother’s place went beyond making him happy, I got to spend the week with my parents, brother-in-law, and my grandparents too.  They all live together in the same apartment building, so between coats I got to hang out with my family.  It was a really nice week and everyone was in a great mood.  Who knew painting could be such a good time?

I washed walls, taped, and primed on Monday.  Did two coats of ‘Persian Melon’ on Tuesday, and did some touch ups on Wednesday.  Going to bed Monday night and throughout the day on Tuesday, I had the most intense ache in my thigh muscles.  The cause eluded me until the second coat of paint on Tuesday night, when I realized that half of the work was me squatting to edge the bottom of the walls.  I basically did three hours of squats over a day and a half.  Ouch!  It was painful to sit down on Wednesday and Thursday - and even today, there is still a dull ache!

Bro got some nice art shots of painting supplies and my handiwork.  I describe the new colour as “wake up, have some scrambled eggs, and enjoy a sunny day.”  I think he made a great colour choice.  He is a graphic designer after all!

The "prime" directive

Early Morning Art Shot A

Early Morning Art Shot B

Persian Melon

 Let me roll it to you!

One of the 400 squats I did that day!

Lunch at the Legion

My Mom, grandparents, and I went over to the Barrie Legion for lunch today.  Put on by the Ladies Auxiliary, today's lunch was roast beef on a bun with french fries, with carrot cake for dessert.  All for only $6, with proceeds going to support the Barrie Legion.  It turns out today was the last Legion lunch for the summer, and they will resume the Wednesday lunches again in September.

My Poppa was in the Navy, so he and Grandma spend a lot of time at the Legion.  I don't go very often, but have been to Wednesday lunch several times in the past.  The Legion is also a place where our family will have get togethers (birthday parties, showers, funeral receptions, etc.).  It is nice to go and see some familiar faces.  I also really like older people.  We had lunch with a couple who are friends with my grandparents, and it is neat to see people (my grandparents included) who have been married for 40+ years and watch them banter back and forth, and tell bad puns.  It is pretty cute, actually.  Everyone was concerned that I put too much horseradish on my sandwich and I would surely have smoke coming out my ears while eating it.  I didn't, but the comments kept me smiling while I ate.  :)

Turtle Face!

Look who showed up in the backyard!

Turtle Face!!

Turtle in the Grass!

Turtle Eye!

Turtle Hide!

Turtle Shell!

Turtle Foot!