Knitting and Running Update

Hi everyone!

I have decided this year to participate in or emulate the Yarn Harlot with her self-imposed sock club. I don't need any more sock yarn, in fact, I need less to be able to purchase some yarn at Sock Summit 2011, which I plan on attending. It turns out, I have a lot of people I can knit socks for who will appreciate it. January was my cousin Allison, who really loves socks! I decided to knit the first pair of the year for her, as I promised her socks when I was in Portland, Oregon last time for my grandmother/grandfather's informal memorial. We picked out the Toe-Up Totem Socks and some Dream in Color Smooshy I received in a swap a few years ago. They turned out to be a really good combination. The yarn was a dream and the pattern was easy to follow. I only used the stitch pattern from the pattern, doing my standard toe, heel and bind-off.
I did these in 19 days, which is a record for me for socks. I normally take my time and have more than just the socks on the needles. However, this time, I only had this project going and it went very quickly.You can check out the rest of the project details here: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/KnittingDefender/toe-up-totem-socks.
I also finished the baby blanket for my cousin's son. It was difficult to find a spot to take a picture of this. I took the patterns from some dishcloth patterns I purchased on etsy and put them together into a 3 X 3 block pattern with seed stitch in between. You can check out the pattern pictures here http://www.ravelry.com/projects/KnittingDefender/baby-blanket-for-nephew.I have started my February socks already, I'm doing the Manly Aran Socks by Wendy Johnson in String Theory Caper Yarn. It's very soft and a good match for this cabled pattern. You can see the details here: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/KnittingDefender/manly-aran-socks.Here is the start...This pattern requires a lot of attention from me at least and so I also started a scarf project to use up one of my single skeins from Rhinebeck. It is Brooks Farm Solo in a green and white colorway. The pattern is the Prismatic Scarf. Here is the ravelry link for the project.
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/KnittingDefender/the-prismatic-scarf
I have been running a fair bit and I have a 5k coming up at the end of February, a 10K planned for April, a 5K planned for July when I am in Portland for Sock Summit on the Nike campus and a half marathon scheduled for the end of August. I admit I have been struggling with my runs, energy wise and my legs have been feeling dead but I stuck it out for 3.5 miles yesterday even though I felt awful. I'm going to start a 10K plan now and jump into a half marathon plan when I am done with that.

I also made meringues for the first time and they turned out great, soft in the middle and crunchy on the outside. I plan on making more as they weren't hard to make.

Happy knitting and running and baking.

Happy New Year..

I hope that you had a great end to 2010 and a great start to 2011.

M and I stayed in and had a nice pasta dinner and some champagne drinks made with a bottle of the champagne from our wedding. On the first day of 2011 we ran the Hangover Classic in Salisbury, MA. I wasn't expecting a whole lot because of the drinking the night before but I managed to run around a 32:30. I can't say for certain since they can't manage to get all the results up, but I know M came up to me and the clock read 33:06 when he did and told me it had to be a Personal Record. It had been at least 15 seconds since I got to the corrals, where there was a huge back-up and I didn't cross the start line for probably 30 seconds at least after the race started. My previous best time was 35:57, so this was a huge jump for me. I am just glad that the running work is paying off in increased fitness. Then we came back and finished the duck confit and leek, artichoke, and potato gratin and peanut butter and chocolate puddings we were making for New Year's Day dinner. It was delicious but the pudding was a little too thick. If I make it again I will not let it thicken so much. Here are the links for the recipes from epicurious.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Duck-Confit-102313

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Artichoke-Leek-and-Potato-Gratin-238010

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Peanut-Butter-Milk-Chocolate-Puddings-350968

If you make the duck, it takes the full three hours cooking time for it to get really tender.

I have been knitting and I did a lot this weekend. I have been working on these socks.

As you can see I have one done and the second one is about halfway done. I am at the exact point where I need to start turning the heel.

It is the Laurel Socks Pattern from Toe-Up Socks for Every Body by Wendy Johnson.

Happy Knitting and Running and Baking in the New Year!