Rainy Day

I just happened to actually notice the title of this blog - and the part about the exercise? Well, I've been walking between 3 and 5 miles most days, or using our elliptical trainer. We just purchased a new treadmill, and on quite possibly the hottest, most humid day of the year, we moved the elliptical from our bedroom down to the basement to join the new treadmill and the weight bench in our "new" exercise room.

It's raining, so we're doing indoor stuff today. Morse's Sauerkraut, so my mom can stock up on the mango chutney she loves, and I can get German mustard and Wilhelmina Peppermints. Then on to Rockland, for lunch, the Farnsworth Museum, and a trip to Over the Rainbow Yarn. Will I escape unscathed? (Yarn Store, not Farnsworth.)

As promised, here are some visuals of recent progress/works in progress...

Spunky Eclectic Oatmeal BFL "Seashells"

Complete! 552 yards of laceweight singles Spunky Eclectic's Oatmeal BFL in "Seashells"

3 little Hexapuffs - the first ones done since early June

Needlepoint - barely begun.

Vitamin D Cardigan - 80%?

MKAL complete through Clue #5

MKAL detail

A Month in Maine

I'm here at last! Here as in New Harbor, Maine, in the same cottage we've been renting for at least 10 years. And the weather has magically cooled off, too. Took a 4.5 mile walk this morning, reconnecting with Mothers' Beach, Pemaquid Trail, Beach Loop Road, and smiling all the while.

No photos today...I'll post some tomorrow, once I've gotten settled in!

Packing Up

It's time for Maine!!! Packing up today, so I can leave at first light tomorrow morning. Rumor has it that the Kittery bridge is a bottleneck because of construction. We'll see.

In building my packing list, I've noticed that my crafty list is longer than any other section. Knitting, spinning, needlepoint, quilting, rug hooking, beading. It's pretty ridiculous, but I feel like I'll be lost if I don't pack enough stuff to do. So I end up with two years' worth of crafting. I've got about 4 pounds of unspun fiber packed up, about 8 knitting projects, needlepoint that would take up the entire 4 weeks' vacation by itself, a quilt to finish, a hooked rug to finish...

And then there's reading. The iPad is a huge help - one small device holds all my books, podcasts, and audiobooks.

The heat and humidity this morning are SO oppressive. This post serves as an excuse for not getting to the work of packing up. On to it!

Debbie Socks

Saroyan Shawlette

Sample of the pounds of fiber that's going

More Debbie Socks

MKAL

Dipped Infinity Scarf Kit

Bolt Shawl Color #2

Bolt Shawl Color #1

And of course, the Hexipuffs...

MKAL = Mystery Knit-Along

The yarns and beads even came with stitch markers and a tiny parasol!!!

I'm participating in my first-ever MKAL (Mystery Knit-Along) project this summer. The project is called "The Summer of...", from Wild Prairie Knits, and consists of 7 weeks of clues. Each clue arrives via email on Friday morning, and participants are encouraged to finish that section by the next Friday. Of course, it's all pure fun, not a competition, and some of us are bound to fall behind. And that's fine. I've managed to keep up so far, and am excited to get started on Clue #5, which arrived this morning.

As for the project itself, all we were told is that the project is a shawl, in two colors of fingering weight yarn (colors are our choice), with the option of adding in some glass beads if we preferred to. I did. My colors are a lovely kettle-dyed navy and a beach sand, with clear glass beads knitted into parts of the navy sections. There are garter stripes and solid lace panels.

Participants have been asked not to spoil the surprise by posting photos of the work-in-progress, but I can share a photo of the yarns and beads I chose. They are from Stunning String Studio, and I couldn't be happier with my selection.

The entire experience thus far has been a delight!

More Backlog

These are, sadly, the only socks I've knitted this year. The brightly colored ones were knitted for Jess, my daughter-in-law, for her birthday. The charcoal gray socks were a parting gift to our school superintendent, who retired this past June. Gone (at least for now...) are the days when I knitted a pair of socks each month. Why, then, do I keep buying MORE of the stuff needed to make footwear???

Vanilla Blue Moon Socks That Rock Lightweight in "Fire on the Mountain" colorway

Swans Island Fingering Organic Merino in Charcoal. Pattern is Sherry Menton's  "Elementary Watson"

Yarn Diet Not Working!

I keep telling myself I'll stay away from yarn shops, websites, eBay, etc., but then I somehow "find" myself inside a shop, drooling over, ogling at, and touching all the lovely yarns. The latest mishap was in Webs (Northampton, Mass.), where I barely managed to escape with ONLY two skeins of Madeline Tosh Merino Light. What for? Ah, I can at least answer that - no impulse buying for me! These were made to become a Bolt Shawl, designed by Veera Valimaki (my new favorite designer) and found in Jared Flood's latest, Wool People 5. The colors, as shown below, are saturated and vibrant. Can't wait...

"Cathedral" colorway

"Dahlia" Colorway

Geometry, Hexagons, Beekeepers

I'm reading The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal. Good book. Rather than focus solely on "Willpower, it discusses  "Will-", "Won't-", and "Want"-power, along with a number of different strategies for sticking to one's goals. I'm not very far into the book, and I'm hoping for a chapter on how to smash the broken record that plays in my head, the one that tells me, over and over ad nauseum, that I'll never be able to do it, so I might as well give up before I even try.

It's hot and humid and not the best weather for feeling energized, motivated, positive.

On with the fiber update. A few years ago, "The Beekeeper's Quilt" pattern hit Ravelry and took the knitting world by storm. Stephanie Dosen is a genius, and a funny one at that. This year I decided to get in on the fun, and not coincidentally, start to make a dent in my serious sock yarn leftovers. I've knitted 183 of the little puffs so far this year. At first I stored them in a large glass bowl on the dining room table, but they soon spilled over into a larger basket. It takes at least 350 of them to make a lap blanket, so I've got my work cut out for me. Each one takes just about 30 minutes to complete. I've got NO shortage of sock yarn, so I imagine I'll be working on this project throughout the remainder of 2013 and pretty far in 2014, at a minimum.

Bowl o' Puffs!