Friday, February 24, 2012

Friday Mishmash

You guys.  It was 86 degrees here yesterday!  What a nice little break from winter!  Of course, a cold front rolled in last night and dropped the temps down to the low 40s (hello crazy Texas weather), but it was wonderful while it lasted!  I went out running in the morning (with a friend!) and afterward, we stopped for coffee and to chat (since we *gasp* had *gasp* a *gasp* hard *gasp* time *gasp* talking *gasp* while *gasp* running *gasp*).
 We went to a real coffee place where they make pretty designs on the lattes (and use chocolate, which was a surprise!)

After I took a picture of the coffee, I turned the camera on myself, trying to get a shot of my new shirt.  My friend, who is an artist, took the picture for me - see how nicely she got the trees in the background?  I guarantee you, had the roles been reversed, the trees would have been "growing" out of her head, lol! 
This was taken at least 15 minutes after we finished running, but I still have that nice red face going on...quite lovely, no?

So my new shirt.  One thing I noticed last weekend?  Austin has stores.  CUTE stores.  So funny, I like living in a smallish area and not having to deal with traffic (holy moly, the traffic in Austin!!!), but I do miss having awesome stores nearby.  Anyway, after the expo, we were driving to find the parking area for the race (figured it would be good to see it in the daylight first) and passed by this nice area - I was all "oooh, Title Nine!  oooh, Anthropologie!  oooh, Whole Foods!" - you get the picture.  Small town girl in the big city, lol.  So after we found the parking garage, Jeff asked me if I wanted to head back to those stores.  How fast do you think I said yes???  He grabbed a comfy chair while I went to town in Title Nine.  It was great to see things in person instead of a catalog or the internet.  I ended up buying a merino wool running shirt that was expensive but I loved it and felt super cute in it, which fits my criteria for clothing...I'm trying to only buy things that I adore, instead of settling for something because it's a bargain.

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Speaking of running outfits, here's outfit #3 for my 10 week challenge:
Again with multiple layers.  Long-sleeved YMX shirt (snagged for $25 when they had a 3-day "try me" sale!), purple jacket, Brooks nightlife vest since it was going to be dark, cloudy and possibly rainy, Lucy tights, shorts...I am getting tired of having to wear so many layers, but it looks like tomorrow will be another cold morning, so count on seeing more of the same next week.
My helper...always nearby, always ready.
Too early on Saturday morning!  You can definitely see me with that vest on, which is the point.

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My Sit and Knit diet is going well.  I'm developing a bit of a callus on my index finger, which is good as the pointy ends of the needles kinda hurt!  I had most of a cute red cherry washcloth knitted, but apparently got caught up in a TV show and messed up the pattern, so I had to unravel it.  Sigh.  I really have to pay attention when I'm knitting more than a scarf!  Speaking of scarves, Henry has been verrrry attracted to the pink one I'm currently knitting:
He loves to bat at the yarn as I knit...I finally made him his own ball of yarn, which, naturally, he wasn't interested in.  Cats!!!

Finished project - my first baby washcloth!!!
I had to unravel this thing FOUR times, but it's finally done.  I sort of blocked it...ok, I got it wet, wrung it out, and shaped it, but didn't pin it.  As I'm pretty attached to this one, I won't be giving it away, so I'll throw it in the washer and dryer soon and see how it looks with real usage.  I'm pretty hooked on making these - love how the design "pops"!

Finally, here's a couple of cute egg chicks I made, as part of a challenge from Oh! Nuts.  They offered to send me a bag of Jordan almonds, my color choice, and see what I came up with for either a recipe or a craft.  Well, I can't imagine what you could actually "cook" with Jordan almonds, but I thought they would be cute in an Easter basket, so I went with that:
I picked lavender almonds, and found this little purple basket to hold them.  Then I knitted the two egg chicks using this free pattern.  I surprised myself by being able to make these!  The only issue I ran into is that I made the first one to cover a Cadbury creme egg.  Except that I didn't have one on hand (I know, can you believe I don't keep a steady supply in the house?), so I made it to fit a real egg.  Only later did I discover that Cadbury eggs are now smaller than they used to be!  By then I'd bought one three, so made the yellow chick to fit it, and used Jeff's stroke of genius idea to cover a real egg with the foil from the creme egg for the picture.  I think the whole project came out pretty cute, and I love how the Jordan almonds look like mini eggs in the basket!  Full disclosure here:  they taste pretty crunchy and sweet, too.

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I have 3.5 miles on the running schedule tomorrow, and a field trip with the running club to Luke's Locker in the Woodlands on Sunday.  Fun times!  Have a great weekend.

30 comments:

  1. I think I laughed out loud in just about every paragraph of this post! Thanks, I needed that.

    I hear Austin is a kickass place to live and or visit - 2 of my kids went at city (lot's of 20-somethings, I guess). Sure looks great on House Hunters!

    When you're ready to do a baby blanket, I can recommend (or I would love to send you) a great pattern book by Plymouth Yarns for Baby blankets you can make in a weekend. Great patterns and perfect as the next step in movin' on up the knitting ladder! As your knitting sponsor, I think you're ready to move on and do the little things in between! :)

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    1. I'd love to see that pattern book, although I seriously doubt I'd get the blanket done in a weekend. A week? Probably more my speed, lol!

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  2. sorry to double dip - that middle paragraph above apparently went into the virtual ooze. They loved Austin!

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  3. Shelley - I adore the sailing cloth. The way the design comes out is so cute - almost as cute as your running outfit!

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  4. You are just all full of positive. I love it!

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  5. So much cuteness, too little time to comment on it all!

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  6. austin looks so fun to visit! And kudos to the hubs for asking if you wanted to go back to shop!!!

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  7. I live in a small town too, we do have shops but not the ones I buy my clothes at and I usually buy them on the internet.

    You're getting pretty good at the knitting girl. The baby wash cloth is cute and very well made by you. My compliments.

    Funny how Paco is attracted by your camera and Henry by your yarn :)

    Have fun this weekend.

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  8. It was 30 degrees and we were in a wind advisory yesterday in Nebraska. 86 sounds really good right now!! I used to crochet, but since getting my 2 cats 5 years ago, I haven't gone back to it. I don't think they would ever let me get anything done, b/c they'd be trying to play with it! My cats haven't quite grown out of that "kitten phase" yet (or they're just extremely naughty. LOL).

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    1. Ugh, that temperature plus wind? Not fun! YOU need a knitted scarf!!!

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  9. Ok, so when I was running last night? I still had to wear long pants, a long sleeved shirt, and a fleece vest because the temps had dropped by the time I got home. The whole time I was running I kept thinking about how lucky you are that you get to wear capris!

    I love Henners!

    And um, holy carp! You have gotten really good at this thing called knitting in such a short amount of time. You with your crafty egg covers.

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  10. LOL at your "small town girl in the big city" comment! I said the exact same thing to my mom when I went to FREMONT last week--referring to all the restaurant choices they have.

    Do you know I've never done anything with a single emblem like that wash cloth? I think I must have tried one early on, and had trouble with the counting and never tried again. So I am VERY impressed. Plus the chickies are just so cute.

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    1. Thanks - I'm having such fun with all the knitting, even with the mistakes and having to start over (and over, and over...)!

      Too funny about the "small town girl" comment - GMTA!

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  11. That is a very cute little washcloth! I could never knit with Pixie around. Although, I could save on yarn and just use all her hair, ugh!

    Jordon almonds = good. However, very hard on the teeth!

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    1. Oh believe me, there is plenty of cat and dog fur knitted into everything I make!

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  12. Luke's doesn't sound like a girly running store. Dang.

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    1. Nah, they have guy stuff there, but they do have some pretty cool running gear...and anything is better than what we have in town, which is nothing!

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  13. very pretty knitting idea :) love youur blog!

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  14. 86 degrees! I was happy that it was 66 yesterday, but I was inside working all day so it didn't even matter :-(

    So glad you enjoyed the shopping, I've never seen a Title Nine store - I think I would stop the car really quickly if I ever did.

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    1. Oh yeah, for sure STOP THE CAR if you see one! Just a real pretty store and a very pleasant shopping experience. :)

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  15. I would get excited too Shelley if I didn't have those stores near me. Within a mile from my office/work I have a trader joe's, whole foods, panera, penzey's spices, etc...

    So fun that you got to check out the stores. AND what a great day to have summer temps! You are so lucky

    And I have to have my running clothes more fancy like yours. I need to get some more colors for sure - your running outfits are so cute. Good luck on your run tomorrow, I'm doing another 8!

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  16. That wash cloth turned out so good Shelley! You should be proud of your knitting skillz!

    Enjoy your run outside, don't think I'll be doing that anytime soon so I'll have to get my butt to the gym this weekend.

    Hugs!

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  17. HI Shelley. Love this. Your outfit is SOOO cute, and I love that you can see the motion of Paco's wagging tail in the photo. And Henry??? Cuter than cute. Same with the boat cloth! 86 degrees??? Woo Hoo. We had a freak snowstorm this morning here in Vancouver. We'd settle for HALF of yoru 86 degrees!!!! Have a wonderful weekend.

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  18. The cloth turned out great, but I really love the chicks!

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  19. Cute, cute and cute. The outfit, the chicks,and the wash cloth. That is the prettiest coffee I have seen in a long time. Hope your run was great!

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  20. Wow...you are a sittin' and knittin' fool! What great projects you are doing! Oh...and sleep with one eye open...that Henry looked P..friggin'...O'd for whatever reason.

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    1. He always looks that way...and yes, we ALL are a bit afraid of him!

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  21. You are the best. Between the matching outfits for running ( RUNNING!!! YAY!!!) and the washcloths and the new knitting obsession, I was cracking up and cheering you on the whole post.

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