Friday, January 24, 2014

Friday Mishmash

Anatomy of taking a picture with Paco:
 Crouch down next to dog; try to get him to stop licking my face.
Try to get him to look at the camera.
Try to get him to look at camera without appearing like I'm choking him.
 Finally get a decent shot!
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File under:  This is why I can't have nice things...
It was part of a dresser set given to me by my adopted Grandma, Arbu, back when I was a young teenager.  She died in 1990 and would have been 111 years old now.  This dresser piece survived a lot of years through me and my children, but one bad move while I was vacuuming, and it crashed to the floor.  Sigh. 

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I'm almost finished knitting a long cowl, and I love how it's turning out.  Only problem is that I think I made a mistake with the pattern - when I look at pictures of it on Ravelry, the first part (the outer edge) looks different than all the other cowls.  Which isn't a huge deal, except that I need to make the same mistake er, feature, on the other side in order for it to match...and quite honestly, I'm not sure how I did it in the first place.  And yes, it would bother me if it didn't match.  So I'm kind of stuck right now - I need to get my forensic team of knitters to help me figure out what to do next.

Here's what I have right now:
So close to being finished!

And this is what doesn't match:
Mystery stitch - that row actually should look like the holey rows just above it.  Too late to change it now; I just need to figure out what I did so I can match it.
My first attempt at matching - it's not right, and I need to undo this entire row. 

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Here's something that will probably only be interesting to runners:  Most half and full marathon races are USATF (USA Track and Field) certified - this means that they've been measured by an official and "count" for bigger races, such as qualifying for the Boston Marathon.  I've heard that they measure the route from the shortest tangent possible, which is why many runners will show a discrepancy on their Garmin vs. what the route says.  For example, on the BCS half that I ran in December, my Garmin showed that I ran 13.18 miles instead of 13.10, which is not a big difference (especially considering all the times I veered off to go hug a friend on the sidelines), but sometimes they can be much bigger.  Serious racers usually study the routes ahead of time to note the tangents, and work hard to run them so they can get the best time possible (again, this is so not me).  Knowing about all of this, I was intrigued to see the certified route for our race on Sunday.  There's a lot of detail on the map and it adds another layer of how much actually goes into these races that most runners don't think about.  Click here for the PDF if you're curious.

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I'll have a follow-up to my "Telling It Like It Is" post on Monday, and a race recap up on Wednesday - have a great weekend, and if you're awake at 6:30 am CST on Sunday, think of me and my running buddies as we tackle 13.1 (or more, haha) miles!

26 comments:

  1. Getting Paco to pose is so recognizable :) the photo bombs he usually does work better :)

    Interesting route: out and back twice? I hate that in a race. Most races here the route is always online and I always check if it's just one round, especially on longer races. Even on my own training runs I make sure it's a rountrip.

    Of course I'm up at 6.30 am, it's afternoon here then and I definitely will think of all of you!
    Good luck!

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    1. For the half marathon, it's one trip around the route...TWICE for the full, ack. I think the out-and-back will be nice in this instance since we will get to see other runners and do that whole "cheer 'em on" thing. :)

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    2. That would be the only benefit for me yes. I often have a hard time during races and knowing I have to do the same thing again on days that it's hard is very demotivating for me. I rather like to be in the not knowing of what's coming :)

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  2. So sorry for your broken treasure! At first I thought you were going to say the dog did it! My labrador is such a ham, I never have trouble having her sit for pictures. She is trained well when she sees a camera!

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    1. What's funny is that if I put something I've knitted on Paco (I always make him wear a scarf or cowl that I've made), he will hold still and pose like it's his job. I think he really just wanted to go see if his friend Ginger could come out and play. NO TIME FOR YU, MOM!

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  3. Oh Shelley, seeing your broken piece makes me sad. This last summer while taking something out of my china cabinet, my grandmother's antique cake plate came crashing down. It was almost 200 years old. I so feel for you as I know it's not necessarily the piece, but the memories :(

    I knew that about running tangents but sometimes in the midst of the race you just forget!

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    1. Aww, I'm sorry about your cake plate! :(

      And yeah, during a race I rarely think about running the tangents. Shoot, after about 6 or 7 miles, my brain goes to a special place where I'm not entirely coherent, lol!

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  4. You might need to get the in-person forensics analysts involved. It looks like regular knitting to me. The only thing I can think of is doing a yarn over, but bringing the yarn around the needle the opposite direction. I have one pattern that says to do this "so the hole won't show."

    LOL on pics of Paco. Most of the shots I try to take with the dogs look like they are trying to get away from me!

    And so sad about the broken treasure. But I would rather use those treasures, knowing that they will eventually break, than shut them away in a cupboard and never look at them.

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    1. Wait, isn't the point of a yarn over to create a hole?? LOL

      I agree with you on using treasured pieces, wholeheartedly. And I've had this one for close to 40 years, and it's held all sorts of things...I just feel so dumb at how it was broken.

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  5. Good luck on your race, Shelley! Looking forward to the recap - especially since we didn't get a race outfit preview for this one!

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    1. I think it's going to be a repeat of last month's outfit, especially since it's a USAFit race...we'll be wearing our USAFit BCS shirts, representing!

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  6. I work Saturday night at he restaurant, so I will be sleeping, but when I wake up around 11:00 a.m. you'll already be done and I hope to see some pictures on Facebook! :D

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  7. The knitting stuff goes right over my head. I can read computer code more easily. :)

    So sorry about your heirloom. Any chance of repair?

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    1. Or, as it just occurs to me, you could use the top as a small wall ornament maybe?

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    2. I'm sure I'll end up displaying the top somehow. :)

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  8. Hey - I just found you - I also run and knit (not at the same time)! Are you on Ravelry?

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  9. I'm so sorry about your broken treasure:(
    I will not be thinking about you when you run your race, as I will be sleeping in this Sunday! So, good luck. Looking forward to reading all about it.

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    1. To be fair, my 6:30 is your 4:30, so I forgive you for not waking up to mentally cheer me on. :)

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  10. My sister's dog runs and hides the minute she sees a camera. You are lucky to get your dog to sit and look at the camera even if it's just for a brief moment.

    Sorry about your broken heirloom. Hopefully you can salvage the top. It's beautiful!

    What half are you running on Sunday? It's -40 with the wind chill where I live so there is no running outside here. Although I did sign up for a 5K Fanny Freezer race in two weeks but if it's this cold my fanny isn't going to be freezing.

    Good luck on Sunday! Have fun running with your friends. Running with friends make the 13.1 miles go by a lot quicker. Looking forward to your recap.

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  11. That piece looks fixable, Shelley - I hope you kept the pieces.

    I look at your knitting and I totally see nothing wrong with it. Not being a knitter, I guess I don't see these things.

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  12. We ALWAYS say, "This is why we can't have nice things." We are usually referring to our sons and not our dog :)

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  13. I recognize that picture of Paco ;) Thanks again for brightening my mom's day. :)

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