Late night at wildknits

What do knitting, trailrunning, RN's do in their spare time?

Finish hat brims:



Finally! How long has it been since I cast on for this hat? I can't even remember. What?! Doesn't look like a hat to you? It will, in time. Now comes the easy, mindless part. I just need to pick up and knit 234 stitches, figure out what sort of gauge I am getting, figure out how many stitches to decrease away so that I come out with a hat that fits, then knit away mindlessly for 4 inches or so until it is time to decrease for the top. Ah, relaxing knitting with no charts to follow. Don't mind those mittens sitting in the bag on the floor....

If you look closely you will see my emac monitor and on it a photo of an owl. Yup, I took that photo. Off my front steps. Little guy (or gal) was sitting in the lilac in my front yard. Boreal or Saw-whet?? Can't remember now what the consensus was. At any rate, it hung around the yard for a couple of days and I have pictures of the marks it left on the snow when it had a chickadee snack courtesy of my birdfeeder.

Ran Tuesday morning before work on the Piedmont Ski Trails. It was already starting to warm up by 10:00 am, but I chalked it up to more heat training. Headed out knowing the city crew was there mowing and wondering if I would run into them on the trail. There is a big washout at one of the culverts - too big and deep for me to jump - and too big for the mower to get across, so the grass was a bit longer on the other side. I ended up catching up to, and passing, the mower guy on the expert loop (I had the downhill advantage at that point). Luckily he could hear me whistling at him over the machine and let me by. The cool thing was that he was wearing a NMTC tshirt from the Half Voyageur! Wondered if he would catch me on the uphills, but not to worry. I kept ahead, even though I took the long way, and eventually left him behind.

The run felt hard and slow to me, though I was happy with my ability to run all of the hills out there. The ones on the expert loop are steep (again, an area I will not ski). Didn't feel a huge need to push the pace, other than the need to get to work on time, so just ran. Ended up finishing the 5k (best estimate of distance) in 29:55. Not too slow after all.

No run Wednesday, but did get a three mile brisk walk in with Porter on the Lakewalk. It was in the 80's over the hill and 59 at the Lake. Nice day to go to the lake shore with a husky. I watched the sailboat race as we walked, took a break on the beach, and by the time we had made it back to the car the wind had switched and temps were up in the 70's. Got home and knit a few pattern repeats on the bobble-cable hat brim while sipping on a Summit Great Northern Porter. Summer in Duluth can be quite spectacular!

I was planning to run tonight and, due to the heat, thought the best place to run would be Park Point beyond Sky Harbor Airport (2+ miles of trails lead to the Superior entry). Post-run swims in Lake Superior are the best. Who needs an ice bath?!

Opted to ride my bike down there for a bit of cross-training. It is 7 miles from my house, but the first mile is all downhill so hardly counts on a bike ;-> Got to the airport to discover that Jon was closing up shop and didn't want to hang around while I ran. As he was my ride back up the hill, I decided to skip out on the run. Maybe tomorrow? Though I have a race on Saturday (Knife River Solstice Run, on of only three road/paved trail races I participate in) and a long run Sunday, so may bail on the run tomorrow.

While at the airport I got to see "my" new boat. Ahem - otherwise known as Jon's herring skiff. Picked it up last weekend, along with a bunch of nets, floats, a fish descaler and who knows what else from a retired fisherman up near Silver Bay. I hear it was quite an adventure. Know it involved three miles on Lake Superior in the skiff loaded with the fish scaler, powered by a motor that hadn't been used in a few years with a canoe paddle as back-up propulsion. It is the last big item needed for Jon to get his commercial fishing business going. He has his license (two year apprenticeship served) and can set nets anytime now. I think the herring run is pretty slow at this time of year, but fall is a busy time and they go out until the ice blocks the marina. In the past few years I have learned a bit about the herring fishery on Lake Superior - and about herring. They are NOT that nasty stuff that comes in a jar found in grocery stores. Fresh water herring is a different species. White, delicate, mild-flavored. Feed in the middle layers so don't pick up gunk from the lake bottom. Small enough not to bioaccumulate too many toxins, so safe for women and children to eat. And, the pickled herring made at home... well, even I like it! Not sure what the plan is for all that fish come fall. You may start seeing ads for fresh herring on the blog soon.