A little bit of knitting

I find holidays the perfect time to get a lot of knitting done. In the finished pile:

Cabled headband in 100% merino for my daughter

A pair of daily wear mittens for myself (silk/merino blend)

Not pictured are the pair of socks I finished that are already in circulation. Basic sock pattern, nothing fancy. Used up most, but by no means all, of a skein of Three Irish Girls yarn left over from a previous sock project.

On the needles and nearing completion after some time out to contemplate the appropriate edging is the Little Leaf Stripe Baby Blanket/Shawl. Still well ahead of the deadline (baby is due in March 2014).

Knitting on Isle Royale, overlooking Malone Bay.
 The bulk of the knitting was done during my vacation on the island.

Edging done on two sides, a first look at the blanket off circular needles.
About 22 inches from center to outer edge, minus the edging, unblocked.

A look at how the edging is shaped around the corners using short rows. 

Lace inserted in steps as the stitches increased. 

 As with all lace, this should be even better looking after it is blocked. The pattern will open up, the yarn will bloom, and it's true beauty will be revealed.

Winter Wonderland! Two feet of snow in two days.

Sapsicle

Seen on my run to work Thursday morning, where the Superior Hiking Trail passes under a large willow. 

Frosty Tuesday Run to Work

So happy to have one of my commuting routes back! Last June a massive rain event washed out many roads in Duluth. Haines Rd/40th Ave W. was one of them. It was slated for repairs prior to the flood, but this event moved things up a year. 

Helpful additions are a sidewalk along the northeastern side.

Near the corner of Haines and Skyline, looking towards the bay

Just above the hairpin curve

 A lot of earth and rock was removed in the process of rebuilding the road. Efforts have been made to protect this bare ground from erosion and to replant the area with trees.

Looking back up the hill after the hairpin curve. Lots of little trees, a run off pond on the far left of the frame and rip rap in the ditch.

 They also added a second lane for upbound traffic. This will take some getting used to for drivers. The side of the road/sidewalk are much more level then previously.

About a block above the railroad crossing As you can see, this is one of the major commuting routes.

My only complaint has to do with how the sidewalk meets up with the neighborhood walk. Oh wait... it doesn't!It just ends at the railroad tracks.  The city sidewalk dead ends into a grassy hillside at the top left of this photo. As you can see the footing is, well, interesting on this section.

Note the taconite pellets. Nothing like hitting a bunch of round pellets at the bottom of a .8 mile steep descent.

 Like many road projects in Duluth I am not sure who will be responsible for clearing the sidewalk once the snows begin to accumulate. There are no homes along this stretch of road. Since this is a county highway I am hopeful they will keep the side walk clear this winter. If not I will be running in the shoulder like I have done in the past.

It was a lovely morning to run and I stopped to capture these photos of frosty leaves just because. I am sure the neighbors were wondering what I was doing.

Sunday Hike

Headed north to look for the last of the fall colors and explore a park that I have run and hiked through a few times, but never off of the Superior Hiking Trail.

Crosby-Manitou Hike

Knitting Origami

aka Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket.

I am continually amazed when this:

 With a fold or two:

 becomes this:

Details: Three Irish Girls Adorn Sock Yarn (80% merino/20% nylon; machine washable). Custom dyed colorways: Circuitry and Motherboard. Sz 5 (3.75mm) circular needles.

This yarn has provided the world with: a pair of socks; a hat:

The Chase or Runner's Hat

and now this sweater. I still have most of the second skein of both colors left so I think this baby will be receiving a few more handknit items. 

The sweater is sewn up (just two seams at the shoulders) and I still need to find some buttons to finish it off. Fortunately the intended recipient isn't due to arrive until March 2014 so I have a bit of time to complete my search. 

Spider

I used to be pretty creeped out by spiders on principle. Then I attended a lecture by Larry Weber and began to find them rather fascinating. Doesn't mean I like to share my immediate living space with them, but I do now appreciate their beauty.

She has set up her web using the hops for one anchor and some blue 50 gallon barrels for another.  Contemplating naming her Charlotte, after all she is a Barn Spider, which was the model for E.B. White's main character.  Maybe she has befriended the chipmunks that live under the porch. Think I will find any writing tomorrow morning?

Hops, and a little yarn

Hop cones

from below

Three Irish Girls McClellan Lace (Merino/Bamboo blend)

What Have I Been Up To Anyway?!

It's been an interesting summer! I have been quite busy between work, volunteering and pacing/crewing for a friend who is running in the Gnarly Bandit series. 

I started a pair of socks on our way to Kettle Moraine 100 and was nearly finished with the first one when I tried it on. Hmmm.... pretty tough to get it past my heel/ankle. It otherwise fit great. I did a bit of research and thinking about what might be the issue. Then, on a commute where I was not only 'bridged' but also 'trained', I ripped back the entire sock so I could start over.

Reknitting the Chase Socks

It took a few days before I had a new plan and time to cast on. My theory is that the corrugated ribbing, which doesn't have much give, unlike traditional ribbing, is the cause. So I added 4 more stitches and started over. I have been taking my knitting everywhere with me, including onto the front porch, and have made some progress. Though the other night I spent at least an hour knitting and reknitting the same row due to repeated mistakes in implementing the pattern.  I have a couple of inches done now and will try them on again soon so as to not get so far along before discovering my error. 

While sitting on the porch I was struck by the beauty of the hop flowers.

Hop flowers

A closer look at the inflorescence

The plant covers the majority of the railing after climbing the 10-12 feet to the porch. It is a very effective screen and a haven for the chipmunk and birds that visit our feeder daily. 

I finally got out for a long run that was not part of pacing duties! Joined Jeff Allen and a host of Twin Cities runners at Taylors Falls, MN to explore trails on both sides of the river. Loved these stairs!

Steps carved into the rock at Interstate State Park, Taylors Falls, MN

Scouting the Voyageur/Curnow Course

Taken on a little outing to check out options for the Minnesota Voyageur Trail Ultra/Eugene Curnow Trail Marathon course:

Large-flowered Trillium

An interesting solution to one of the washed out spots in the Zapps Loop/Mission Creek area

Checking out a slump in the Fond du Lac neighborhood

Mushrooms!

Adoxa moschatellina - the flower

Adoxa moschatellina - the entire community in this location

More Large-flowered Trillium - they were carpeting the woods, and about a month late this year in blooming

Wood Anemone

Purple Clematis

Purple Clematis

Wild Oats

Round-lobed Hepatica

Round-lobed Hepatica

Bellwort

Bellwort

One of the Powerline hills - this part of the hill suffered a bit in the flood - getting steeper. The stream crossing is also a changed.

Slumps on both sides and a running surface about 6" wide = fun!

Another view of this section of the Powerline trail

This, That, and the Other...

How time flies! It has been almost 4 months since my last post. I offer no defensible reason for the lapse.

It has been an odd winter and spring, with almost all of our snow happening in February, March and April.  Usually we get a good mix of snow and cold that make trail running even more fun. This year, it seemed we would get dumped on, then it would warm up and the trails were like running in mashed potatoes. I ended up spending a lot more time on the roads then is normal for me. Coupled with illness in January and a bit of burnout from last years high mileage it led to an interesting looking training log with low mileage weeks interspersed with high mileage weeks in a somewhat random fashion.

I took a little time out in February to head west to Grand Forks, ND to spend a weekend with my daughter and her husband. S and I ran a 5K together (her first) on a frosty morning...

The Greenway, Grand Forks, ND

Happy to be finished!

and then went on to participate in my first bike race. A local friend lent me his fat tire bike, which I rode for the first time the night before. Thankfully my son-in-law is a bike mechanic so was able to adjust things to fit, and then return the bike to normal once I was done. He ended up jumping in to the race as well after having a lot of fun on the pre-ride of the course. 

E, myself and S ready to race 

Listening to pre-race instructions

Climbing the hill near the race start/finish. My almost treadless mukluks made things interesting as I had very little traction. 

The following Monday I got out for another ride at Hartley on a friends bike. Had more fun then should probably be legal!

Superior Spring 50K

The weather had been pretty dry lately and we even had some days in the 50's and 60's so the trails were in good shape, though there were rumors of snow still present in spots and the frost had only recently left the ground, leaving treacherous footing in a few areas.  Race morning dawned overcast with a chance of rain. Only an hour or so in it had started to drizzle and this kept up the whole day. By the time I was headed back to Lutsen the ground was getting pretty muddy, but I have seen worse for this race. What was more worrisome to me was the potential to slip on roots or rocks. After a few hard ground strikes in the past couple of years I am getting a bit more cautious. This of course didn't prevent me from stepping onto, and sliding off of, an exposed root. Thankfully I am already relatively close to the ground so didn't have far to fall.

The highlight of the race was seeing the spring ephemerals blooming along the trail.

Dutchman's Breeches

Spring Beauty

Bloodroot

 The bloodroot literally emerged during the race!

I wasn't quite as exuberant in my welcome to these flowers as I had been when I first spotted hepatica blooming last Wednesday (a friend mistook it as a war cry of some sort) but I was pretty enthusiastic.

During the race I also had the opportunity to meet Jan Horak (Tofte Trek Wilderness 10K) twice out on the trail. He was hiking along with a shovel, working on drainage issues. What an honor!

Somewhere on my journey back from Sawbill I kicked into race mode (had to have been the chicken noodle soup at Sawbill) and actually started to feel like a runner and stopped contemplating dropping and retirement. From then on I was focused on finishing as strongly as I could. I kept flashing back to running this section at Sawtooth and reminding myself that if I could climb Moose Mountain at mile 96 with no breaks I should be able to power up it now.

As a final reminder of our long winter and the wet conditions, the course crossed one last patch of snow (ankle deep, soft and slippery), then more mud, before rounding Caribou Highlands and the pool to the finish line.

Not my fastest time on this course (where I set my 50K PR in 2010) but I am pretty content with it in light of my attitude and energy level the first 20 miles.