When last we checked, I was happily settled in the warm weather, swimming and toasting my backside. There was knitting being done and I actually finished the brioche shawl and the gradient one. Unfortunately, I didn't have room in my suitcase to bring them home, so they remain in the desert. They both came out nicely, despite my ineptness at the brioche section of the first shawl. The brioche itself isn't hard but I couldn't quite get the ends of the rows done right. It looked okay in the end, though.
I'm still working on Russell Street, and it's progressing nicely through the colorful mini skeins. There are going to be a whole bunch of ends to weave in, and lots of picking up of stitches. Hopefully it will be worth it in the end.
I started another shawl, Kimba, by Ambah O'Brien. She had a coupon code for some of her patterns so I bought a few. I'm doing the small size of this one as I'm not a fan of huge shawls usually. I like this first color a lot and it will progress into two more colors as it grows.
I decided to bring out my spinning wheel for a change of pace when it got too hot to do much of anything outside. I spun a big braid of JulieSpins Falkland. I didn't have any big bobbins for my Lendrum wheel so I had to make two sections, which I then plied together into one big hank of yarn.
I had a couple of interested visitors, Mr. and Ms. Hollywood, who each tried their hand at some spinning. They decided it was harder than it looked! We had a nice visit over the Memorial Day weekend, which was right before I returned to Washington.
Now to the physical fitness news. I mentioned last time that I was training to do the swimming in a triathlon here at our lake. If you're a long time reader, you might remember that I did the whole sprint distance triathlon two years ago and ran the 5K last year. This time I teamed up with my sister-in-law and her husband and we did the Olympic distance. I swam a little less than a mile, Joel rode almost 28 miles on his bike and Julie ran 6.3 miles. We had fun, we finished, we didn't set any speed records. I'm almost the slowest swimmer in the world but I wasn't last!! That was awesome. I start out slow so didn't have too much trouble dealing with the crowd of other swimmers, since they were far ahead of me in no time. I was fast enough to get the first leg over before the sprint swimmers came up and overtook me, so that was good. I settled into my rhythm and breathing and didn't have to breaststroke the whole way so that was also good. The medals were much better this year, too!
One of my training mornings. Yes, that water was cold but my wetsuit was awesome and kept me plenty warm, even though my arms and legs were exposed.
Right after I finished my swim and turned the timing chip over to Joel.
Joel finishing up his bike ride and hurrying into the transition area to give Julie the timing chip.
Julie coming in strongly from her run.
Pat and I continue to feel well and, aside from an evening or two when I felt like going to bed at 8:30, I've regained my energy. A very good month!
Oh, and I almost forgot (again! 😳) We celebrated our 21st anniversary on Friday. How time flies!
I'm still working on Russell Street, and it's progressing nicely through the colorful mini skeins. There are going to be a whole bunch of ends to weave in, and lots of picking up of stitches. Hopefully it will be worth it in the end.
I started another shawl, Kimba, by Ambah O'Brien. She had a coupon code for some of her patterns so I bought a few. I'm doing the small size of this one as I'm not a fan of huge shawls usually. I like this first color a lot and it will progress into two more colors as it grows.
I decided to bring out my spinning wheel for a change of pace when it got too hot to do much of anything outside. I spun a big braid of JulieSpins Falkland. I didn't have any big bobbins for my Lendrum wheel so I had to make two sections, which I then plied together into one big hank of yarn.
I had a couple of interested visitors, Mr. and Ms. Hollywood, who each tried their hand at some spinning. They decided it was harder than it looked! We had a nice visit over the Memorial Day weekend, which was right before I returned to Washington.
Now to the physical fitness news. I mentioned last time that I was training to do the swimming in a triathlon here at our lake. If you're a long time reader, you might remember that I did the whole sprint distance triathlon two years ago and ran the 5K last year. This time I teamed up with my sister-in-law and her husband and we did the Olympic distance. I swam a little less than a mile, Joel rode almost 28 miles on his bike and Julie ran 6.3 miles. We had fun, we finished, we didn't set any speed records. I'm almost the slowest swimmer in the world but I wasn't last!! That was awesome. I start out slow so didn't have too much trouble dealing with the crowd of other swimmers, since they were far ahead of me in no time. I was fast enough to get the first leg over before the sprint swimmers came up and overtook me, so that was good. I settled into my rhythm and breathing and didn't have to breaststroke the whole way so that was also good. The medals were much better this year, too!
One of my training mornings. Yes, that water was cold but my wetsuit was awesome and kept me plenty warm, even though my arms and legs were exposed.
Right after I finished my swim and turned the timing chip over to Joel.
Joel finishing up his bike ride and hurrying into the transition area to give Julie the timing chip.
Julie coming in strongly from her run.
The Team!
Pat and I continue to feel well and, aside from an evening or two when I felt like going to bed at 8:30, I've regained my energy. A very good month!
Oh, and I almost forgot (again! 😳) We celebrated our 21st anniversary on Friday. How time flies!
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