For the knitterly types, I did finish the test knit, nicknamed The Beast due to its size and color, but properly called a Hip To Be Square Cape, and loved the result....pre-felting. It was a cape, a lovely warm drapey soft cape with a cute little collar. Then the washer ate it. Stupid cheap laundry-room washers! I'd been afraid of that result, so I'd tried to hand-felt it in the bathtub first, but it was way too big to do that.
Pre-felting:
Post-felting:
All that lovely soft Malabrigo! So stiff and short now! My heart cries! But the color is pretty...sigh. Anyway, since I'm in no danger of jinxing anything now (yes, I'm being a sore loser, but no one will ever be able to convince me that the Canucks were the better team in ANY sense in that series), I've also started a Blackhawks-themed Short-Row Striped Pullover, which I think will rock. I'm using black for the sleeves, hem and collar, and then the stripe pattern is predominantly black, red and white, with green and yellow highlights. I have one sleeve done so far - I almost always do the sleeves first on sweaters - and hoping to start the second one today! I've also started an Adamas Shawl in the Claudia's Handpainted Silk I got a couple years ago. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, and have now remembered why I rarely do lace projects (they aren't hard, but are not good knitting for watching hockey, to say the least). It is starting off rather well, though. No good pics yet. During the first round, I also started a super simple *yo, k2tog* scarf out of the leftover Mal, which is turning out quite charming and I can imagine will be insanely warm.In work news, things are going really well. I've kind of settled into the job, but of course, once I did, another job opened up at the 216th that I was STRONGLY encouraged to apply for. I hemmed and hawed about it until pretty much the last minute, but I did apply for it. Better pay, more in line with the actual mission of the 216th, and I might be good at it. We'll see. Other than that, love the job, love the people I work with (the girls all ganged up for dinner and a show this week, which was fun), and if it didn't start so early in the day, it would be almost perfect. One decision that I have never regretted. Ran into a bunch of old friends at the theater, and they all mentioned that I look happier, steadier, and more confident than I ever did before. I definitely feel it!
Also helping that - finally being back in martial arts! I don't think I mentioned that I tore my ankle up (again, same ankle) in March. I was running a trail on one of the COD commander's "death marches" (his usually around 5-mile, often very hilly, insanely-early-on-Thursday-morning, not-required-but-highly-encouraged runs) and just rolled it. It didn't seem that bad at the time, but when it was still "not right" after the weekend, I got it looked at. Doc said it was a combination of new mild sprain plus the severe sprain from last summer never actually healing properly (wonder how that happened), and he forbade pretty much any exercise that involves legs at all until the beginning of April, when I could see a physical therapist. She took a look a it and decided that it seemed like the tendons and ligaments had healed properly, but the muscles hadn't. So I've been in physical therapy for about six weeks now, mostly working with one of the assistants on strength, balance, and flexibility, and STILL haven't been completely cleared to run. I can do up to 15 minutes (on a good day), mixing running and walking, and no more than 1.5 miles on flat surfaces.
I DID, however, get cleared to go back to class, as long as I don't jump or spin on it. The not jumping is easy - I've never been much of a jumper - but the spinning is harder to remember, particularly in forms and sparring. It's SO good to be back in classes, though! I might make second degree yet! I've been to tkd and kickboxing so far, and am hoping to make it to FIGHT on Tuesday this week if the ankle holds up. It's been pretty good, although I am definitely out of shape and have lots of soreness, although I wasn't thinking at one point Wednesday and threw a spin hook kick during sparring, which wasn't appreciated.
I don't get to see Sir very much - Mrs. S teaches on M/W now, and he teaches on T/Th, which are PT days - but I ran into him the other day and he really wants me to check out the new jiu jitsu class on Thursday nights. Definitely not going to participate in anything new until the ankle is completely okay, but I promised I would come watch a few classes. I would like to be able to do both PT and classes on the same day, and I think I am not far off, although it helps that I can't DO a lot of the PT right now, since it mostly involves running. I do SERIOUSLY need to work on pushups, though. They just hurt - my ankle, my elbows, ugh! And I need to get back into running if I'm going to do this half in September! We'll see. I'll just keep working as best as the docs & the body will let me and hope I don't re-injure anything!
Hmm, what else? Going to Vegas in June as a birthday present to myself. I'm leaning toward totally indulging and getting a package that includes a ticket to the NHL Awards. (In which case, working out more is going to be a very good thing, cuz I'm vain enough to want to look amazing in Vegas just in case ;-) ) Also going to the Blackhawks Convention in Chicago in July and going to hang out with family & catch another Cubs game with my brother & cousins during that trip. Yay!
Think that's about it. It's Mother's Day, so I should probably get my sunburnt self (reading out in the sun yesterday - I swear I was only out there for maybe half an hour!) off the computer and call Mom...
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