And although I liked you anyway, check out your haircut
A proscenium to stage a face that needs no makeup – TMBG
In case you missed it on Twitter or Facebook, on Sunday I got my hair cut. And yeah, I got bangs. (Fringe, they call it here in Australia.) I’m still getting used to it. I haven’t had proper bangs since grade school. The Snook thinks it makes me look like my niece Indie.
Cat Odyssey: Indiana State Prison, Michigan City, Indiana. This is a lovely piece about this prison’s program where inmates can adopt a cat. Well worth a read.
What the–?! According to Alysha, the pet store at Birkenhead Point is actually selling SQUIRRELS as pets. This blows my mind for several reasons.
I kinda want to visit the store now just to see them myself for the novelty factor.
Shared today on Google Reader:
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The Shirt Skirt. Tutorial for making a casual shirred skirt from an old T-shirt. Brilliant!
A lovely little ceramics studio in our neighbourhood is having a bowl decorating workshop. I think I might go!
Curtains… Hemmed
Remember the curtains we hung last month? I finally got around to hemming them today! I used this great tutorial and the iron-on hemming tape that came with the curtains. It was a little bit of a bodge because my curtains were SOOO not square. There was no chance of me lining up the edges and having the hem be level. So I ended up having to pretty much put a pleat on the back of each one on one side. They look fine from the front though! Just skimming the ground. I’m not sure I trust the hemming tape (especially when it comes time to wash the curtains), but they’ll do for now!
2010 Rebel Sport Run4Fun 10K
This was my second year running this race (last year’s race report) and my first with the Snook beside me. A bunch of guys from my office were also signed up as well. We met Kunaal at Central Station at 7:15 and enjoyed an uneventful trip to Olympic Park. Once we got there, I dropped off my backpack and made a toilet stop. I had been hoping for cool rainy weather like last year, but instead it was turning out sunny and warm. The Snook and I lined up in the Purple group (the other guys were all in the Red) and waited for the gun to go off.
I had my iPhone safely strapped to my arm – no chance of losing it this time – and I started RunKeeper as we inched towards the starting mats. I made a quick mental decision to not worry about checking my pace during the actual race. It was going to be more fun to just enjoy myself with the Snook. The first couple KMs were relatively easy, except for the excessive crush of people. (I think they need to stagger the start even more next year.) I felt good so I skipped the first water stop. The sun was getting stronger all the time though. We doubled back and headed towards the back half of the course.
Sidenote: I have to say, I was really disappointed by how many people I saw jumping the curb and cutting corners. I probably could have shaved another minute off my time if we’d done what most of the crowd was doing. Bah.
Anyhoo, I could feel my pace starting to slow in the second half. They’d changed the course from last year so it had less turnarounds, but it was also a bit more hilly too. I walked briefly as I had a drink at the second water stop. At the 7K mark, the Snook announced that he was “finally warmed up” and that he was feeling good. I announced that I was falling apart and that I hated him. We persevered. My friend Tytana ran past and said hello. The 8K mark was right at the top of a small hill, and I had to walk for 30s to catch my breath. Then it was the final push to the finish. My friend Raj shouted a greeting as he sprinted past us. At the 9K mark, I told the Snook to go on ahead and finish strong. I had a sudden side stitch and it was all I could do to just keep going. He pulled ahead a bit. We rounded the stadium and entered the tunnel. I had nothing left to sprint, but I did my best to hold on until the end. The stitch was hurting so bad. RunKeeper recorded a time of 70:21, but my official adjusted time was 70:00 exactly. So I only missed last year’s PR of 69:06 by a little bit! I’m happy with that. (Snookums finished in 69:22.) Up in the stands we reunited with our friends…
The MobileActive running team: Me, Raj, Venks, Josh, and Kunaal
It was a fun day. Thanks to my best friend for running with me!
Maile Sweater and Swirl Hat
Hey, I knitted something! It’s been months and months, actually. But last week my friend Kevin’s first child was born, and such a thing demands commemoration. I picked the pattern and the yarn before the birth, assuming that the combination would work for either gender. It helps that the father is Irish. 🙂
The cardigan is the Maile Sweater. It’s knitted from the bottom up in one piece. I actually knitted it twice: the first time on 3.5mm needle as per the pattern, and the second time on 3.75mm needles. (I thought it looked a little small so I frogged it and started over.) On the first attempt, I followed the pattern exactly including knitting the sleeves flat and joining them with no cast-off stitches. I wasn’t thrilled with it though, and the underarms had a few stitches that looked very stretched. So when I frogged and reknitted, I took the opportunity to experiment. The sleeves were knitted this time in the round via Magic Loop. When I joined them, I set aside 4 live stitches on the body and 4 live stitches on the underarm of the sleeve on waste wool. I later grafted these together (a la Elizabeth Zimmerman). It makes for a very nice finish, and it definitely made those first few rows after joining easier.
The wool is “Merino Chubby Sock” in Barleygrass by the Knittery. One skein was plenty to knit the jumper, and I had so much left over that I actually made a matching hat. The pattern is the “Swirl Hat” from Sheepy Time Knits. And I still have wool left over! This stuff goes a long way.
As usual, there are more photos and details over on Ravelry: Maile Sweater / Swirl Hat. Now I just have to wait to get a photo of the baby actually wearing them!
Week 44
I missed last week’s report, but it would have been depressing anyway. I’ve been having increased pain in my right foot (the one that’s been bothering me all year), and then last weekend I got knocked out by a virus. So my totals for the past two weeks are fairly low.
Oct. 26: 6.01km
Oct. 27: 5.87km
Nov. 3: 6.32km
Nov. 5: 6.01km
Total this week: 12.33km (7.7mi)
Total in 2010: 822.23km (513.89mi)
It is now exactly eight weeks til the end of 2010. I am still 177.77km shy of meeting my goal of running 1000km this year. I’ll need to average 22.2km per week to hit the target. Given the state of my foot, this isn’t going to be easy. I’ve got one more race scheduled: the 10K Run 4 Fun this Sunday. After that, I’m thinking I may need to incorporate some walking and give my foot a chance to rest up. I’m going to do my best to reach the goal, whatever it takes.
