Old enough to know better ??!! ..... apparently not :(

well, there's a reason why I'm posting on Tuesday for events that happened over the weekend .... I felt like bloody crap (and it was all my own fault).

I've joined a website called MeetUp ... it's a great place to find people with similar interests and get together. there was one group that caught my eye, but I've never been available on the days that they planned their outtings ..... that is until this past Saturday. Friday night, I just happened to get onto the MeetUp website and noticed that the Mississauga/Oakville Bicycling, Walking & Actvity Group was meeting on Saturday morning to cycle along the waterfront trail. the description read as follows "We'll pedal along the waterfront trail eastward for about 10 K. 20 K round trip about 2 hours". this sounds perfect, says I to myself, so I RSVP'd "yes" and just prayed that I'd be able to get my backside out out of bed Saturday morning to see if my bike was rideable, I could find my/a helmet and I could figure out how to attach the bike carrier to the truck.

OH MY GOSH ... Saturday was a beautiful day, and to make a long story short, let's just say that I was able to put everything together and figure out how to carry a water bottle along during the ride. everyone was great, what a friendly group of people. we all started chatting right away, and the pace was just fine (especially for someone like me, old, over weight, out of shape, and haven't been on a bike in a few years). when we reached our "goal" turn-around point, we looked across a bay and could see the CN Tower (thru the smog) and the Toronto skyline. it looked so close and we estimated it would probably take 30-minutes or so (famous last words) to get there ... so a group vote and off we went, further east towards Toronto. after all, my only plan for the day was to go home and get yard work done, so what did I care.

well ..... it was a BEAUTIFUL day, spent biking along the shores of Lake Ontario, with a very nice group of people ...... and 35km & 3.5 hours later we returned back at our cars. to be honest, although I felt a wee bit tender (some spots more tender than others) I felt great. my 1 water bottle didnt last very long, but I had remembered my asthma meds which I took before leaving so I thought I had survived rather well (mind you I was expecting to feel the physical symptoms as the day wore on). my biggest bother, as time wore on though, was my head, it started to pound and I wanted to sleep. after trip to Home Depot to get some needed grass seed & bags of soil, I dropped my bike off at the local shop for a tune-up and accessories for my next outting. by this point my head was worse, but I assumed it was just hunger, so a quick run thru the Taco Bell drive-thru and I headed home.

the rest of the day was a right-off, and I couldnt figure out why, other than I felt like crap, and my head was pounding, and I felt like I was burning up. about supper time, I happened to look in a mirror .... OH MY GOSH .... my face was BRIGHT RED and swollen. no wonder I felt like I was burning up !!! the tops of my hands were in a similar condition ..... I had done so well, under the circumstances, remembering my water & asthma meds ...... what I didnt remember was sun block cream !!! now, in my defence, we were only supposed to be out for a nice little 2-hour bike ... and on top of the breeze (very cool at times) and the smog alert that morning (the first for 2008, WOO HOO) we really didnt notice the sun.

well, I felt "hung over" all Sunday, which made doing my yardwork no fun at all, and Monday as well (nothing better than going to work, and sitting infront of a computer all day while being expected to think, while you feel hung-over). fortunately, thanks to all the cream I slathered on me, by Monday, I wasn't as red any more, but still a wee bit swollen still. fortunately today, I feel more like my old self !!! what makes this all the more daft is that as a ginger-head, in a family of ginger-heads .... I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER !!!! ( especially at my age).

ok ... and now on to a knitting update ...

my Mobieus Zig-Zag is done, except for the grafting (I hate that part). I'm pleased with how it turned out, and I think there's enough in the skein for another one. (picture doesnt do it justice, will have to re-take in day-light)

Wendi gave me some beautiful sock yarn for Christmas, and I've known from the moment I saw it what pattern I wanted to do .... Annetrelac. the problem with all entrelac socks I've seen done is that they only pattern the leg portion, and the rest is knittined around ... it looks "odd" and I dont like it, especially as I prefer short/ankle socks, it almost seems not worth the bother if you only pattern the leg. I wanted to do the pattern down the foot also, but then I knew that I was going to end up with an odd striped toe, heel and cuff .... so off we went to our LYS, Spun Fibres, for a solid to do the toe/heel/cuff in. after a huge debate about whether to compliment or blend this solid, I decided to take the safe route and "blend". the solid almost exactly matches the sock's main yarn.






Friday I balled the skeins (can you tell it was my first time??)

casting on the 2 toes was easy, I struggled thru the first one on Saturday evening, and the other was done Sunday evening ... piece of cake .... then came the entrelac part. well, the last (and only other) time I did an entrelac pattern was approx 100 years ago (ok, how about 10-12 years ago) and I honestly had no memory of how to do it. following the (cuff-down) pattern made absolutely no bloody sense, especially as I was trying to do 2 at one time toe-up. FINALLY, after deciding to work on only one at a time, and playing with it for a while, a light in my head came on, and it started to work. I stayed up WAY too late last night, but I finished the base triangle row, and 2 full-block rows of one sock.

and after all that, I'm going to pull it out. the pattern calls for a round of 72sts using 2.25mm needles .... I didnt have them so I cast on using 2.5mm which is my standard sock needle. I also only cast on 60 sts, as that's the approx number of stitches that seems to fit me. there was a note made in someone's blog, who had already made these socks that the entrelac pattern is not stretchy and she found the 2.25m needle make them almost too tight to get on over her heel, so she did her 2nd sock in 2.5, but would move up a wee bit more for the next time ...... so I cast on my 60 sts using the 2.5, then moved to a 3mm for the entrelac/foot pattern. TOO BIG !!! now that it's at a point where you can see the sock shape starting to emerge, I tried it on ..... way too big !!


so, it's frog time tonight, back to the toe, and I'm going to re-start the entrelac pattern keeping with the 2.5mm needles. I tend to knit loose, so I think I'll be ok .... plus I'll keep trying it on to make sure. apparently the tightness may show up when I do the heel, so I'll be careful. plus, now that I'm ok with the entrelac pattern I may go back to working on both socks at one time (but I haven't decided that for sure yet). I'll keep everyone posted (yea, I know you're sitting on the edge of your seats, in anticipation of my next posting !!)

yea ... and I know that the toe it too pointy .... that's what you get when you cast-on with a "hang-over" :( but I'm not frogging it again !!