I meant to only take out the bind-off, but I ended up frogging the whole collar on the Ribby. I bought another zipper, the one I meant to get, and I had ordered it a little longer because I decided I wanted a longer collar after trying my sweater on a few times. I wove in my ends really well apparently because I couldn't find it, so I decided to snip a little bit at the edge I knew it would be on. I am not sure what happened but I ended up frogging the whole mess because I had two strands of yarn, and I couldn't figure out where the other came from. I am still not sure. That is what I did Friday night before I went to tae kwon do. I am still sore from all the push-ups we had to do and the fact that I hadn't done push-ups in awhile. At least kicking stuff made me feel better. The collar is almost long enough now, maybe two or three more rows are needed, so I may actually be able to put the zipper in sometime this week. It may not be done until this weekend though because Tuesday night, my only guaranteed free night, is probably going to be taken up with laundry.

On Saturday, we intended to drop the motorcycle off at Josh's parents' house for the winter. Josh rode it there while I went to work to for about 30 min and then followed in my car. I got a call from Josh about half-way between here and his parents' house. The throttle cable had broken, but luckily he was near a gas station and in a town where he had some family. I met him at his great-aunt's house and his dad arrived later with the trailer. Josh had to ride in the trailer with the bike! He said it was interesting, especially the turns. We took it to the guy that fixed it up initially.

We then went to lunch with his parents and returnedto their house so he and his dad could build stuff in the garage. They made me a swift! I brought the directions with me and we dug through the scrap wood pile and found everything we needed in the garage except a bolt. It's not the prettiest swift in the world, but it spins!

I need a new scarf, and while the prospect of knitting a scarf is totally unappealing, I really don't want to buy one either. I am trying to decide between this one and this one. Cables are another option.

Woohoo!!

I just won a 1983 Honda VT500 VT 500 Shadow Instrument Cluster! Aren't you excited for me?

My wrist feels better. I am not sure what brought it on or why it's going away. I iced it a little and didn't get a lot of knitting time in, but I can't imagine either helped that much. I didn't ride the bike last night because even driving my car to Fareway was painful.

Josh brewed a batch of amber last night and I grilled some burgers and chicken. I had perfect grill marks on the chicken. Josh complained that I left the burgers too pink in the middle. We ate the burgers so the chicken will be for salads tonight.

I was asked how many socks I have knit and I wasn't really sure so i am going to figure that out. I will just go with the ones for Summer of Socks since I think the only pair I have knit that doesn't count was my very first pair of socks.

Pairs:
1. 64-stitch Cable Twist
2. The Burrow Socks
3. Aurelie Socks
4. River Rapids
5. Upside Down Leyburn Socks
6. Charade

Lonely Socks:
1. Jaywalker

Socks in Progress:
1. Anastasia
2. Fawkes

I intend to have all of them done when SOS ends, but you never know. That means I need to finish almost 4 socks but September 21st. Ok, so that probably won't happen, but a girl can hope.

Josh went for two motorcycle rides yesterday. He had a lot of fun and I am jealous. I didn't feel comfortable riding with my cold and Sudafed in my system. I didn't even feel comfortable driving my car! Josh was very kind and took me to work yesterday afternoon so I could get some bacterial colonies growing for today. I need to get a pic of the bike. It has been painted and has a new seat. It looks so much better than it did.

As for knitting, I didn't get a lot done. At least not as much as I thought I would. I knit the heel on Anastasia 3.5 times. I gave the short-row heel another try, but had a gigantic hole where the heel and instep met before the start of the cuff. I switched to Wendy's toe-up slip stitch heel and it worked much better. The cuff and most of the heel flap are done on Fawkes. Oh yeah, my reason for not knitting a ton was this.

Josh and I took the motorcycle license test today and both of us passed. I missed one question and I think it was a dumb question to miss. I must have misread it or the answer. It's hard to say because I took some Sudafed and my brain isn't functioning at it's normal capacity. I also woke up at 4:00 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep which probably didn't help.

Our motorcycle will be back in our possession in about 2 hours. I don't think I will ride it today since I have this cold, but I would love to.

For some reason, on one row in each repeat of the Fawkes I have missed a YO. I don't usually catch it until two rows later. I think I have spend almost as much time tinking as knitting. Oh well, I like the pattern and it looks nice in this yarn. I should probably be working on the Anastasia socks because they are a gift and I still have 3 pairs that I want to knit for gifts.

So, that cold I thought I was getting, oh yeah, I got it. I got progressively worse during the day but felt better for about two hours while I taught at the GymNest. Before I went to bed I started sneezing and coughing again. I ran out of cough drops and cold meds so I will have to suffer through it until I can get to the store, which may not be until after work. I forgot my lunch so I may just go downtown for some food and drugs.

I am halfway through the first pattern repeat on Fawkes, but have yet to fix the heel on Anastasia. My order from Knit Picks arrived yesterday with my extra sets of 2.5mm and 2.75mm dpns so I may start another pair! Three at once! I have a feeling my weekend, other than taking the motorcycle license test at the DOT will be spent on the couch with some knitting, a glass of water or cup of tea and a Kleenex box.

I still haven't gotten my gym pass and it's already 2 weeks into the semester. Bad Chelsea! I should do that today.

I am really looking forward to this long weekend. I didn't really get a break last weekend because of the class and I was so tired afterwards that I needed a few days to recover. I think I will spend most of the time cleaning out my closets and knitting. last time I seriously cleaned the shower, I completely missed the spot under the built in soap dish and it is really nasty now. Of course I am going to make an attempt to get my license on Saturday. I also plan to do a little more research on the towns that have culinary schools I am interested in.

I want to finish the the Charade and Leyburn socks done so I can free up my needles to do some more Christmas gift knitting and crocheting.

Our first of three classes at the GymNest on Thursday nights is full of four year olds. They were fairly well behaved, but last night didn't involve much actual tae kwon do. The class description specifically says it is for 5-7 year olds, but the Nest doesn't seem to go by their own descriptions. Four may be old enough for their gymnastics classes, but it is not, generally speaking, for tae kwon do classes. One parent even expressed some concern about the size of the class and the age of many of the students. Most are signed up on a weekly basis and we will lose a few as the weeks go by, but I am sure there will still be a few kids I wish had waited a year before starting.

Stash enhancement

With the motorcycle class this past weekend I forgot to post a pic of my haul from Fearless Fibers. The two on the left are from the sock club and the two on the right are ones I ordered just before the sock club yarns shipped. Deb kindly combined the shipping for me. The little envelope contains the tags I mentioned in an earlier post.


Here's the first Charade Sock. It is in Fearless Fibers Superwash in the Marrakesh colorway. I love the color. I intend them to be a Christmas gift, so I hope I can part with them when the time comes. The socks fit me well and I think the recipient and I wear about the same size shoe. I thought I might get bored with this pattern, but it went so quickly, when I actually worked on them, that I didn't get bored at all. I ordered another set of 2.75mm dpns so I don't have to keep knitting the second Leyburn sock on 4 needles. I have discovered I really prefer 5, especially on the gusset.

We plan to take our "written" exams at the DOT this Saturday to get our motorcycle licenses. The DOT's manual had a few questions that I thought were odd, but I got most of them right, so I think I will be fine. I will probably look through the manual at least once before I take it. I am incredibly thankful I don't have to take the driving test at the DOT. I wouldn't pass on our bike.

If you haven't noticed the addition to my sidebar, I suggest you take a look. I am referring to that large red button I added. I am trying to raise money for childrea of northern Uganda. You can also join GuluWalk in if you are in the area or there is one in your area. Raise a little money, take 7-9km walk on October 20th, or just donate to me or my lab's team. We would really appreciate it! Even Sarah McLachlan is joining in.

I passed!

So did Josh and Amanda. Actually everyone in our class did. This past weekend we took the motorcycle safety course through Kirkwood. Friday was 4 hours in the classroom and Saturday and Sunday was mostly learning how to ride with a little classroom time on Saturday and the driving test and written test on Sunday.

I can't believe how sore I am. I don't remember feeling this way after the last time I took this class, but that was 6 years ago. I know the booklet we received was completely different from my old one and I don't remember doing a lot of the riding drills either. I know the driving test was also a lot different. Now all I need to do is get my license from the DOT by taking their written test and figure out how to ride our bike.

I am really glad I took the class again and that I passed. I felt fairly comfortable most of the time, but there were a few drills I know I will be practicing a lot when our bike is in working order. My favorite parts were going around curves and weaving around cones. I wish we could have gone faster. I must say I am jealous of Amanda's new bike. It's so shiny! I think our bike will be ready in the next couple of weeks. I hope to ride it a little before it gets too cold.

We watched the UFC 74 that Amanda recorded last night. It was good to see Couture win again as well as GSP beating Koscheck.

I received my yarn from Fearless Fibers on Friday. Four skeins of sock yarn and some cute tags to include with finished gift socks. I love the colors. For my socks club skeins, one has some lovely shades of brown and the other is and orange and red that will be perfect for some Fawkes. I ordered two others which Deb kindly shipped with my sock club order. One I bought with the intention of using it for Fawkes, but now I think it has a new purpose in life. Not sure what that is yet.

A lot happened this weekend. It was good, but also sad.

Josh and I got into a coaster fight Friday night before tae kwon do class and this is what happened.



I couldn't hit him, but apparently I can get coasters stuck in picture frames. It's still there because it's too funny to take it down.

After tae kwon do we went to The Vine for the second time in three days to see a friend who moved away about a year ago and was back for a night. It was good to see him and hear how he and his wife, also a good friend, are doing in Texas.

I am now co-owner of a motorcycle that doesn't run. It's an '83, good year by the way, Honda Shadow. It doesn't look that nice, nor does it run, but getting it to run, I believe, is a fairly simple fix and eventually we will get it all fixed up and shiny. We traded a new PS2 and a couple games and other accessories for it and I think it was a good deal even though the previous owner offered to just give it to us.

The sad part of getting the motorcycle was we got it from a good friend that is leaving today for Virginia. His wife a kids left for Virginia last month and he stayed behind to sell their house. Well, it sold and he is off to see his family and hopefully get a tae kwon do club/school going and find a new job that he likes better than the one he had here. I wish them luck even though I will miss them a lot.

Amanda and I went to the Iowa City Jazz Festival on Saturday afternoon and had a great time. The weather was ideal for sitting outside and doing a little crocheting and knitting. I made some progress on the Sidewinders and am almost back to where I was (I was actually a little farther than when the pic was taken) before I frogged back to the beginning of Act II. I also ate a lot of tasty food while I was there. Oasis had a stand set up and I got half a falafel pita then Pizza on Dubuque had their Pizza on Wheels set up, which I ate at all the time on RAGBRAI, and I got an excellent slice of their veggie pizza.

I finished one Sockapalooza sock before I went to the jazz festival, and I casted on for the second one yesterday afternoon. I might redo the toe graft because I messed it up a bit.





I have been to The Vine 3 time since Wednesday and to Old Capitol Brew Works once. That's a lot of beer.