Free Time?

This is officially my week of working extra shifts. The only day that I have free is Thursday after my morning BN shift. That's okay with me, though, since this morning I made one of those very large payments to the loan people, and am feeling the happiness that a larger paycheck ensues. I picked up an extra full day at VE today, which is starting to look like a silly idea because it's gorgeous out. Rats. :(
Yesterday was super slow (because of the gorgeous weather- boo), so I actually got a lot done on the Dale!I'm super excited that you can finally see some of the progress in the fair isle above the color diamonds. I'm actually at the line where I have to start the front neck placket, and I'll be bringing it to work today as well to keep slogging away on it. It's not nearly as hard as I thought to put it down and pick it back up without getting lost in the pattern, simply because now I'm at the part that it's not just repeats. I dive back in and know exactly where I am. I have to admit, the emerging snowflake design is getting me really excited, because I feel like it's going to be gorgeous when it's finally all played out. I need to get this sweater done because I have a ton of knits I need to get started on for gift knits- Christmas knits, even (early, I know, but this was supposed to be Christmas last year and look how long its taken me. Ugg).
I also want to have the Whisper Cardigan done before Grad School starts in the fall since it's my "going back to school yay!" cardigan gift to myself, but it currently looks like this:and I'm having trouble getting the muster to do much on it right now. I'm just having so much trouble going from the amazing Addi Turbo needles (tiny tiny needles and tiny tiny yarn) to huge clunky wooden needles with the even tinier lace yarn. Is it bad that I'd rather work on the Dale than my own cardigan?
Hopefully with the extra VE shift today and tomorrow night I'll get a lot more done on the Dale, and maybe another inch on the cardigan.
Meanwhile, biked a little over 5 miles today hard to really start my training for the tri (in two weeks, gulp!). Half of it was into a strong wind, and about 2 miles in my knee started protesting. I think it's going to be hard-going to work up to 22 miles- or at least, 22 fast miles. This is, after all, a race. We'll see how tomorrow's training goes- after coffee with Cheryl, I'm going to aim for 10 miles. Hopefully.