WTF Day 3: Reflection (and Labor Day!)

Labor Day was pretty awesome up here!  I originally was supposed to work, but begged my shift to someone else so I could have the morning to grade my first round of papers.  It was great- lots of coffee, kittens running around me, and the happiness that I'm finally doing what I want to do!

This afternoon, I took a break for a couple of hours to do some climbing at Ely's Peak with Scott and Val.  

It was a slow afternoon, with the heat up near 90 and the humidity causing all of us to climb like sloths and looking to nap between each climb.  Even now I'm feeling the effects, finishing grading at about half the speed as normal.

Today's "what the focus" was "reflection", which I was hoping to get more than just a reflection of myself in a mirror or window.  I really wanted something that was perhaps a reflection of me, or part of me, but instead...

I could blame it on my camera batteries giving out while we were climbing, or the slow way this day has been going, but in the end this was the best "reflection" picture that I got.

This is a learning process... right?

Tonight: salad for dinner with some of our delicious garden goods, and knitting with Gilmore Girls on in the background.  A great way to say "goodbye" to summer and "hello" to fall!

I think I may pick up a pumpkin drink on the way to teach tomorrow... :)

WTF Day 2: Set the bar

A long and tedious day at work left no time for grading, knitting, or even catching my breath.  It did, however, teach me more about patience, as I explained time after time how to do safety checks, how to know what rope to buy, and even explained my training schedule to someone looking to climb harder.  I'm excited for a day off tomorrow, even though my morning is going to consist of coffee and grading.
Luckily, I'll be getting some outside climbing time in at Ely's Peak in the afternoon, as well as helping a friend learn how to place traditional climbing gear!  A climber's first trad climb is always exciting and terrifying- I remember placing a piece every two feet or so on my first climb- a 5.4 crack with giant foot and hand-holds on either side.
Now I'm climbing harder and harder, looking to push my trad climbing into the 5.11 range.  Last year at this time, I led a 5.10b crack called Laceration Jam up at Palisade Head.

I was fresh from climbing in Yosemite, and felt incredibly solid the entire way up.  It was my hardest trad lead yet, and it made me really examine what happens to my brain and my mental state when I enter the world of more difficult trad climbing.
Tonight, while snapping photos around the gym, I thought that this picture best captured today's phrase "Set the Bar".

Route setters put up new routes on Sunday nights, and I get to climb them and tell the setters what I believe they're rated.  In a way, it's really fun for me to get on a completely unrated route, often pushing the limit of my climbing as I set my own goals higher and higher.
I want to set the bar of my climbing high- ultimately, to sport lead 5.12 and trad lead 5.11.  I have to train through days that I'm not necessarily feeling it, which makes the great days even better.
And hopefully tomorrow I'll do more climbing outside as I show a friend the awesomeness that is outdoor traditional climbing.  :)

What the Focus: centre & the Exploratory 5K

Lululemon is putting on a 30-day photo challenge in September that they're calling "What the Focus".  Each day, they have one word or a short phrase that you're supposed to interpret when taking a picture.  I've never done one of these before, but I thought it would be a great way to work a bit on my pretty horrendous bad lacking photographic skills.
It would also help my writing by forcing encouraging me post a blog post with the picture every day this month.
Today's word was "centre".  I was working all day, so I wasn't able to really find a chance to take a picture until my bike ride home later at night.  Luckily, an ore boat was just pulling out of the harbor, and was the lone light in the middle of the bay.

I also took a picture of the blue moon (second full moon of the month) in the center of a shot, but it was pretty boring- a blog of light in black.  More like a doctored cheesy "ghost" picture than anything.  The ship at least was interesting, and unique to Duluth. :)
In other news, I had a very interesting 5K run this morning at the Exploratory 5K.
I felt great when I got to the race site- had my banana right before I started the run, had the obligatory "excited" pose with my co-worker Val:

and set off, feeling strong and happy!

A little over a mile in, I was a few feet behind my boss's wife when her knee cap popped out of the socket and didn't slide back in.  She collapsed hard on the trail, screaming and clutching her leg.  I immediately dropped down and started talking to her and helping her to breathe and relax.  I've had both my kneecaps pop out of the socket- one of them twice- and have had to even push it back in place myself before, so I was at least familiar with her predicament.  She did a great job calming down, only occasionally clenching up, but she didn't want to move her leg from the bent position to let her kneecap try to slide back in on its own.  So I stayed with her for almost an hour, telling all the runners passing by to let the volunteers at the aid stations know what was up and send help immediately.  It took awhile to get communication correct, especially since we were over a mile in on a trail run, far away from easy access to roads.  Eventually the race officials, EMTs, and big ambulance guys with their sled made their way back there to carry her out and get her to the ER.  I stayed with her until they carried her away to the ambulance, then ran back to the start of the race just as the awards ceremony was finishing up.
I didn't get to finish my race, but I know Jen pretty well and I knew that in that moment it was much more important for me to stay with her than finish.  There's nothing like having someone you know ready to help you when you're down and in pain- especially far back on a woodsy running trail.
There's always another race I could sign up for.  :)

Overwhelming

It's been an utterly overwhelming week so far, and it's just about Wednesday.  Uffda!
Scott and I ran a lot of errands as the weekend finished up, just to be sure we were ready when school started this week.  This included buying a vacuum (finally) for our apartment, doing a large grocery run, and diving in to a deep clean of the entire apartment.
I also got some great news on Sunday- LSC wanted me to add on three sections of their "Intro to College" class!  It was really last minute, leaving me to scramble a bit, but after a couple days of being all over the place I finally feel like I have a little more direction as to how I'm running that class.  Adding those on at the last minute made me feel less stressed for teaching my Comp classes.  Not exactly sure why.  All my classes have started pretty well without a hitch, and I'm exceedingly happy with how things are going so far this year.  Huzzah!
The kittens have been finding time to get in to mischief more, now that Scott and I are both teaching all day (and Scott's taking classes for his computer something-or-other degree!).

Maeby was pretty excited about some textbooks from Amazon recently- mostly because the box proved to fit her decently well.  Our kitties don't need fancy, expensive toys- boxes and ping-pong balls go over well here.  (Though listening to them batting the ping-pong ball around in the kitchen and crashing into the walls in the middle of the night isn't nearly as amusing as it is during the day...)
I'm convinced more and more each day that cats melt into places, with no actual bones.

I mentioned earlier that I started another cowl for a Christmas present, which is coming along slowly but easily.  I keep meaning to start the backgrounds on the snowflakes, but those are going to require more than just an hour before bed with my current schedule.
I also got some fun colors for a pair of mittens for a friend from a different country!

She's working here right now, learning how to knit, and I think she'll really enjoy having some warm mittens in the colors of her home country keeping her cozy all winter!  Once I start at least one of the snowflake backgrounds, I'll feel better about starting these mittens.  I have some time this weekend to work on them, so I'm counting on that.
I have a 5K race coming up this weekend as well- the Exploratory 5K!  I went out on a run last night and ended up going just under three miles.  I'm not in fantastic shape right now, but I know I'll be able to at least finish the race running the whole time.  I'll run again tomorrow since I climbed today, but I'm really happy that I keep signing up for these races.  It forces me to get out there and run, which I wouldn't normally attempt.  I'm getting better at it; more comfortable with it.  It's less of a "Oh my GOODNESS I don't want to do this BAAAAH SIDE CRAMPS CAN'T BREATHE LAAAAAME!" and more "Huh, this isn't too bad... slow and steady wins, right?"
Part of me isn't looking forward to when winter kicks in- getting motivation to run outside when it's in the single digits is tough.
But that's so far away for now... :)

FO: Carrot Cowl

My last week has been filled with meetings, working my syllabus, writing assignments, and generally preparing for the upcoming semester- my first as a full-fledged instructor!  Classes for the college start on Monday, with my first class on Tuesday.  I keep swinging between exceedingly excited and staggeringly terrified as class time nears.  I already have the first week's worth of lesson plans completed, since I know it'll get busy quickly when dance starts up.  Speaking of, this year I'll be teaching not only three competition lines of tap dance, but I get a ballet class as well!  It's going to be a fast and furious year.

During meetings this week, I was able to finish up the first of my Christmas presents to give away- the Carrot Cowl!

Pattern: The Jeweled Cowl by Sachiko Uemura
Yarn: Delicious Malabrigo Lace in "Glazed Carrot"
Needles: Size 8 on the Denise Interchangable

Time Frame: July 7-August 23.  I started and worked on  it a lot during my month-long climbing trip, including bringing it up to the Grand Teton for some extreme knitting.
Mods: I didn't use any beads, as I didn't want the delicate lace to be weighed down.
Worst Part: It was pretty easy stockinette, so it became mindless knitting pretty quickly.  I knit until I was out of yarn, and with the lace it felt like it took forever.
Best Part: Easily the yarn.  I've never worked with Malabrigo in lace weight before, and it feels like it weighs nothing around your neck.

I won't say who will be receiving it, but I'm sure that this person will love it!  I've already cast on another cowl for yet another Christmas gift, and it's been going along swimmingly.  I keep buying really nice yarn for these projects, so knitting them isn't as much of a slog.
This weekend, besides fretting about my classes and getting some much-needed exercise in (a bout with the flu at the beginning of the week totally sapped my energy), I'm hoping to start working on the backrounds of the snowflakes for Kim's Wedding Shawl.  I figure if I do one back a week, I should be ready to graft them all together by the beginning of December.  No problem, right?
Right. :)

North Shore and the Ravelympics

I'm finally getting everything back in order.  My gear is (mostly) unpacked, laundry was done, work started up again, and the kittens have once again claimed their dominance over the apartment.  My first staff day at the college I'm teaching at this fall is next week, and I have most of my syllabus ready to go!
In between all the little successes, I found time to take some friends out to Palisade Head for some climbing!

I love bringing people out to Palisade to climb.  It usually means I get more time on easier stuff and less training time, but the excited atmosphere of everyone more than makes up for it.  Both my friends had been there only a handful of times, so it was still kind of new for them.  I made sure to throw them on a bunch of different routes- easier warmups where you can enjoy the view of Lake Superior, and harder crack climbs that would test their skills.

I'm hoping to trad lead as many 5.9s and 5.10s up there as possible before the snow flies and the cracks fill with ice.
I'm only briefly going to mention my small failure in this year's knitting olympics on Ravelry.  As I may have mentioned, I was hoping to knit the Dude Sweater for Scott, since he's been more than generous with his time when fixing my computers/helping edit dance songs/etc.  I picked the colors and ordered the yarn in the beginning of June, excited to bring the yarn with and cast on during the long drive through South Dakota.
Alas, the yarn didn't make it in time for me to take it with on the trip (it still hasn't arrived- the lovely ladies at Yarn Harbor are trying to figure out what's up).  Therefore, I had to find an alternative.  Due to when we got back from our trip and helping my parents go through stuff before their big move to Florida, I didn't land on a project idea until less than a week before the games finished.
I decided to attempt a finish at my Lavender Cardigan.  I figured it wouldn't be too tough- just finish knitting the body, knit the arms, and knit the ribbing for the fronts and the collar.
No biggy, right?
Well, when I finally pulled the sweater out of the bag, there were three days left in the Olympics with a lot of knitting to go.  I was only able to finish to the bottom of the sweater by the time the torch went out, but it was a good push for a project that now feels close to being done.

I'm going to push myself to finish the sweater before September starts, ready to wear for teaching!

Perfect time to get a sweater finished, right in time for fall.  Feels weird to knit one during the summer, but definitely worth it. :)
It was a little hard to swallow a failure for the first time in the Ravelympic Games, but I'm blaming a giant cross-country climbing trip and my yarn not coming in as large contributing factors.  I could have started on this sweater sooner, but more things got in the way.  Ah, well- 'tis life.

FO: Fall Colors

It's been crazy since being back in Duluth.  After being at my parent's house for a few days to relax and catch up before their big move, Scott and I had a friend's wedding to attend, a trip up north to pick up our kittens, and I started teaching dance camp a day after we finally got home to Duluth.  I also start teaching in a few weeks, meaning I have to put together my syllabus and class schedules and assignments before teacher meetings start.  So much to do, and it all feels a little overwhelming after a month on the road.

In the midst of this, I was attempting to kick-start my project for the Ravellinics!  I was originally going to do the Dude sweater, but my yarn didn't come in on time (plus I was out-of-state for the start of the games) so I picked up my Lavender Cardigan when I got back in Duluth and went to town in the "WIP Wrestling" competition.  I'll update on that next post, since I wanted to post first about one of my finished trip projects, the Fall Color gloves for my neighbor!

Pattern: Oak Grove by Alana Dakos
Yarn: Three Irish Girls Adorn Sock, in the incredible Kieran colorway
Needles: Size 2 bamboo, but I wish I would have gone down to size 1
Barter/Gift? Gift!  I was supposed to save it for Christmas, but what better time to wear fall colors with oak leaves than in the fall?
Mods: None

Time Frame: I cast on probably July 9th, somewhere in the middle of South Dakota, and actually finished on our way home through South Dakota on the 27th!
Worst Part: My purls are still really loose, and the gloves aren't as tight and snug on her hands as I was hoping that they'd be.  I'm still trying to fix this problem- either I purl one way and the stitch is twisted and too tight, or I purl the other way and it's too loose.  I can't win. :(
Best Part: The colors!  I must have been seriously deprived of color over the winter when I originally bought this yarn.  Good thing there's plenty left to maybe make my own pair of fingerless mitts... :)

I had another Christmas project on the needles that's well on its way to being finished...

but it's currently on hold as I furiously knit my sweater.  I have a feeling that my late late late start this year in the Ravellinics- plus the difficulty in finding time to knit with my schedule now- means I may not finish the sweater in time for the closing ceremonies.  Actually, it's pretty safe to say that it probably won't get done.  I'm going to try my hardest, but there's a lot of knitting to be done yet.  Bleh.
More soon, as I get settled back home and figure out what life is going to hold for me over the next few months.  At least I feel much more healed than when I first came out of the mountains...