I had a surprise visit at the shop today from my friend Eva, who brought me a present from her recent trip home to Tasmania: some Art Viva knitting needles! They’re handmade from Tasmanian Oak. They’re beautiful and pointy and long, and they’ve got lovely bright red polka-dotted balls on top (that remind me of the mushrooms in Super Mario Brothers). I can’t wait to try them out. Thanks, Eva!
Author: Kris
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Art Viva Knitting Needles
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RunningBlog
Boy, I haven’t done one of these in a long time, have I? After taking some time off during the whole “buying and moving house” thing, I’m back onto the running with a vengeance. As of today, it’s officially 18 weeks til the Sydney Half Marathon, and I’ve just completed my third week of training. I’m basing my efforts on Hal Higdon’s training plan. Since that’s a 12-week program, I’m using these extra weeks at the beginning to build up my fitness and ease myself into the routine. (I’m very wary of my troublesome left hamstring.) So far I’ve been taking it easy, using the Couch to 5K podcasts to structure my runs and keep me from pushing too hard. I’m happy to report that it’s working! Yesterday I did my longest run since the City 2 Surf: twenty minutes without a break. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but it felt so great to be able to do it and not feel like I was injuring myself. I’m not even sore today! And I’ve got Max challenging me with the Nike+iPod, so the competitive angle is helping.
My only fear with regards to the actual race is the cutoff time. All runners have to make it through the first 11K in less than 70 minutes or you get diverted to the finish line on a shortcut and don’t get an official time. My goal, therefore, is to make this cutoff time. That’s totally doable, right? I’m just going to consider the 11K marker as my real finish line, and as long as I make the cutoff, I’ll be happy even if I have to walk the entire second half of the race.
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Auntie Kris!
Hooray! My sister has finally revealed that she’s definitely having a girl. This will be my first niece after three boys! I’ve got so many cute baby outfits to knit…
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Lloyd Dobler
This one’s for my sister: What I Did for Lloyd. It’s about Lloyd Dobler. *sigh*
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Golden Compass Hat
Golden Compass Hat. Ahh, see, I was mentally trying to work out a pattern for this hat all through the movie Wednesday night. I’d arrived at pretty much the same idea this blogger uses, except I was debating the utility of adding a short row or two to create more of a point at the top.
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Carbos by the Bay
My sister has revealed her new blog!
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Meat House
I think Miss Jane may have provided the inspiration for this year’s Halloween centerpiece. Behold… the Meat House!
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Homemade Pizza
This is awesome. Somebody on AskMetaFilter asks about making pizza from scratch. Except they want to make it as from scratch as possible, like growing and grinding your own flour, making your own pepperoni, and foraging for your mushrooms. It’s a fascinating thought experiment. I laughed when I got to: “The best mozzarella for pizza is buffalo mozzarella. Do you have room for a buffalo in the backyard?”
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langankierre
I can’t read Finnish, but I found this great blog in my referrers this morning. (She links to my sock monkey tutorial.) I love the colours that she uses in her stuff, and those kids’ things are gorgeous. Also, if that is indeed a knitting needle roll with a hand-embroidered dragon on it… WANT.
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Wrack versus rack
I had occasion this morning to use the phrase “rack my brains” in an e-mail, and I realised I couldn’t remember if it was “rack” or “wrack.” Turns out it’s “rack.” And now you know!