Saturday follow-up

M@rla, I think you had the best solution to the body image issue: Invent a time machine and go hook up with Rubens. Can you make it a two-seater so I can go, as well? Also, I understand what you're saying about yearning for and working toward your heart's desire. I'm doing that with the half-marathon training, and my give-it-up-to-get-it philosophy would be completely counterproductive for running a race. Each school of thought has its merits.

And DG, I love what you said about focusing on what your body can do, rather than on how it looks. That was a real eye-opener for me. I find myself, especially when I'm lifting or hauling or moving something, thinking, "I couldn't have done this last January." Forty-pound bags of water softener salt are the heaviest items in the grocery. I'm just sayin'.

I also couldn't have run seven miles last January. Hell, I couldn't have run to the end of the driveway unless a wild animal was chasing me. Now, though? I'll be taking the run outside today, since the temperature is supposed to be in the mid-40s and the rain-changing-to-snow isn't expected until late afternoon or evening.

I found a flat, four-mile long stretch of road about seven miles from my house. [You guys have no idea how truly in the Middle of Nowhere I am.] I can do my half-mile warm-up and cool-down and run the remainder without having to deal with a single hill. Last Saturday I did the same distance on the treadmill, so it'll be interesting to see how I manage outside.

On the knitting front, I wove in all the ends on the secret project, so it is well and truly done. Yesterday I finished the Woven Cabled Headband I've been puttering around with. I changed it so that the top part is just smooth, straight stockinette. Also I started with a provisional cast-on and used Kitchener stitch to create a seamless join between the first and last rows of the project. [You can find instructions for these techniques here.] The headband fits perfectly and will be a great little earwarmer when I run outdoors.

I started the blue jean-blue sock but I think it's too big. I keep trying it on [I started with the toe], stretching it to make it look like it fits snugly but I think I'm going to abandon it or start over. Probably abandon because I really want to finish something now, and the blue yarn is pretty teensy. It would take a week to finish a pair of socks; if I found a thicker yarn I could probably finish a pair this weekend.

I'm in a knit-small-and/or-fast-things mode right now. I want another pair of Pop-up Paws, this time with a closed thumb instead of an open one. That's a pretty fast knit. And I want a beret – don't ask me why, and don't you dare start calling me Monica. The felted one just didn't work out, and will be donated to charity, in the hope that someone whose head circumference is larger than mine will love it as much as I do.

Thank you, as always, for being such great cheerleaders. Your comments mean so much to me. If I don't post something new tomorrow, you'll know I was eaten by a wild animal on a country road in the Middle of Nowhere.

Heh.

Ninety-one days until race day.