2 good things

a couple of awesome things about cycling to work on the monday before christmas.

1. there is no traffic! i can actually hear my bicycle rather than all of the car noise out on the roads.

2. there are hardly any other bicycles! i swear i only passed a handful of people. and i was going slow, so it wasn't like i was zooming pass all of them.

tale of the swallowtail shawl

i had a great idea. this year was going to be the year that i finally knit something for my grandma. i've been wanting to for ages and never got around to it. how awful is that?

i wanted to find something pretty and simple. i also wanted to add some new skills to my knitting repertoire. i had a dink around ravelry and flickr and found many swallowtail shawl successes. with so many positive comments, i HAD to knit this shawl.

turns out i was going to be the one person with negative comments. typical.

it all started out okay until i started realizing that my buds weren't really looking like buds anymore. then i noticed that my stitch count was always one or two off.

i tore it apart a few times and then was happily on my way again, but it seemed like i was knitting 4 rows and then ripping out 3 and so forth. i tore this thing apart so many times my yarn BROKE!

clearly, i do not have concentration for such a project at the moment. instead, i've found an easy-peasy shawl to knit. it is still interesting, but requires far less attention than i'm willing to spend. and it doesn't matter too, too much if i'm off a stitch or too.

maybe someday i'll go back to that swallowtail, but at the moment, it's just bringing me down.

can i go on?

my hardcore cycling has been put to the test these past couple of weeks. i don't know how much more rain and wind i can take.

seriously, i know cycling is the thing right now, but all of these easy-breezy people MUST live like 5 minutes from where they work. maybe even 3 minutes. i struggle with my hills and my rain and my sweaty and near the end of the ride, all i want to do is throw down the bicycle and have a temper tantrum. it's haarrrd.

i ride my bicycle to work to save cash (though one ends up spending lots of money on bike-related items, so i don't know how well we're doing on that one), for my health, for my toby, and because i don't like being squished into small places with sweaty strangers.

i keep trying to tell myself these things when i struggle home, but the cold and squishy soaked shoes and jeans don't help.

all that said, it didn't rain today and i'm home.

i didn't throw a temper tantrum, so i think i deserve an ice cream. yea me!

the newest member of the family

my new bike.

i'm still adjusting.

ps. isn't this bench cool? at peckham rye park. there is a boy's one too.

howling

what a miserable day! especially if you are on your way to evans to pick up your brand new bicycle. the rain! the wind!

it howls i tells ya, it howls.

but, it also makes me feel very cozy in the living room with our little lamps and lit candles. too bad we couldn't put a fire on in the fireplace. turns out it is a working fire place, but the estate agent told us we couldn't use it. suppose it is safer. knowing us, something would go wrong.

fingers crossed the blasts of wind die down tomorrow. i suppose i should go for a ride on that brand new bicycle of mine. (yes, our bike count is up to 5)