Miracles

1. I actually made as much progress as I'd hoped on the sweater for Schaefer. See?



The whole back is done (or, was done, till I blocked it on the needles and decided it should be an inch or tow longer...).

2. I did not collapse from nervousness and/or heat prostration during Nationals. And two of our women's 8s got bronze. The 8 I was in made it to the finals but didn't medal. Three 8s does not mean there are 24 of us... there are 12 of us, just barely (someone who just moved here rowed with us for the first time on Monday, and was roped into racing with us on Saturday... we're already plotting how she'll fit in for the Head of the Charles. We're very friendly... but also short on women sweep rowers.) So anyway, there's a lot of overlap between these boats, with people swapped in and out to change the average age to fit different races.

3. I actually lifted weights this morning! The new rower and I planned to go out in a pair this morning, but then it was very foggy (and I suspect my knowledge of the river is not as good as it should be... this is possibly because I'm oblivious, but I choose to see it was being VERY good at keeping my head in the boat. Ask me how many times this weekend the rest of the boat waved to Kevin... and sometimes yelled "Oh, there's Rebecca's husband! How cute!"... while I stared off in random directions. Once I heard the "how cute," and decided they were talking about a puppy (?!??) and scanned one riverbank for the cute puppy while everyone else waved to Kevin on the opposite bank. See? Head in the boat... or on the shore with the imaginary puppy.)

Right, it was foggy, so we decided not to row. But then I actually went to the gym, erged (for the first time since May!), ran (on the track! a whole mile further than I'd told myself I had to when I started!) and then lifted (the workout I am officially most likely to skip).

4. I'm making good progress on this shawl I'm making as a gift. See, Kevin and I are going to China in 10 days (ack!) with a whole slew of other archivists, and they suggested we bring gifts for the two translators who'll be with us. So I'm making one of them a shawl (we considered a scarf for the male translator, but there won't be enough time so we bought a pen and notebook from Etsy instead. Not having tried to make that scarf anyway is miracle 4b.)

Funny story: this shawl is going to be gorgeous--I'm using Schaefer Andrea in the chamomile colorway. Andrea is 100% silk, and chamomile is this rich, golden-y yellows--even though I'm not usually a fan of yellow, I love it. And the pattern (North Roe) is simple and beautiful.

We tried to tell the trip organizers about it: I'm making a shawl, the yarn is dyed by a small company near where I used to live, etc. I many have mentioned that the Schaefer dye studio is in a barn. They've never met me, never seen anything I've knitted, and don't have any reason to know about the amazing fiber being created by independent dyers right now... and you could hear their hearts sinking with each new fact.

Handknitted. Clunk.

Shawl. Clunk.

Hand-dyed. Clunk.

In a barn. Ker-plunk.

(Maybe we should have mentioned the silk?)

I can't wait for them to see it.