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feeling a little blue
Another weekend, another set of camping plans cancelled.
Late last Friday, Sandra was handed a rather large and daunting project for her temp job; one that would require her to nearly master Adobe InDesign CS4. Rather than attempt to get a few hours in on a laptop in the woods before the battery died, we decided to stay home. Again.
It’s not all bad, though. Aside from a major incident with my servers at work on Saturday afternoon, I basically knit the entire weekend on the blue cabled sweater.
It’s chugging along now. Maybe because I can see the end in sight, but it feels like it’s going faster and faster, rather than slower and slower as I near the finish.
As of last night, I’m halfway done with the increases near the end of the waist shaping. The photo at the right shows the side view. I decided to put the waist shaping on the inside of both panels, rather than the outsides. This should keep the cables very vertical rather than curvy. I think this will work out well, but we’ll see.
To be honest, I’m a little scared to try it on, now that I’m getting close to the end. Is that weird? I think it’s going to fit wonderfully, and maybe I’d rather just risk the unpleasant surprise for the chance to be wowed the first time I put it on. If anything, it’ll be a little on the small side, and I’ll need to find a model for the photography. Lately I’ve been enjoying using my friends as models. I like to be behind the camera, and although I love showing off my work, I can have more control over the photos when I take the pictures.
So many cancelled plans this summer. First camping and canoeing, and now running too. I’ve been struggling with shin splints since last November. I took time off for six weeks in the winter to let them heal. But since then, I haven’t been able to run more than a few miles a week without a twinge of warning pain. I made it through the spring and early summer, and did a few races of 5 and 10k. The last 5k was in early July, and the week after, I thought my leg was going to complain its way right off my body. The pain was pretty bad, and I decided to just throw in the towel for a few months, and give it every shot of recovering.
Unfortunately, just as with the campsite reservations, I’d booked my races for the season back in the spring. This weekend is the Midsummer Night’s 15k, my first ever race last year, and one I’d been really looking forward to repeating. There’s no way I could run 15k right now. Not safely, anyway. And long ago, I decided to opt out of the half-marathon in September, even though I’d been registered for so many months.
All this change is disappointing. My summer has not turned out as I’d imagined. But I guess I’m ok with that. It’s a good reminder for me that I don’t have control in everything. And canceled plans mean new plans; Blue Jays games, long walks, BBQing in the backyard, and new knitting projects.
And I snagged a great campsite reservation for this weekend.
Now we’ll just see if we can use it.
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August 17th, 2010 at 10:24 am
A disappointing summer just means next summer will seem extra good by comparison, right?
August 17th, 2010 at 11:17 am
Amy – I’m so impressed with your resilience. If you were a fibre you’d definitely be wool. You have dealt with such a lot of change, challenge, and frustration recently, but you continue to find the joy in life. What an accomplishment!
August 17th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
this sweater is really exciting; i can’t wait to see how it turns out! i love the cables, i love the color, everything!
August 17th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
It’s good, you are seeing it the other way around. That’s the spirit!
August 17th, 2010 at 10:52 pm
Gosh, that sweater. When I saw the first pic, the blue was so awesome that it made me gasp, but when I saw the second pic, I shouted, “Oh wow!” That’s going to be fabulous.
The recurring shin splints thing does not sound good. Have you seen a sports doctor? I ask this despite still not going to the doctor for my hands (!), which have recurring, ongoing repetitive stress pain. You know, like from spinning, or knitting. *sigh* Good luck with the shin splints!
August 19th, 2010 at 9:27 am
Your sweater is beautiful, and I am also a runner who reads this blog regularly. For shin splints the recommendations I found that worked well, shorten your stride, while that is hard if you think about it during your shorter runs it becomes second nature, and number two it sounds silly but works, tap your toes when sitting or watching t.v. or knitting, it is supposed to strengthen the small muscles in your calf. I ran my 2nd 1/2 this summer, and run around 12-20 miles a week, but in the beginning I had horrible shin splints also. Check out runners world’s blog and columns they give great advice.
August 19th, 2010 at 8:54 pm
Hi Amy, hope you are doing well in spite of all the bouts of stuff you have had to deal with this past while. I run a lot and am a chronic sufferer of shin splints. It is an ongoing struggle in my running career and some people truly are just prone to them. What works for some as a “cure” or coping mechanism does not always for for others. In my case I have found that running every second day rather than several days in a row is important. I also work with a personal trainer once a week to do major strength training. I cross train on the non-running days by doing weight training and strength work. For many women shin splints are caused by instability in hips or week muscles in the hip area. Then your small muscles in your shins take over and they strain from the over use. I don’t believe in any of the stability runner stuff, most studies have disproved that stability running shoes help. Really, it is all about strength in your core and hip muscles, proper running form, not over-striding and not over-training. Give your shins time to heal-up and then get back to running slowly. Really get your strength training in, it has made all the difference in the world and runners world magazine is always emphasizing it. Good luck.