Victorious!

You're looking at one very happy/tired Kortelopet skier.

Thank you SOOOO much to all of my bloggy friends and to my family and friends who were so encouraging. And thank you for listening to me bitch and moan.

I surprised myself, thinking it would take me 3 1/2 to 4 hours and finishing in 2 hours 41 minutes.

363 Days to the 2011 Birkie

7 Days to the Birkie

Another non-knitting Birkie training update:

I skied 18.2K today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The first was a 10.6 K race this morning.

I finished dead last. They had started to clean up the finish line. Not only was that embarrassing, but it made me kind of mad. If they want to see more women in this sport then they should make an effort to make it more fun. I finished in just over an hour, which wasn't speedy by any means, but it certainly didn't warrant abandoning the finish line. AND I had to pay $25.

Then this afternoon, another 7.6K with the gal pals.

I'm off to drink some wine.

LOVE YA!

8 days to the Birkie

Today, I skied the 7 k trail again and fell two times - both times going uphill!!!

ugh. I'm in trouble.......

Tomorrow I am going to attempt two laps, so 14K. I'll keep you posted!

If you were an Olympian . . .

What would you be? Tonight, I rather think it would be a rush to have been Sean White. I have been on the edge of my seat.

But if I was smart, I would wish to be a cross country skier - if only for a weekend. One weekend in particular . . . 10 days to the Birkie.

OH, gotta go - Lindsey Von is getting her medal.

Keep on knitting!!!!

Who's in charge here?!?!?

Can you tell which is a parody and which is real?

I can't. I really really can't.

13 days to the Birkie(my laughing niece)


A bunny for my Belle (ravelry link)Happy Valentine's Day!

Olympic Ceremony Recap by MOI

14 days to the Birkie

Look at the Olympic knitterly glory. That is the official hat for the US Olympians. Get your Cascade 220 out and start copying! This would be a great project for the Ravelry Olympics.Moving on: a blurry picture of the cabled sweater that the US athletes were wearing.

And um . . . I'll shamefully admit that I have never heard of Azerbaijan. There were actually three countries I had never heard of. Shameful.
They had cool pants though.And a HUGE congratulations to my fellow Icelandic-American people who finally were able to see there flag on national television during the opening ceremony. As far as I know, this is the first time that Iceland wasn't sacrificed for a commercial break. No kidding. All four of them will be downhill skiing. Best of luck.
And I just have to say: Canadians are so cool. Retro hats, lumberjack scarfs - come on. No one can beat that. I love those pompoms. I had one like that in 3rd grade. I distinctly remember defending it against Johnny Olson on the school bus. He would sit behind me and try to pull the strings out of my pompom. I think he's in jail now.
Cool Canadians. Thanks for the party.
Does anyone else think that those torches look like big doobies? Is it just me? The whole lighting of the torch was sort of a strange let-down. I was certain that the Great Gretskey would be running the torch to the top of a staircase with weeping Canadians stamping their feet and clapping their hands in their moment of triumph. But there were four flame carriers and the torches really did look like huge joints and the cauldron was a gloppy, strange sculpture that didn't work right anyway. Wayne was sweating and looking bored.
The whole big, beautiful show sort of ended with a fizzle.


Enough said.

Let the games begin...

HEY! Where's my snow day!?

19 days to the Birkebeiner

The beginning of my Baby Cable Yoke Jacket for Lizzy. I fell in love with the pattern over at Picperfic's blog.
A glacier has formed on my garden. I think it might be permanent.




Tiny little creatures have found their way from the storm onto my porch. I never see them, but there's the proof.

Can you believe this - every school district surrounding me has been cancelled due to snow. But my district? Nope. I have to head back in on the scary, unplowed highway to corral a bunch of Girl Scouts. I'm really not in a good mood.

Oh, Procrastination - How do I love thee?

20 days to the Birkie

and I'm finding all sorts of pressing and urgent tasks that are distracting me from my Kortelopet training. I DID go skiing yesterday with some great gal pals who made the 7 K much more fun.

First on my list of very important 'things to do before I turn 40':

2. Learn to Crochet

I found some old yarn and turned out this crooked little ugly bookmark. Then I found some yucky-bright cotton and did a washcloth. It's being used as a doilie for Belle's fish bowl.
Speaking of doilies:If you haven't tried to crochet yet, let me just tell you that it is such an awesome experience. You don't have to be as perfect as you do with knitting. If you make a mistake, you can merrily pull out a few stitches and your work does not come completely unraveled! I'm addicted.

Heads Up: EVERYONE IS GETTING DOILIES FOR CHRISTMAS! MWOOo ha ha haaaaaa.

I also went to the local yarn shop Coldwater Collaborative for their annual Superbowl Sale. The line was coming out the door when my mom and I arrived. No worries. Plenty of yarn to go around. I even left, picked up a kid from hockey, came back just in time to see Guinifer's yellow jeep peeling out, overflowing with yarn (just missed you!). I was looking for yarn to make another baby sweater for my niece Lizzy. This time on US 8 instead of US 1.5's - gah.
Would you believe that this Cascade 220 was on sale!??!

Next item not up for bid: yarn for a bunny toy that my daughter wants me to make.

Diary of a Wimp

23 days to the Birkie