Thoughts and Answers

So, I've been really busy with non-knitting things, and I've gotten some questions in the comments I'd like to answer (although I do like blogger, one of the annoying things is I don't get commenters e-mail addresses to write back to).

1. Girlfriends. I am so lucky to have a network of woman that I totally click with. I've found them doing my hobbies - some during triathlon training, others at a Stitch and Bitch, some are 'blog friends' turned 'real', and others taking a beginner quilting class. Every day I think how lucky I am to have the circle of friends that I have - we share interests, laugh, share stress and cry together. We go on trips together to places we would either have to go alone to or drag miserable husbands. If I didn't have my great group of friends, I wouldn't be as happy as I am, I'm sure of it.

2. My motorcycle. When I mentioned I rode it in, someone said - yah for gas savings! And although yes, that is the practical side of biking, as my bike gets about 50 miles to the gallon, it's more about the feeling of riding. It's hard to describe, but when I leave the office from a stressful day, and I get on my bike, I need to focus on riding, and the stress of the day just melts away. Not the same experience as driving a car, I'll tell you that.

3. The banjo. Since this is totally eating up knitting time, I figure I should explain why I chose to learn it. First, I love all kinds of music - from Electronic/Club to Rock to Country to Bluegrass. But I could sit and listen to someone play the banjo all day. A few weeks ago, I went to a cousin's house for dinner, and he was talking about the banjo they just found in his grandfather house. I said that I'd always wanted to learn the banjo, and my husband was like - then why don't you take lessons? I honestly had never thought that I could learn! Well, I'll find out tonight - I have my first lesson!

4. (And even though you didn't ask) Yoga. Since January, I've been much more consistent with working out, and I'm just starting to see the results. In Feb, I added going to yoga. I do 'Vinyasa Power' which I usually call 'hot' yoga. We do vinyasa flow in a heated (to about 100 degrees) room. I go 2 times a week - and the class is about 2 hours long. Talk about burning knitting time! The studio is a 20 minute drive from my house...but worth every second. The Monday night class I go to is somewhat hardcore, which is a great way to start the week, and the Thursday night class is all about relaxation (although still hard!) and by that point in the week, I need it.

5. The House. As most of you all know, we bought a house about a year ago. It needs a lot of work! And we are limited on the work we can do by cash flow and time (aren't we all?). Well, salary bonus time came, and we were able to get a bunch of supplies to work on two of the upstairs bedrooms. Unfortunately, every thing we touch in one of those rooms needs more work than we expected. So, a job we figured would take a few weeks, has definitely expanded in scope (as we like to say in IT). But we are close! Maybe getting some color on the wall this weekend - and I'll of course share pictures.

Well, gang, there are the many reasons you aren't seeing as many FO's on this blog as usual. I'm just not sitting on my butt and knitting as much as I used to! I have a pair of trade socks that I am working on but can't blog about, the Diamond Fantasy shawl I'm itching to work on, and the Deep V argyle vest in progress. Maybe after this weekend I'll get back to it all.