Knitting in Bethesda (part 2)

Ready for the rest of the excitement from Bethesda? Well I can't promise too many bells and whistles, but there was definitely some glee in my weekend trip.

First up, running glee.


See that view... that was the glorious view I got to watch while I ran week 3 of my couch to 5K plan using the Robert Ullrey podcasts. Actually that's not a very great pic ... most of the time the sky was bright blue and the sun was shining. It was very inspirational -- running in the sky. And boy was I excited about this... I never thought I'd get this far. Every time I've tried to start running before I've exhausted myself and just quit. This time I'm making great progress. I got to week 2 once before and then had that week and a half where I was sick. I started over at week 1 to insure success and am at week 3 now!

S (who is also at week 3 ... yeah S!!) had listened ahead and warned me that week 3 has you run for 3 minutes at a time. Now I have to tell you all that I did NOT think I could do this. But Saturday morning I climbed up on that treadmill and I dove right in. And you know what? I did it, and did it with no pain!! That was a sense of satifaction!

Other glee --- yarn crawl.

Thursday, my first day in Bethesda, my friend Margaret and I got together for a visit and the two of us visited a couple of stores. First up, Stitch + Knit = Bliss, a lovely store right there in Bethesda.


What super friendly staff and, as you can see, quite a selection of yummy yarns.


Next up, Stitch DC. Macoco was kind enough to give me a heads up on this one. This group has several stores in the DC area including a small "branch" in Chevy Chase, which is right next door to Bethesda. Margaret and I also visited this cute little shop (but unfortunately I did not take photos). Again, wonderfully friendly staff and nice supplies. Definitely made me wish I had the time to go into DC proper to one of their other, larger locations. The store keep here also gave me the devilish idea that I should come back to visit Margaret during the Maryland Sheep Festival. Hmmm... wonder how I could plot that out.....

And finally, knitting glee.

Do you know that flying from west to east coast means alot of flying time? Time in fact to make good progress on Trekking sock number 2.


By the end of my second flight I was ready to turn the heel on this second sock. For a slow knitter like me, that's pretty great stuff. I haven't figured it out exactly, but it looks like I'm going about 3/4 of an inch per hour. I certainly won't be breaking any speed records around here, but I can say that knitting continental is definitely faster than throwing. My first sock was all thrown. I'm alternating a bit with this second one (my gauge still isn't perfectly even with continental so throwing in a row here and there seems to even things out). Good progress.

And if that wasn't enough, after getting home Saturday night, I decided to use the rest of my weekend working on my doctor's bag.


Front and back done, one side over half way completed. Still loving the herringbone pattern. This will be my first project finished all in continental style as well. This pattern is perfect for it with all the alternating "knit, slip with yarn in front" or "purl, slip with yarn in back" that you do.

If only I didn't have to work this week and could devote a few more hours to knitting. But no knitting time for me for the next few days, I have a spanish test wednesday! Eeeks.... anyone know how to cram a whole lotta grammar into one's brain in less than 48 hours? Wish me luck!