May the bug bite you, and may it bite you bad

Well, on the knitting front I’ve recovered nicely from the frogged Jaywalker.

This one fits and I’m much happier with it. I do like this pattern a lot. I’ve pretty much knitted exclusively on it this week. And it hasn’t been hard because I’m afraid I’ve gotten a little bored with the other project I have on the needles.



I’m halfway through the sleeves on the red cardigan and I don’t want to say it’s like slogging through concrete but well, sometimes it is. I can’t believe it. I’m the girl that loves mindless knitting. Miles of stockinette. Hours of straight stitching. Well I guess I’ve met my match. I’m not sure if it’s the yarn (it’s acrylic, which is ok, but after this much of it it no longer says ‘touchmepickmeupknitme’ all the time) or the color (it’s almost exactly the same color as the last sweater I knit, that could bring about boredom too). But something has me just wanting to get through this. I think it’s that I also know once I do finish the sleeves I still have a few weeks of seaming and buttonbands to go (I usually only do that stuff on the weekends in high concentration mode so it takes a while) and probably not much wearing time left in the season. It could also be all the other patterns I’ve been looking through and planning. Or that this is the smallest gauge I’ve ever knit a sweater for myself with. Who knows. But I’m going to keep at it. Since that’s the only way it will ever get done I guess.

In other hobby news I purchased my first pair of clip-on cycle shoes this week. They clip onto the pedals of a stationary bike to keep your feet in place. They’re better for your feet and can give you a better workout than just using regular sneakers.



I’ve been taking cycling classes at my gym for quite a while now and I love it. (It’s also called spinning but whenever I tell people I took a spinning class they always assume it’s the fiber yarn making kind of spinning:) Depending on my schedule I usually go to the gym between 3 and 5 times a week and I alternate between cycling and kickboxing classes. I know, I’m chubby for a healthy person, but at least I’m healthy and I’ve made my peace with that. But that’s a topic for another day...

Anyway, the story I want to tell you about today is about my new friend-the cycle guy. I went to a cycle shop near where I work to get the shoes. When I was there I asked the man helping me about getting a bike too. I haven’t owned a bike since, well probably since age 13 or 14. But I like these cycle classes a lot, and sometimes see one of those weekend cyclists riding around on a beautiful day and think "Hey, I could get used to that." Nonetheless, I probably won’t be getting a bike soon. According to my sales person if I want to get set up with a quality bike for the long haul (which I do) he positively assured me that he could definitely get me set up for less than $400. Which wouldn’t be so bad. I don’t want a toy but I’m not about to start cycling competitively either. So it’s not completely out of the question, but also not an amount I’ll be running out to spend tomorrow either. Anyway, we started talking about biking in the area and all the trails, biking by the beach and in the woods. And his eyes glazed over a bit and he spoke a little quickly and I noticed he had a look on his face all too familiar to me. As he went on to tell me how wonderful it is to cycle in our area and how alive it makes him feel when he hits the road I couldn’t help but think "I totally know this look. This is how I look when I talk about knitting." After a few minutes the conversation wound down and I told him if I did decide to buy I would go back to his shop. It means a lot to me that the person selling to me really cares about what they’re selling. He said that would be fine and told me, "Well, may the bug bite you and may it bite you bad." And I nodded and smiled. Because I understood. After all I have all these knitting bug bites all over me already right?