I guest blogged today on the Basenji Rescue site about Ike. At 13 years-old, Ike is losing his hearing, but his awesomeness more than makes up for his deafness.

And he’s a handsome devil, to boot.

I teach a knitting class here at my home called Knitting University, and it’s been pretty much the same group of women for over a year now. Needless to say, they’re becoming expert knitters! For our next knit-a-long, I had to choose something different and challenging for them.

So I chose Ecuador, a design I really liked, and asked them if they wanted to make it, too.

It’s pretty, available in a large range of sizes, and flattering on almost any body type. They all agreed that this would be our next knit-a-long. So I got busy knitting and familiarizing myself with the pattern so that I could help them along with their sweaters.

I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago that I love it when I get the chance to step out of pattern designing and just play with yarn instead. Knitting another designer’s pattern is a real treat for me. And BONUS! I get a cute sweater out of the deal.

This sweater is knit with sock yarn, and as you can see, is composed of a lot of fabric. Too much for my blocking board, in fact!

The body of the sweater is a really simple lace pattern that is easy to memorize, but also includes short row “wedges” of fabric that give the sweater it’s circular shape.

For now, I’ll fold this sweater up nicely and wait for the day that it’s under 100 degrees in Austin so that I can wear it. 🙂

Here are my Ravelry details.

UPDATE – The designer of this sweater, named Joji, just saw my sweater on Ravelry and sent me this note:

Oh!!!!
This is absolutely stunning!
I went over to read you blog: THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING ECUADOR FOR THE KNIT-ALONG!
Hugs,
Joji

Aww. I feel even better about knitting it now that I know the designer is so sweet.

Guess who’s little ol’ YouTube knitting channel just hit ONE MILLION views?

I am excited and amazed and humbled. Thank you all for your support!

Many thanks to Parker, too. I’m just the face – he’s the one who makes the videos look so good!

I’m often surprised when I get questions from knitters about patterns, and I discover that they aren’t Ravelry members yet. If you are knitting or crocheting, you need to become a member! It’s free and awesome!

Let me sell you on this idea. First up, it’s a perfect place to store information about the projects you’ve finished, or are currently knitting. You get your own “notebook” page where you can upload photos, add details about the yarn and needles you used, etc. Here is a screen shot of my notebook page:

While you’re uploading information about your projects, other people are doing the same thing. If there is a project you’re interested in starting, you can see how the pattern has worked for other people. What yarn did they use? Did they enjoy knitting it? Was the pattern well written? How does the design look on different body types?

Here is a detail of one of my project pages.

Those are the two main ways that I use Ravelry, but there are lots of other ways to be involved. There are forums and groups where people socialize and help each other. There are knit-alongs and yarn swaps and people looking for test knitters. (Help me out here – leave a comment and tell newbies how you’re using Ravelry!)

Here’s what to do –
1. Go to www.ravelry.com, and sign up
2. Enter at least one project that you’ve finished (or are still knitting) when you’re ready
3. Find me here and “friend” me, I’m happy to be your first friend!
4. Explore! If you like, you can join the conversation in the verypink discussion group

If you have any questions, feel free to leave it in the comments. While I was writing this post, I saw on Facebook that Margaret Atwood just joined Ravelry. 🙂

I wrote several weeks ago about how I’m doing the C25K (Couch to 5K) beginners’ running program, and how much I LOVE running now. I’m seven weeks into the program, and I’m running 25 minutes without walking, which is just under 2.5 miles for me. This program is amazing.

And I’m totally bummed to say that I need to throw in the towel, at least for a while. All because of one square inch of my body.

This is the evil, painful spot, caused by plantar fasciitis. I’ve been limping around for a few weeks now, but my last run was really unbearable, and I had to stop and walk for the first time in the program.

Plantar fasciitis is the swelling and tearing of the fascia (a connective tissue) that runs from the heel to the toes, creating the arch of the foot. As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t seem like an important enough part of the body to make me stop running.

Heart, lungs, brain – these are important parts of the body that one should listen to. Fascia, appendix, wisdom teeth – these are stupid parts of the body that need to shut up.

But I suppose any insignificant part of the body can become painful enough to make me take notice. So now I have to take orders from a stupid fascia.

Today I went for a WALK, which is not a RUN, and not nearly as fun. But hopefully, reducing the impact on my foot will allow it to heal, and let me get running again.

Stupid fascia.