RUNNINGWITHKNITTINGNEEDLES.COM

Pose Running

Meghan — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:31:46 GMT

I've been a regular runner since high school, and over the years this habit has taken its toll on my body. All in all, I've been incredibly lucky - I've never broken a bone, or been seriously injured - but I have a few nagging problems that sometimes make it uncomfortable, or at times, painful, to run. Since reading Born to Run, I've had hopes of figuring out a sustainable way to run, something that will allow me to run injury-free as I get older. So, when my friends gave rave reviews of a Pose Running workshop they had attended run by Tracy Peal, I knew I had to try it out.

I met with Tracy on a Saturday morning for a little more than an hour. He looked at my posture standing, then watched me run a few feet, and I think that was enough for him to figure out where I was injured and what I was doing wrong. It was a little freaky, I almost think he was reading my mind, he was so accurate in diagnosing what my injuries have been. Apparently my right foot pronates slightly, while my left foot does not, and after years and years of running, this has caused my IT band injury, my brief bout with plantar fasciitis, and my current ankle woes.

If you're not familiar with the Pose technique, you can find more information at www.posetech.com. The basic idea is that the movements of running can be broken down into poses. The most important of these is a figure “4” that you make with your legs. To make this figure, you stand on one leg (very slightly bent), the balance of your weight on the ball of your foot with your heel gently touching the ground. You raise your other leg, keeping that foot even with your standing leg, making the figure “4”. To run, you lean forward with your whole body - no bending at the waist! - until you lose your balance and start falling, then catch yourself with the leg that was raised, simultaneously bringing your other leg, previously on the ground, into the figure “4” position. And repeat!

It sounds so simple. I had read a lot about Pose running and watched some very excellent videos on YouTube, but I really didn’t get it until I met with Tracy. He would explain something, run me through a drill to illustrate it, then have me try to implement it and correct me again. For a specific example, I was unconsiously favoring my right leg, maybe because of my ankle or maybe because my right leg is more injury-prone than the left. He could see that I was leaving my right foot on the ground longer than the left, but to show me what I was doing, he had me run a drill with my hands clasped together and held out straight in front of me, parallel to the ground. My arms moved back and forth with my movement, but veered much farther to the right than to the left. He did this maybe 5 or 6 more times, each time tweaking something different about my running and setting me up so that I could feel that what I had been doing wasn’t “right,” and that changing my form felt better and faster.

The best was that by about halfway through, I could run without triggering any pain - at all! - from my ankle. I haven’t been able to run without ankle pain for nearly two months. The worst was that even though I didn’t run all that far during the training session - I’d guess maybe 800m, total? - because Pose running uses different muscles, my calves were massively sore for days afterwards. I am going to have to spend serious time building up these new muscles!

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about Pose. If you're in the SoutheasternPA/Delaware area, I highly recommend Tracy as a Pose trainer.

The Sanguine Gryphon, revisited

Meghan — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 01:20:00 GMT

I mentioned in my last post how much I love the Sanguine Gryphon's Bugga, and that I will have a pattern in the Sanguine Gryphon's upcoming Art Nouveau line using Skinny Bugga (did I mention how excited I am about it?!!!).

But I forgot to say how much I love the patterns in the Sanguine Gryphon's recent collections. Here is their Steam Punk line from Fall 2010. All of the patterns are gorgeous. My favorites are Emily Prefers, in Her Secret Heart, to Flounce (who doesn't, really?) and Scavenger. I would love Emily Prefers . . . to Flounce for the name alone, but the structured fabric over the delicate lace skirt are reason enough to knit this project, even if you're not a big fan of flouncing yourself. As for Scavenger, it's clearly styled as Steam Punk in the photo shoot, but the saturated colors and intricate stranded pattern remind me of an illuminated manuscript. It's as if a Celtic warrior princess stole the pages from a monk's work book and fashioned them into a skirt to go off to battle. Awesome, right?

Here is their literature-inspired collection. Again, all gorgeous. I love the whimsical themes the Sanguine Gryphon chooses whenever it puts out a new line. It made it a lot of fun to come up with my design proposal for the spring, and it definitely paid off in their winter line. I looooove this one in particular -Ambergris - and it's not just because it calls to mind one of my favorite books, Moby Dick. The designer nailed it, framing the delicate whale-tail-like design on either side with a nautical-looking cable. Love it.

The Sanguine Gryphon Art Nouveau Line

Meghan — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 22:39:00 GMT

I've lusted after the Sanguine Gryphon's Bugga yarn for years, but the first time I had the opportunity to knit with it was over the summer, when I made my Hawthorne, from the Fall Twist Collective. It's lovely to knit with - so smooth and soft, and works up into a drapey, luxurious fabric with a gorgeous sheen.

So I was thrilled when my pattern proposal for the Sanguine Gryphon's Art Nouveau line was accepted earlier this year! I have already completed the sample. No teaser photos yet, but here is a photo of the yarn I used:

It's Skinny Bugga in Starry Night Cracker. I love it, and I hope you do, too.

decembre FAQ

Meghan — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 23:38:00 GMT

My first published knitting pattern is decembre, published in Knitty Deep Fall 2010. Decembre is a reversible scarf that is not double-knit in the traditional sense, and its chart is not intuitive. To help you out in knitting it, here is a brief FAQ inspired by a knitter on Ravelry:

Q. As I knit, the contrast color (CC) yarn becomes really loose. How do I fix this?

A. You just need to tug the CC gently every few stitches (but not too tightly! That's another problem) to make sure tension is consistent with the MC. It's fiddly, but it works. Again, be careful not to tug too tightly!

Q. How far do I carry the CC - do I carry it to the end of the row?

A. No, but -- look to where the first CC stitch is on the next row, and that will tell you how far to carry the CC. For example, let’s look at rows 7 & 8 of the chart. In row 7, the last CC stitch is 7 stitches in from the edge. But in row 8, the first CC stitch is only 3 stitches in from the edge. So when you’re knitting row 7, knit the last CC stitch, then, as you work the next 4 stitches in MC, thread the CC behind the knit stitches and in front of the purls. At this point, hold the CC in back (don’t continue to carry it), work the last 2 stitches in MC, and turn. On row 8, work the first 2 stitches in MC. Now you’re at the 3rd st of row 8 - a CC stitch - and the CC that you held to the back from row 7 is in the right place.

Q. How do I weave in the CC ends?

A. Thread them through the purl and knit stitches, like you did while working the pattern. If you’re using any kind of a sticky yarn (which I definitely recommend for this pattern), that will be enough to hold them in place.

Any more questions? Feel free to post them in the comments, or PM me on Ravelry. Happy knitting!

All roads lead to Twilight

Meghan — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 15:42:00 GMT

Those of you who know me in real life know that I love all things Twilight, and thanks to Gretchen Rubin's love of the same, I am not embarrassed to confess it. If a best-selling author who also clerked for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor can admit without shame to getting lost in Stephanie Meyer's (excellent) teenage melodrama, then clearly there is nothing shameful about it - right?

Which brings me to an (NSFW!! Contains explicit language and imagery!!) excellent piece of Twilight-related writing that I never would have found but for Gretchen Rubin's blog, the Happiness Project. This review of the film adaptation of "Twilight: Eclipse" is light and hilarious, but insightful and dead-on at the same time. It is most deft when it cites to cultural references that you don't even remember you once knew, like Smith Jerrod from Sex & the City. Remember when Smith waited for Samantha in the lobby of the hotel, just to make sure she got home okay? Of course you do, now, and since Natasha Vargas-Cooper and Mary HK Choi point it out, Edward waiting for Bella while she canoodled with Jacob in the tent is totally Smith Jerrod part 2. But it's not a connection I ever would have made myself.

I forwarded this review to my friend Christin, who wrote back not only that she thought it was as funny as I did, but that Mary HK Choi is her cousin! So, at Christin's wedding earlier this year, I was able to meet Mary and tell her what a fan I am of her writing. Here we are:

Mary's writing is also featured regularly in the New York Times on-line, and in the on-line magazine the Hairpin. The Hairpin is updated several times a day, and the writing is similar in tone to the review of Twilight: Eclipse I linked to above, but it covers a variety of subjects that, if you are like me, you will find utterly fascinating.

Meet Padma

Meghan — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 02:07:00 GMT

Ahoy!

Padma is a quick little knit in fingering-weight yarn. It's the perfect gift to bring instant zen to the yogi or yogini in your life. Or, make it for yourself to keep cozy and warm as you sink into savasana after a difficult class.

See the 5 lotuses lining the edge? Each one perfectly formed, with 10 petals. But wait - there's another lotus!!

Created by weaving your floats in as you go and decreasing with a double-raised centered decrease, this final lotus is a surprise that develops as you complete the crown. I hope you love it as much as I do!

This pattern is currently available here, in my Ravelry store, for $2.50.

Honeycomb Hat

Meghan — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 03:00:00 GMT

Here is my new pattern, Honeycomb:

It's mainly stockinette, but where the ribbing would be on a traditional cap, I use an adorable little honeycomb instead. The one-stitch cables of the honeycomb pattern serve the same purpose as ribbing - they draw the fabric in to provide a snug fit around the ears But they're even better than ribbing - by creating a thicker fabric, they're better able to keep your ears warm through the approaching winter.

I will post a few more photos in the coming days - my friend Jason was gracious enough to act as photographer during my recent trip to San Francisco. But the above photo was taken by my friend Sheri. For the moment, this pattern is offered for free on Ravelry.

l'echarpe decembre, part deux

Meghan — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 04:04:00 GMT

One more post about l'echarpe decembre -- it was just named as the Blue Sky A lpacas staff pick for October!!!
Decembre is knit in Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted Hand Dyes, in Petunia (#2026) and Charcoal (#2025). Amy Singer suggested this yarn for the pattern, and I think they go together beautifully.

See how happy I am in this photo? That's how I'm feeling right now!
Only, in the photo it was because of the french fries. . .

l'echarpe decembre

Meghan — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 03:20:00 GMT

The Knitty Deep Fall 2010 went live this morning -- check out my new pattern, l'echarpe decembre!!!

This scarf is knit in Blue Sky Alpaca Worsted Hand-dye on size US 8 needles. The main color is Petunia, and the contrast color is Charcoal.

At first glance it looks like a simple fair isle scarf. . . but when you look more closely, you notice that it's reversible, and that it has a different fair isle motif on each side. I came up with the design while I was living in France and decided I wanted to teach myself double knitting, without the benefit of a teacher, an instructional book, or even the internet - in short, without anything but a general idea that double knitting was possible and a firm conviction that I could learn it.

While I didn't manage to figure out double knitting, I did end up with a reversible and very warm scarf. Instead of two layers of stockinette, like you would get by double knitting, this scarf is one layer made extra-thick by knitting it in 1x1 rib. When you knit 1x1 rib on needles that are slightly small for the yarn you're using, and you don't stretch it out when you block it or when you wear it, you get a thick fabric that creates the illusion of stockinette.

Once I figured out that I could mimic stockinette by knitting in 1x1 rib, I realized I would be bored to tears if I tried to knit a scarf in just 1x1 rib. So I added one of my favorite fair isle stars to the end of it. And because that wasn't enough of a challenge, I decided I might as well take it a step further and knit a different fair isle star on each side of the fabric.

What that meant was that I continued to knit in 1x1 rib, on right sides using the first chart for the knit stitches and the second chart for the purled stitches, and on wrong sides using the second chart for knit stitches and the first chart for purled stitches. In order to simplify things for the pattern available on Knitty, I condensed the two charts to one. The downside is that the fair isle patterns don't immediately make sense when you look at the chart; the upside is that you don't have to keep your place in two charts, and besides, you can see the fair isle motifs developing quite quickly as you progress a few rows.

I hope you like it! Feel free to shoot a message if you have questions or if you run into any issues knitting it. I'm always around on Ravelry, and my name there is themegnapkin. Happy knitting!

Griffith Park

Meghan — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 23:58:00 GMT

Meet Griffith Park: 






















My new pattern available for download on Ravelry. It's a quick but interesting knit, 
and great for a woman or a man --even though the model is in pink and grey, knit 
it up in darker colors and it's a perfect present for your guy. 
 
If, for some reason, you've been paying attention to my blog this evening, you may 
have noticed I'm having some technical difficulties. Sorry - I'm trying to figure out how 
to link from my blog to Ravelry in such a way that you don't have to be a member in 
order to download the pattern. But if you're a knitter, you really should join Ravelry -- 
it's free.

How much risk can you take?

Meghan — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 23:34:00 GMT

So I was talking to my brother about risk aversion this morning. As I think I've mentioned on this blog, I am a lawyer. Lawyers have a reputation for being risk averse, and I had always assumed that this reputation was deserved.  Judging by my acquaintance, most law students and lawyers ended up in law school not because they had an innate love for the law, but because they had no strong inclination to do anything in particular after college, and they figured that becoming a lawyer was a way to hedge their bets. Everyone knows that a law degree opens so many doors, right?* And until the past few years, a law firm was a safe place to ride out your career.  If you did decent work and put in your hours, you were guaranteed a comfortable life. Maybe you wouldn't make partner, but there were other firms to go to, and of course you could always set out your shingle and try to make it as a solo practitioner.

If you have read Above the Law or a newspaper lately, then you know that things are not quite as easy for lawyers these days.  A law degree is no longer a golden ticket to success. If you buy into the conventional wisdom that lawyers are risk averse, then what we have is a large group of people who have shelled out $100k+ for a great education and who are now, because of layoffs or because they happened to graduate in one of the lost years, struggling to figure out how to handle what their lives have become.
I mentioned to my brother that I thought I was risk averse, and he said, "Really? But you swam with sharks, and you backpacked across Europe by yourself." And he's right. I've taken a number of serious risks in (with) my life, and in certain areas I have an insane overconfidence. In others, not so much. But his comment got me thinking about lawyers in general. When you go to a private law school (and many public law schools), you pay upwards of $30k in tuition alone per year. Even in the best years for big law lawyers - probably the late 1990s and early 2000s - for most students, paying this tuition was nothing less than making a bet that they would make good grades and land a 6-figure job upon graduation.  The kids who go to top tier schools all finished towards the top of their college classes. They're all smart. But each one is betting that she is smarter than the others in her law school year, or at least smarter than half of them. None of these students has anything more to go on than a record of undergraduate achievement and a belief in herself. Even in the best of years, that doesn't sound so risk averse to me.

* This statement is meant as irony. A law degree may unlock doors, but even if they're unlocked, you need a whole team of castle-stormers to force them open. It is rarely a good idea to invest in a law degree if you plan to do something other than law.**

** See how I hedged? I am so a lawyer.

In other news. . .
Some of you may have heard that I have a pattern coming out in the Deep Fall 2010 Knitty. I'm incredibly excited about this. I can't show you any photos of that pattern, but here is a photo of a free pattern I just posted for download on Ravelry:

Cold Comfort Hat. Please forgive the funky colors - I am still figuring out Photoshop. The pattern is quick and easy. Keep checking this blog, because I will be posting photos of another soon-to-be released pattern in the next day or so.

Belated Running Update

Meghan — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 23:03:00 GMT

I named this blog Running With Knitting Needles because running and knitting are two of my favorite things to do, so why not combine them, right? Lately I've been doing a whole lot more knitting than I have running. But over the past few months, I actually have run in some races, and since March I've been trying out a different exercise program called cross-fit (more on that later, I promise).

Rehoboth Beach 1/2 Marathon (November 21, 2009)

On November 21, I ran the Rehoboth Beach 1/2 marathon. I left work early the day before to drive down to Rehoboth Beach in time to pick up my packet and rest up, because the race started obscenely early at 7am. My hotel was only about a block away from the start, so at least I didn’t have to leave my room until 6:45. It was cool at the start - 43 degrees according to a bank thermometer I saw - perfect weather for a race. It was also small, which was great at the beginning because there was no fighting with crowds. The first few miles ran parallel to the ocean, which was beautiful in the early morning, then we took a 180 turn at about the 3-mile point and headed inland through the town of Rehoboth, and then out on Breakwater Junction trail, a graveled trail running through woods. Shortly before the 9 mile point, the 1/2 marathon racers took another 180 degree turn and headed back down the trail towards Rehoboth, while the marathoners continued on.

I had a time goal of breaking 1:50, and I didn’t make it, but I feel like I had a pretty good race anyway. My time was 1:52:50-something. Heartbreaking, because I finished 4 (out of 41) in my age group, and if I had hit my goal I would have had a chance at first. My other goal was to go out slowly, which I managed to do. I tend to get very caught up in the excitement of the race and go out too fast. I trained with a heart rate monitor this time, and I wore it during the race so I could keep track of how hard I was working and make sure not to overdo it. My max heart rate is high, so running at 160 bpm is an easy jog for me. I started out easy at 165 bpm, then gradually pushed myself so that I ran the last three miles at around 185 bpm. The result was that I always felt like I was working hard, and for the last portion I was going about as fast as I could go. I think I ran a pretty steady race - after the first few miles, I just picked people off, and nobody passed me until about the 11 mile point, when these two women in their 40s blew by me like they were just out for an easy jog. I have no idea where they got that energy! I was panting by that point, but they were breathing easy and light on their feet.

I really liked the smaller race, especially at the beginning. The only time I thought it was too crowded was on the trail portion after I had turned around and I was running against people who hadn’t turned yet. The trail is really only wide enough for about 4 people to run abreast, so at points it was hard to pass people. Also, I think people are friendlier in a smaller race. I fell in step with a guy after about 4 miles, and we chatted and stayed together until mile 8. And at the beginning of the race, I accidentally clipped a guy on his elbow. In the Philly Distance Run that would have gotten me a dirty look and a few pointed words, but in this race when I said I was sorry he just smiled and made a joke.

There were a few things I didn’t like about the race - mainly that the mile markers were inconsistent. I had very definite time goals for each mile, but the only miles that were marked were miles 3, 5, 8 and 9, so even though I was running with a watch I had no clue what pace I was running. I don’t understand why they didn’t have more mile markers! I might send them an email asking if they could set them up for next year - I can’t imagine it would be that hard, someone could go out just before the race on a bike and figure it out with a Garmin. Also, the water stops were inconsistent. At times it seemed like the water stops were only a mile apart, but then there was a long stretch on the trail without anything. I don’t know what they could do about it, though, there’s really not room on the trail to have a water stop. For the half marathon it wasn’t a big deal, but I could see that if I were to do the full marathon next year, I might want to carry my own water. Finally, they did not do a great job of closing the course to traffic. The first 3 miles or so were on a pretty narrow road, made more crowded by the fact that there’s a 180-degree turn at one end, so there are runners on both sides. Somehow this road was not closed to traffic, even for the 50-ish minutes that it took for the entire field to finish that portion. So as I was running along, behind me comes an ornery old guy in a jeep with a bunch of fishing poles hanging out the back. Instead of waiting patiently for the area to clear, he surged into the crowd, forcing everyone to hug the shoulder or be run down. It was horribly annoying and dangerous - every time he saw an opening he would slam the accelerator and jump into it, then slam the brakes when the crowd got too thick. So for a mile and a half I played a potentially deadly game of leap frog. Grrrr!

Apart from these complaints, I loooooved the course. It was flat, cool, and protected from wind. Even where the trail got a little congested, it was still fun to see all the other runners. I felt great - my IT band, which usually bothers me during longer runs, didn’t hurt until after I had finished. During the first few miles, I felt one of my toe nails rubbing up against the toe next to it. It stopped hurting, though, so I didn’t think anything of it until I pulled off my sock and saw that it was bloody - yuck!

Turkey Trot (November 26, 2009)

I ran a 10K Turkey Trot on November 26 (Thanksgiving) with my friend Sheri from work. Sheri had run the Philadelphia Marathon the previous Sunday - her first - where she qualified for Boston (!!), and I had run a fast (for me) half at the Rehoboth 1/2 the previous Saturday, so neither of us was really rested, but I like to use the Thanksgiving 10K to give myself an excuse to eat whatever I want at Thanksgiving dinner, so I ran it anyway, not expecting much. We ended up going a lot faster than I expected. I had planned to do the same thing I did in my half - run according to my heart rate. In my half, I started out with my heart rate at about 165 bpm, then gradually increased my effort to run the last 3 or so miles at 185 bpm. In the 10k, I ran maybe the first mile at 165 bpm, then spent the rest of the race struggling at 185 bpm or higher. For reference, 185 bpm is where I run my sprint intervals (usually 200-300m) - so it was really hard to run 5 1/2 miles at that intensity. I was definitely pushing myself the whole race, especially through a few nasty hills in miles 2-4, and Sheri (who runs with a Garmin) clocked us at 7:22/mile at one point on a downhill. I finished in 51:38 - a PR by about 3 minutes from the previous year, and just like in my half marathon, I was 4th in my age group. Another heartbreak - just like in my half marathon, only the top 3 in each age group got awards .

Sadly, I realized on the Friday after Thanksgiving that I had done something to my ankle and foot during the Turkey Trot race. During December and most of January, I had pain in my foot that made it difficult at times to walk. I want to avoid orthotics if possible, so instead of seeing a podiatrist, I went to Philadelphia Community Acupuncture for a few sessions. That, and rest, made a big difference, and by the end of February I was healed completely.

Cherry Blossom 10 Miles (April 11, 2010)

In March, I started going to cross-fit classes with Val Whiting and Jay Raymond at Game Shape. I have not been running regularly, but I had signed up for the Cherry Blossom 10-mile race months earlier, when my ankle was healthy. I didn't want to bail, so I decided to run it on no training. I had done that once before for the Broad Street 10-mile run in May 2009. It's doable, but not very fun - after Broad Street, I was sore for days afterward, and I had irritated my IT band, making it hard to walk. I was expecting the same kind of experience at the Cherry Blossom run this morning - but it was entirely different. I went out at a 10-minute pace, kept it up easily for about 5 miles, then started speeding up. I think I did my final miles in less than 9 minutes per mile. I feel great now - tired, because no matter what I will never find it easy to wake up at 5:30am, but not sore at all. I have to attribute this to cross-fit. I wonder what kind of times I'll be capable of once I add running back into my workouts!

"Good ideas are often murdered by better ones."

Meghan — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 02:00:00 GMT

I can't take credit for that title - it's a quote from Roddy Doyle, one of my favorite authors. I'm always interested when people who excel at their craft try to explain how they do what they do. Often they simply can't explain it - they may have an instinctive talent, or they may have achieved their mastery without reflecting on how they achieved it. In law school, I found that several of my professors fell into the first category. For each case we studied, they could explain what the decision was and how the court had reached it. They obviously understood how the cases fit together to create an analytical framework that courts would use to decide other questions of law, but for some reason, few of them could explain that framework to us.* And of course that's what we needed to know for the exams.
Sometimes, though, you get lucky and find a true teacher. Prof. Erwin Chemerinksy is one - he wrote the Con Law treatise, the one every law student relies on to pass Con Law and, later, the bar. The late and much-missed Prof. Charlie Whitebread was another. If you know him from BarBri, then I bet you remember why bestiality will never be addressed on the MBE.
This is all a long way to tell you about a really interesting article I read this week, Ten Rules for Writing Fiction. Roddy Doyle, PD James, Margaret Atwood, Elmore Leonard, and several other writers give some interesting, and sometimes conflicting advice. There are some very specific pointers (from Margaret Atwood, "Take a pencil to write with on aeroplanes."), and some that are more general (from Neil Gaiman: "Write."). My favorite is No. 8 from Roddy Doyle: "Do change your mind. Good ideas are often murdered by better ones. I was working on a novel about a band called the Partitions. Then I decided to call them the Commitments." This is great advice in the kind of work I do. I'll frequently attack a brief or a research question from one perspective, only later to realize that it makes much more sense to approach it from a different angle. I find the same thing in knitting - for example, I recently finished an original project, a vest with a lace pattern on the bodice. I put it to the side and never wore it, and eventually I figured out why - the lace pattern is entirely wrong. I think I finally have the right stitch in mind, so over the next few weeks I'm going to rip it out and rework it.
It's hard to abandon your work in favor of something different - in my briefs, it means I have to do more research and redraft something I thought was right the first time, and that, likely, I stayed up late in crafting. In knitting, I have to frog, and I hate to frog. But as another of my favorite artists says, when something's not right it's wrong. If you want to do great work, then you can't afford to be attached to it. You have to be willing to throw it out and start again.
Also, if you haven't yet I highly recommend that you read some Roddy Doyle. The first of his novels that I read was The Woman Who Walked Into Doors. He channels the voice of a battered woman realistically, making her sympathetic but not always likable. Years later, I picked up A Star Called Henry and couldn't put it down. And I just recently got around to reading the Commitments. Roddy Doyle's books are smart, unsentimental and realistic, even when, in the case of A Star Called Henry, they're occasinally implausible.

* It's also possible that they were being deliberately unhelpful because wanted to weed out the students who couldn't figure it out themselves.

In case you were wondering. . .

Meghan — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:43:00 GMT

we really are getting hammered by snow in the northeast US this winter. Here's my neighborhood:
I tried to take Archie out for a walk around the block, but he had other plans. Here he is, pulling me home after we were out for about 10 minutes: See those people ff to the right? You can hardly see them because the snow is falling so heavily. They were about 50 feet away.
One more photo:
As bad as this looks, I have to give a lot of credit to the City of WIlmington. After last Saturday's storm dumped more than two feet on us, the city's plow trucks and salt trucks made the roads safe for travel the next day. I'm not sure they'll be able to replicate that feat this time around, just because the snow is falling so quickly and so heavily - 20 minutes after I shoveled my front steps, they were covered with another half inch of snow. So, I have a feeling that Archie and I are going to be snowed in for a while.

It's not just me, this weather is tough on everyone - I had the sad task of informing my parents that their flight had been cancelled, and they just would have to stay in the Caribbean for another two days. I know they're dying to get back home to get started shovelling their driveway, but they'll just have to wait for that fun!

Happy Adoption Day, Archie!

Meghan — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:41:00 GMT

I grew up with Budgie, a cocker spaniel/Brittany spaniel mix, the most wonderful dog in the world. Budgie was handsme and smart. He was affectionate. He was gentle with kids, and he never barked without a good reason. He came when we called him.  He was usually up for a game of fetch, and he loved to take long walks with my mother. He never had an accident in the house until he was elderly and couldn't help himself. He lived with my family for nearly 17 years, and we were heartbroken when he finally had to be put down.

It took a long time after Budgie died to be ready for another dog. When I moved to Wilmington in 2005 and finally in a position to give a dog a stable home, I decided I was ready.

I had two requirements. First, I knew I wanted a rescue or shelter dog. Thousands of dogs and cats are put down every year because of irresponsible breeders looking to make a buck, and because of people who, for whatever reason, decide that they that the pets they adopted no longer fit into their lives. I wanted to do my part.  Second, I wanted a small dog - because I lived in L.A. for 3 years and love Chihuahuas, and because at the time I lived in an apartment and I thought a small dog would do better in the confined space.

I began my search through local rescue organizations.  I soon found out that it is very difficult indeed for a single woman living alone and working full-time to adopt a dog through a rescue. Some rescues disqualified me automatically. Others ruled me out once they found out I lived in an apartment and didn't have a fenced in yard. One rescue made me write a personal essay on the topic of "Why I want to adopt a dog from your rescue." They never got back to me. After five months of fruitless searching, I finally saw Archie's picture on www.petfinder.com. He was at the Animal Welfare Association of Voorhees, New Jersey. A few days later, I picked him up and brought him home, on February 2, 2006.  Like Budge, Archie is handsome and smart, charmingly affectionate, and gentle with kids. But he's a barky little dog, and his bark can pierce eardrums. He doesn't come when called, or at least, he only comes when he feels like it. He can't play fetch because he doesn't understand that he's supposed to bring the ball back -- he'd rather hunker down in a corner and gnaw at it for a while. He likes to walk, but only when the temperature is between 40 and 75 degrees fahrenheit. He's still not entirely housebroken. . . but he's the sweetest little snugglemuffin a girl could ask for, and I can hardly remember what it was like before I adopted him. Here he is this past weekend:

Happy Adoption Day, babycakes!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Meghan — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:54:23 GMT

On Monday night, Queer Joe from New Hope stopped by our knitting night at Presto. When he asked if anyone had a blog, I was embarrassed to tell him that I haven't updated mine in nearly three months. He promised to link to it anyway, but meanwhile I figured I'd better do my part and provide an update of what I've been doing for the past few weeks. So here it is:

Knitting: In September I had to fly out to California for week. I can't sleep on planes, so to pass the hours I knit Springtime in Philadelphia Canopy. It's a cleverly written pattern, and smoothes out nicely when blocked on a 10-inch dinner plate. I wore it every day until my friend Mel lost it during a fun night out on the town in Wilmington. Luckily she found it the next day!

I also finished Rosamund's Cardigan, from the Fall 2009 Interweave Knits, in Elann Highland Chunky yarn. It's knit with a reversible cable from the top down, and as I got closer and closer to the hem I realized I was a skein and a half short. After debating whether to turn it into a cropped cardi, or to frog it entirely and knit it again as a more fitted sweater, my Monday night knit friends convinced me to check Ravelry to see if someone had with extra yarn in that color. I never thought I'd find any in the right dye lot - I bought the yarn more than a year ago for a project I never even started - but I found it and did my first swap with a very nice knitter in Texas. So I was able to finish my Rosamund's Cardigan to the correct length, and it's now blocking, as it has been for the past 8 (!!) days. I've never had a sweater take that long to block.

Now I'm working on Talia from Knitty.com, and a few other smaller projects, but I have some travel coming up, so I'll need another big project to keep me busy.

Adventure: October turned out to be adventure sport month! I turned 30 last year, and I wanted to celebrate it by hang gliding. My birthday is in December, and unfortunately in the northeast U.S. it's too cold to hang glide from about November to March, so I had to put my birthday celebration on hold for a while. But I kept talking about hang gliding and how much I wanted to go to just about anyone who would listen, so when my co-worker Joan wanted to go soaring in glider planes, she figured I might be interested, too. Of course I was!

The Brandywine Soaring Association does intro flights out of a small airport in Pennsylvania. Joan, our other friend Cara and I all trekked out there one Sunday in October to try it out. The two-seat glider is very small and light:

We went up one at a time. The instructor sat in back, and let us handle the controls. I got to turn, go faster and slow it down, and I even helped to line it up for landing. At least I think I did, the instructor had his own set of controls, so he may have just pretended to let me guide the plane. Joan is already a pilot, so she got to do all that and more.

Because the glider doesn't have an engine, it has to be towed into the air by another plane. Skilled glider pilots can stay up for hours as the plane glides down - they do it by seeking out thermal air currents and riding them even higher. If you find enough thermals, you can stay up forever. For our intro flights, once we got up to 3,500 feet, the instructor told us to pull the lever that releases the cord attaching the glider to the tow plane. It's kind of a jolt when that happens - the ride up is so smooth that you can almost forget that you're sitting on top of 600 lbs of aluminum, but once the cord is cut the plane starts getting bounced around by the wind and suddenly you're very much aware that there's only the "science" of thermodynamics that's keeping you from plummeting to certain death. After a few minutes of panic, I settled down and started to enjoy the view:

When it came time to land, though, I shut my eyes and did what I always do when I'm in an airplane that hits turbulence: I said my prayers to St. Christopher, the patron saint of travellers. I think it worked, because the instructor landed us safely. It was super cool, though, and I'd love to do it again. Next time they might make me sign a liability waiver - Cara, Joan and I are all attorneys, and I think the instructor was kind of taken aback once he found that out.

Later on in October I finally got to go hang gliding!! My friend Kati and I went to Highland Aerosports in Maryland. In different parts of the country you can go hang gliding by jumping off a cliff or a steep hill and soaring away, but Maryland is so flat that you have to be towed up, just like with the glider planes. Here's the tow plane at Highland Aerosports:

It takes you up to 2,500 feet, then just like with the glider plane, the instructor releases the tow line and you're set free to glide down to the ground. The gliders they use for instruction carry two people in a tandem set-up. The instructor gets in first in the lower harness, then the student climbs in above him. Our instructor was Sunny, and as the tow plane pulled us up I asked him if anyone had ever thrown up on him. He said yes, but please try not to. I thought it might be a struggle, since I'm kind of scared of heights, but to my surprise it wasn't scary at all! The whole ride felt smooth and effortless. I took a lot of photos on the way up, here are a few:

Here's one as we got a little higher:

And here's one of the tow plane in action:

All of my photos are from the way up because after Sunny released the cord, he let me control the glider. You guide a hang glider by shifting your bodyweight in relation to the glider's frame. Pushing yourself back slows the glider down, but you have to keep it going at least 25 mph because if it slows down too much the glider will stall. Pulling yourself forward makes the glider speed up, and you can turn by pulling yourself to the right or left.

It wasn't scary because there was no sensation of falling, or even of any movement at all. It's also very safe: in 10 or so years of operation, Highland Aerosports hasn't had any accidents - believe me, I asked.

Running: I was going to post an update about my running over the past few months, but I'm actually running in a 10k Turkey Trot tomorrow morning, so that update will have to wait until later. I promise to update more frequently in the future!

Two things

Meghan — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:21:00 GMT

1. To be filed under "lessons learned over Labor Day weekend": Do not leave a whole watermelon in your kitchen for too long. I came home from a night away to a small watermelon that I had left on my kitchen counter for 4 days. . . Four days too long, apparently. Its shell was cracked, and as it rotted from the inside out it made gurgling noises that called to mind the time I thought the bat in my attic was actually a burglar. I didn't realize at first that the watermelon was what was making noise, but luckily this time, at least, I figured it out before dialing 911.

2. As I sit here typing and listening to Tupac's Changes and Dolly Parton's Jolene on repeat, it strikes me that I may be the only person in the world who has ever thought this was a good combination. (It actually is!)

Day 31 update

Meghan — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:01:00 GMT

Day 30: 11 miles
Day 31: 1 mile

My 31 Miles of August concluded successfully this morning with an easy 1-mile run. My 11 miles yesterday were not quite so easy - I was really getting pooped by the end. And true to form, I was pretty much useless for the rest of the day after my run - I managed to shower, eat (a ton of food!), and walk my dog, and that's about it. I took a substantial nap, and was still ready for bed by 11. This morning it was hard to drag myself out of bed for my run, but I couldn't miss the last day!

In the Homestretch

Meghan — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 23:44:00 GMT

I've been much better about running every day than I've been about updating my blog regularly. I've kept good track of my miles, though, and here's the rundown:

Remainder of Week 1
Day (and August) 4: 4.5 miles
Day 5: 1 mile
Day 6: 5.63 miles
Day 7: 1 mile
Day 8: 1 mile

Week 2
Day 9: 1 mile
Day 10: 1 mile
Day 11: 4.5 miles
Day 12: 2 miles
Day 13: 3 miles (intervals)
Day 14: 1 mile
Day 15: 1 mile

Week 3
Day 16: 7 miles
Day 17: 1.75 miles
Day 18: 3.45 miles
Day 19: 1.5 miles
Day 20: 4.75 miles (hills)
Day 21: 1.5 miles
Day 22: 1 mile

Week 4
Day 23: 9 miles
Day 24: 1 mile
Day 25: 5 miles
Day 26: 1 mile
Day 27: 5 miles (hills)
Day 28: 1 mile
Day 29: 1 mile

My goal for this month was to get myself in the habit of running regularly. When work gets busy or when I have other things going on, it's all too easy for me to tell myself I'll run later in the week. Which would be fine if I actually meant it, but unfortunately what happens is that if I push off running until later, I don't get around to it. By forcing myself to run every day, I make myself find time even when I'm busy. For example, Mondays are busy for me because I go straight to my knitting group from work, and stay there until 10. If I'm going to run on Monday, I have to do it before work. And I'm not a morning person, so if I'm not committed to running every day, then I'm likely going to hit snooze at 6:30 a.m. rather than get up to go running. But having made the decision to run every day, I dutifully get out of bed on Mondays in time for a mile or two before work.

The way it's working out, I do a long run on Sunday mornings with friends from work. We're all training for the Philly Distance Run on September 20, but my friends are also training for the Philadelphia Marathon in November, so usually they go a little further than I do on Sundays. Monday is a 1-2 mile recovery run, just to loosen my muscles. Tuesday is a morning run, when I trick myself into running more miles than I feel like doing so early. Wednesday is another recovery run, and Thursday is either intervals or a tough workout including some killer hills. Friday is a recovery run, and Saturday is an oh-my-goodness-I-can't-believe-how-far-I'm-running-tomorrow run - which usually translates into 1 mile. My 31 miles of August ends on Monday. I plan to keep my Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday workouts, but I'll be a little more lax about the other days, and probably give up running on Mondays - it's probably better for me to give my muscles a break.

Oddly, the biggest challenge this past month hasn't been the running - it's the waking up early several days a week. I'm used to going to sleep around midnight, but I just can't get by on 6 hours of sleep. Close behind that in difficulty is the inherent challenge of running hard workouts in August in Delaware. These past few weeks it's been horrifically hot and humid, and I'm hoping that after training in this weather I'll be in better shape once the weather gets better.

Now, it's time to get ready for my 11-mile run tomorrow morning!

Day 3 of 31 Miles of August

Meghan — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 03:09:00 GMT

Just updating to report that so far my 31 Miles of August is going well. Here's my mileage:

Day 1: 2 miles

Day 2: 6 miles

Day 3: 1 mile

I'm working from a sketchy training schedule. I plan to do my long runs on Sunday, a mid-length run or intervals on Tuesday, and intervals on Thursday. The other days I'll fill in with short distances. So far my struggle is waking up early enough to get my mile run and shower done in time for work. I know there's no way I'm going to wake up in time for a mid-length run on Tuesday mornings, so I'm giving myself the flexibility to run intervals instead if I end up working late and can't fit a full run in.

You may have noticed that I'm not including times or speeds for my mileage. For my purposes, running with a heart rate monitor is enough to get me where I want to be for the 1/2 marathon. Right now I'm running my easy and long runs with my heart rate consistently between 155 and 160 beats per minute. Based on my resting heart rate and my estimated maximum heart rate, that's a good range for me to train in. If you're a gadget person, you might want something more than a heart rate monitor -- you might prefer to run with a GPS watch or something else that tracks your speed and can tell you what pace you're running. For the time being, running according to my heart rate is working, and I'd rather not worry about how fast or slow I'm going. I may change my mind over the course of my training, though - my interval partners are devotees of the Forerunner 305 and the Nike + iPod, and may yet convince me to give it a try.