The thrill of victory... and the agony of defeat.

Well, one out of two ain't bad.

I was going for two medals this past Sunday. In my last post, I shared my goal for the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics, to finish the Darkwood Cardigan. I had 17 days to do so. Now, I'm sure that there were times in those 17 days that I could have been knitting and wasn't, but I knew I had no plans for Friday night and Saturday during the day and was planning on using that time as catch-up. Until...

We had a little repeat performance of New Hampshire weather damage on Thursday. A crazy wind storm blew through the Granite State and parts of Massachusetts, leaving almost 300,000 without power in NH and over 100,000 in Mass. We did not have power from Thursday night til Monday afternoon! Luckily, we borrowed a small generator from a friend, but it was literally only hooked up to the burner so we could heat the house and shower. We didn't even have any light! So try as I might... I did not finish the cardigan. So sad. I still have the hood, weaving in ends, and buttons to do. I actually debated staying up late to finish on Sunday night, and then realized that I never got any buttons! So aggrevating! So, I cut my losses and went to sleep. But as you can see... I REALLY tried... *sigh*

Knitting with a headlamp!

Onto better news... the OTHER medal I was shooting for was the finisher's medal for the first leg of the Wild Rover Series!! This series is so fun. You run three weeks in a row, 3, 4, and 5 miles, respectively. They all begin and end at Irish bars. The shirts are great, the food is great, and everyone's attitude is happy and fun! At the end of each race, you get a medal, and those three medals come together to form one BIG medal! So fun, right? Two years ago I ran the first and third races. Last year I ran the second and third. So this year I said self... you are getting all three of those medals! My biggest concern was not finishing, since I have been battling IT Band Syndrome. But thanks to my good friend and trainer, I have been working on rolling, stretching, and strengthening my legs to make them strong enough to run again! No pain! I was even able to cross the finish line in a dead out sprint against another girl who tried to pass me... and failed. :) Me with my hardware below, 4 miles this Sunday, I hope its just as successful!


And hopefully I can show off my new cardigan before the weather gets too warm to wear it...