Knit, School, Bike?

We're back from family camp, and I'm fairly sure I am *not* ready to dive into school next week.  The march of time does not slow for anyone (except Joshua), so next week Filia will be back to classes at college and I'll be wearing my Mom's Taxi hat while endeavouring not to waste Filius' sophmore year of high school.  I have all sorts of plans.  Scary plans.  Fun scary plans.

The State Fair opens tomorrow.  That means the State Fair will post an online list of ribbons in the knitting category tomorrow.  I think I'll go bookmark that link right now. 

My current projects are socks.  One pair is a plain vanilla sock, something that I can work on in the semi-dark of an auditorium while listening to an excellent speaker.  The other is Nancy Bush's Chalet Socks, from Folk Socks.  Those are NOT things one can work on in the semi-dark.  I've got some test knitting in the works, and will be knitting Filius a vest for Christmas.  We got him a suit recently, and he thinks a vest and a fedora would be the perfect accompaniments.  We can work on the shirt and shoes later, I suppose. 

Since Filius is also working on a fitness merit badge, I've been getting out and about with him in his cardio training.  I bike, he jogs.  We only had one adult bicycle in the house, a nice old Schwinn, and I decided I would get another so that TWO people could go for bike rides at the same time.  I got myself a Schwinn Admiral, and love the nice new shininess of it.  What I'm not so sure about is the rest of the bike.  I need a bike expert!!!  My top speed is 10 mph, and that's in the top gear on the flat with no wind.  It's depressing, entering my distance/time into SparkPeople, since there's no cycling category for that rate.  True, I'm not bent double in an aerodynamic posture ... but really!  The old bike is MUCH easier to pedal, for all that it is at least 40 years old.  Wheel size is about the same, gearing is about the same (5 old, 7 new) ... what's up?  Even if I am that out of shape, that doesn't account for the fact that I could go 6 miles on the old bike in top gear and feel it less in the legs than I do after a few blocks on a middle gear in the new one. 

I'm torn between being seriously miffed and appreciating the extra workout.  Got any advice?

Photos

The shawl was blocked outside so the dogs didn't establish ownership of it and snag something.

Corner on Red Mad

Center on Grass

Sprig on Blue Mat

Shawl, folded. 

Plums

Bunnies

The plums have been abundant this year.  Some days, we got TWO tubs the size of the one in the photo.  Unfortunately, the majority of the fruit are higher than we can pick, so we get them once they've fallen.  And once they've fallen, they tend to be a bit squished.  And if they're squished, they need to be processed IMMEDIATELY or else be tossed.  We've been tossing a lot.  But I did put up 15+ sheets of fruit leather (about 16" square each), 11 quarts of plum halves, 8 jars of plum jam, 6 pints Asian Plum Sauce, 6 pints of Plum Butter, and quite a few have disappeared straight into our tummies or to neighbors.  And a plum crumble. 

I'm still hunting for a good vacation knitting project, alas. It needs to be something I can work on in a darkened auditorium and pay almost no attention to, and I have some fingering weight Brushed Suri that has been languishing in my stash.  But no project seems to blend those two things.  My "I can pay attention" project was going to be Aragorn.  I've had the pattern downloaded for several months, and the yarn was a gift from a friend.  I printed the pattern off -- all 13 pages of it -- and started reading and studying.  It's off-putting.  Who wants to knit a sock that requires assembling a mystery and working together with other people to solve clues?  ARGH!  So I stuck the pages on a shelf and grabbed Folk Socks, then cast on for the Chalet Socks.  But I'm still without a decent traveling project.  I've until tonight to find one.

It's a Bunnyderful Wednesday

Flopsy in the Hostas - 20 feet from the beagle on his tie-out chain

Flopsy in the Oregano - 2 feet from the beagle on his tie-out chain

Filia's latest finished object

I'm sensing a bunny theme here.  This is a test knit

Weavies!  (without bunnies)

One rather sizable SCOBY, also without bunnies.