Summer!

Summer brings....

Time to knit up all the yarn I have in my stash before classes start in August. Because a) I don't really have money to buy yarn right now (stupid law books take up yarn funding), b) I'm saving up for a few projects I'm dying to do, and c) might as well use the stash. Truthfully, I don't have much of a stash. I know this because I just organized it last week...most of it is left over from previous projects, with some random accumulation here and there...and it all fits in one 18 gallon plastic storage tub. So any sort of yarn diet, provided I have time to knit, won't last too long. My latest is a sweater I'm designing for myself with my Peruvian Tweed :) (More on my Ravelry site.) Speaking of which...

Summer also brings my newest web site addiction I don't have time for, Ravelry. Have I been that out of the loop that I didn't know this wonderful site existed!? Muchas gracias to Amy for pointing me in the right direction (my productivity at work will go down now). I'm on there as Rachillsk8, and I've uploaded allllll (or almost all) of what I've knit over the past year, and stuff from my (somewhat pathetic) stash I'm going to use up at some point.

Summer also brings the first 2 medals of the 2008-2009 skating season!

This past weekend I drove up to Grand Rapids (gas prices, eek!) to compete at the Grand Rapids Open. It's not an adult-only competition, but they have enough adult skaters there that they can actually hold events for us. It was great seeing all the adult skaters I've met the past 2 yrs who competed or came to watch, and I met another local adult skater who is actually joining my club this year! Yay!

I placed 2nd in my interp and 3rd in my free. It was my first time competing silver free, second time competing individually. Overall I'm okay with how I skated. Interp could have been better, truthfully I am a huge slacker and didn't really prepare for it (meaning I did the same Josh Groban program I made up on practice ice 2 hrs before competing it at Adult Nationals...which I have since run through once before this competition). For whatever reason, I get really nervous for interp. My free program...okay in the fact that half of it is new, just put together within the past 2 weeks (other half is my bronze program from last year). My goal was just to get through it, which I did. But I didn't have the attack I need, and therefore my jumps were not nearly as high as they are in practice, and I need to hold my spin positions longer. This will all come though with practice and there is plenty of time and plenty of competitions between now and April. Eventually the whole awkward "oh my god I'm out here by myself, someone help" feeling will go away, my program will get more comfortable, the harder elements I want to put in will get to where the need to be. As always, my beautiful dresses looked fabulous :)

As much as I loved synchro, it really is kind of nice being able to skate to what I want, compete when/where I want (and stay in whatever hotels I want), wear whatever dress, make-up, hair, etc I feel like, and be on my own schedule. The friendship and camaraderie that seemed to be missing from singles competitions when I was a kid (hence what drew me to synchro) is totally there with adult skating. And I love it. So having to give up synchro for law school certainly is not the end of the world.

Summer also brings my finished "Girly Raglan!" I wore it to work last week, and actually made it to knitting group afterward! It was a big hit all around. It does seem to grow a bit while wearing, but I think some hand washing and a little time on low in the dryer before it's fully dry will take care of that.