Snail's Pace Knitting

I have several knit blog webring logos on my sidebar. I'd best include some knitting content so I don't get rejected by the knitters too as I was by the art quilters! So here is the present state of the Kimono Shawl. Not the most artsy photo with the gray knitting NOT contrasting with the gray sidewalk, but I was in a hurry.

I love working on this. I've long since internalized the pattern and it moves along relatively smoothly. Still, my progress is slowish and I stop and check the stitch count on every repeat.

I have so little unbroken time for knitting--I think my average is about one 24-row pattern repeat per week, which is negligible progress indeed. One basic with knitting is that it requires the time put in to yield results. But it's summer and no wooly shawls will be needed for some months now. So I'm not sweating my snail's pace.

Lovely wooly texture...

Tomorrow night is Seams at Bonnie's and I plan to surprise everyone and bring a sewing machine, and actually work on a quilt or two. Wonders never cease.

In other news... As always, I'm slow to jump on the bandwagon with the popular girls but, better late than never I've joined the WOMAN Challenge, sponsored by the US Department of Health and Human Services. It's a walking challenge promoting women's fitness, with downloadable progress sheets, online record-keeping, and virtual routes across the county. It runs through July 8, which doesn't really give me much time to virtually walk across the county, now does it?

Eh. My lateness on this one doesn't bother me. I know I don't really need a group challenge to keep me moving. I get more motivated all the time.

I've been a dedicated walker since my kids became old enough that I could be gone for an hour or so with no adverse consequences. That would have been somewhere in the mid-80s. I even did a year of running along the line, but have settled back into walking as what feels best. Weather permitting, I do a 40 to 50 minute walk each morning, and truth be told, not much weather stops me. My personal winter rule is that I can't bail unless it's under ten degrees Fahrenheit.

I have two routes: the weekday one which is about 2.75 miles, and the weekend one which is about 4.2 miles. This latter one requires traveling some distance on a state highway, which is very busy and scary most weekdays. So I tend to save that route for early Saturday and Sunday mornings.

I bought myself a high-end pedometer, which didn't cost so very much at all, and I'm having fun seeing just how far I go in a day. The challenge goal is 10,000 steps. I have no trouble whatsoever doing 10,000 steps as long as I get in that morning walk.

Anybody else walking, either as part of the WOMAN Challenge or without it?