Fall, and a Reveal

What a glorious, sun-kissed, quintessential fall weekend! Absolutely perfect. And I was fortunate to spend almost all of it outside. It started on Saturday, when I rode with the boyfriend down to his office and then set myself off on a long walk back through Rock Creek Park, many miles, all uphill, to home. It was so beautiful outside that I didn't even care that I was way overdressed for the day and was sweating. I was thankful that I had my camera, and that I could meander my way through all the leaves.

I probably drive on Rock Creek Parkway a dozen times a week. It's my favorite road in the city. I love the way it zips from the top to bottom of Washington with just one stoplight and a couple of stop signs. I love that at any time of day, you can see people out running, biking, playing with dogs, enjoying their day. I love the way the road curves from side to side -- when I was buying my last car, driving on the parkway was a requisite part of all the test drives. And I especially love driving it in fall, when the leaves whoosh across the road and the sunlight streaks through the trees.

But, for all the time I spend on the road, I cherish just as much the time that I can spend walking through the park, meandering along the creek and noting whether it's high or low, stopping on one of the many footbridges to just take in the scenery, exercising my legs and my lungs and my mind all at once. And it's a great treat to see a huge event in the park, like the Marine Corps Marathon. On Sunday morning, they closed off part of the parkway and turned a familiar stretch into a small loop just before mile 7. Some scenes from the weekend are below -- also sprinkled in are a couple of nice fall views of Old Town Alexandria. (please scroll down a short bit, I can't figure out why MT is throwing in extra white space.)

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And I also got some knitting done. I made a ton of progress on Shedir:

This hat is so much fun to make! I should finish the main pattern repeats tonight and start on the decreases soon. I love to watch the cable patterns appear. Also have had some um, fun, trying to unknit cables when I discover too late that I've crossed them the wrong way. Miraculously, I have been able to fix my two boo-boos thus far, but I did string in a lifeline just in case I royally screw something up.

And I finished the sock! Yippeee! Kitchenered and everything. It fits me, so it should fit the recipient just fine. Hrmm... now there's just the matter of the second sock.... Right. I'll, um, get right on that.

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And finally, the SP2 reveal! I have been gifting Margene. It's been so fun to watch and read along with her blog! No word yet from my SP2. I hope she's still out there somewhere!