A Golding Christmas

And birthday fibers
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Silvester

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Beck Take Two

With the "Fit" part of the blog being next to non-existant, I think it will really help me by remembering to mention it from time time.

Grr- I'm disgusted with myself currently. After saying for a year that I needed to get back on track, here I am, near the end of 2009 and 25 lbs heaver than I was when we started this year.

And I feel it this time. I am huffing and puffing as I climb stairs, and I'm too young to be feeling this cruddy.

So I decided to go ahead and buy the Beck Diet Solution workbook (I had checked out the book from the library last year and liked it, but didn't implicate all the changes last year)

I think this, with Turbo Jam for cardio, ChaLean for strength training, and Weight Watchers for eating guidelines will help me.

NaKniSweMo Burnout

After working on the sweater for all my free time for three weeks, I have completely burnt out on the sweater.

I have over 50,000 stitches, but I am completely unmotivated to finish it before November 30th.

Maybe after a few days break I'll change my mind, but for now, I'm knitting a hat for my dad.

The Halfway Point

Here was my progress as of Monday night on my NaKniSweMo project. Please pardon the blechy bathroom mirror photo, it was late, and I was the only one up. Sleeves are done, and I am on the 15th repeat of 30 (or 40 if I have the yarn) repeats of the body pattern. Only 60 (or 100) rows of 189 stitches left! 11340 (or 18900) stitches left to knit! Totally doable. Well, plus the collar, but I'm working on that at lunch currently. I did decide to make the collar about half as wide as the pattern. This is mostly to make sure I have the yarn to knit it, reading Ravelry, this seems to be the major yarn suck of the pattern.

Finally a post on the weight loss progress. After months of saying I needed to get back on track, I finally re-signed up for Weight Watchers. I tried using a free site for months to count calories, but it never "clicked" for me, and I kept going over every day. Friday I noticed my weight had crept back up to the 230's and briefly hovered at the weight I was when I had Kaylee less than 2 years old. Not good. Not good at all. So far so good. I have found it easy to avoid the sweets and bread (except for two occasions where there was stress and all you can eat pizza, but I didn't go as overboard as I had in the past)

My first WI is Friday, and I will try to post the results then.

NaKniSweMo Day 6

Just a quick progress shot as of my lunch break today. I sepereated the sleeves, and have about 160 rows of k3p3 and p3k3 checkerbord before I'm done with the body. I might do the sleeves at the start of the next ball of yarn so I can more effenciatly judge how long to make the sweater.

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NaKniSweMo day 4

Almost done with the increases. 33 out of 34. Will be starting the body tonight.
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Christmas Knitting in November

I've been busy the last few months getting a head start on some Christmas knitting, so I could "relax" in November and work on NaKniSweMo again this year. I started in March (yes March) with Aeolin for my mother-in-law, but that is still unblocked, and will probably remain so until closer to the holiday or the next time my parents have the kids overnight.

Other projects that I have knit are Ice Queen, for my mother. I knit this in about two weeks (off and on) using JeggerSpun Zepher in Juniper and light gold beads.



And pulled up over my head.

For my 15 year old Emo Brother-in-law, knit York. I'm going to embellish around the moth to make the sculls look more like the sculls from the Punisher, but I need to felt it a bit more still. I'm waiting until I have both sinks cleaned out and both kids asleep at the same time. I figure I have until Christmas to get this done, so that miracle is sure to happen sometime between now and then. I knit this in one day while home sick and watching a Buffy marathon.

I'm not sure who this one will be for, I might send it to my sister in Germany, or I might save it for myself. This is knit from my homespun Falkland that I knit during the Tour De Fleece this summer, and is nice and soft and crunchy.

In regular knitting, my Arisaig is coming along nicely. I have the back lace piece finished, and have started on the right lace piece. I'm still pretty confident that the changes I have put in to make this a pullover will work and look nice, but it is going to take a while to do. I am glad that this isn't what I decided on for NaKniSweMo.



But this is. Therapi. Knit in my own hand dyed yarn, using Wilton's Leaf Green (a whole container for seven skeins). I'm 38 rows into the yolk (have 30 more to go) before it is time to separate the sleeves and work on the endless 3X3 ribbing for the body. But I'm sure that I will be able to have this finished before November 30th.

Now back to knitting.

FO! Alphamitts

A few weeks ago I finished the Spiderman Mitts for Corwin's birthday, and Kaylee kept steeling them and putting them on. Corwin demanded that I knit Kaylee a pair of mittens of her own. After a night of searching Ravelry and getting Corwin to ok the pattern and pick out colors, I started on the Alphamitts. It took me two weeks of lunchtime knitting to finish these.

I presented Kaylee with the finished mittens this morning, and she was very happy. She took them to show her brother, and her daddy, then, smiling, tossed them in the trash.

Pullover Fail

Saturday I started working on my modified Arisaig pullover. I decided I would try to knit the pull over in one piece, with a provisional cast on at the start of the lace and would split at the arms. After much adding, casting on, frogging, re-calculating, casting on again and fudging I had the cast on started. All 368 stitches. It only took one repeat of the 16 row chart for me to realize that I was fucking crazy. Yeah. I frogged again last night and am going to work the body in pieces, and will seam, and knit the ribbing in the round. Take two begins tonight with the back.


This weekend also had me dying the yarn for my NaKniSweMo project, Therapi. I wound up dying 7 skeins a nice bright leafy green, and realized that the green is the same shade as the school colors for the Uni that I work for and graduated from. Oh well, it is going to be the office sweater. I just hope I will have enough yarn.

I did finish the Chickidee Cowl and Ice Queen, and will try to get pics up as soon as I block them.

Vine Yolk Cardi, now with buttons!

I sucked it up last night and sewed buttons on my cardi. Nothing special on the button front, but I'm wearing it at work today and it is so comfy and warm in our cold office. Might have to make some arm warmers to match though.
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Sickness, Changes, and Casting on like crazy

I've been sick for 10 days :( Not the flu, but a head cold turned upper respiratory infection. Breathing has been hard to do the last few days, as it feels like my nasal passages have been rubber cemented together, but other than that, I feel ok. I've missed two days of work, which gave me some time to knit and spin a little, but not much, as I spent much of those days sleeping. I cast on for two projects during that time, Ice Queen and Kernel from Knitty. Ice Queen will be a Christmas gift for my mother, and I'm using yarn that has been in the stash since 2005 (when I first started knitting) and have been using as scrap yarn for years. Kernal is being knit in conjunction with the Sexy Knitter's Club current knit along. Its my second project using my hand spun yarn:

The other thing I cast on for in the last few weeks was a pair of mittens. After I finished Corwin's Spidy Mitts, Kaylee kept steeling them and putting them on around the house. Corwin came up to me and said that I had to knit her her own pair, so she would stay out of his. I am knitting the Alphamitts in Knit Picks Palette, Calypso Heather and Lilac (both yarns left over from other projects). Corwin picked out the colors to use and they look awesome!

I finally got photos of Kaylee's Jacket on here with the buttons and ties done. She loves this coat, and the matching hat, and asks for it to be put on in the mornings. Everyone who has seen it has mentioned how cute it is on her.



I've also finished Corwin's Pembrook Sweater, in time for him to wear it on Photo day at daycare. Oh my goodness, this was a knitting marathon, but so worth it. I knit the whole sweater in less than 10 days, and I say it is just about perfect. The only problem is that the dyelots of the yarn (which I had in stash forever) didn't match up, and the labels had been long gone, considering I had started and frogged many projects with the yarn over the years.

I'm trying to finish up as many small projects as I can this month so I can devote November to NAKNSWMO again. Right now I'm debating between two sweaters: Therapi and Arisaig. I have enough yarn in stash for both, and both would be challenging projects for me to do.

With Therapi I would need to dye yarn, and reading the commits on it at Ravelry, the yarn amounts on the pattern are way off, almost 50% off. I'm debating either a leafy green or a dusty rose color, and would have to dye in two batches (and alternate skeins). I'm thinking I'll overestimate by a few skeins and shorten the collar if I run out, but I'm dreaming of a nice big comfy cardi to keep in my office. The downside is that this whole sweater is knit in one piece, and would be rather cumbersome by the time I finished it.

Arsaig would be knit in KP Palette, and modified very heavily. I think the project as shown on Knitty looks sloppy and baggy, and I've seen other's project pages where they have modified it to be a pullover and I think it looks great that way. I'm thinking I'll knit in one pice, starting with a provisional cast on at the start of the lace, knit up from there, and then after I have that done, decide just how much overlap I will want, and knit the ribbing down from there. Since the sleeves are knit in pieces, this would be the more portable project for me to take to work for lunches and on car trips to the store or my parents. All changes would be documented on the blog.

Time to get back to knitting

FO! Vine Yolk Cardi

I finished the Vine Yolk Cardy from the fall Twist on Saturday. Pardon the cruddy camera phone shot. I still need to go find buttons for it after work today, but wanted to post a quick pic.

My Knitting Time is No Longer My Own

It has been taken over by the kids! Ok, I'm still able to get some knititng time for myself, there is the Chickadee Cowl that I am knitting in my Purple and yellow handspun on my lunch break at work, and a few rows of my Vine Lace Cardi at night when the kids are in bed, but lately the kids have been ASKING for things.

First, I saw the most adorable coat in one of the Knit Picks catalogs, for the Smock Coat by Debbie Bliss. I had to make it for Kaylee. And I enough CotLin in my stash in Lantana. The knitting took about a month from start to finish, and since this photo was taken, I have added buttens and a seed stitch belt.



Then it was time to start on the yearly birthday knitting for Corwin. This year he vetoed every sweater pattern I showed him, asking instead for "Spiderman". We did a search on Ravelry and came up with Spiderman hat and mittens.




The yarn is Knit Picks palette in Bare and Calypso Heather that Corwin and I dyed into the red and dark purple for the hat (yeah for using up more stash yarn!) Since finishing them, Corwin has worn the set every day and says that we need to dye more yarn up so I can knit him a sweater. I don't think so.

Instead, I think I'm going to knit him Pembrook from the summer Petite Purls, in more stash yarn of blue cotton ease, and I may add sleeves to the sweater.

Corwin has also requested that I knit mittens for Kaylee, so she stops trying to steel his, and I found the perfect pattern, Alphamitts, which I can also use stash yarn for.

In all of this kid knitting, I still have to knit a scarf for Michael, a hat for my dad, and a few more sweaters for myself. Thank goodness I convinced Steve to let me buy a lot of yarn with the last tax refund, knowing that we would spend this holiday season dirt poor.

The Start of the Vine Yolk Cardi

I cast on for this Tuesday and I'm loving it so far. Right now this is my lunch project for work, at least until I finish C's hat and mitts and K's coat
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Blogging from my phone

Testing to see if this works.
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52 Weeks to GO!

Steve is currently in an accelerated nursing program through Texas Woman's University. He is working on getting his BSN in a 15 month program for people who already hold a bachelors degree in any field. Until then, I'm the bread winner, but after he graduates, the plan is for me to start working part time, and to be around when our son is home from school (he starts Kindergarten the same month that Steve graduates).

I have decided to dedicate myself to losing this weight, and trying my best to reach MILF status before my son starts kindergarden, or to try my best to get as close to it as I can. I know that we won't have mony for junk food or fast food more than maybe once or twice a month, and most of what we will eat will be inexpensive, whole foods. I will start using my bread maker (the one I have had for 7 years and have used 7 times) to start making our bread at home. Mmm hot fresh bread in the evenings, and limiting the amount of meat that I eat to once a day, dinner time only. Or at least I will do to the best of my ability on our budget. But vegetarian meals for breakfast (oatmeal, cream of wheat, fruit, etc) will be cheaper than hitting fast food. Lunches will take being creative. I might allow myself canned soup with a little meat in it, but I will avoid hamburgers, meat filled subs, Chick Fil A, and all the bad options that I have near campus. Dinner most nights will be from the crockpot to save time, and to have hot meals waiting for us when we get home.

Until then, Steve has voted for pizza tonight. Here is hoping that I don't make a complete and utter pig of myself and eat half (or more!) of the pizza, again.

Why I suck so much

Why I suck so much,

I'm a fatty. I know it, and I hate it. But I can't stop eating. Why? Why am I such a fatty who sucks?

I hate being fat, feeling fat, feeing puffy and having my jeans be too tight. I need a place to vent where others in my everyday life can't find it, so I guess I'm going to start doing it here.

I've been fat all my adult life. I was oblivious to it also. I knew I was "big" but I didn't realize I was obese. Yeah, at one point I weighed 245 lbs, when I first started Weight Watchers. And then I got pregnant 3 weeks later. I did great after my son was born, but in 2006 regained 40 lbs, and got pregnant again, and had the most stressful pregnancy, with gestational diabetes, and marital issues. I was 214 after my daughter was born, and have been trying to lose the weight ever since. I did manage to get down to 205 before the holidays last year, but let myself eat everything in site since I couldn't eat any treats the year before.

I was up again today. 222.6 That up one lb from last week. I'm up over 10 lbs from where I was this time last year, up 20 lbs from where I was in November, up 30 lbs from where I was in March of 2006, and only down 20 lbs from where I was in January of 2004.

Fuck, I've been on this weight loss rollercoster for over 5 years, and have only lost 20 fucking lbs! I hate that. What the fuck is so wrong with me that I can't fucking lose weight? Why do I start doing good, and then slide into complete and utter over eating. Why do I hate myself so much over this?

Is it me, or could this be because I'm still nursing Kaylee? Will I start losing weight when I wean my baby? But I love nursing her (except for when she wants to use me as a paci all fucking night long). I'm not sure I'm willing to give up nursing her yet, especially since she gets so much comfort out of it. I love nursing her, and if she is going to be my last child, then this really will be the end of me being a nursing mom.

But why do I identify myself so much with being a nursing mother? Why is it so important to me? Why don't I identify myself just with being a mother? Why do I focus on the fact I'm nursing so god dammed much?

But if I do wean her, will that end the constant need to shove food in my face? Or will it make me want to eat even more? So confused.

Working on night weaning her right now. Seeing if getting her to sleep thought the night will help me mentally. Not sure if it will, but it will be a start.

Need to start being more accountable for what I eat, working out, everything.

I've spent most of this week watching the youtube videos of another over eater with other eating disorders. She yo-yoed so bad, but seems like she found her path finally. Which is good. Her being a faster is not healthy, and is another form of her disorder. But her going raw. That sparked something in me. I think I'd like to go mostly raw. I know it would be healthy, but I still like my meat (Mmm steak) and everything. The down side is I'm too fucking broke to do it. I can't afford much produce right now, let alone enough to live off of most of the time. Dammit.

I'll be 34 years old this year, and still as fat as I have been for all of my adult life. I so suck!
I want to be thin by the time I am 35
I want to be in top shape by the time I am 40
I want to be a MILF when my kids are teens, even if I will be close to 50
But at the rate I'm going now, I won't be around for my kids at all.
Corwin already asks me why I'm so fat, and it breaks my heart. Yet have I done anything about it other than gain another 7 fucking lbs since he asked me? No, and I suck for it.

I'm already drinking 100 oz of water a day (at least), I drink 2 cups of coffee a day (sometimes 3, but thats all) with FF half and half and splenda. Switched from my high fat and calorie flavored creamers. Rarely drink a soda (ok, maybe 2 or 3 times a week lately) Thats close to 150 oz of liquid a day. Damn thats a lot. But I know I'm drinking enough.

My eating isn't the best. I've tried logging points, calories, you name it, and it lasts for a few days, then I go way overboard, and stop. Why is it? Is it too hard for me to keep up with everything? Why do I suck so much?

Today I have eaten:
1/2 onion bagel with cream cheese
1/2 apple danish
1 cup yogurt with granola
grapes
2 1/2 cups of coffee
35 oz of water.

Its only 11 am, and I am due to go out to lunch with my husband in an hour. I know he is going to suggest pizza buffet (have coupons for $5 a person) but pizza is one of my biggest trigger foods, and I am trying to avoid it at all cost right now.

A minute on the lips, a lifetime on the hips.

I need to keep telling myself that when I feel the need to overeat.
Last time we went to this pizza buffet, I had been doing killer with tracking everything, working out, and was starting to look and feel great.
Had a big huge plate of salad, with a little ranch and sunflower seeds on it.
Chased it down with 8, yes 8 slices of pizza! Now I'd been kicking myself in the ass thinking I ate an entire pizza, but I think I might have been mistaken on that. They do slice it a bit thinner than we do at home, so it was closer to a little over half a pizza, 3/4ers of one. Still a lot. And I felt like ass over it the next two days. I just couldn't stop eating the pizza until I felt like I was going to burst.
Have I been eating healthy since? Nope.
I have let that one night, 3 fucking weeks ago, set me off track for so long.

But I think I'm back now.
I need to do this for me!
I need to do this for my kids!
I need to do this for my husband! He deserves to have me be the thin woman I was when we met (18, size 6, ballooned up real fast). I know he has loved me at all my weights, but I want to be thin and healthy for him.

This post is the only time I'm allowing myself to beat myself up. The only time I'm allowing negative talk from me (but I know some will slip through). I need to focuse on the positive instead of the negative.
I have kept off 20 lbs for almost 5 years! Thats incredible! I could be 300 fucking lbs right now if I hadn't had made some of the right changes when I was pregnant with Corwin and after he was born.
I have let my body nourish my children for the same 5 years. Both through pregnancy and through nursing. So what if I'm not going to be able to nurse Kaylee for the 2 1/2 years I nursed her brother. She was still nursed for the first year and a half of her life, and that is a lot more than most of the other children in this country.
I've been obese for both of my pregnancies. Maybe if I can get to a healthy weight, we will feel like it is time to have a third child. Maybe weaning Kaylee isn't going to be the end of my nursing time. (Stop focusing so much on your life as a nursing mother, you are more than your breasts Cyn!)

Today is the first day of the new, healthier me. Hear me roar!

Trying to post once a week

Doing good so far.

I'm still camera less, so once again, no photos.

Sunday Corwin and I dyed the yarn for his Spiderman hat and mittens. I decided to use the Calypso Heathered Knitpicks Palette I had in stash, and to over dye one skein a very dark violet for the "black", and my mom had some bare palette that Corwin and I dyed red with Kool-aid and red food coloring. The colors for both turned out beautiful, just what we were wanting, and I cast on Monday night at knit night. It was there that I found my first problem. The purple yarn was bleeding all over my hands as I was knitting, leaving purple streaks around my fingers where the yarn was tensioned and my fingers that touched the knitting. No biggie. I knew I had glvoes at home for dying hair, so I could use those for knitting. I got through the blue section of his hat before bed, and got a few rows in on the red before I noticed just how small the hat was. I called Corwin over so we could try on the hat, and it was too small! The hat was coming out to 16 inches, when my son has a head circumference of 21 inches. I'm thinking I'm just going to buy some Wool Ease and try again at a larger gauge, rather than trying to re-write the pattern, because I know the gloves would be too small for him as well.

So I've been working on Kaylee's jacket ever since, trying to get that finished so I can start and focus on Corwins set when I can get the yarn. I finished the left front on Friday night, and started on the right front Saturday. I had a few mistakes in row counts that led to 10 rows or frogging, twice!, but I finished the right front last night, and will cast on for the second sleeve at lunch today. If all goes to plan, I should have the the sweater seemed by the end of this weekend, and will only have the collar to work on. I will have enough yarn to do a matching hat, and will work on that while I'm waiting on getting the yarn to do Corwin's set.

I've decided to frog my February Lady Sweater. I just haven't been feeling the love for it. I've had it as a WIP since April, and maybe get 5 rows a week. At this rate, It will take over a year to finish the sweater. And to top it off, I think the yarn will rock as this. I only have 1100 yards of the blue dyed, so I'm waiting to see how yardage goes for others making the sweater.

Just a quick update

I don't seem to remember the blog exists half the time, and when I do remember, I don't ever have much to say.

My camera is dead, so no photos for a while, unless I want to do camera phone pics or I can convince Steve to let me use his.

Its August, and the time of the year where I start planning what I am going to knit for Corwin for his upcomming birthday. Every year, since he turned one, I have knit him a sweater for his birthday present. There was Trellis, Scoop (minus the intarsia), Childhood in a solid bright red, and last year the green hoodie with cables (that I never put the zipper in Oops). I've been scouring Ravelry for sweaters for him, had a few to show him, and he didn't want any of them.

What does he want?

Spiderman!. He is obsessed with spiderman. I think we have settled on a hat and mittens for this year, and I'm going to have my mom put a zipper in last year's hoodie. I think I might re-size the mittens for fingerling, or try my hand at designing something, so I can do everything with the same yarn, and only have to buy a a few balls from Knit Picks. I can pick up the yarn to make this for $10 from Knit Picks, which I will be doing soon.

Until then, I'm trudging along on the Smock Coat for Kaylee. This coat is nothing but Seed stitch, with a little bit of garter stitch thrown in on the hem and collar. Its good mindless knitting that takes forever. I'm having to force myself to work on it some days, but others I can't put it down. I 'm making the 2-3 year old size to fit my big girl (18 months tomorrow and has been in 24 month clothing for months), but I think I miss judged, and made it one inch too short. Trying to decided if I'm going to stress and fix it, or just deal. I have the back, one sleeve, and half of the left front done, and just have the rest of the left front, the right front, other sleeve, and collars to go. I'm only on ball 5, and if I have enough left over, I think I'm going to knit a matching tam for her to wear with it.

My February Lady Sweater has been neglected these last few months. Since I took up spinning so hard core, and have been working on gift knitting, I just don't have time for it that often. I have it next to the bed for that "I'm up, showered, dressed, and have 30 minutes before I have to get the kids ready" time, but since Steve started classes in Dallas, I've been sleeping in longer, and not having that 30 mintues of veg time to start the day with. I'm still only on the second skein of yarn, and think it will only take 4 of the 5 that I dyed for it, maybe leaving me with a skein for a hat.

I've been obsessed with looking at hats on Ravelry lately. I'm not sure why. Maybe it has to do with spinning, and hats being a good option to do for small amounts of yarn. Who knows, but I see some hat knitting in the near future. Which is odd, since in all my years knitting, I have made a grand total of one, yes one hat. Cowls would also be a good thing to knit with hand spun, and I could give those as gifts. Hm, to ponder.

On the lace frount, I have stalled out on the GoddesKnits again. I' m just not feeling the love for this shawl, and have been thinking about frogging it and using the yarn for something else. This could be due to the fact that I just knit Aeolin out of the exact same yarn, color and all, and I'm tired of this color for now. Who knows.

I've taken a break from wheel spinning for now, and have been working on finishing up my two big SIP's on spindles. I also really need to stain the wheel, and hope to do that this weekend, now that Steve has a break from class and can wrangle the kids for me a bit. But I know my dad wants to see me spin on it, and I don't really want to break it down until after I can show it off.

Spinning wrap up from Tour de Fleace

I know I keep saying that I will get better about blogging about what I am working on, and that I need to update more than once a month or so, but once again, life got in the way. And spinning. I haven't knit much in the last month, but I have been spinning thanks to the Tour de Fleace

I have gotten in a large amount of practice on both my spindle and on the wheel, and feel like I am getting better, more consistent yarns on both, and I'm actually going to show ithem with you for once.

First up is a small project that I did using the purple merino I have had forever and a bit of a batt I picked up at Fiber Fest. The purple ply was wheel spun while the blue ply was spindle spun. It didn't turn out the way I was expecting it to, but I think I did come up with something that is usable. Second is the Rose Garden batt from ButterflyGirlDesigns that I picked up at Fiber Fest. Well, not the whole batt, this bit is only about a quarter of it. Spun on my smallest spindle, I'm getting more even and constant with this yarn. I worked on it while watching my friend Angela dance a few weeks ago, and she was fascinated that I could take fluff and turn it into yarn. This was my first time winding a plying ball, and I think it is so much easier to ply from a ball than to use my home made lazy kate. This was also the first time that I wound the finished yarn off on my PVC niddy noddie. Kaylee thought the finished yarn made a great pretty to wear.
And my first wheel spun! Way over twisted, this thing spins fast when it wants too with slow take up when the bobbins get full.
Ashland Bay Colonial Top, about 4 oz and maybe 175 yards. My MIL has claimed dibs on something made out of this.
Next up some more spindle spun yarn. "Midnight in the Meadows" from Chimera.Etsy. This is Falkland (drool, a new favorite yarn), and only 1/4 of what I have, about 150 yards, light fingerling to lace weight.
And last, what I neglected my family for this weekend to get it finished. More Falkland from Chimera in the "Crocus" colorway. 150 yards of a three ply. The singles were wheel spun, and I spindle plyed it to have one hank. Not as over spun as my first wheel spun yarn, but I do have my under spun bits in there. After a huge tangle less than 10 yards in, I did abandon the lazy kate for another plying ball (not pictured).

My Wheel!

Here are the much promiced photos of my $0.99 plus shipping, wheel. It needs work (has had a little) but I'm already in love with it.

And just figured out how to do cool things with photos!

Tour de Fleace days 1-5

Look! Two posts in one day!

I'm participating in the Tour de Fleace for the first time ever this year, spinning for Team Spindle and Team Rookie.

Pardon the photos, I warned you my camera was being wonkey. Everything has developed a blueish cast.

The fist thing i'm working on for the TDF is some of the ButterflyGirl Designs batt I picked up at DFW Fiberfest in April, in the blend Rose Gardens. I've actually been working on this batt since the start of June, but have been working on the spindle above since Sunday morning on the drive to my parents.

Second up is another ButterflyGirl batt, a sample from the mixed bag I picked up, being spun on my ButterflyGirl Designs spindle. I don't have much of this fiber, but to spread out what I do have, I'm planning on plying it with the purple merino (wheel spun) on the straw.

I've also been playing with my wheel a bit this tour, trying to get used to it. I know i haven't done a big post on the wheel yet, I'm planning on it. This is the Ashland Bay Merino in English Gardens that I also picked up at Fiberfest. Going from spindle to old wheel that still needs a little bit of work does have a bit of a learning curve, but I'm getting used to it. When I was spinning the purple fiber, more than half of what I spun wound up in the trash pile, due to being over and or under spun.

Once again, its been over a month

But what a month it has been.

The kids and I went on our first vacation in, well ever, with my parents. We drove from Texas to our family reunion in Idaho in the middle of June. I did bring my camera with me, but the camera decided to crap out on me at the start of the trip, so no photos (but your used to that from me by now)
We started our trip on Saturday June 6th, meeting up at the halfway point between our house and their house for me and the kids to get loaded in their RV, and grab a quick breakfast at McDonalds with Steve before we all got on the road.
The first leg of the trip was uneventful, and nothing new to us, since it was the route we drive to get to my MIL's house in the panhandle at least two times a year. We are used to stopping every 90 minutes or so so the kids can get out, stretch their legs, potty, and burn off some energy. My dad isn't. His theory is, he's in an RV so he doesn't have to stop for potty breaks. We were halfway to Amarillo before we convinced him to stop and let the kids out to play at a rest area with a playground. After a 30 minute break where the kids and dogs got to stretch their legs and potty, and a diaper change for Kaylee, it was back in the RV. We pulled into Amarillo around 2 pm for lunch at the Big Texan. Even though I have been driving to the panhandle/Amarillo area for 15 years, this was my first trip to the Big Texan, home of the famous 72 oz steak eating challenge. The kids ate Mac n Cheese while the three adults munched on Buffalo burgers and fries. Then it was a bit of walking around the gift shop and back in the car for a few more hours. My dad thought he would make it to Pueblo, CO that first night, but in the end we decided to stop for the night in Trinidad, CO, just past the NM/CO border on highway 25.

Ah Colorado. Even though I haven't lived there in close to 25 years, its still the state that I think of as home. The smell of the mountain air was refreshing, and the mountains, oh the mountains were so beautiful! The kids and I walked around the RV park while my dad set up camp and my mom cooked a quick dinner.

Sleeping arrangements could have been better. The kids and I wound up sharing the tiny (between a twin and a full sized) bed, and I was crowded and didn't sleep well at all on the trip. One night I was able to move Corwin to the couch to sleep, and another night Kaylee slept with my parents in their queen, but for most of the trip, it was the three of us, and my two kids are both bed hogs.

Day two of the trip had us driving north along I25 through Colorado, with a few more leg stops for the kids. On one stip, in Colorado Springs, Corwin and I ran across the parking lot to Starbucks (my one addiction) while Kaylee stayed in the RV playing with my mom. We stopped for lunch north of Denver at the Lafayette exit (close to where we used to live many, many years ago) and had Famous Dave's BBQ. It was a rainy afternoon, and we noticed a large crowd from the resturant was looking out the window at something. I got up to check it out, and it was a tornado!


(pic taken with my blackberry, and grabbed from my twitter site)

Now, I have lived in a part of the country called Tornado Alley for over 20 years, but this was the first tornado that I have actually seen since we moved out of Colorado in the mid 80's. Crazy, right? After lunch, it was back in the RV, and off to Wyoming. We had another pit stop in Cheyenne then got headed west on I80 to Rollings WY for the night. We decided to try to stop earlier in the night, to give the kids a break, and actualy picked a campground with a play area, but it decided to start raining outside of town, and kept raining the rest of the evening.

Monday started with a quick breakfast at a truck stop, gas and back gain on the highway, this time heading north west towards Yellowstone national park. The original plan was to try to get a camp ground just outside or inside of Teaton National Park or to try our luck in Yellowstone, but by late morning my parents decided the kids (and dogs) had been cooped up long enough, and we were going to stop around lunch time for an afternoon of running around and playing. We stopped in Dubois, WY, and driving through town, I saw a knitting and spinning store. I knew where I was going to try to take a walk too :). We all walked into town from the camp grown at lunch and explored town a little, but to my disappointment, the yarn store was closed on Mondays. *Sigh*
After lunch we walked around the camp ground, and let the kids and dogs run around the park, play in the outside play ground (which still had some snow on it from the night before), and play in the indoor game room a bit. We also got firewood and S'more makings and made some after dinner.
Tuesday morning we loaded up, had a quick breakfast in town and headed along the road to Teaton and Yellowstone.

Our view of the Teatons was cloudy, but they were still pretty.
Teatons and Jackson Lake.jpg | TweetPhoto

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I had been looking froward to taking my kids to Yellowstone since the first month I was pregnant with Corwin, and I was excited to finally be able to do that. It was early enough in the season that there was still snow on the ground as we drove in from the south entrance. Corwin my mom and I kept looking for wildlife out the windows while my dad drove. I don't remember seeing much wildlife while we were driving that first leg, but we did see plenty while we were there.
Corwin loved seeing the geysers, and I think Old Faithful and the other geyser basins were his favorite from the first day. He got excited every time he saw steam or water shoot up into the air. Kaylee was still too young to know, understand, enjoy much of anything that was going on. on our drive around the park we saw tons of Buffalo and Elk, even having one brave Elk dart in front of our RV as we rounded a curve. We spent the night in Canyon in a cabin with two Queen sized beds, and it was nice not to be cramped in that tiny bed with the kids, but both still slept on me. We picked up some suvies; shirts for me and the kids, a cap for Corwin, post cards and went on our way again, seeing Tower falls, and dad, Corwin and I hiking down to the base of the falls. On the drive to Mammoth Hot springs we saw lots of wild life, tons of elk, and even a buffalo right where we got out for a quick walk and potty break for the dogs.
The only thing about Yellowstone that disappointed me was Mammoth Hot Springs. I had been there only once before, in 2000 when Steve and i went with my brother Scott and his late wife Cindy. I remember it being a long hike to see the sites, but it was still beautiful. Well, time and changes in the geothermic activity of the park have hit Mammoth Hot Springs, and the springs that we were able to access with Corwin's short legs had dried up, except for the ones on the very top of the climb, or on the much long loop.
After Mammoth Hot springs, it was time to leave Yellowstone, and head to Rigby, ID and my aunts house, which was another two hours down the road. We arrived Wednesday afternoon, and my cousin Gregory greeted us all with tall stiff drinks, and my aunt had balls and water bottles for the kids. The family reunion was fun, but I don't really have much that I want to talk about with it right now.

And I promise more knitting/spinning/fitness content soon. I just realized how long this post was.

First trip to the zoo

I was hoping to have our family photos uploaded for this blog post, but my husband has stuck the camera in his backpack, and I'm too scared to go looking for it.
My husband is getting ready to start an accelerated nursing program in June, which means that for 15 months he will be 100% a student (40 hours a week + in the class room) and not able to do much with the family.
We decided that we should take the last few weekends that we have before then to do as much family stuff as we can.
Sunday we loaded everyone up and went to the Fort Worth Zoo. Corwin had been there before, we celebrated his first birthday there, and have tried to go at least once a year (but missed last year). Kaylee had never been.
Corwin was most excited about seeing the elephants and lions on the drive up, and was in a good mood for most of the day. Kaylee, who loves anytime she spends outdoors, was in 7th heaven, and got even more excited when she noticed there were ANIMALS out there to find!
It was a mild spring day for Texas, high 60's low 70's, and the animals were up and moving for once. Our first stop was the Cheetah exhibit, where one cat was walking around, and the other was rolling in the grass and dirt trying to scratch his back. Corwin took a few photos with his small kids camera, and Kaylee squealed.
Corwin got to see the elephants, all together for feeding time, and thought it was so cool! In front of the giraffe exhibit was a pond with fish and turtles, and I think that was Corwin's favorite thing of all.
Kaylee loved everything. She went "Rawwwrr" when she saw the lions and tigers. The white tiger exhibit is set up with a glass wall, allowing visitors to get up close and personal with the animals. Too close in some cases, as I was treated to the image of a Yawning tiger jaw and teeth right behind my 15 month olds head.
Kaylee's real favorite, I have to say, was the penguins. She loved watching them swim and dive down, and come up for air.
I can't wait until we can afford to take them back to the zoo. If not the Fort Worth Zoo, then the Frank Buck Zoo, which is smaller, and costs about half what the FTZ costs.

Back to Fit n Fiber

I think it fits my newfound obsession with spinning and the huge lecture I got from the Midwife I say for my gyno visit this morning, its time for some changes.

I do need to make it a goal, no a priority to lose at least 40-60 lbs. My weight is back up to 219, and I know I don't want to get back in the 220's again. I want to be thin! I want to be healthy!

First step, which is something I've learned from so many resources, is to journal every bit of food I eat. So this might get old and repetitive on the blog, but I don't think that many people read it (if you do, I'm apologizing in advance for boring your socks off)

Breakfast- Sausage McMuffin, Hash browns and a Skim Caramel latte from McDonald's. Not the best choice for breakfast after getting told to lose weight, but it was 2 hours past my normal breakfast time and I was starving (fasting blood work)

Lunch-2 slices of high fiber bread (don't remember the point count), 1 morning star farms spicy black bean burger (they were on deep sale at Target, will get more), 1 slice of cheese, jalapeños slices, and jalapeño cheddar chex mix.

Snack- Recess pb cup, pudding cup, carrots

Dinner-


And there is fiber to this post

My first spinning!!


Which meet with a horrible yarn barf accident when I attempted to ply, and got tossed into the trash in 60 broken threads.
I immediately started on my second spinning project

Which I didn't have too many problems plying.

At that point, the smart, safe thing to do would have been to keep spinning the baby batts from BFG, but instead, I jumped feet first into the silk

I'm in love, and already dreaming of getting my hands on more silk for a spinning project.

I also finished the Parker Cardigan on Sunday

It needs buttons, but I wore it out to the mall with the family.

And my mothers day present? Fiber!

(photo yanked from Etsy, since I can't remember to take a photo, and am blogging from work, and should wait for upload to finish before I delete the photo from my computer)

Still no spinning wheel, but I hope it will come soon.

Fell Off the Wagon

You know, the diet/workout wagon where I could reward my efforts with purchases at Fiber Fest last month.
Work out days 0
Pounds lost 0
Yep. A great big nothing
I gained a few pounds.

I suck
I need to get better at the working out and holding myself accountable thing.

I did go to DFW Fiberfest, and I did spend money.
My MIL gave me some money to go have fun with (I love her so) and I sold some old books and DVD's that I had doubles of to raise some money.

I went, and I didn't' buy yarn.

Not a single skein.

But I didn't leave empty handed.



A Butterfly Girl Designs drop spindle. I've been drooling over her spindles ever since I started Stalking the Spindlers group on Ravelry.

Plus Fiber


ButterflyGirl Mini Batts

And More Fiber


3.3 oz ButterflyGirl Rose Garden

And More Fiber

5 ozAshland Bay Merino Multi-Color in "English Garden" that I got a great deal on.

And Silk!!!

1 oz of Tussah Silk Roving

I've spun up a few of the mini bats, and then decided to dive head first into the silk, and I'm in LOVE. Its so easy to spin.

I also finally, 18 months after casting off, blocked the Mock Harlot Wedding Shawl



And found HOLES!!!
I hyperventilated and cried all day when I saw them, then decied to re-knit it later, when I had less lace on the needles. And to do something crazy like spin the yarn... in silk... But that will be a ways down the road when I get better at spinning.

And after I get this up and running



Maybe I should change the blog's name back to Fit n Fiber?

A shoutout to myself

Hey you!
The chubby one sitting at the desk.
What are you drinking? ANOTHER White chocolate mocha?
Aren't you supposed to be doing this whole diet thing
Yep, you are.
And I saw the weight on the scale this morning, its MORE than it was this time last year, when you *JUST* had a baby.
You keep saying you are tired of being fat, yet you never do anything about it.

No, don't give me that lip service that you are doing Weight Watchers Online. Sure you are paying for it, but when was the last time you actually TRACKED your FRIGGING points?
Had to think about it rihgt?
Sure, you start out the week tracking points, track your breakfast on Monday morning at least. But you usually give up and eat CRAP by LUNCH on Monday! Not even one day before you give up.

But I'm going to make a deal with you. You got it?
Fiber Fest is coming up in one month. 5 weeks from today. If you can manage to stay on track for that long, I will let you spend $50 at the fest. Sound good? That includes eating, tracking, working out (and not hitting the off button on your alarm at 5) EVERY DAY!
Yes I mean every day.
For every week you do it, there is $10 to spend at fiber fest.

Want to sweeten the deal a little? How about a little fibery goodness as a reward for weight loss?
Got your attention, right?
How about $5 for every pound you lose between now and then?
You weiged 215 this morning.
If you weigh 210 the morning of fiber fest, thats $25 from weight loss money. Sound good?
If you can get back to 205, thats $50 in fibery money.

Can I bribe you to work out that long?

Signed- The thin person who has been trying to dig her way out for the last 5 years.

Baby's Got Back.

Last week as I worked endlessly on the Parker Cardigan, it felt like it was taking forever to get to the proper armhole depth. I'd knit, measure, see that I only needed two inches, so maybe 2 1/2 pattern repeats more, knit that, measure, and still need over an inch. All week it felt like I was knitting onto something that defied logic on how far I was knitting. But finally, on Friday, I reached it, the end of the back.

The true-color of this is a little less yellowish, but still, one of my favorite non-lime shades of green. The pattern on this is interesting enough after working on many things of just plan stocking net stitch, yet easy enough that I had the patterns memorized on day one. I think if I could stay focused on this, I could have the whole cardigan finished by the end of the month.

But, I'm weak and gave into temptation. I've cast on for Aeolian after all. I did decide to stick with stash yarn, and used the Valley Yarns Alpaca Silk in Mulberry that Steve gave me for Christmas a few years ago. Friday afternoon I braved our torrential downpour and went shopping for beads. I found some 10/1 beads that I think look great with the yarn.

I love the look of beaded lace. In the last few years, I have started so many beaded lace projects, Swan Lake, Moroccan Days, MS4. Yep, I started them all. And got less than 1/4 of the way through before I decided I hated everything about beaded lace, epically getting the beads on the lace. Its a royal pain in the ass.
Last night, on my 3rd repeat of the Yucca chart, I got to that point again, broke the yarn, put it in my 'trash cup' I'd been using for beads that refused to be knit, and re-cast on without beads.
I didn't get past the set-up chart before I realized that the beads were a part of this shawl, weather I liked it or not. So, I dug the previously knit part out of 'time out', to see if was savable. It was, and is back on the needles.

You think you have your life all planned

Well, at least your knitting life, and not the whole knitting life, but at least for the next few months.

You have two sweaters on the needles that you are switching between, the Parker Cardigan, and another Cardi you found on Rav, plus you know you have the yarn for a few things like the Whisper Cardigan, February Lady Sweater, Fountain Pen Shawl, and you are pretty sure you signed up for Mystic Rose.

Then life (or at least Knitty) comes and throws a huge wrench in your plan.

I'm in complete and total love with the shawls in this Knitty. I must knit Aeolian, as soon as is humanly possible. Sure I haven't completed a shawl since the Ravelry Knitting Olympic event in August, but this is different. This is lust.

I would love to be able to buy some DIC baby or Malbrigio Lace for this, but I'll be a good girl and knit from my huge lace stash (most of which has been knit and frogged at one point).

But I am tempted.

Once again, call me a bad blogger

Both as a knit blogger, and as a diet blogger.

I have fallen at one and succeeded at the other in real life.

The failure: The diet so far. I was doing killer until the last week of November, I was down to 205, the lowest weight I had been in almost 3 years. Then the holidays hit, and being deprived the previous holiday season, I ate.
And ate.
And ate.
The holidays were over and I was still eating
Back up to 216 lbs :(

But I think I'm back on track.

I started ChaLean Extream with the husband. Got through the first week, loving every moment of it, the burn after I was done, the sore muscles, everything.
Then I got a UTI, and missed a week.
But I'm back, and planning on doing more in less than an hour.

Knitting, I have been doing non-stop.

I've completed so much that I haven't had time, energy, or really desire to blog about, but after going through the blog before I was pregnant, there was a lot that I had to say, and I was a half way decent blogger.

I'm currently working on The Parker Cardigan from the Spring Interweave Knits, in Knit Picks Shine Sport, and it is pretty, and soft. I hope the weather clears up so I can get photos this weekend.

And the blog, I'm debating changing the name back to "I Knit, Therefore I Frog" even though there is a lot less frogging going on.

If anyone still reads this, do you have an opinion?

2008 Finished Objects

All of these are on my Ravelry page, but I don't think I blogged about very many on here.

Baby Shrug


Nantucket Jacket


Tomato


Ropped Shell


Katja


Wakame Lace Tunic


Laminaria


Helena


Green Hoodie for Corwin


Lisel


Green Hoodie for Kaylee


Silken Scabbard


Francis Revisited


I did finish a lot more this year than I thought I did. Going through my Flicker page, I also realised I have a lot of WIP's hiding around, and a lot of items that went to the Frog Pond.