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.

Help I've Fallen and I cant get up!

I was doing so good with being on plan, dieting, working out and losing weight. I had lost 12 lbs in a 2 1/2 months, and was down a size.

Then the holidays hit.

And I ate
and ate
and ate
and stopped working out.
and ate
and ate.

And re-gained 7 lbs.

Beck diet solution, yeah that didn't last past week 3.

100 AP's in November? I earned a grand total of 10

Goal to get under 100 lbs before the daughter's first birthday? I'm back at what I weighed at the start of October. Its not going to happen.

But I recommied starting today (yeah, yeah, famous New Years resolution), and have worked out already today, and I will go shopping for only healthy foods today.

And I will do better about posting on here.

I will do a belated year end wrap up of my knitting here later today.

Beck Diet Solution

I picked up this book through interlibrary loan, after hearing good things about what it teaches you, and have decided to give this a try in addition to following WW. I think in addition to witting things out on note cards, putting the information from Response Cards on this blog will be great journaling tools.

Reasons I want to Lose Weight Chart
I'll look better
I'll be more attractive to others.
I'll be able to wear a smaller size
I'll be able to wear more stylish clothes.
I'll be happier when I look in the mirror.
I'll get joy out of shopping for clothes.
I won't feel so self-conscious.
I'll be in better health
I'll be able to exercise without discomfort or embarrassment.
I'll live longer
I'll feel better physically
I'll have more energy
I'll feel more in control
I'll feel as if I've accomplished something important.
I'll have more confidence
I'll increase my self esteem
I'll be less self-critical
I'll feel more outgoing
I won't have to listen to my family comment on what I'm eating.
I' won't have anyone bugging me about my weight
I'll be healthier to have another baby
I will lower my risk of developing diabetes later in life
I can knit smaller sizes.

Man I identified a lot of them as goals. Almost the whole list. I do need work. Now to get index cards tonight and remember to write them all down.

I've made negative progress on my NaKniSweMo project. I finished the 5th repeat of the raglan increases, and tried it on, and hated the neckline. It seemed like the body of the sweater was too big for me as well. I had DH give his opinion of the sweater and he hated the neckline as well. I frogged it that night, and re-cast on last night for the next size smaller (36 and something, the L) I know the sweater is designed to have negative ease, but this much negative ease does worry me a bit. But since I am knitting a smaller size, I'll have a bit extra yarn and should be able to do some short row shaping at the bust. And since this is a top down sweater, it will be easier to add some extra increases for the hips if I need them.

I have been lagging in the 100 AP's in November goal. Here it is day 7 of the month, and I am only at 11 AP's. But I will earn some this weekend. I don't think I will be at my goal of 25 a week, but I will try.

Lunch break is over, back to work.

November Goals and a NSV

I have two big goals to work for this month.

The first is I'm participating in NaKniSweMo for the first time. The idea of knitting and finishing a whole sweater in a month is not that daunting, especially since I'm doing the short sleeved version of the Silken Scabbard. But I only have 800 yards of yarn and that is just shy of the called for for my size. I'm already planning on cutting out one cabled repeat on the bottom of the sweater, both to shorten and save on yarn, but its going to be close. The hemmed neckband took up a lot of yarn. But on the bright size, I figure I'm already 5,000 stitches in, and its only day three of knitting.


It doesn't look like much in the pictures, but the hem did eat a lot of knitting time.

On the workout front, I've committed myself to earning 100 AP's in November. If i complete this task, then I will buy myself a new pattern. With doing the Turbo Jam, its easy for me to earn 5-9 AP's a day, so as long as I am consistent, I don't see the numbers being a problem.

Workout Schedule
Monday- Punch Kick Jam and 10 min Ab Jam
Tuesday- 20 minute and Turbo Sculpt
Wednesday- Cardio Party Mix 1 and Ab jam
Thursday- Fat Blaster and 3TTurbo
Friday- Cardio Party Mix 3 and 10 minute Ab Jam
Rest Saturday and Sunday, unless I need to make up a workout.

There, its in writing, lets see if I can stick to it. Today is day 1 and I have already earned 9 AP.

Saturday DH and I had a date night. Nothing fancy, just the two of us going to the Abby Inn for dinner without the children. I tore apart my closet looking for nicer jeans to wear than the saggy baggy jeans I had been wearing since K was 3 weeks old. My Size 16 jeans that I had went on, and buttoned, but the gave me horrible muffin top. It was so bad that in the empire style shirt I was wearing, I looked very, very pregnant. I did go out and buy a new pair of jeans, with a bit of strech to them, also size 16 that fit beautifully. While I'm upset that my old jeans are still to small, I'm thinking because of the material and the cut, I'm ecstatic that I did fit in a different pair of the same size. There isn't even a "W" after the 16 on the label. I don't think I have fit in this size in over 10 years.

Happy Belated Halloween!

Trick or treating was done early for us, since it was K's first time out

Dear Ben and Jerry's

I have to say your Birthday Cake Ice Cream is really quiet yummy. The Chocolaty frosting swirl hits all the cravings in just the right spot. I can't resist this flavor. It beats Phish Phood hands down as my favorite.

Thats why I can never buy it again. I have no will power with this flavor. Once I open the pint and get a spoon anywhere near the contents, I will eat the entire thing in one sitting. It won't even last on the spoon long enough to find a home in a bowel for any attempt at portion control.

Thank you.

Tuesday Weigh In

I had a good week last week. Ok, so I wasn't 100% on with the program, and AF finally showed up after K's birth. But I had a loss of 3 lbs this week! That put me at 209.6, and down almost 8 lbs since I got back on track last month.

Last night was knit night. I did indulge in a Pumpkin Pie latte at Art Six while I knit and my companion crocheted. We are a small group, and we have had a third person hop in from time to time, but maybe its just this semester keeping people away.

I got home and was too wired to get to sleep right away, so I watched some NCIS re-runs off the DVR until midnight, and much to my surprise, was up at 5:15 to work out today.

I was sick last week, and took the whole week off of working out, so I started back small, with the 20 minute Turbo Jam DVD followed by the whole AB Jam, and I felt great afterwards. I really need to get a set rotation for me, and try to get all the videos in an order. Maybe I will try setting up a grab-bag, and do the video I pull out the night before, and for the shorter videos, remember to double up with a longer video.

On the knitting front, I finished A Cardigan for Merry on Sunday night, now I'm just sewing the hems in, and I'm hoping to be able to block it tonight, and get buttons this weekend. Its been chilly in the mornings, and my little girl needs something on her head, but she won't wear a hat.
I'm trudging along on the Apris Surf Hoodie finally. I did the first sleeve in two weeks, started the second sleve but messed up the increases, frogged it and decided to cast on for the body in the round. That is a whole lot of stocking net stitches. I did get to the waste shaping, and I am about 5 rows from starting the lace. That at least should make things go faster....

But Saturday is the start of November, and that means it is time for NaKniSweMo, or the National Knit a Sweater in a Month. I decided to join this year, and do the Silken Scabbard in the Brooks Farm Solo that I picked up at Fiber Fest in April.

Progress Pics.

I don't have any pics from my heaviest weight, so this progress page will be limited to photos starting from Summer/Fall of 2008.

Taken 08/09/08 at my sisters wedding.

Weight 217 lbs. It would take another month for me to decide to get back on WW.

Taken 9/29/08, Weight 213 lbs.

Notice the huge-post baby belly.

K was 7 1/2 months old when this was taken, and I still look pregnant.

A new look for the blog.

I've been toying with this idea for a while.
I've been trying to do a knit blog and a weight loss blog for a while. Unfortunately, both have been neglected in the last few months. Maybe it will be easier for me to focus if I try to combine them both again.

So the new name for the blog. "Fit and Fiber". I've been re-focused on Weight Watchers for the last two months, and I am down 7 lbs. I've decided for my rewards for hitting the milestones that I want will be knitting related, pattern, yarns, and the joy of knitting smaller sizes.

My highest weight was 245, and that was before I got pregnant with C. If I count my pregnancy weight, my highest weight was 254. I successfully lost 50 lbs one year after C was born, but quickly re-gained about 30, and hung around at 225-230 until I got pregnant again with K last year. After her birth, I was happy to see I was down to 217, and I have been working hard to lose more weight, and have lost 5 lbs in the last few months. I would love to get under 200 lbs before K's first birthday in February, get back to 50 lbs gone, and finally, get under 165 lbs. I do have a secret dream of getting below 145 lbs one day, for a grand total of 100 lbs gone, but I know that will take a ton of hard work and dedication.