Battle of the Buldge

In preparing for the impending huge step in our lives by buying a house, we decided some life insurance might be necessary. We are young and it’s really rather affordable right now. So off we went! There was a small matter of routine physicals….

Holy moley, were the holidays hard on our waistlines. Both of us are overweight and the hubs has high cholesterol. I knew that both of our wardrobes had been getting tight but sheesh! So we’ve decided to do something about it.

1) The hubs has started a fish oil regimen and increased his fiber intake per doctors orders

2) I’m increasing my cardio workouts and dragging the husband with me

3) Dinner time is now a no starch zone. We try to fix lean protein, steamed or raw veggies, and a high fiber fruit.

4) Cut our soda/sugar intake by half

5) Cut out alcohol consumption unless attending social events

6) Packing sack lunches before we go to bed instead of when we are bleary eyed first thing in the am.

7) Having bottled water on hand and Brita pitcher always full. We need all the hydration we can get!

We suck at dieting. We like carbs. We like sweets. We don’t need to crash diet. We need to learn to live better! I’m hoping by still getting our whole grains and bread/rice during breakfast and lunch that we won’t feel deprived! And if we have a soda or donut here and there….it’s not going to kill us. We simply makes choices and find a balance.

Disclaimer: I’m by no means an expert on health or fitness! This is just what we are going to try make work for us. Common sense and moderation…

Baby steps and positive choices! Here goes nothing!

Holy Cow!!!!

Well it was an exciting weekend in household. The hubs and I found a house!!!!!! Literally on our first swing. We looked at 6 homes on Saturday and put an offer on one we fell in love with on Sunday. It has 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, fenced backyard, and a two car garage. And it was a short sale by the owner so we got a great deal.

I can’t wait to show you how beautiful this house is! It has the space and storage we desperately need. And I will finally get a craft space of my own šŸ™‚

On top of this my play, A Perfect Wedding, had started rehearsals. So in the next 45 days I have to learn an entire show, pack all my worldly goods, and get set up in our first home! I am still going to try to keep up my knitting. I have some very exciting WIPs!!

I just hope I come out on the other side with my sanity!!!

Yarn Urges

Knit Picks knows me all to well. They keep sending me advertisements and blogging about their new yarn Billow. Billow is creamy soft cotton that is spun thin/thick that gives it a bit of slubbiness. I want so badly to get online and order enough to make a small shawl or cowl. Okay truth time, maybe I really want to order a whole bunch and make another blanket. Everyone seems to rave about this yarn and I just want to try it sooooo badly.

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(Photo courtesy of Knit Picks)

I have thus far resisted. I would like to say it’s because I’m de-stashing and being fiscally prudent. But it’s more due to the fact that my credit card was involved in the security breach back in Nov/Dec 2012 at Knit Picks. Knit Picks was hacked and customer’s information was exposed. I would never have known this but I happen to read their blog and noticed it there. It would have been nice to get an email, especially since I had ordered during the time period in question. And my card did end up getting fraud on it. Someone in Illinois (I live in Kansas) tried to use my card number to purchase gas, a hotel room, groceries, and something on Groupon. The card company flagged this quickly and shut off the card. I was not out any money. No harm no foul…..but I’m still hesitant about ordering. I’m not saying Knit Picks is bad or at fault, for the record I love Knit Picks and their yarn!!! And they say they have fixed the vulnerability….

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(Photso courtesy of Knit Picks)

I really really want to try this new yarn! I’m just nervous about my personal data. Any guesses on which urge will win, lol?

Happy Knitting

FO Friday: Memory Blanket

I was cleaning out my knitting storage and came across a surprise, my memory blanket I made in 2011! By 2011 my knitting had progressed from scarves to many many garter stitch baby blankets. At the time I had a slew of family and friends all having babies. It seemed that they would never stop. I think I made like 8 or 9 blankets in 2011?

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After all those projects I had a ton of random acrylic baby blanket yarn left over. It was all different colors and yarn weight and I didn’t really want to store it. So on a whim, I just cast on a whole bunch of stitches and started working. I knit until I ran out of one color and then started the next one. I finished the project shortly after Christmas. I distinctly remember sitting at my Grandma’s kitchen table playing dominos with the family and trying to knit the blanket at the same time because I didn’t want the project to run over into 2012.

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It’s not the best or prettiest blanket I have ever made, but it’s special to me. I can look at the various stripes an see all the babies I had knit for: Sofia, Bentley, Devin, Jackson, Orion, and Ely. And it’s perfect blanket to throw on my bed on a cold night or cuddle on the couch with. Isn’t it cool when something you knit becomes more than just FO?

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Happy Friday and Happy Knitting!!!

WIPitis and Its Implications

I have had a well documented case of WIPitis lately. I have five projects currently in my WIP column and about 50 more projects queued up on Ravelry. To keep myself honest, I am reporting all my WIPs to you guys. I am going to call it a “WIP Flash”!!!

Stashbustin’ #2 – Waffle Blanket

Haven’t touched this since that progress report. It’s hibernating and it honestly doesn’t bother me….yet

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Stashbustin’ #9 – Simple Stockinette Baby Blanket

See yesterday’s post…it’s coming along! This project is now my bedtime knitting.

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Stashbustin’ #10 – Pink and White Chevron Blanket

Haven’t touched this one since the last update either. I’m waiting for it to ā€œspeakā€ to me before I pick it up again.

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Stashbustin’ #11 – Simple Raglan Cardi

I have made a little progress since Tuesday. I’m really trying to do this one right. And slow and steady wins the race! This is my current TV knitting on the couch. I haven’t snapped a recent photo, but I’ve completed at least 3 inches!

Purse Project

I always keep a small mindless project in my bag in case I get stuck somewhere in line or get bored at lunch. Right now I have a Cascading Ruffles Scarf in the most elegant and shiny purple I have ever seen. It’s about half done, which is impressive since I only work one or two rows at a time.

I’ve shown you mine….anybody want to tell me about theirs?

Happy Knitting!!

WIP Wednesday: Stockinette Baby Blanket

Stashbustin’ #9

I have made some great progress on my Simple Stockinette Baby Blanket in Bernat Baby Blanket. Especially since I got snowed in at my parent’s house this past weekend and it’s the only project I took with me. The alterations I made in my previous post have really helped. It’s not the best blanket in the world, but I feel victorious for surviving thus far without incoherent babbling!!

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Having said that…..I am improvising this pattern and I did not swatch for gauge. (Please see previous WIP post where I was bragging about swatching my cardi…) I do realize that gauge has significant implications but my knitterly brain just refused to accept that reality in some projects. The resulting WIP blanket is proving to be coming out enormously wide. My calculations have blanket coming out at 50 in long and 30 in wide or vice versa.

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I have decided to roll with the punches and call this an ā€œunintentional design feature”‘ I am on my second skein if yarn and I think I’m just going to knit until I get to the end of it. My mom took only look at my progress and declared I should use three. Sadly she is right and I know it. But I just can’t keep working on this hot mess of a project. Lesson learned: I shall not improvise a project without first checking gauge and dimension! I am just going to finish what I have (should even be able to cast off this project before the weekend) and move on!!

Anybody need a wonky shaped blanket? (I am the master of my own knitting, at least according to the Yarn Harlot!)

Happy Knitting!

Update: Stashbustin’ #11

Stashbustin’ #11

I have finally cast on for my Simple Raglan Cardi. I was a patient knitter. I read the pattern, took my measurements, knit a swatch, measured said swatch for gauge, washed and blocked the swatch, marked up the pattern for my required size, re-measured just to be sure, and FINALLY cast on my sweater. This is my first really foray into a fitted garment for myself. I have made generic shrugs and other easy garments before and I’m finally brave enough to try.

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As you can see from the photo, I don’t have much progress. But it’s a start!!! And I just love love love the feel of soft cotton under my fingers and on my needles. Being as this is a top-down construction, I intend to try it on as I knit to ensure proper fit. Sure, this entails putting it on and taking off waste yarn in order to check fit. But isn’t it worth it to get a garment you will actually wear?

Keep you posted on my progress!

Happy Knitting!!

Audition Adventures

One of my favorite hobbies next to knitting is theater. Where else can you get up on stage and pretend
to be someone else, act a fool, or be a villain, or just make people laugh. I started theater as a freshman
in high school (ahem….14 years ago this coming may….) and I was hooked. I was lucky enough to get
parts in productions in college and then live in a community that has not one but four local theaters
to volunteer at. I love being on stage and working behind the scenes, just as long as I’m involved I’m
happy!

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Tonight I’m auditioning for ā€œPerfect Weddingā€ at a local theatre, a farce comedy about the trials and
tribulations of getting married and all the possible things that can go wrong. Its bad juju to wish an
actress good luck, always say ā€œbreak a legā€. Break a leg stems from Shakespearian theatre and refers to
having to ā€œbreakā€ or bend your leg to pick up the coins or trinkets patrons would throw on stage for a
successful performance. Oh the random pieces of information my brain hold, lol.

Hope you are off to a great Monday!

Knitting on the Road

Hello from the boonies of North Central! I am stuck watching it snow sideways this morning. Mind you it was 50+ degrees yesterday. I have my coffee and my knitting and I am just enjoying the peace of country life. (That is providing the five canines in the house at this moment can leave me alone and stop messing up my yarn because they hate the storm….) Still working on my chenille Stockinette Baby Blanket, one stitch at a time.

Its kinds of nice once in awhile to just close my eyes and pretend I’m a kid again at my parents’ house and I don’t have a care in the world. In few hours (fingers crossed for good roads) I have to load up the fur babies and head back to my big kid world and my husband. I wouldn’t trade what I have in a million years…but a girl can pretend once in awhile right?

Happy Knitting!!

Holy Cow I Knit A Lot!

My husband asked me the other day much yarn have I used in my ā€œ2013 Stashbusting Questā€. I honestly didn’t have an answer, so I sat down to do some calculations. (Thank god for Ravelry and my OCD need to organize and catalog everything!) I have completed the following so far in 2013:

Completed Projects Yds/Feet Used

Chevron Lap Blanket 1,308/3,924

Rachelle’s Cowl 206/618

Mere’s Cowl 206/618

Zig Zag Baby Blanket 684/2,052

Balaclava 196/588

Holy Cowl 206/618

Cascading Ruffles Scarf 33/99

Chevron Baby Blanket 548/1,644

Wonky Cowl 81/243

Seed Stitch Ear Warmer 27/81

Tardis Washcloth 48/144

Frilly Knit Scarf (2) 60/180

Waves N Ripples Blanket 680/2,040

Evening Sparkle Scarf (4) 40/120

That is a total of 14 projects and 4,323 yards of yarn goodness. All that translates into 12,969 feet or 2.46 miles of knitting! And then I went through my current WIPs:

WIPs Yds/Feet Used

Cascading Ruffles Scarf 30/90

Baby Girl Chevron Blanket 684/2,052

Simple Stockinette Baby Blanket 516/1,548

Waffle Blanket 315/945

Simple Raglan Cardi 721/2,163

My five current WIPs total 2,266 yards fiber and that is 6,798 feet or roughly 1.29 more miles of knitting. This brings my total Stashbusting 2013 up to a grand total of 6,589 yards of yarn or 19,767 feet, or 3.74 miles of yarn heaven. I did have to purchase extra skeins to complete my Chevron Lap blanket to get a satisfactory length and I did splurge on a clearance batch of Natures’ Choice Organic Cotton. But otherwise I knit completely out of my stash!!

Here’s hoping I can keep it going! Now I’m off to spend time back home with the Parental Units sans my husband. He is currently buried under his CIS/IT midterms and quite frankly is too grumpy to spend three hours in the car with let alone all weekend at my parents. I feel comfortable saying that because he doesn’t read this blog….that I know of…

Happy Knitting!