My mom came into town, semi unexpectedly on Thurday evening. She bought a 1953 Bentley from Whidbey Island, and came to pick it up.

We had a fabulous time on the ferry,

it has been gorgeous weather here, and she left Sunday morning.

On Saturday, Veronica, mom and I went to Skeins! where mom bought 8 of these….

(It’s King Tut 100% mercerized cotton, in a stunning steel grey blue)

So that I can make her this…..

I am both completely excited and completely terrified. Sweaters are expensive, and if I mess up a pattern with yarn that I purchase, it’s highly annoying. If I mess up with yarn that someone else purchases, it is totally uncool. I’m not worried about my ability to complete a nice sweater, I’m worried about fit. My mom lives in Central Oregon, so I can’t try it on her frequently. However, now that I’m thinking in type, (as opposed to out loud, you see), most of my relatives in the area (all are on my husband’s side) are a size 6, like she is. I’m the only mammoth in the family. I wonder if I could use one of them as my mannequin? Hmmmm. Optimism is returning…..

So, isn’t it pretty? It is in a british magazine, which means I get to knit in centimeters and use meters of yarn, instead of using inches and yards. It’ll be a first for me. I couldn’t find a functioning website for the magazine, so I scanned in the cover, in case anyone is interested. (UPDATE!- their website is up, here’s the magazine link. I don’t know about back issues).

I am really excited about starting this sweater. Maybe I’ll be posting another swatch tomorrow?!

Good morning all. Welcome to Health Group, week #2.

I did really good the beginning of this week. Monday, I went for a 2 mile walk and lifted weights. Tuesday, I skated for 45 minutes on my inline skates and lifted weights. Wednesday, I did another 2 mile walk and weights. (My walking route takes 45 minutes.) Thursday, I did the Hula video and no weights. Yesterday was insane, and I didn’t get any formal exercise in. Today, I hope to at least do upper and lower body on the weights. Hooray for me! It’s at least better than last week was!

Something that I do that really helps is I mark up my calendar that hangs in the kitchen. I have a pack of those foil star stickers, and then a pack of little sparkly flower stickers, and a green sharpie pen. The foil star is for 45 minutes or more of aerobic exercise, and the little flower stickers are for 30 minutes of aerobic exercise. I use the sharpie for tracking weights; a “U” for upper body and an “L” for lower body. There are many days where the only reason I made myself do the exercise was so I wouldn’t have a blank day on my calendar. It is very satisfying putting that silly sticker up there. And what is really rewarding is looking back as the weeks progress in a month, and seeing stickers and green U’s and L’s all over the place. Even if I haven’t lost pounds or inches, I feel I’ve accomplished something when I can see that I’ve really put in effort. I have something to show for it.

Food-wise, I did OK. I didn’t eat bad, but I’m sure I could have done better. As always, I drank a ton of water.

And finally, the scale….. The scale hasn’t been very nice to me the last couple of mornings. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s muscle. Maybe it’s water retention. Who knows? I know that I was up 4.5 pounds Friday morning from Thursday. It’s been really, really hot and humid the past few days. I always feel fatter in weather like that. I feel like I swell up, you know?

So, this morning I weighed 233.5 pounds. Blah. Up from last week. Up from most of this week. I know there are lots of factors though, so I’m not assuming I put on 3 or so pounds of fat. (Interesting side note: when I was at a doctor’s office this week, to follow up on my MRI and X-rays from last Friday, I asked if I could weigh myself on their medical scale, and I weighed 228, clothes and all! This was halfway through the day, too. I had lots of water and breakfast contributing to that! I was pretty stoked!)

That’s it for me, now it’s your turn. Do you think we should have a better name than “Health Group”? I’m open to suggestions. The floor is now yours…. :-).

Sorry, I’m going to be boring today. All I did knitting-wise was a couple more swatches for the Gayle socks. I tried a stitch called honeycomb, because I’ve always wanted to try it. There are two rows out of 16 that are cable rows, and it didn’t turn out nearly cool enough to warrant that much effort. Next, I tried that garter slip stitch I like so much that I used on these hats. It’s pretty, but I want something bigger. So next I think I’m going to try a garter stitch check pattern, which looks a lot like a checkerboard. I still haven’t decided.

Thank you all so much for the responses to my inquiry about sideways socks. I haven’t ruled that out yet, I’m going to look at the patterns suggested.

SO, Wednesday was Olivia’s preschool graduation. She is in a small, co-op preschool that rotates from house to house.

She was very excited. And no, that’s not me.

Yesterday, Abigail graduated from kindergarten. Holy cow, what a to do it was!

And finally, Bergan, this is for you!

(Bergan has seen Abigail online and asked his mom why he wasn’t on the internet.)

Remember, tomorrow is Health Group day. I am really looking forward to it.

I swatched a simple lace pattern today for the Gayle socks, wanna see?

And here’s the swatch from yesterday that is straight stockinette:

I’m not in love with either of them. The prettiest part of the swatches I’ve seen so far has been the garter stitch border on one and the ribbing border on the other. Thanks to my cropping job, you can barely see them. In looking at the garter stitch, I thought it would be stunning sideways. I have a sideways sock pattern, in my Socks Socks Socks book. The toe looks bulky and hideous in the picture though. Does anyone out there have a good sideways sock pattern? Or have you knit the pattern that I have, and if so, how is it? I realize it is a long shot, but it never hurts to ask.

So, I’m thinking about some ribbing. Maybe a lace rib? I get the feeling I’m going to be buried in stitch books for awhile. This yarn is pretty, but it needs the right pattern, you know? Like I said earlier, I love the way the garter stitch knit up, so I think I’m going to be looking for a stitch pattern with some purls showing. It needs to be simple, to keep from drowning in the busy colors of the yarn. Input is welcome.

In other news, I’m still swatching the Lily shawl. It’s so pretty. This may sound sick, but in a way, I’m kind of disappointed it is so simple. I think I was hoping for more of a challenge, without even realizing it. The border will definitely be something new for me, and I think I’ll swatch that after I finish the main body swatch.

I’m really not much of a swatcher. You are going to get the wrong impression of me, reading about all this swatching. I don’t know why, but right now, I’m enjoying it.

I did a stockinette swatch of Gayle’s sock yarn today on my size 2 bamboo dpns. I’m getting about 30 stitches to 4 inches, which is a little small, so I’m going to need to do some monkeying. I don’t know whether to knit a little looser, or go up a size in my needles. Considering I don’t have any size 3 dps in bamboo, and I don’t feel like knitting with aluminum, I’m probably going to try to knit a little looser. If it were a big change I was going for, I know I could do it, but two tiny little stitches over 4 inches isn’t enough of a difference to drastically change the feel of my tension. I can knit different gauges with the same needles easily, and maintain tension within a garment. My hands just kind of “get it” from the tension they feel inserting into a stitch on the needle, and it all works out. The problem I have is going from one piece to another like, say, from one sock to another, or one glove to another…..

This is one in a pair of the first gloves I’ve ever knit. I fell in love with the pattern the instant I saw it, came home and told my hubby, and a couple weeks later, this was sitting under the Christmas tree, wrapped all pretty, accompanied by some beautiful red lace yarn, and one of those steel turbo circular needles. It is a beautiful book. There’s another pattern in this book that I have completed. It took me 5 1/2 months to finish, but I’m saving that show and tell for another day. :-).

So, back to the gloves…..

I didn’t even mess with the pattern. Aren’t you proud? I stuck to it, by the letter. They are beautiful, and I love them. The problem is that one of the gloves is significantly larger than the other. They still fit nice, and no one can tell unless I hold my hands together and make them look. At that point though, it is obvious.

I don’t know what my problem is. I can maintain gauge beautifully within a piece, but piece to piece, I almost have to swatch all over again. Maybe I should just start the next piece immediately after finishing the last, which I never do. Sometimes it’s because I like to take a break and knit something different for a couple days. And sometimes, if I’ve stayed up way late because I was “so close” to finishing, I just go to sleep when I’m done. Since the glove experience, I pay much closer attention to gauge when starting the second sock, or a sleeve to a sweater, etc.

Coming full circle now, I’ve found a couple lace sock patterns I’m thinking about using to knit up Gayle’s yarn in. It’s all about lace recently. It is so fun, I can’t help it.

I’m still knitting on the Lily swatch. It is still beautiful. I am getting the “stupid bobble thing” down, so by the time I actually start the shawl, it should be smooth sailing. It is a nice, simple little pattern. I think it has the potential to be a relaxing knit.

In other news, I’ve been thinking about how I want to make the girls’ back to school backpacks, and I’m really excited about what I’ve come up with. Hopefully this week, I can get out to my LYS and pick up some more colors of the Lamb’s Pride worsted weight. There is a shop close to me that has some fabulous colors in stock. I’m planning on doing bright stripes, and lots of them. They are going to be knapsack style, with a large flap and buttons. I’m stressing about it a little bit, because you can’t frog something after it’s been felted, and I’m coming up with this one from scratch. No pattern.

Nate suggested sewing in a lining, and I’d like it to be removable. Earlier this year, Abby came home with a soggy goldfish cracker mess in the bottom of her backpack. I’d hate to clean that out of a felted bag. Still, a removable, washable lining adds complexity to something I don’t want to be complex, so we’ll see if it actually happens.

And finally, I may be starting some beautiful socks soon. My neighbor Gayle has more yarn than time, and I have more time than money, so we’ve worked out a little deal. I’ll knit her a pair of socks out of her gorgeous yarn, and I can knit one for me too!

Friday sucked. I woke up early and fought traffic to get to the hospital district before I would normally be awake, to get an MRI and many, many x-rays. (Which reminds me, they always ask if there is any chance I might be pregnant, before doing procedures or tests. My answer is that there is always a chance, seeing that I am of child bearing age, and married. This inevitably annoys them. I’m sorry, but how else am I supposed to answer that?) My MRI technician came to the lobby to fetch me, and saw me swatching the Lily of the Valley shawl. As we were walking back to the changing rooms, he asked me what I was working on. I pulled out the pattern and showed him a picture of the shawl, and he said, “Oh, that’s cute!” Now this poor man was sincere, and very friendly, but I’m sorry, CUTE?! It’s not cute! Stunning, sure. Gorgeous, fine. I’ll even go with “an insane ambition”, but cute definitely doesn’t apply.

I will spare you the details of the rest of my miserable day, which included shuffling the kids to another babysitter and heading immediately off to a different doctor’s office for another kind of exam…… But I WILL tell you that by the end of the day, all I wanted to do was sit and knit. Which is what I did.

This continued on through Saturday, and Sunday, and now I have two wonderful things to show you.

Keep in mind, this hasn’t been blocked yet.

This is a halfway completed swatch for the Lily of the Valley shawl that is pictured in last Monday’s post. It is really beautiful, and not nearly as difficult as I expected. Well, the pattern is easy enough to memorize, it’s that stupid bobble thing that is going to be the death of me. I’m supposed to knit 5 stitches together into 1. It is lame. I’m learning to knit the 5 stitches really loose in the previous row, which makes it at least possible to knit into 1 stitch on the following, but it is not easy, and it takes a lot of time.

We were at a really cold and windy picnic on Saturday afternoon at Magnolia Park in Seattle, to celebrate with some very good friends, their six years together. I met a really neat woman there that my hubby has worked with professionally in the past. Her name is Amanda Koster, she’s a photo journalist, and she was admiring the ponchos the girls and I were wearing. I was knitting the Lily swatch, and she sat down and knit a few stitches on the other thing I have to show you.

This is a pouch for my digital camera. I started it Saturday, using leftover yarn from a stole I made at the end of last year. It is wool that is spun with a nylon thread, so it is basically a twisted roving that varies from sport weight, to chunky, and is hand painted. I don’t remember who makes it, unfortunately, but the color I bought is called Eleanor Roosevelt. (All the colorways are named for famous women.) Olivia did quite a bit of knitting on it in the car on the way to the picnic, and Amanda knit a few stitches on it at the park. I finished it up yesterday. I wish I could show it to you with the camera in it, but that would make it rather difficult to actually take the picture. I want to get some cool beads to tie to the ends of the drawstring, which is why I left a length of yarn on the ends. Isn’t that yarn crazy?

I have been struggling with weight loss for a decade. Nate thinks that a support group would be beneficial, so in January, I started one. It has never really taken off, and now I think it is officially dead, so I’ve decided that on Saturday mornings, I’m going to indulge myself a little bit and post a weekly report. For the brief period of time the Health Group was meeting, I found it a weekly renewel of dedication and optimism. It was much more helpful than I expected. (That husband of mine is a smart one). In the group, we each had a turn to report the exercising we had done for the week, any fabulous healthy meals we had discovered, and an opportunity to give a weight update.

What does this have to do with knitting? A lot, actually. The magazines and books of knitting patterns that I have and see are full of great clothes. None of which will fit me. It drives me crazy that I can’t knit myself clothes. This is a great motivation for me. Once I shrink enough, this blog is going to be full of great clothing posts.

I am opening this up to anyone that would like to participate. If you are interested, please post whatever you would like to share in the comments each Saturday. Regardless, I am going to participate, even if I am alone. At some point, I will have a section in the side bar, charting my progress.

Before I post my report, I’ll give a little bit of background:
In a perfect world, and what I am constantly trying to do is a) drink 12-16 cups of water a day; b) get at least 30 minutes of aerobic activity 4-5 days a week; and c), lift weights 6 days a week. I have a 30 minute workout for both upper and lower body on my weights, and I alternate them. Mon, Wed, and Friday I do upper body. Tues, Thurs, and Saturday, I do lower body.

Health-wise, I eat whole grains, I am trying to learn more about and more fully incorporate sprouts into my diet, and I hope to buy a juicer sometime soon. I want to juice wheatgrass, among other things.

SO, here goes….

This week, I did a Hula workout video on Tuesday. On Thursday, I did a full body workout with weights, upper and lower. I’m hoping to get some aerobics and weights in today also. This is not up to par for me. I missed Mon, Wed, and Fri. I’ve also eaten quite a bit of birthday cake and Thai curry recently. I need to step it up again. May was a great month. June has been sliding.

I don’t count my glasses of water anymore, I’m just in the habit of drinking one glass per hour.

This morning, I weighed in at 231 1/2 lbs. I started this year at 245, so I’m down almost 15 pounds so far.

I am perfectly willing to share my notes for my Mother’s Day Diagonal. However, there are conditions. First of all, keep in mind that these are notes, and while I did the best I could at accurately writing down my process, the possibility exists, and is even highly likely, that you will have to step in and use your best judgement at times. I am making no promises, and don’t want to be flamed. Secondly, well, no, that first one was mainly it. I would, however, love to see what you all do with it, and would encourage you to send me pictures or links. I would be happy to post pictures of any completed “Diagonals” on my site, with your permission of course. And finally, don’t let me scare you off. I am not an amazing knitter among those who knit, I just appear that way to those who don’t. If you have any experience knitting patterns, and are willing to depart from one to do what makes better sense to you, then you ought to be able to hash it out just fine. It’s not that complex. My best advice to you is to look at the basic concept of what I am trying to do, and if the need arises, don’t be afraid to come up with your own numbers. It will be easier that way. Feel free to ask me any questions along the way.

Things to keep in mind: my head is 22 inches in diameter. This hat size will work fine for a smaller head, if it is much larger, you may want to mess with gauge or work out new numbers. I used Cotton Classic yarn by Tahki. There are links to both of these in previous posts. I used two skeins and had plenty of yarn left over.

Sketchy instructions follow:

Needles: size 6, 16 inch circular
size 6 double pointed needles
Gauge: I have no idea, sorry*

-With yarn doubled, cast on 108 stitches, connect the ends (being careful not to twist) and begin knitting in to the end of the first row.
-Place marker.
-K5, **
-Every 4th row, decrease evenly in pattern, which means pick how you want to turn 2 stitches into 1 stitch, and do it in the same way and place in each set. For example, on my first decrease round, (looking at a set of K6, P3 stitches), I chose to , repeat. Thus my altered sets are going to be K5, P3. On the following decrease round, I would , making my altered sets K4, P3. (Feel free to experiment with how to place a decrease in a way that looks best to you.)
-Once you have knit a decrease round 3 times, you should be knitting sets of , and have a brim about 12 rows tall. Continue knitting rounds in pattern until you have the length you want for your brim. I stopped at 12 or 13, it’s hard to tell.
-Cut one strand of yarn, leaving 8 inches or so for weaving.
-With one strand of yarn, continue knitting in pattern, sets of , for about 4 inches. (Mine is 4 inches, I’ll probably add an additional 1/4 inch for my head when I do it again.)
-Once again, decrease evenly in pattern, to end up with sets of .
-Knit 4 or so rows.
-Next row, decrease evenly in pattern, leaving you with sets of .
-Knit 4 or so rows again.
-Decrease by in each set. I had an extra stitch floating around at this point that I eventually purled in with another stitch. I don’t know why, and it didn’t negatively affect anything.
-Purl 1-2 rounds
– in your set
-Purl 2 rounds
– all the way around
-Purl 1 round. Unless I forgot something, I had 12 stitches left at this point. I cut my yarn, leaving a good, long tail, and used my embroidery needle to thread it through the remaining 12 stitches and pull it closed.
-Weave in ends.

DO A HAPPY DANCE! AND SEND ME PICTURES OF YOUR HAT!

*I never save my gauge swatches. It seems like a waste of yarn to me, so I always swatch, measure, frog, and then reuse the yarn on my project. Also, if you remember from earlier posts, my swatch was a big, fat, LIAR, so I don’t think it’d help you anyway. I tried to measure my gauge on the hat itself, but being shaped and all, I didn’t think I could get it accurate. If you really want me to, I’ll do it anyway.

**Please note: at this point, I’ve got you started on the pattern. You ought to be able to see what to do at the beginning and end of rows from here. Basically, the P3 bands move 1 stitch to the right constantly. It moves fluidly through the transition from one row to the next, so when you’re done, you can’t tell where the back of the hat is. From here on out, I’m not going to know where your place marker sits in a “set” of K’s and P’s, so when I’m telling you to do something, I’m talking about altering each set, not how many stitches to knit at the start of a round. At this point in the pattern, one K6, P3 is a set. The K’s will change, the P’s remain the same at 3. In my hat, there are 12 sets.

Clear so far? :-). Just work through it. It’ll be OK.

Also, If an extra stitch that would disrupt the stitch pattern pops up, make sure it isn’t the result of a mistake first, and then assimilate it inconspicuously. I don’t know why, but this happened to me a time or two.

And finally, here’s another picture of me in my hat that we all thought was pretty funny. Reminds me of Fat Albert. Anybody remember that show? I can’t remember the name of the character I resemble.

Please let me know if any part of this is unclear, or if you have any questions. I promise that as you do it, with the yarn in your hands, it will make more sense.