Wow, two months of Health Group so far. And we still don’t have a cool name made official. I’ll pose the question again, since there are probably more people stopping by now than back then…. How ’bout a name? Who likes “Health Group”? We’ve had one suggestion by Jenny which was “Knit and be Fit”, or some variation on that. Bring on the suggestions. Is it obvious I’m stalling? OK, here goes….

Monday, I did weights and physical therapy.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I did, well, nothin’. That’s not actually true, I did a whole lot of very important things. Seriously, and I’m not even being sarcastic this time. Tues and Wed were one thing after another, after another, after another…..etc. It wore me out. Thursday, if you recall, was full of spiders and pasta. Moving on.

Friday, I did weights and physical therapy again.

No aerobics this whole week. I miss it. I feel really, really good when I exercise. I wish I had some means of aerobic activity I could do regardless of weather and kids. What I really want is an elliptical. A good one. Like, one of these, for example. They are very cool. I have spent time on one in a fitness shop. If only….

So, food. I’ve actually done really darn good this week. I’ve eaten many, many fruits & veggies, lots of whole grains, and not much of anything else. I don’t know if it is the heat or what, but I’ve been content with less food. Less snacks, less grazing, less cravings. It’s been really nice.

Your turn. Who’s doing what? And where did Angie in TX go? Is she on vacation? I miss her.

UPDATE- in the last month, I’ve dropped 4 pounds, 1/4 inch in my upper arm, 1 inch in my waist, 1 inch in my hips, and 1/2 inch in my thigh. Cool. I’m going to go for a walk now.

Seriously, it is very, very hot here in Seattle. I have been sweating for weeks. The kind of sweat that runs off your face. Staying home with the kids like I do, air conditioning isn’t a regular part of my life. Man, it’s hot.

Moving on. I know this has circulated on a few blogs. I’m not sure how widespread it was, since I have just recently seen it, and I’ve seen it a couple times now. I was on another Laura’s blog yesterday morning, and she linked this page, which is a free pattern for a cute little bunny. I was excited to see it because it seems like an excellent little knitting project for my girls. Something that will go quickly and be very satisfying for them. Wouldn’t it be cute if the girls could knit their own gifts for friends’ birthday parties? I sure think so. My daughters can knit the 6 inch square, and we could do the finishing together. (As in, I do the finishing while they hover and ask me 500 times if they can do it). Cute, cute. This is a good blog find. Thanks Laura!

WARNING- quite a bit of non-knitting content follows. My apologies to the faint of heart.

My day yesterday was traumatic, and I mean that in the most literal sense of the word. Before I explain, I need to step back a little and tell you a bit about myself. (I’ll try not to go on too long). I am a live-and-let-live kind of gal. Specifically, in this case, as it relates to spiders. As long as they are not on my physical person, or scurrying across the floor in close proximity, I will see them, perhaps squint to get a closer look at their fascinating and somehow beautiful strangeness, and then forget they’re there. I have been known to stop everything to watch one spin a web on my front porch. When a spider gets a little too close for comfort, we catch and release. I have been this way for as long as I can remember.

For the last few weeks, I have been noticing an unusually high number of spiders in my garage. I spend a lot of time in my garage. My weights are out there. Most of our food is out there. I have made it a very nice, comfortable space. These innumerable spiders, I had noticed, were all the same type, in varying sizes. Those sizes ranged from small, to quite large. Going in my garage had begun to be less pleasant, and yesterday morning, for various reasons, I had had enough. I got my mother-of-all shop vacs ready and stood there, staring at the very large spiders chillin’ in the corners of the stairway feeling like I wanted to throw up. I couldn’t do it. So I called the husband for a little moral support, which he offered, but I didn’t feel any better. Then I called my good friend Gayle. (I will spare you the gory details, but last year, after hearing Gayle’s reason for hating spiders to the point of appearing completely insane to strangers, I spent a couple weeks questioning my own view of them. Yes, it is that bad.) The point is, I knew she could kick my butt over the phone and get me going. The sweetheart didn’t point out how ridiculous I was behaving, (like I expected, because I was), she said just the right things. She’s awesome. So I spent two hours vacuuming up spiders. Yes, that’s right, TWO HOURS. I was seriously emotionally disturbed by the time it was all said and done. Disturbed to the point that the husband, during a phone conversation after the death had ceased, expressed serious concern for my well being. Disturbed to the point that I didn’t feel a bit like knitting. This never happens to me. I knew that if I sat and knit, all I would have running through my head would be on eight little (or not so little) legs, sorry Gayle, and I couldn’t handle it.

So instead, I made pasta. Like, mixing up dough, spreading flour all over the table, and rolling said dough through a pasta machine. The girls had a fabulous time playing with pasta dough and flour. I devoted many hours to making a completely divine whole wheat fetuccine in a fresh roma tomato sauce with browned eggplant. It was my first time doing anything with eggplant. Mmmmm. It was amazing. Miraculously, I am emotionally healed from the horrific reality of senseless spider slaughter. (And yes, for those of you who are concerned, the Shop Vac is outside until I can dispose of the bag. No spiders will be crawling back into my garage).

Sad excuse for knitting content continues

Sooooooo, I guess I don’t have much to show you today, I apologize. Hopefully, I can move on, and Monday will be a nice, juicy post full of WIP progress. Oh, and Lori is also knitting the cardigan of my desire. I’m telling you, it’s killing me!

Reminder- Health Group is tomorrow!

Before starting this blog a little over two months ago, I was an absolutely dedicated, one project at a time kind of girl. I don’t know if it is a strange coincidence, or if blogging has somehow corrupted me, but now it seems I’m entertaining a couple different WIP’s at any given time. At first, I was quite disappointed in myself, but I’m starting to see there is some value to simultaneously romancing a few projects. First of all, in the case of my mom’s sweater, my hands will sometimes need a break before my knitting time expires, so having a second project with an easier yarn is beneficial. Second, blogging about one large project, inch by inch, day by day, could become tiresome for both me and any visitors. Third, some projects just travel easier than others. Since I cart my knitting basket around with me wherever I go, having a “travel-able” project is a good thing. Most everything I’ve knit could be taken out and about, but there have been a few…

An aside–Personally, and despite popular public opinion, I do not find socks to be good traveling projects at all. (Listen to that, I can almost hear your “virtual” gasps.) All those little double pointed needles, pointing in all different directions, holding little stitches, made with little yarn… I just don’t get it. When I take a sock with me, I have surgery to perform every time it comes out of the bag. Stitches fall off ends, yarn with an apparent mind all it’s own begins wrapping itself around the points of each needle like those string art projects you do in early elementary school. Not for me, thanks.

So here I am, knitting multiple projects. I am happy to say that it has not yet gone to extremes. Just a couple floating around seems to be enough, and I’m ok with that.

Also, check it out…… I was a code monkey again! Now I’ve got a rudimentary WIP section. Little things bring big pleasure to a simple mind.

Mom’s sweater is still coming along. Only a few more centimeters to go before starting armholes. This sweater and I have come to an understanding, and things are progressing smoothly.

Yesterday, out of the kindness of her heart, Crystal left this link in the comments in response to my distress at knitting a sweater for my mom who is very much smaller than me and a 7 hour drive away. I wanted to share it with you all because I think it is the coolest thing ever. What a great reference for fitting something to an exact body shape! Considering that I will never be a “normal” shape, regardless of my weight (due to an extremely large chest), having a life-size form of myself will be very handy. Now I just need to get my very busy mom in Oregon to do it and ship it up. Not likely.

So, would you like to see the object of my envy on the blogs nowadays?

When Nate first brought Rebecca #27 home for me (for those of you who are new, my Hubby brings home knitting books and mags on a regular basis. He rocks.), I really wanted that sweater (the one on the left). Now, seeing it realized on a few blogs, it is making me crazy with desire. I think it is SO beautiful. I’ve been on a lot of blogs recently and I can’t remember what’s where, so I am undoubtedly forgetting someone, and I apologize. Becky is knitting it, and Clara is knitting it. If anyone else is, please let me know. I’d love to see as many of them as possible. I guess I’m in to self torment, because this sweater will most certainly not fit me, and therefore, I can’t knit it. I take that back, if anyone wants to purchase the yarn (like people I’m related to, I’m not that weird) I’d happily knit it for you.

Also, please note, I was a code monkey yesterday and got my Health Group info in the side bar! Hooray for me! My sidebar is still boring and sparse, but I successfully changed it, and I’m very proud of my computer illiterate self.

I did some more work on mom’s sweater yesterday. Tightening my tension has improved the quality of my stitches and my gauge, so I’m happy with that. I have about 7 centimeters to go before I begin shaping the armholes. The fabric is draping very nicely, and I just love the color.

Guess what? I found a sweater I might be willing to knit for myself at my current size. This is saying something. Previously, I’d sworn that I wouldn’t, but after passing over the Touch Me Cardigan in the new IK a number of times, I finally gave it a good look and realized it is written in a size that would fit me, and it has potential. Cool!

I would have to make some changes because, well, I HATE chenille. Did everyone catch that? I H-A-T-E it!

(Except for the really nice chenille socks my M-I-L bought for us girls on Mother’s Day. I graciously accepted them, expecting to stuff them in my drawer, never to be seen again, but Olivia insisted that I put them on before we even got home, and they felt really good on my feet. My hands just can’t stand to touch chenille. It makes my elbows itch.)

This pattern seems “large” safe. That has been my big concern and hesitation in knitting clothes for myself. When one is very large, clothing has to fit “just so” to avoid looking like a well dressed hippopotomus. A simple cardigan is a basic garment that ought to work. Also, this sweater contains elements that I like, such as ribbing, and raglan sleeves that flare at the bottom. So I might make this for myself out of some nice wool for the fall. Does anyone have any experience exchanging wool for chenille in a pattern? I’m trying to get my good friend Gayle to knit one along with me because she loves chenille and has an abundance of it in her stash, but she is being a traitor to the craft and is starting up some Eastern needlepoint type thing with a weird name which will take all of her already meager knitting time. So do me a favor please, dear readers, in the comments today, entreat her to knit this cardigan along with me. :-). While I’m at it, does anyone else wish to join? September is the earliest I would start. My plate is quite full at the moment.

OK, maybe not the enemy, but it is temperamental. It’s bumpy. It calls into question my skill as a knitter.

BLOG QUESTION!!!…….. My LYS owner says that perfect, even, and completely uniform stitches are not the goal, because “who wants to knit something that looks like it came off a machine?” I on the other hand, strive for perfection, and think that if it doesn’t look handmade, then I’ve succeeded in life and can strut around triumphantly with my head held high. What do you think?

Here is a picture of my cotton sweater progress so far. It is actually starting to look like a sweater. This is very exciting to me. My gauge was a little off for the first few inches (oops, I forgot, it’s a brit pattern, so it would be the first several centimeters) and so I tightened it up a little bit. I hope it works out.

I wanted to ask any mercerized cotton experienced knitters out there how my stitches look, but I forgot to take a detail shot, so you’re off the hook. For now. Compared to my wool knitting, it looks like crap. But I’m thinking that cotton is just a different beast, and therefore should not be compared to wool. I also think that when hanging on a body, it’ll look a whole lot better. Go ahead and tell me I’m delusional if that is the case. It’d be better to frog now than later.

In other news, I was told that the birthday gift doll was well received. I’m happy about that. At Jenny’s request, here’s a group shot….

Next, I’ve read on some blogs recently that they can tell who is reading, or at least how much traffic they are getting and where it is coming from. I have no idea who is reading my blog or how many of you there are, aside from those that stop by and comment. Is there a way to tell that someone wouldn’t mind sharing with me?

Finally, and this is mainly for Grandma’s and Pete’s benefit, click on the link to see some pictures of the girls.

Well, I don’t know about all of you, but I kind of slacked off this week.

Monday- 2 mile walk and weights

Tuesday- 30 minutes of skating

Wednesday- physical therapy

Thursday- a whole lot of nothin’

Friday- weights and physical therapy (and 4 hours at the beach with the kids in upper 90 degree weather. There wasn’t any aerobic benefit to that, but I’ll take the benefit of being in the sun.)

My main excuse for the lack of activity this week is that I was tired of going going going, and wanted to spend a couple days sitting, relaxing, and knitting. And I did. It was lovely. My secondary excuse is that is was freaking hot this week, which took away a lot of energy, but really, the first excuse is the one that had the most influence. I was lazy this week.

Food wise, same old, same old. Not bad, but not great. (No cupcakes or zucchini bread this week)

The scale? Well, considering that I’m just hanging out in the upper 220’s without much change, I may just drop the weigh in portion of my posts until there is something worth mentioning.

My back is still giving me grief, but other than that, I’m feeling really good. On the scale, in the mirror, and in the fit of my clothes, I’m not seeing much of a change. On the inside of my body however, I feel really good. I have more energy, I can tell I have glorious muscles buried in the depths, and I get that whole “natural high” thing from exercising. I love the way I feel. It’s great. My prediction is that at some point, my body is going to wake up and say, “wait a minute, what’s all this fat doing here?” and I’ll start shedding it. But until then, I’m still plugging along.

Want to see something cute? Here is Saturday mornings at my house…

Poor kid, she’s got no feet.

I’m getting better. It only took 2-3 tries to get her eyes right, and you should see the seaming along the top of the sweater. It’s beautiful.

I’m telling you, these dolls are a kick. If I’m not careful, I’m going to use up too much of Abby’s backpack yarn making clothes for these girls, and I’ll have to buy more. I can’t help it. The colors are great, it’s such a soft, wonderful yarn, it was meant for doll clothes. So, can anyone blame me for not really wanting to give her away tomorrow?

Hopefully, I’ll be getting back to mom’s sweater. Abby has been invited to yet another birthday party, which brings the grand total to FOUR!!! parties this month. Two are girl parties, two are boy parties. The next girl party isn’t ’til Aug 6th, so I’ve got some time. Olivia and Veronica are practically beside themselves seeing all these cute dolls and not having one of their own yet. I’m getting there.

SO, does anyone have a favorite of the three? Any new color scheme suggestions?

Hey LOOK! It’s Britney Spears!

Ouch. OK, that was uncalled for, but it was darn funny, and I couldn’t help myself. As you can see, the birthday present doll has a nifty pair of pants. I had most of half of a fuchsia sweater done yesterday, but I made the arms way too long and had to frog. I should branch out and try the more conventional sweater pattern for these dolls, but I’ve already made the sideways sweater, and I like it. So I’m going to be unoriginal. (Says the girl making a pink doll with purple hair and green and blue striped pants.)