Alpaca Chullo Hat and Selbuvotter Gloves

Alpaca Chullo Hat For Cora

The one good thing about having lots of projects on the needles, is at some point they all get to the point where they are quickly finished.  This long weekend I finished my Selbuvotter Gloves Annemor #8 and put the finishing touches on the Alpaca Chullo Hat.  Lets start with the hat, the story is a bit more interesting.

Originally I was going to knit the hat then sew a fleece lining for the hat.  The problem with this theory is that 1) I really don’t sew, and 2) sewing the lining would have entailed getting out the sewing machine which would have entailed cleaning off the area to put the sewing machine, which would have required hours and hours of work.  I was not up to this task.  I am a very great procrastinator.  So I couldn’t decide what to do, the hat needed a lining for extra warmth, after all my niece lives in Alaska.  But sewing a lining with my horrible sewing skills didn’t seem like a good idea, especially after the Ringbloomst disaster.  So last Saturday on my way to The Weaving Department an idea popped into my head, what if I bought a fleece hat to sew in as the lining, this way the only sewing would be to attach the two hats together, but could I find a hat that fits within the knit hat. I stopped at Walmart and two minutes later had a hat that fit absolutely perfectly as the lining for the chullo hat.  So this weekend I sewed in the lining, decided on pompoms instead of tassels and finished the hat.  Tomorrow its going in the mail to my niece in Alaska. 

I think the pompoms add a nice touch especially for a seven year old. 

Next up is the Selbuvotter Gloves.  I started these litterally July 2007 or August 2007.  They are finally done.  I finished them up on Friday.

Annemor #8

Mostly I knit on these over lunches at work, before I took up walking.  I really wanted them ready for the cold weather coming this weekend for the drive too and from work, so with a few hours work I finished the fingers on the last glove and they are done.

I used Knit Picks Essential Sock Yarn, and only 1 skein of each color, actually probably about only a half of a skein each, so these gloves cost me less then $4.  What a bargain!   I look forward to making more mittens from this book, this will be my second pair, but I love a lot of the patterns.

Next up in addition to the afghan I am starting a pair of mittens that came in a kit.  I’m knitting My Home Spruce by Riihivilla.  She makes mitten kits with yarn from Fiinsheep wool and the yarn is hand-dyed with plants and mushrooms and naturual colors of sheep.  Someone was knitting a pair of these mittens last year and I fell in love, and ordered 3 kits.  I’m finally making a pair, as I do love wearing mittens.  Plus they’ll go well with a coat I’m ordering for a trip I’m taking, which I’ll tell you about next post.

Gathering Intentions

Gathering Intentions

Yep, I finally finished an object and took pictures to show you.  Actually I finished it last Saturday, it has just taken me nearly a week to get pictures and be able to find 5 minutes to post them.  I think I’m going to take a break from sweaters.  Let me recap what happened last Thursday.  I took a day off work, I needed a haircut desperately, needed to see about getting an additional pair of glasses since my current glasses are killing my face, and wanted to spend some time knitting.  I did just that.  I decided I was going to finish Ringbloomst come hell or high water.  So I returned home from my haircut and glasses picking out, and pulled out Ringbloomst.  I decided I was going to use a crocheted steek.  I’ve heard raves aboutg them, and considering getting my sewing machine out is a nominal feat of strength on its own, I decided it was my most efficient way to finish my sweater.  I read all the instructions on both Euny’s blog and where she took her inspiration from Meg Swanson’s Sweaters From Camp.  A little voice inside me said, stop, don’t do this, Euny says if your floats aren’t woven in well and your yarn isn’t particularly sticky such as shetland wool this method may not be the best choice.  But I said, oh I’m just being paranoid, it’ll be fine, tons of people use this and love it.  I’m just being stubborn and not wanting to learn something new.  So I found my crochet hook and jumped in.  I loved the process, it went fast, and had a great look, I thought this was going to work great.  I finished my first steek and said, well lets just finish this arm, so I got out my scissors.  I cut my steek.  Immediately I saw unraveling.  Now I freaked.  Okay I can handle this, quickly I sewed in the sleeve and decided if I quickly sewed down the facing I had knit on the sleeve it’d stop the unraveling, it semi-worked but the damage had been done.  In addition, because the crocheted steek is thicker and add the additional bulk of the interfacing the sleeve looked absolutely horrible, it looked like I was smuggling a rubber tube around the seam of the sweater.  So I threw the sweater in a bag and decided I’d deal with this next year.  Maybe I’ll resteek further from the original steek and stop the fraying, maybe I’ll felt the whole thing and make it into a purse.  But for now its in hibernation. 

So after wasting most of the day on Ringbloomst I grabbed Gathering Intentions, sewed in the sleeves and finished the neck, and wallah, at least I have a wearable sweater.  But wait, there are problems, and thus the reason I am now knitting an afghan. 

Apparently I think my arms are a foot longer then they are

So I finished Gathering Intentions and was pleased with my sewing, usually I don’t do such a great job at finishing.  But my sewing was decent, of course since I knit the body and sleeves up to the cap in the round there was minimal seaming.  But the body is a bit too large, making the shoulders about 3 inches off the edge of my shoulder, and since the sleeves I knit purposefully a little longer, since I love long sleeves, well, you can see the results, extremely long sleeves.  But I just roll them up and the sweater looks okay.  I wore it to work on Tuesday and did receive a lot of compliments.  But I’m taking a break from sweaters or anything that has to be worn except hats and mittens/gloves.   Oh one other side note on the sweater I decided to forego the i-cord tie, its cute, but not really practical for the workplace, I may add it later, I’m not sure, still haven’t completely decided. 

I need to be working on some hats for my friends daughter, but I wanted to knit something else for Nick and I so I started an afghan called Diamond Lace from Nicky Epstein’s book Cover Up.  Its a great book of afghans, most I’ll never knit, but its eye candy.

My brother, My couch

So today we are at home having a Dr. Who marathon day and resting with the kids.  As you can see Abner and Django have become best of buds.  Of course Django is not happy unless he’s sitting on someone, often it is me, but if I’m not available for sitting his brother is.  I have a suspicious feeling its a dominance thing, but its also quite funny and neither Abner or I really care, so he’s not hurting anything.  Of course in this case he just wanted the added hieght for looking out the window.

Have a lovely day.  I must go back to my afghan now. 

Health Update

So by now its been 2 full weeks and half a third week.  This week I showed anothre 1.5 pounds lost, but better than that, last Monday (the 10th) I measured myself in several places (i.e. thighs, waist, hips, etc.).  This Monday (the 17th) I measured myself again.  9.5″ total lost!  I’m thinking that maybe I didn’t measure in the same places, because that is a lot of inches in a week, but well, I’m going to accept that anyway.

I’ve successfully stayed away from sugar, except for Monday when I brought 3 bachelor co-workers lasagna, one of them thanked me by buying me a blond brownie from STarbucks, so I had to eat it.  But other than that, there has been no sugar. 

I’ve walked every day but last Friday when it was raining.  So far so good.  We’ll see how long I can keep it up.

Ta Ta for now.  Dinner is here and I’d better quit writing or Nick will get annoyed.

Walking on Pickles

I wanted to get back to nature this weekend, well truthfully I wanted to find a way to exercise but have fun too.  So we went walking on pickles.  Maybe that is walking at pickles.  Pickle Springs, MO.  Its a beautiful natural area in Missouri that our IT Tech at work told me about.  It was absolutely gorgeous! Nick and I had such a lovely time, and it was a 2-mile hike so it was a decent amount of exercise too. 

Nick and Rebekah at Pickle Springs

We were so invigorated that today we took another 2 mile walk at Pere Marquette State Park here in Illinois.  Lots of walking this weekend, and my legs are burning to prove it, but it felt good being active.

The added bonus was a lot of time in the car on our way to and front the parks so I finished a good bit on the last sleeve of Gathering Intentions.  Hopefully another week and I’ll have it done. 

I’m anxious to start and finish a couple of other projects looming over my head, but really want to finish up some of these current projects.  There is alway so much to do and so little time to do it, but if it means I’m getting healthier because my knitting time is consumed with hiking, excercising, and/or walking, I guess I’ll accept that.  It just means my knitting time will be all that more special.

Well time to go make a lasagna.  Have a wonderful week.

Quick Update

I’ve been running around like a chicken with my head cut off, well minus the blood, guts, and ultimate death of that chicken.  Anyway, its been a busy week and I haven’t had much time to post.  But I’m doing well.  I’ve made it over a week without sugar (in the form of candy, cakes and cookies), I’ve drank my water, I’ve monitored my calorie intake.  In fact I made a handy dandy excel spreadsheet with a food journal, daily calorie tracker chart, weight chart, and excercise journal.  Nick has even gotten into the weight chart wanted me to track his progress.  I’ve also walked every work day since last Wednesday.

This week I started my workout with the Firm Wave system.  If I can ever figure out the high-speed movements, maybe I’ll make some progress on shirnking my body.  In fact, just with calorie watching, drinking and 3 walks last week I lost 2 pounds.  A small victory, but this road is made up of small victories.

Due to all of this, there hasn’t been nearly as much knitting.  In fact since I’m walking every day at lunch I’m going to take my work knitting project home, and maybe this weekend I’ll actually finish the Selbevotter gloves.   I’m also making progres on Gathering Intentions sleeve.  The Alpaca hat is finished, I just need to figure out if I’m in fact going to do the lining, or just send it as is, with a better trimming of the ends.  I’m kinda thinking the latter, but I’ll decide that this weekend as well.

Okay, I’d better get in the shower so I can get gas (which is below $2! – wonder how long that will last) before I go into work. 

Old Picture of Abner but a Favorite

Have a good day, and hopefully some knitting pictures soon.  I think for a reward when I lose 30 pounds I’m goign to buy myself a small cheap little digital camera which is easy to use and easy to upload pictures.  I absolutely love my Canon SLR Rebel, but its a bit more cumbersone to carry around for a quick picture. 

Okay, gotta go shower and change Basil’s paper.

Wallowing Works Wonders

I wallowed, and then I decided I had had enough wallowing and decided to take action.  Maybe wallowing and letting everyone know where I was at, was exactly what I needed.  Monday I decided to do 4 things, to start out, 1) keep a food journal and start counting my calorie intake, 2) drink at least 80 ounces of water each day, 3) take a walk at least once during my lunch hour this week, and 4) avoid all candy, cakes, cookies and those sorts of things for one month. 

So far so good.  I’m going to baby step, thank you Bob, my way to weight loss.  And fortunately on Monday, I wouldn’t say this out loud around my office, the trial I was going to have to be away from home for a month for has been cancelled, at least the portion they needed me for, and so thus I don’t have to go away from home for a month, and thus I can start my exercise regime!  I’m very excited, but I’m also going to go into this slowly, so I won’t actually start the exercising possibly for a week or so. 

Right now I need to concentrate on the food journal, staying away from candy, and drinking my water.  These are important steps for me to take, and part of equation I was missing last time I started excercising which just lead me to being more depressed because I wasn’t losing any weight after 8 weeks.

So I won’t bore you any more, but wallowing helped and thank you for all your advice. 

Happy Django Dog

No I think I’ll go and play with the boys and work on my sleeve to Gathering Intentions.  Again, thanks for letting me wallow, it was exactly what I need.  Hopefully I can keep this new energy and get myself healthy. 

I’m Wallowing

I don’t know why, but everything just seems WRONG!  I wish I was 17 again and could go to my rock, by the little manmade waterfall, by the river and eat a bag of Doritos and just watch the water flow downstream and let it carry all my problems away. But I’m not 17, and I can’t eat a bag of doritos because that would just be adding to one of my main problems, being fat, and my little place of solitude by the river is 300 plus miles away.

I miss my little corner of solitude in the world.  I miss being 17  and having the freedom to jump in the car and drive to a state park and climb down a squeeze rock and pretend there are no problems in life.  Being an adult really sucks! 

I know that the only thing that will make me feel better is to get my weight under control, and take back control in life over the things I’ve lost all control.  Truthfully, I need to grow up.  But growing up is a very hard thing to do.  In fact sometimes it seems like the task is completely impossible.

Maybe I need to develop a time just for me each day. I feel like so much of my life is giving for others that I don’t really think for myself any more.  I’m constantly trying to do what others expect or want, although don’t ask my husband that question, he probably thinks I’m selfish.  The man has waited on me hand and foot for 2 years, it was the only thing he had to do, and honestly now that he’s working I think he resents it.  Please don’t get me wrong, we love each other very much, but right now we are struggling to adjust to our new schedule with him working and finding the pattern we once had in life. 

Okay, I’ll stop bellyaching, lets turn this positive, lets talk about what I can do to change the situation.  One thing I know for sure I don’t feel attractive, in fact I feel down right ugly both inside and out.  I hate the fact that I’m so fat and I feel horrible.  My feet ache, my legs ache, my back aches, all because of this extra weight I carry with me every day.  I’ve tried to lose weight recently and had no success.  But I think I wasn’t quite ready to. I have some personal demons holding me back.  See once, several years back, I lost a ton of weight, over 90 pounds. I looked great, I felt great.  And I kept the weight off for about a year.  Then life took some turns for the worse and slowly the weight started creeping on, then all of the sudden it just jumped back on like a steaming locomotive.

so part of the reason I don’t want to lose weight again, and I keep finding reasons, even though I need to lose weight, a lot of weight, for my health, I don’t.  See I have this fear of what people are going to say again.  Will they mock me for gaining the weight back and losing it again?  Probably not.  But they will mention the fact that I’m losing weight again, and I don’t like that attention.  Nick says this is stupid reasoning.  He’s right. it is, but he’s not a dreadfully overweight woman. He doesn’t have the same emotions I have.  I’ve always been afraid of what people would say about me, and its holding me back.

I know I have to overcome this, I’m getting more and more physical problems because of my weight.  I’m too young to have these problems. I don’t want to feel bad all the time.  I want to be in control of my body and my mind.  If only I could get around the emotional side of losing weight.

Well I did take one step in the direction of losing weight, I ordered the Firm’s new system, The Wave. I’m a sucker for new concepts.  I have a lot of exercise videos. I don’t need another system, but this system looked interesting and lower impace, and considering how bad my legs, knees, and ankles feel all the time any more I wanted low impact.  I won’t have much time to use it until I return from this trial out in San Francisco, but I’ll be ready to go when I get back.  And in January I’m taking a weeks vacation and plan to have a Rebekah Recharing Session and do a bootcamp week of a lot of excercising and some pampering of myself as well. 

Lets talk about something more interesting.

Baby in a Pumpkin Patch with a Turtle Hat

I can’t tell you this little guys name, but isn’t he cute!  I made him that hat.  Its an orange hat with green turtles on it.  It was his mommy’s baby shower present with the book Yertle the Turtle and a Yertle the Turtle stuffed animal.  Its always nice to see your handi-work in use.  I normally don’t knit for  people any more for showers, but his grandmother is a knitter, so I knew the mother would appreciate and understand a hand-knit item.

I’m nearly finished with the Alpaca Hat.  Just have to weave in ends and sew in the fleece lining.  It turned out really cute.  I’ll hopefully have pictures of the finished item soon.  Now I’m trying to finish up gatherin intentions for my trip.  I’m not sure if I’ll finish it or not, but it at least gives me something to focus on when I have time to do something other than work.