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Monday, October 20, 2008

The Christmas Stocking


Here is the finished stocking for my sweet little grandson....and done with just a little over 2 months until Christmas, can you believe it? I used Bernat Softee Bulky yarn for this and size 8 straight needles for the leg portion and then switched to dpns for the foot. I kitchenered the toe and was very pleased with the decreases used in this particular pattern (Yankee Pattern). I know that his Mom & Dad will be able to fit lots of presents into it......which they'll just love, seeing as how they have 2 other children's stockings (which I knit in the past few years and are pictured below) to fill.


Friday, October 10, 2008

Completed Projects



Child's Turn a Square Hat

Here is the hat I knit for my grandson and I know it will keep him nice and toasty. I used size 6 dpns and Jojoland Melody yarn which I discussed on a previous post, in case you'd like to know where to go and look it over. The pattern is Turn a Square by Jared on his blog, Brooklyn Tweed.

I really liked the ease of following his directions and the way the decreases turned out, although I think I may have made a couple of mistakes on the final decreasing before the last eight stitches. In spite of that it turned out well although, I'm not happy with the purl bumps that present themselves once I turned the ribbing up. If anyone knows how to eliminate that particular problem, please comment and let me know....I'd be very thankful.


Linen Shawl


As for the other completed project, DRUM ROLL PLEASE, I finally completed the long overdue linen shawlette. Talk about a labor of love.....I nearly went crazy waiting for the 2 skeins of linen to finally run out....they wanted to last forever and I was ready to jump ship on more than one occasion plus I found out that I don't care for knitting with linen so that's why it took me over a year to finish the shawl. I hope the recipient (no names mentioned as it's a Christmas gift for a loved one) will love wearing it as it is quite comfy and not bulky, yet very warm and it melds to the body and stays put.

On the 'paying attention' to my health front, I've been walking every other (I know it should be every, but I HATE it) day and closely watching my carb intake, my portion sizes, etc. and I'm very happy to report that I've lost 4 pounds already so I need to update my weight loss graph asap. I feel good about the small changes I've made and vow to stick with them as I endeavor to add a few more changes to the mix over the course of time.

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes!


I've long been guilty of not making my health and welfare one of my top 3 priorities and today is no exception. However, after talking to my mom who always has much wise advice, I think I'm overdue with paying much closer attention to my health, my exercising (recently, my lack thereof), the foods I eat, etc. and naturally, all of this takes the big T.......time. Now, why is it that many of us females do not think we're worthy of taking the time we should for ourselves? We see it as being selfish if we're not always putting others first. I know this is true because I've been thinking that way all of my life and yes, it won't be easy to make a few long overdue changes, but I'm going to give it my all and will hopefully be the better for it. To have a positive outcome can only benefit those in my life as I not only feel better, look better, and have more energy, but I'll also be pretty pumped about the changes I've been able to implement, even if they are slow in coming. The main thing is '"it's never too late to make these or ANY changes".

One of the blogs I really enjoy reading is The Happiness Project. The articles are thought provoking and I really like the idea of making happiness a conscious pursuit because it can be very easy to fall into the gloom and doom type of thinking especially these days with the bad news worldwide, day in and day out. Anyhow, reading these posts for awhile definitely has had some effect on my decision to concentrate on 'paying attention'' and honestly being aware of things each day no matter how small, or how ordinary. There is an honest beauty in the ordinary everyday happenings and I miss too many of them in the hurry-itis I've developed over time.

So, here and now I set my modest goals to begin each day with more awareness. That will be my goal for a week or two and then I'll move onto others such as those mentioned above. I will post both my progress or lack thereof, letting you know just how I'm doing and how I'm feeling about my efforts, in case you might be interested. Posting it here somehow makes it seem more real and it's good to actually have to 'fess up' even if it's only in cyberspace.


As for knitting projects, here is a picture of my progress thus far on a Christmas stocking for my grandson (he'll be a year old in January). I'm using acrylic yarns but they're very vivid in color, don't you think? I've also begun a hat for him using Jojoland variegated worsted (pictured below) and size 5 dpns. I ordered 4 different color ways and it's interesting to see the colors develop as I knit this hat. I'll probably use the other colors for hats as well. I still haven't managed to get a picture of the pink speckled Opal socks I just made for my sweet granddaughter but I will, I promise.

I ordered this yarn from Knitting Software and I just love these people, namely Carole, Noah, and Leah. They give great customer service and will help you with anything they possibly can, plus they offer a wide variety of knitting accessories, DVD's, needles, etc. I also own Carole's Sweater Wizard, Sock Wizard, and Math Wizard, although the only wizard I can think of is Carole herself...she is constantly outdoing herself with each of her creations. No affiliation, honest, just a very happy customer.


P.S. (October 5)
I started walking again today which is the first time I've done so since the beginning of June so I'm feeling pretty good about beginning once again. Now that the weather is finally cooling off (although not cool enough for moi, LOL), I can get outside and do my walking........then when it gets too windy or snowy, I'll jump back on my trusty treadmill, at all times armed with my gifted
MP3 player (from my fabulous son and daughter in law). Am I blessed or what???