Bron's Blog II

Incentive

(My commentary is rated PG this morning for the use of the word "*ss." Just thought I'd warn you. ::wink::)

You know what this is?

It's a box of clothes that I've gotten from eBay off & on over the past year. Mostly jeans - about 15 pair of jeans I think - and other bottoms. I didn't buy them specifically, they came as part of a "lot" of clothes. I was really going for the tops or dresses that were included, the pants were extra.

All those pants should fit. You want to know why they don't?

'Cause I have a fat *ss.

You know why my *ss is so fat?

'Cause I have a lazy *ss too that doesn't want to exercise.

I could have a closet full of cute clothes if only I could drag my.....wait for it.....sorry *ss over to the exercise bike & get back into the swing of things.

I have high hopes that spring break will give me the time & motivation I need to start my exercise regime in earnest once again. In the meantime, in order to get the exercise ball rolling, I helped Doug finish shoveling the gravel in the front yard at the rental. My butt may be big, but my arms are sure getting toned! I'll get a pic of the finished project today. :)

In crocheting news, I reread the crochet cardi directions for, like, the 10th time & this time I really have it going correctly:

I've joined the back & fronts & am working my way down. :) Please ignore what I said before about the pattern obtuseness. There IS a real mistake, but it comes later - what I did at first was totally a user goof. I was trying to fix what I thought was a mistake on row 4 when in actuality I should've ripped back to row 2 to fix my own mistake. ::Grin:::

The real mistake is in the section where it tells you how the pattern rows go for the straight sections, working in the round and the taper. I'll list the correction when I do my end notes for this cardi - which should be in a couple of days 'cause this is a FAST crochet!

I'm using the Lily Elite Cotton that I've had for awhile. I tried two other projects with this and both failed. I was hoping the 3rd time would be the charm and it looks like it will be. :)

I totally forgot I bought a subscription to this until it arrived in my mailbox yesterday:

I liked a couple of patterns, which I'll talk about later, but I really have to say that my biggest beef with Knit N Style is their habit of putting really awful  items on their front cover. There are usually bright stripes & some sort of fun fur involved. Yuck! You're supposed to entice the reader into opening the magazine, not turn them off from even picking it up!

Yes, I'm still working on kitchen stuff. Right now I'm pattern testing for a friend. :)

Next up: Reviews of Lace Style and the June "Knit 'N Style."

Then the unveiling of Lacy Top Cardi.

Can this blog get any more thrilling???? hehehehe

Somebody Stop Me

If only it wasn't so interesting watching the patterns emerge:

And look - I found a round knit dishcloth pattern that uses short rows instead of dpns!:

With all this talk of dishcloths, I must confess that in my head....I call them "dishrags." That's what Mom called 'em and I can't help but follow suit. Hey - I grew up in a household with an "icebox" rather than a "fridge." I can't help being archaic!

I found this at Michael's yesterday:

And really liked the butterfly and the chicken potholders:

(Ahem...I also have 2 dishcloth pamphlets on their way from eBay but I swear....that's IT! LOL)

In the meantime, I've remembered another pattern I used to make all the time. It's for a potholder and it's easy-peasy too. I'll crochet one up today & post the pattern tomorrow. :)

Here's a sweater picture for all those out there who are about to un-sub from my blog in disgust at my kitschy kitchen helpers:

I'm an inch into the ribbing on "Something Pink (Red)" and have about 10" to go before I finish. I'm going to make the body a little longer than specified (as I almost always do.)

I found this at B&N yesterday:

Let me go on record with almost everyone else & say that I dislike the new layout of the magazine. It's very hard to tell what's an ad and what's a pattern and, well, I don't know - I just don't like it!

The patterns were ok this time, but nothing really jumped out & grabbed me. I liked the cabling in this (naturally):

And this is probably the one thing I'll seriously think about making from this issue:

I have some yarn on my shelves that I received for Christmas (thanks again, Wendy!) that might be just the ticket for this. It's even in the same color family. :) We'll see.

Some patterns were, to me, kinda pointless:

But then again, I'm not a sweet young thing that can get away with wearing things like that!

As always, I found things in the ads to interest me. Case in point:

I doubt I'd actually want to knit all of that, but I'd sure like to have the sweater! LOL

And I found that Amy Singer has a book coming out called No Sheep For You, all about knitting with cotton, hemp, bamboo, etc. You know - for all of us who are allergic to wool. :) I had no idea that Amy was allergic too - I feel that I'm in good company. Anyway, that's one I'll be checking out when it becomes available.

Here are a couple of life updates:

• Our guy who was set to buy the house decided he couldn't swing it, but it's totally OK - we signed up with a really good Realtor yesterday & after about 3 weeks of renovating, we'll have it on the market again. As we were talking to him yesterday, two people stopped in front of the house to ask if we were still selling it & when they could see it. No joke. I doubt we'll have it on the market long.

• I've officially lost 10 pounds since early January - which gives me hope that all those patterns in Fitted Knits that I showed you will look pretty good on me. ::wink::: Now I'm back to just another 20 to go! (Stupid Christmas fudge! ::Grin:::)

What A Difference A Day Makes

Just getting a few things accomplished, having a good night's sleep (yeah - I went to bed during the State of the Union address...sometimes I just can't bear to see his face on my TV), and making a couple of decisions can make everything look brighter. :)

More life bullets:

• I got the rental's electric/gas/water transferred back into our name. One thing off my mind.

• Doug called the renter & we've got assurances that $$ is forthcoming within the next 48 hours AND all the trash will be hauled away forthwith.

• I've been very dissatisfied with WW Online, mainly because their online tools fail. They lose days out of my points tracker, for instance, and that is VERY irritating. Also, they are so backed up in customer service that they say they'll answer questions within five days! Nope - sorry. After one week I decided to cancel, but then found out I might be out $40 for just one week's worth of use! Grrrrr! I'll keep you posted on how THAT works out!

• I've gone to what is tried & true for me: I lose weight AND I get rid of gas & bloating. It's low carb all the way. (I didn't say NO carb, so don't anyone get up in arms!) I've lost a couple more pounds and feel wonderful. The best part is not worrying about a poochy stomach - I'd forgotten just how bloated carbs make me. The really best part is that I don't have to pay anyone to tell me how much or what to eat. Low carb is pretty much a no-brainer diet. :)

• Classes yesterday could've been worse but they could've been better. I had to lecture all of them on behavior a time or two but avoided writing contracts. Although since I threatened to, next time I'll probably have to in order to prove I don't bluff. Sigh.

• Today I have a half day job - Special Ed Science. If no emergencies come up, I'll be out at noon. I'd love to be able to come home & have a couple of hours of peace & quiet. It's been awhile!

Now...on to knitting & crocheting....

I've made just a smidge of progress on Black Lace Cardi:

(I've made this my school project since I've memorized the pattern & it's small & easy to carry.)

I've knit on Holey Cables during the evenings, but with around 270 stitches per row, even at a larger gauge this is taking awhile!:

I got a new Sandra in the mail yesterday (October, 2005) and this is the pattern I've been waiting for:

Fishtail lace is my favorite and I really love this wrap cardi. :) But wouldn't you know - this calls for a chunky yarn (size 11 needles) and I'm fresh out of yarn that big on my shelves! I've been making a concerted effort to buy worsted weight & below and stay away from big knits. Hmmmmm....could there be some yarn shopping in my future? Or can I make something in my stash work???

I'll let you know!

Movies, Sleeves and Weight Watchers

Yesterday we watched two films, Lady In The Water (from Netflix) and Firewall on HBO. Of the two, "Lady" is a much better film. Although I love Harrison Ford, this film is so generic it lost me a quarter of the way in. He displays emotion but it's mostly over-the-top anger - no subtlety here! I'll admit, however, that the fight scene at the end was one of the grittiest I've seen. Talk about slugging it out!

On the flip side, I'd recommend "Lady" if you're looking for something different. I was expecting to either love the film (ie. "The Sixth Sense") or hate it (don't get me started on "The Village!") but remarkably I landed somewhere in the middle. It wasn't what I was expecting - we'd deliberately not read reviews - and the adult fairy-tale aspect was intriguing. M. Night Shyamalan had originally written the story as a bedtime story for his children but, of course, his fairy-tales are twisted! I enjoyed all the different characters and how they fit into the grand scheme and it was fun watching Shyamalan in the middle of it all.

The kids were a little disappointed, though, since we'd seen the movie trailers in the theater and were expecting something scarier. And I think we were all expecting a little something more at the end.

I managed quite a bit on Fountain's sleeves yesterday:

I think I'm finally going to change something in the pattern, however. They show the sleeves being 12" long before beginning the sleeve cap and in the picture, the model has the sleeves pushed up to above her elbows:

I'd like the sleeves to come to the bend of my elbow naturally - no pushing required. That's probably on my mind because I wore Nantucket last week and really enjoyed the sleeve length - not too long, not too short. :) I think I'll hold a Fountain sleeve up to a Nantucket sleeve & go from there. If I'm stopping soon, I'll need to step up the increases accordingly!

Either way, you just might be seeing a finished cardi sometime Monday. :) I'm going to mosey out today & see if I can find some off-white buttons to match. ::grin:: I can't wait to have this one finished - I really think I'm going to love it!

Now - on to that Weight Watchers bit. I don't know what it is - whether after 2 years I lost a little of my "oomph", a little of my drive, or what, but these final pounds are proving difficult...especially since I gained 10 of them back over Christmas! I tried counting calories as I was doing before the holidays and for 2 weeks, nothing happened. I finally decided I'd had enough with dicking around (so to speak) and on impulse I pulled up Weight Watchers Online & signed up for 3 months. For $65, someone else is telling me how much to eat (although not what to eat - I'm doing the Flex plan, not Core) and so far I love it. I enter everything I eat and am planning to eat into the Tracker and everything is figured for me - no mess, no fuss, no strain.

I've lost 4 pounds in 2 days. It's also good to get immediate feedback from the scale! (No - it's not "just water" either. ::wink::)

You'll never catch me at a meeting, but the online plan might just be the ticket for me. If all goes well and I don't hit a plateau, 3 months is probably all I need to get darn close to my final goal. It would be great to have all the weight gone by summer. :)

Now, if you'll excuse me, I hear an exercise bike calling my name.....