Looking Back, Looking Ahead

2007 was a big year.

For starters, I’m not just mama to Mercy anymore. Keith and I welcomed our first child in November!

I also took a sewing class and finally got the hang of using my machine, reading a pattern, and modifying a pattern. This year I hope to improve my skills and take a class on sewing garments.

My favorite projects were the nursery items and the Nappy Bags. I use one of the nappy bags almost everyday.

My favorite knits from this past year were the baby knits. Maybe they are my favorites because of how quicky they knit up, or because they look so darn cute on our baby. The two sweaters I knit for myself turned out ok but I haven’t had a chance to wear them yet… as I am working on regaining my pre-pregnancy shape.

This year I would like to work on conquering a few sweaters. Fabulous sweaters, ones that I will want to wear all the time! I’m also planning on working on more socks and a few baby knits.

Somehow, someway, I’ll keep up with my hobbies, even with an infant, a barking dog, and my post- pregnancy fitness quest.

What about you? Any 2008 goals?

Shape Up

My Shape Up Page is now up and running, along with a few other online tools to help me in my fitness quest for 2007! I plan to update that page once a month to track my progress.

Where I’ve been…

My weight has fluctuated quite a bit since graduating from high school in 2000. While in school, I was very active in sports and played one or two sports at a time all year long. Two - four hours of exercise a day was not uncommon for me as I trained for various track and field events and played travel soccer. My weight ranged from 125-130 during that time and I ate whatever I wanted (and alot of it).

That changed once I went to college. I no longer played varsity sports and adapted a sedentary college lifestyle of late night studying, eating, and little exercise. My weight went up to 140, 150, back down to 130, up to 140 and remained at 140 for quite some time. I married my sweetie in 2004 and having homecooked meals, coupled with a job that had gourmet (and fattening) lunches nearly every day, and stress eating brought me to my peak weight of 164. I was terribly unhappy with myself.

I decided to lose it all and joined my local chapter of Team in Training, an endurance training group that raises money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. During the training I ran farther than I ever thought possible and gained a newfound amazement and respect for the human body.

I finished the Nike Women’s Marathon with a time of 5 hours and 9 minutes in October 2006. I continued my exercise regimen beyond the race and by December 27th 2006, I was down to 144 pounds (20 lbs. from my peak weight).

Sadly, I suffered a hip injury that is yet to be diagnosed (I have an MRI today) on December 27th at my gym that has left me unable to run without extreme pain or debilitation. For the past 2 months, I have been pretty sedentary as I haven’t been able to run or bike. I gained 5-6 pounds in this time and ot having that time to exercise has taken a toll on me mentally!

Where I’m at…

So I can’t run much (or at all if I listen to my doctors). I have only run a few times since the beginning of January, each with painful consequences! Supposedly I am not to bike or do the elliptical either, leaving little cardio to do!

I joined a different gym and it is about a 2/10’s of a mile walk from my front door.

Where I’m going…

I am meeting with a trainer on Wednesday, one of the new member freebies the gym gives you, and will hopefully know more about my hip to create a training regimen that will not further aggravate my injury, yet provide adequate calorie burnage.

I am also using some online tools to track my progress. You can see these, my goals, and a monthly update on my Shape Up Page.

New beginnings…

My word, it is February 1st! An entire month of the new year has flown by and I am led to reflect a bit. This new month brings some new beginnings for me: new projects, new friends, new encouragement opportunities, and launching a new career.

I started this year off with a list of things to do and I have to say that I have followed through on quite a bit. I have been quite diligent in planning my day, week, etc., and although not everything on my list for January has been crossed off, I’m ok with that!

I have come to realize that I have taken far too much in my life for granted. When I was a kid, my mother’s house was always clean. The laundry was always done. The fridge was always stocked with food. Dinner was always on the table at 5:30.

Now adays I am very rarely home from work by 5:30.

and my thoughts about laundry are more in line with this plaque:

I know it’s a terrible attitude to have!!!

But seriously, I took for granted how tough it is to “keep the ship running.” It is tough for me- I guess I haven’t mastered the art that it seems like so many women have.

How DO they all look so thin, their houses so clean, and have a corner suite office & executive title and 6 figure salary? Is it an illusion that they have all these things along with great friendships, thriving marriage, and children that are well adjusted and happy? Are they aliens or am I the weird one?

Maybe it’s the media influence… making us all THINK that we can have it all…….

But for me, I’d take a happy husband and home anyday over a 70 hour workweek. Too bad the rest of the world looks down on that.

On that note… I am in the process of changing careers! Exciting, scary, and a whole lot of work. I am looking to move into the world of advertising & marketing and grow my skills. So far no takers but I am sure that I would make an excellent acount exec at an agency or in corporate communications.

Now… onto Project Spectrum!!!!

I have temporarily put the “design a sweater” on hold due to a catastrophic event involving the cabled sweater. After much thought, I have decided to embark upon a trusted and true pattern that many people have already done (so I can easily get tips from them:) ). The yarn I am using is this yummy Berrocco yarn that is 50% alpaca & 50% wool. I will be swatching tonight. Stay tuned, the “design a sweater” may come back, depending on how smoothly this one goes…

I have been feverishly working on these knee high socks. I finished the first leg, minus the embroidery, and cast on for the second. The actual sock section is done by picking up the stitches from the bottom cuff and working down to the toe. I haven’t totally decided whether or not to do the sock part. I have to figure out what to wear these with first. I was thinking as leg warmers they would be WICKED cool!

Well, I am off to start celebrating colors this month… blue in my sweater swatch tonight!

Project Spectrum planning, a delicate operation and one more FO!

To boldly go where this knitter has never gone before…

After reading my new book, Knitting without Tears, by Elizabeth Zimmerman, I have decided to take a leap of faith and attempt to design my own sweater. I will be following her Seamless Saddle Shoulder sweater pattern, which requires a bit more thinking and…. MATH… than I am used to. She suggests finding a favorite sweater that fits well and measuring that for starters. Then I would have to choose my yarn, swatch to determine gauge… and then do the math to figure out how many stitches to cast on. The only thing that I would like to ADD to the pattern would be a little shaping so it’s not too boxy. And of course I will be adding my own colors and intarsia design.

What I was looking for in a sweater was something fun and *warm* to wear snowboarding. I want it to look similar to a typical ski sweater, but with the snowboarding “edge.” Us boarders have to look a little edgy, you know! (Funny coming from a suburbanite DINKY). I am planning on having the colors be a darker grey and blue, Project Spectrum colors of course! The colors also happen to match my snow gear and brand spanking new board. The sweater will have a blue stipe across the chest that has a cross type intarsia section- I’d like this to look like a cross between the ski-patrol symbol and a snowflake. Or maybe the ski patrol cross with “V” coming out from it. I’ll have to work on this design after the yarn & gauge is determined and chart it out- also a first for me!

The goal date of the project would be ASAP so I could wear it boarding this year.

As far a yarns go, I am thinking a bulky weight so it will be nice and thick, but knit on smaller needles. Next week I am hoping to chat with the owner of my LYS store and get her feedback. I’m trying to buy local!

And now, the cable-oops operation

After making a mistake in the cable all the way down here… I am attempting to rip back the center section and reknit before I rip out the whole enchilada. Stay tuned.

One more FO!

Now that all the gifts pants are done, I finally finished mine. Next up- the matching tops for my DH, FIL, and me.

Another check on my resolutions….

One, two, three finished projects?????????

One pair of Thuja Socks, finally completed after a year of being lost in the queue.

One pair of Pajama pants with a cool vintage baseball print for my father-in-law’s birthday (I don’t think they read this!). Clearly I am all about the pajama pants since the sewing class. I may need to branch out into something else…

And a partridge in a pear tree. Actually it’s Mercy in front of the other gift I made my father-in-law, a fleece blanket. No pattern, just wingin’ it. I found this fabric that suited him perfectly with the golf and fishing images and I backed it with a chocolate brown fleece. I don’t know all the technical terms of what I did, but I basically sewed it like a pillow, turned it right side out, stiched up the little hole in the seam, and THEN re-stitched along the entire ting, creating a more professional look, or so my hubby says.

SO… I have completed one of my 2007 goals by finishing the socks, two checks for doing more handmade gifts, and 3 checks to date for having 3 sewing FO’s by the end of January. I’d say it’s been a pretty productive 1/24 of the year.

Who else is blogging about…

cabled sweaters?

Posts that contain Cabled Sweater per day for the last 30 days.

Get your own chart!

Not a whole lot…but maybe enough to motivate me! I must get through these WIP’s before I start something new!

I have been cruising around blogland and finding cool new widgets, gadgets and such. I’ve been reading some of my regular blogs but my list keeps getting longer and longer- it’s hard to keep up with them. Lynda has the most amazing post on “Making Time.” Inspirational words on priorities. Great stuff girl! And Lynne, as usual, is knitting more than humanly possible. Knits and Grits has a new look and has sent me over to this other cool blog, Craft Apple. Craft Apple has some really cool tutorials on all sorts of fun stuff that will definately be added to my 2007 goals. Beth has some new FO’s and Marisol is ready to ship a package across the world!

I can’t wait to see what everyone else is up to!

 

New Year… new Blog host… and a host of resolutions

Welcome to my new home. A bit plain, but it’ll get better. I promise- it’s one of my resolutions of course!

I have painstakingly written out my goals for this year in Excel, given target dates- the whole nine yards. A little OCD, you say?

So… for 2007 I am aiming to do the following in knitting:

1- Finish my UFO’s

which include

The edging on my Meg Swanson Shawl

Seaming my intarsia pillow, yes SEAMING is all that is left!!!

Keith’s Thuja socks- one done, one cuff in progress

My cabled sweater- working on the sleeves

Frog Sizzle and start over.

And finish my Kristin Nicholas knee highs. Right now it’s an ankle warmer.

2- New projects

Maybe the Hourglass sweater

Design my own sweater.

Knit Mercy a cabled sweater that sort of matches mine. Nerdy, I know.

Make a felted bag.

Mittens

Small Fair Isle projects

I have so many others…. but one of them is to go to the gym Before work instead of after… so I best be getting to bed! More tomorrow.