February is Finished!

Here we are, the 1^st week of March – what have I finished last month? One pair of mittens, one shawl, one pair of socks. Not too bad! Still on the needles/sewing table: Maluka, the casserole tote, the quilt and the Christmas stocking(s). Maluka is nearly done – I’m in the stockinette section at the top and it is going really fast. I added 6 border repeats (total of 39) based on many peoples’ comments that they wished it was larger. I also want to use up as much of the yarn as I can – I have 400 yards, and the shawl as written only takes 250 - 290.

My mitten entry won a prize on Jeanne’s blog! She brought it to knitting last night – wow, I am so awed at the generosity (and skills) of her friends that donated prizes. There is a small tote bag/purse (jenbuza bags) in bright spring colors: ,

a box of handmade soaps in flavors good enough to eat:,

and a framed linoleum block print by Susan. I’m thinking living room for the print – the clean lines and simple color scheme will go well in there.

Weight: goal + 3.5 lbs! Will I be able to maintain this? I don’t know. The key really seems to be portion control and limiting carbs, which is very hard when cooking for a family. I spent most of last week at a conference in Florida, which when done right, can be a great way to kick start some good habits. Typical conference day: lectures start at 8:30, and the “commute” is a quick 2 minute walk from my hotel room to the conference room on the first floor. Plenty of time for some exercise before the day starts, and I don’t even have to get up early (compared to my Cleveland alarm clock). Bonus: February in Florida means you can jog outside in a t-shirt and shorts – much preferred over the treadmill at home. Grab a Luna bar and some water for breakfast, wash up and walk past the table of donuts and muffins by the conference room, sit down with a cup of tea. Morning coffee break: continue to ignore the donuts and muffins. Lunch: this conference provided a buffet lunch each day – awesome. At a larger conference, you are usually on your own and that can mean food court or fast food near the conference center. Fill up half my plate with salad, take a piece of fish and a roll, more iced tea. Afternoon coffee break: no cookies or brownies for me! Dinner: on my own two nights, (Indian the first night, Lebanese the second), the third night was the conference reception and I got invited to join a group of people going to Bonefish Grill. Reception and dinner out with a group means total calorie splurge, but we all need a night off, right?

Conference ended at lunch Friday but I booked an extra day of vacation for myself. Friday afternoon – sunny and 87°F. Pool time! Got a little tan. Friday night – choice of sitting in hotel room (boring), going to bar alone in strange city (not happening), or driving up to a sports complex in the ‘burbs and going skating. Guess which one I picked? OMG I had forgotten how much rental skates suck! Black and blue all over – falling doing the simplest things.

Saturday was much cooler – only upper 60’s, not really a pool day. I checked out of the hotel, spent the morning at the outlet mall picking up some new clothes for the spring and the afternoon at Lake Louisa State Park, about 30 minutes west of Orlando. Perfect hiking weather – I spent two hours on the “orange” trail wandering through a cypress forest. Microclimate changed from pines to cypress dripping with Spanish Moss, a blackwater stream, a sandy beach. So peaceful and quiet, so opposite of Orlando. Headed back to the airport and collapsed.

Tried nothing really “new” the last two weeks – just trying to keep up with work and family schedules, sticking to the tried and true. Last swimming lesson was last night – and nothing (sports wise) on Audrey’s schedule for a while – skating goes through the end of March for her, then I think we’re done until Fall.

Done!

Week ?/52. I'm useless at this numbering system. Valentine's week!

Another project done for February is for Finishing. Cha-Ching!

Here's my Bird in Hand Mittens - yarn is Shelter, by Brooklyn Tweed in Fossil and Almanac. I used about 0.5 skeins of the white, and just a skosh over 1 skein of the blue. Arghh! Increases project cost by 50% - was not planning on buying 3 skeins of this yarn for mittens! But, I think I have plenty left over for a matching hat, so not a complete loss.

Pattern: Bird in Hand
Designer: Kate Gilbert
Yarn: Brooklyn Tween Shelter
Needles: US1

Try something new: crock pot chicken parmesan. You can find variations of this recipe all over the web, I won't repeat it. Verdict: BIG FAIL! Provided many giggles for my 2nd grader though as she watched me try to fit a large (frozen) oval chicken breast into a small round crockpot this morning. I went with frozen because there are 10 hours between leaving for work and sitting down to dinner, and I needed to add a couple hours on to the usual "6 - 7 hours on low" crockpot instructions. I breaded the breasts last night and froze them, stacked, (big mistake) in a container. Then this morning I could not separate them. And they were too big to fit flat on the bottom of my crockpot so I put them in propped up diagonally. The cheese I layered on the chicken all slid off and fell into the sauce. Oh the mirth!

It tasted okay though - just looked a disaster. One blogger claimed her dish was worthy of serving to company. If you are company at my house and I serve you this hot mess, well, you will know what I think of you.

Weight: Goal + 7.5 lbs. Endurance is up, upper body strength modestly improved. Pants a little loose today!

February is for finishing!

Week 6/52

So, I held off posting this week until I could honestly say I finished something. My friend Jeanne (check her out at lifeincleveland.blogspot.com) came up with the great idea of using this short, sweet month to clear the dust of some of those WIPs and UFOs and get some stuff DONE! FINI! She's even having some contests to get you motivated - check it out!

My Argus shawlette is done - off the needles. Still needs to be blocked, so I'll wait on the photo until it's ready for its close-up. What else is on my list for February? Well, I guess I'll have to finish up those mittens after all. Then I'll fire up my sewing machine and finish the casserole tote I started, and bind that quilt I made before Audrey was even born. If I still have time, there's a cross-stitch Christmas stocking with my husband's name on it (really. But the sky still needs to be filled in, and there is some outlining detail that needs work.)

Kitty has a name - Luna. She is shaping up to be a very mellow cat. I've never seen a kitten sleep so much. I have a feeling she is going to need the "Less Active" cat food in another year or so.

Weight: up. Phooey. I didn't eat that much this weekend, but I think all the salt I ate on Super Bowl Sunday must have caused all of Lake Erie to cling to my waist.

Try something new: crock pot Buffalo chicken sandwiches. Awesome. Low fat (but high sodium, unfortunately). We used wing sauce from Anchor Bar. Yum - and we have leftovers in the freezer for more sandwiches this weekend!

Happy finishing!

Kitty!

Week 5/52

I ought to have my head examined!

Got a kitty this weekend! Here she is -

She was born last July, and we got her through Love-A-Stray. Very shy – she loves to be petted, but so far will not approach us. We’ve had to extract her from under the TV cabinet to see her at all. Yet, once in my lap, she makes no effort to leave. And purrs like a motorboat! Her whole body vibrates when she purrs.

Not a complete surprise, we have been promising Audrey we would get a cat for a while now. I just expected we would spend more time looking before picking one. It’s hard though, because at any given time there may be only one or two cats that fit our criteria at the adoption center to look at. Do you pull the trigger, or wait another week? And of course Audrey fell deeply in love with EVERY cat she petted.

Now we have to cat-proof the house. Already one plant has been earmarked to be moved to my office at work. Zoey used to love to chew on it too, but when Zoey was alive, this plant was small enough to put on top of the bookcase. It’s over three feet tall now, and that is not an option anymore. What is it about plants with blade-shaped leaves and cats? I doubt it actually tastes like grass.

In knitting: done with Chart B of my Argus Shawl. Just one chart left – yay! I think I’ve pretty much abandoned the goal of finishing the thumbs on the mittens right away. I mean, it’s going to be in the mid-50’s today. I don’t think I am going to need warm mittens this winter. Next year, for sure.

In exercise/weight loss. Moved to Workout 2 of the 30-Day Shred. More ouchies. Some interesting new exercises I have not done before – plank jumping jacks? So you do jumping jacks with your legs while your body is in plank position and you try not to fall forward on your face while wondering if the neighbors can see that your shirt is slipping up around your shoulders through the curtains you forgot to close. Exercises legs, abs, arms, and mind! Weight: Goal + 8 lbs. Not budging. Love handles not disappearing either, but pants feel a smidge looser. Legs are feeling rock hard, between these exercises and the ice skating.

Successful recipe – not really a recipe, but a method. Nothing new and innovative either, just a first for me: tender pork chops. Thick cut pork chops (about 1”), sprinkled with dry rub (salt and spice only, no sugars). Preheat iron pan on front left burner, dial #7.5, spray with Grilling Pam. Sear both sides of chops, insert thermometer and put in 400F oven until reads 155F. Total time ~30 minutes. Yay me! Even Audrey ate her portion.

Vellamino!

Week 4/52

Winter? Well, we’ve had plenty of snow. And rain (which melted the snow). And wind (which removed a 4 ft. section of gutter from our house). Crazy weather! It just hasn’t gotten cold enough to motivate me to put the thumbs on the Bird in Hand mittens I started last year. They are thick and dense and probably wind-proof as well, but they are going to be crazy warm and best suited for going to the sledding hill. Which is just a rain-soaked, mud-covered grassy hill at this point.

Finally got my Winter 2011 issue of Interweave Knits! They said they mailed it November 21^st. After a month, when everybody else on Rav said they had gotten theirs, I emailed and asked them to send it again. Another 20 business days go by, it comes in a manila envelope. Yay! Then a couple days later, the original shows up. WTF? Really post office? 2 months? According to the Interweave site, they are mailing the Spring 2012 issue today. I’ll believe it when I see it.

Work in Progress: the Argus Shawl, in alpaca laceweight. DH gave me this yarn for our 13^th anniversary (traditional gift: lace – I asked for the DIY kit!). It’s lovely, but quite slippery. Still, I’m on chart C and getting about 3-4 rows done every night.

Work finished: Vellamo socks.

Pattern: Vellamo

Designer: Taina Anttila

Yarn: Cascade Heritage sock yarn

Needles: US 1

Modifications: I wish I'd gone up a needle size in the colorwork areas. Also, made the stripes 5 R MC/3 R CC due to having much more of the brown available than the red.

Trying something new: Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred program. I’m on Workout 1, easy modifications. Oh my aching muscles! Holy crap this is tough. My goal is to finish all 30 days in under 5 weeks – so far I have only missed 2 days – day 2 because I couldn’t flipping move my arms and legs when I woke up, and Sunday because I was too darned busy with other things. I’ll probably miss Tuesday too because I’ve got a skating lesson, but I’m not sure if I should count that. It is still a good workout (thighs, calves) although not quite as cardio as it could be.

Weight: goal + 8 lbs. Was briefly goal + 7 lbs, but splurged too much over the weekend.

Finally Winter!

Week 3/52

Can't believe it's the third week of January and I'm finally saying that, but we have snow! Enough to bring our plow guy out here three times since Friday! And the drifts on the deck are probably knee deep, so I guess that counts. Of course, tomorrow is supposed to be 45F; it will all melt. Then snow again on Wednesday. Of course.

Weight: Goal + 8 lbs. As of this morning. After the slab of chocolate cake my Mom bought after dinner, probably not so much any more.

Knitting: finished a couple of projects! Photography lagging behind (surprised?) but this week - I bring you Vitamin D!

Pattern: Vitamin D
Designer: Heidi Kirmaier
Yarn: Briar Rose Fibers Polwarth, handspun

This sweater has been a long time coming. I won a "stage" of the 2010 Tour de Fleece, and chose a shop credit at Briar Rose Fibers as my prize. I added some extra and ended up with 9.5 oz. of beautiful dyed Polwarth fiber, which I spun up on my Golding spindle to 1310 yds. of laceweight/light fingering 2-ply. That took about 6 months, then I set it aside until last Fall. Started knitting last October, and finally seamed it up just after New Years. Phew!

Will I spindle-spin an entire sweater again? I don't know. But it was a major accomplishment and I'm glad to have tackled it once.

Cooking: nothing too fancy this week - it was a busy week with two skating lessons, a swimming lesson and a Brownie meeting. Made a nice Asian vegetable/tofu stir fry with noodles instead of rice, and an awesome pot roast with mushrooms and balsamic vinegar on Saturday once my folks got here.

Week 2/52: January 8th

Weight: Goal + 8.5 lbs
Knitting: the Vitamin D sweater is done and blocking! One Vellamo sock is done, the other is up to the gusset.

Cooking: the Moroccan Lentil Soup last week - delicious! I'll make that ohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifne again, for sure.

Something new: back crossovers. I'm taking ice skating lessons. I've been skating since ...I don't know... kindergarten? I remember my Dad taking me to a frozen pond on double runner skates. After that we went as a family to the RIT rink, later they would drop me off with my friends on a weekend afternoon. But I never had lessons. Over the years, I've taught myself how to skate forwards and backwards, front crossovers and to turn around while moving. I want to learn more though, and also how to do things "properly". This session, the Rocky River rec center is offering adult lessons, so there I am!