People have started to notice

A few people have now mentioned to me that I seem thinner, or that my shape has changed.  My massage therapist said I must have lost 15 lbs.  (I had only lost 10 at the time)  This makes me feel good about what I am doing.

To that end, I made some changes in the last week.  I have moved my parking spot from in the basement of the garage to the top floor of the garage so that I have to climb up more stairs, and I have started climbing the stairs to the 7th floor in the morning before work.  It is HARD.  I assume it will get easier.

Last night I went to the pub, and after accounting for all the calories consumed/imbibed I was well over my goal/exercise calories for the day.  So I got on the elliptical and worked out.  Total buzz killer but at least I got up this morning and didn't weigh more than the day before.

OH!  I got my new scale in the mail yesterday and it syncs automatically with my computer.  How's that for sweet?  Unfortunately it tells me that I am 1/3 FAT.  UGH.  I still have a long way (weigh) to go.

Fun Day

Yesterday was a pretty awesome day. 

Matthew and Joseph went with me to see the Oregon Symphony.  They had a super fun pops show with some ballroom dancers from Dancing with the Stars and some singers from American Idol.  They were fantastic.  Tristan and Anna were who I expected to be my favorites, but I think that the real star yesterday was a contemporary/break dancer.  He completely owned the show and the crowd.

Then we went to BJ's Brewhouse for dinner which was excellent.  Great company and super fantastic pizza.

I did have way too much salt yesterday and I can feel it all over today.  Really not good.  I'll try eating at home every meal today and see if I feel better tomorrow.

Oh yeah, and maybe I'll remember to take a picture or two. 

Back from the gym

4 miles in an hour on the treadmill. I used an incline for part of the time. I haven't really done that much before. I also jogged a little to make up for my warm-up time. The last mile I walked at 4.2 miles an hour.

Back again

Wow, it's been about forever since I blogged.

I've started something new, though, and I want to have a place to come and put some thoughts down about it.

In January, when I got back from vacation I went to see my physician for a yearly check-up.  She told me that my cholesterol was too high and she gave me 3 months to improve it.  I'm pretty sure that if I don't make a significant improvement she'll put me on medication.  Medication I probably wouldn't need if I ate right and exercised more.  So. . . that's what I am trying to do. 

I've downloaded MyFitnessPal and acquired a fitbit to track my exercise.  I've dusted off my gym membership and I am logging every. single. thing. I. eat.

I'm trying to hold myself accountable for the shape my body is in.  No one else can.

I'm still mom, still work at a wonderful place in Portland, I STILL KNIT.  I still spend too much time in front of a computer or an iPad, but I'm going to try this and see how it goes.  I think it can only be better.

One of my goals is to lose some weight.  The day I started tracking what I eat and weigh I weighed 149 lbs.  I'm really not sure what my ideal weight is, but I think I have some clues.  Back fat.  Muffin top.  Bingo Flaps.  These are my enemies and I will see them gone.  I would like to see my collar bones. I can't remember the last time I saw them. 

I'm setting my initial goal to be 125lbs.  I'll adjust as I get closer to the goal.

Getting there!

Today I am ordering more than half of the yarn we'll need for the Sock Summit. It's a big purchase and I hope that it will all turn into beautiful yarn.

On the knitting front I have begun sock number two of the Escher socks that I am making for my son. I really love these socks and will probably knit another pair bigger for me later.


I have set aside a skein of yarn to knit next. It is a variegated number with brown green and bright pink. I'm thinking of knitting a toe-up pattern from Wendy D. Johnson. I'm also thinking of a scarf. It's so hard to decide and there is so much potential in a brand new skein.
Oh, and this is the gorgeous lily pad Shelby of heartstone.etsy.com gave us to take pictures on. Isn't it perfect? Just the right size, shape color. I'm so happy with it and grateful to her for making it for us.

This weekend should be full of fun, knitting and sunshine!

Behind the scenes

Thursday was "Take your child to work day." Joseph, being a bright boy, knows that his mom and dad do not have the most kid-exciting jobs. Grandma Robin, however, is a volunteer at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. She's been a volunteer there for more than 10 years and she previously worked there as membership coordinator. Thursday she was helping out with the birds.

Here is Joey in the day room getting ready to start his adventure.


He met a real live sea star that was being moved from one tank to another.
Then he got to look at some of the display tanks from the staff side.


Then he met an octopus that isn't on display at the moment.
Then it was time to go to the kitchen and help Grandma make up bowls of fish to feed to the birds. He was so good at helping in the kitchen that CJ let him (under grandma's watchful eye) come out and feed a few of the birds in the aviary. What a lucky boy!



Joey even had time to measure himself against the giant crab mural. He looks a little like lunch to me.



The fun didn't end there. We toured the lighthouse a few miles away and then saw a bald eagle while driving back from one of our favorite shopping spots. It was a great time!

Busy Easter Weekend

My little family packed up the car and headed to my parent's house at the coast for Easter Weekend. Friday night after we arrived mom and I chatted and knit for a few hours while Joey slept in his very own little fort and Matthew dove into a book that Amanda lent him.

Saturday dad was up early to cook us breakfast. Mom and I were well fortified for our short shopping excursion to the outlet mall in Lincoln city. We were back in time for lunch at Kum Yon's.

While we were gone Joseph put together an entire Indiana Jones Lego set. He's something else with those sets, he can sit for hours pouring over the little books to get them JUST RIGHT. As far as I can tell it was a perfect reproduction of one of the movie sets.

In the afternoon Mom and I took Joseph to purchase a new toy. He wanted Bakugan Brawlers. I do not really "get" these toys, but he sure played with them for the rest of the weekend.

Dad made an incredible souffle for dinner. It was cheesy and had crab and was wonderful. I added some stir-fried kale and Mom made biscuits and a salad. Clearly this was an exceptional Easter feast.

The rest of the evening was quiet and spent in front of the TV watching sports and knitting. Well, except for Matthew, he was so sucked into that book he read the whole thing.

Sunday we drove back to Hillsboro, stopping only to eat at Andaman Thai in Lincoln city. I can't say enough about that little restaurant. It has the BEST Thai food I've had in Oregon, and I've had A LOT of Thai food here.

Amanda came right over when we got home and we played Rock Band until it was time to acknowledge that it really was a work night and we needed to cut it out and turn in. Joseph is getting a lot better a drumming! I was really proud of his efforts last night.

All in all it was a fabulous weekend. I even managed to get a little laundry done!

Now, to tackle the work week with the same energy...

Aww Shucks!

I'm not sure how this happened, but it looks like the beautiful sock that I have been knitting on is too small. It's 72 stitches and it is too small. I am very, very fortunate to have a son who has feet just slightly smaller than mine. He wants the socks. I'll just have to try again with more stitches or bigger needles or both after I finish this first pair. At least Joe will have a super pair of socks!

Afternoon in the Park

Boy, did we ever have a good time! The weather was perfect! The air was sweet and there were so many things blooming I had to catch a few in pictures.

A wild orchid



A lovely azalea

And a tree just begging to show it's new growth.


What a great day.

Little Things

This is my current sock in progress. It is the Escher Socks pattern from Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarns. I really think it goes well with our Cinnamon Toast colorway in Flocculent.


I also have a wee finished project, a baby hat that I've made for a coworker who is having her first baby.

This pattern was just improvised. It was a scrap of leftover superwash merino from our last DK batch. I like the little white spots.

Today is a totally gorgeous day so I'm hoping I can convince the boys to go outside and play. I'll post pics later if I succeed.

Who could resist

A Smile and a breakfast like that?

Blazers Win!

Last night LadyDragonfly, my hubby and son and I went to the Trailblazers game. It was exciting, loud and raucous! We ate pizza and nachos and hot dogs. Joey had a snow cone the size of a barn while the adults imbibed their favorite flavors of ambrosia from small breweries in the West.

The Blazers won for us, and even though we had a tough 15 minutes at the end (not because we weren't trouncing the Jazz) because Frog went missing. Many tears were shed but eventually Joey's softie buddy was found and we rescued him and took him home to wash.

I have no pictures today because my camera was at home when we went to the game. Ooops!

I am very much looking forward to going to The Knitting Bee tonight for their 4th anniversary party. This little shop has become very important to me and I certainly want to help Jami celebrate!

My Escher sock is coming along nicely I hope to have the heel well and turned tonight.

Tomorrow we'll be re-skeining the yarn we dyed on Monday so stay tuned for picutures of the new Bamboo blend!

My color

you are darkviolet #9400D3

Your dominant hues are blue and magenta. You're the one who goes to all the parties but doesn't quite fit in at every one... you know what you want, but are afraid of what the world might think of it. You're a little different and that's okay with them, and if you're smart it's okay with you too. Your saturation level is very high - you are all about getting things done. The world may think you work too hard but you have a lot to show for it, and it keeps you going. You shouldn't be afraid to lead people, because if you're doing it, it'll be done right. Your outlook on life is brighter than most people's. You like the idea of influencing things for the better and find hope in situations where others might give up. You're not exactly a bouncy sunshine but things in your world generally look up.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

Long time no blog

I guess I have been a little busy this year. I've been trying to keep up with my projects via Ravelry. I have been moderately successful at keeping the WIPs I am actually working on in there but I have not yet really started putting in my stash or my books and patterns. I think during the Olympics this year I am going to just work on WIPs and not on any new projects. I need to clear some things out before I start a sweater project for fall.

The Knitting Bee has started carrying Jamieson shetland yarn and I really really want to gain some more fair isle experience. I may have to steek something.

Here is a picture of my newest finished object. It's the second baby surprise jacket I've knit and it will go to one of my new nieces. :)



Next I will be finishing my qiviut (Musk Ox) fiber scarf. Here is an in progress picture. I've only got about 1/3 of a skein left so it shouldn't take me too long to finish it.



I can't promise I'll blog daily or anything like that, but I will try to be online more.

It's in the cards...

I swear, I did not cheat!

You are The High Priestess

Science, Wisdom, Knowledge, Education.

The High Priestess is the card of knowledge, instinctual, supernatural, secret knowledge. She holds scrolls of arcane information that she might, or might not reveal to you. The moon crown on her head as well as the crescent by her foot indicates her willingness to illuminate what you otherwise might not see, reveal the secrets you need to know. The High Priestess is also associated with the moon however and can also indicate change or fluxuation, particularily when it comes to your moods.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

It's HERE!

I can't believe it, but my Wollmeise is here, AND IT IS BEAUTIFUL!

My flash and horrid photography skills don't do it justice but it is so pretty that I can't wait to cast on!

But wait I shall! I have tulipa on the needles and it HAS TO BE READY to sew up on the 19th of November at the last class. I think this is going to be difficult for me since I'm still on the FIRST PIECE. I seem to be able to do it wrong more times than I can count.

Then I have the vest for mom which I will finish, I swear I will!

And the three pairs of socks, the cell phone cozy and the narrow rectangular shawl. Really...that ought to be enough!

I think if I tell myself that I can't cast on the Wollmeise until I get all of these off the needles one way or another I'll have my UFO problems solved, don't you?

Best Weekend Ever!

This weekend was the best. I took Friday off from work, which pretty much means I only worked a 1/2 day instead of a full day plus.

My parents arrived in time for a late lunch and we ate at a lovely Indian buffet close to my home. Tikka Masala, yum!

Then we did a little shopping and I found a gorgeous winter coat. Full-length cashmere and wool blend with a hood for, get this...80.00! Oh, I was so pleased! I had been fretting about what I was going to do with my current coat wearing out. This was just the right price and much better quality than I was expecting to get.

The weekend only gets better from there!

My birthday is coming up, and I should not be getting a thing at all for it. I recently bought a spinning wheel and it is everything I wanted and more. I am learning how to use it (slowly and rather messily!) and really am glad we invested in it. I am hoping it will last for years and years. So, when my parents brought a birthday present for me I was really excited. It turned out to be the most beautiful purse. Black and Brown and embossed with leaves - real leaves that are so perfect I really have to wonder how they did it. I'll post a pic when I get a decent one.

On Saturday I went to West Linn and visited friends of a friend who have alpacas. They aren't spinners and said they did not need their fleece. This was SOOO exciting for me. They were so incredibly generous! They gave me 4 BAGS OF FLEECE! I am sure that even with my lack of spinning experience that I can make something beautiful from this fleece. It is heavenly soft and in great condition.

The very next thing we did after picking up the fleece was to go to the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival (Canby, OR). Here is the spindle I bought at the festival with a small amount of the alpaca spun onto it. Isn't it beautiful? The color has so much depth and it is buttery soft. At the festival I bought some hand carders and as I was looking at the carders a spinning teacher saw me and my indecision and gave me an impromptu lesson on carding and helped me decide which carders to purchase. Isn't that sweet? I was very grateful to her, she gave me so many tips that I was able to come home and start carding and spinning the alpaca right away.

I wasn't exactly done at the festival, though. I bought three skeins of sock yarn at the Blue Moon booth.

I also bought a pvc niddy-noddy, I've been wanting one and this one was exactly my price range, cheap!

I have a class that I am taking right now, a sweater class where I am knitting a wool/silk sweater and I do have to keep up with the class but, I am sorely tempted to just card and spin until I have enough alpaca yarn to knit something with. I wish you could touch the alpaca. We were all tired when we got home from the festival, but we weren't done for the day.

Dad had a problem with his camera, one of the pins that connects the memory card to the camera bent. Four days before they leave on their trip to Asia. This was NOT OK. So we took the camera to a local shop where they were very nice, but suggested that we go home and try to bend it back ourselves. Ummm....SCARY!

On the way home we stopped at the fairgrounds at an Amish quilt and home goods sale and mom got some great hot-pads and we bought noodles and I think there may have been some mustard that hopped into the bag somewhere along the line. The quilts were beyond perfection. If I had spare thousands all my beds would have them.

At home we tried, unsuccessfully to straighten the pin on Dad's camera.

Sad about the camera, mom and dad made dinner for us. One of my favorite chicken recipes, noodles from the Amish sale and a lovely salad. Even when they are sad they are the best cooks around.

After dinner mom and I went hunting a magnifying glass light and some better tools for fixing dad's camera. We were finally successful in straightening the pin! His camera is all better. WHEW!

In the morning mom and I left well before dawn for Susan B. Komen's Race for the Cure in Portland. Mom is a survivor, we go every year to help do our part in the struggle to cure breast cancer. We caught up with Matthew, Joey and Dad at church.

After lunch Mom and Dad headed home and I took a nap until I was no longer sleepy. It was cozy and wonderful.

I'm off to knit the back of my sweater. I know I'll do fine because the perfect weekend mojo is still with me.

Time flies!

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks, but what a couple of weeks!

First the family and I went to Sunriver where we white water rafted, bicycled, walked, rode old west trains, shopped, ate and lazed in the hot tub.

Then we started Joey in first grade. My baby is a FIRST GRADER! I can't believe it. On Friday I went to my first ice cream social as a parent. I met his teacher. She said he was a good reader. Yeah! We toured the school. It was pretty different from the schools I went to, very open and it seemed like it had a lot of flexible space.

Yesterday I went to Farmhouse knits and was pleased by the store. It had all of its yarns, save those in the back room, arranged by color. They had a bunch of yarns I'd never seen in person, which was a treat. I left with a couple of skeins of sock yarn and some cotton/linen blended yarn that I am going to try out for some hand towels. I had hoped to see some STR but they only had orange and yellows in stock and I wasn't looking for those two colors. They did have an awful lot of Blue Moon yarns, though, and they are beautiful.

We haven't technically joined a church, but we've started going to one. We also started Joey in Sunday School. I think we'll become members soon. Its been along while since I attended church regularly and I think I'm glad we're starting again.

Today we had the gang over for a rousing afternoon of DND. That always makes me smile.

Oh, yeah, and I did a craft thing or two:

I finished the socks!

And I finally had time to work with Joseph on his idea for a "Wubba." I think he came out adorable. He clearly spends a lot of time looking over my shoulder as I read blogs. He loves the eyes that Lady Linoleum uses on her creations posted on Monster Crochet. He very specifically asked for ONE eye and EIGHT legs. It was my idea to make them curly but it was his idea to make the beastie hocky puck sized & shaped. Joey dyed the varigated yarn himself with Kool-Aide and a little help from mom. He's six folks, and already designing.

While in Sisters Oregon I went to Baabara's and found some nice wool to practice spinning with.

Then after some practice I thought I would try spinning on the wheel.

But what I decided was that I wanted to go back to something comfortable. Like socks! So I started my third pattern from the lovely "Favorite Socks." This time with Lana Grossa. I think they'll be lovely. I'll post a pic of the first one when it is done.

Hat and Sock and Frogging Tales

I got some yarn from the Jolly Ewe on Etsy this last week and I couldn't help but cast on, even though I am in the middle of a zillion other projects.

I also have a pair of socks that I have started knitting more than twice now and I'm getting tired of failing with that particular ball of yarn. I think it is cursed. My friend Jessica has bravely said she would accept the current sock, as long as I knit the other, because it is too big for me but might fit her. I'm thinking about it but it is at the bottom of my list, having frustrated me one too many times.

The sweater vest that I started for mom was frogged this week. It was lovely but rather large. I'll try again, maybe the front panel first this time.

I finished Dr. Daddy's hat. It is modeled by my dear son here who is being blinded by the afternoon sun. He wanted to keep the hat for himself but I will make one for him later, instead.

I recently bought a spinning wheel and I am completely clueless about how to use it. I have signed up for a couple of classes but they are almost 2 months away. I will take the wheel with me on vacation this week and see if I can produce anything from it.

I have also googled all the yarn shops within 50 miles of where I am staying and I hope to see them all, or at least a good portion of them. That is if the males in the family will allow me.

I'm taking my Jolly sock and mom's sweater and this month's square with me. If I need more knitting than that I'll buy some yarn at one of the lovely yarn shops I hit during my travels.

Oh, I almost forgot!

I've done two things I don't normally do in the last couple of weeks.

One: I sewed myself a skirt for Halloween. I don't usually sew anything more difficult than gift bags so this was an accomplishment for me.

Two: Then I did something else new to me. I dyed some sock yarn. I love green so I'm pretty happy with the way this came out.

Little things

A week ago a friend of mine reminded me of a sad happening. One of the yarn stores in downtown Portland was having a going out of business sale. I'd never been to the shop before, it is not on my beaten path, but I knew that the owner of my LYS was friends with the owner. I thought I would drop by and see what was left.

I bought 7 skeins of sock yarn. Beautiful. It is sad, though, the store was nice, and they had a great selection. It is a loss for all Portland area knitters.

My son, however, was delighted by one of the skeins I chose, a yellow/green Koigu.


Like his father, he only wears "short socks" but that's all the better because I only had to use one skein. I'm sure I'll find a use for the second.

Oh, and I read the new Harry Potter book. It was better than I expected it to be, and it surprised me more than once. Delightful!

This evening we went to the Washington County Fair and ate and road some rides and watched the rodeo for a couple of hours. It couldn't have been a better day.

Tomorrow morning I am going to walk with the gals. I need to, that burrito was HUGE!