poseymom

REVIVED!

2007-04-13T13:08:00.000-04:00

After all the chocolate (and other no-nos) that I've eaten this week plus the humiliation that goes with totally failing Poseymom's challlenge, I was sort of feeling like lumping it and trying this weight loss thingy again some other day.

But NoooOOOOOooo (say this in your best Steve Martin voice)

I've gotten 3 comments in the last 2 days from people saying I look like I've lost weight. The sky opened up, a bright light shone and I swear I heard the angels singing "HALLELUIA"!

I guess I'll keep at it afterall!

It's amazing how far a little encouragement will go!

Poseymom's Challenge

2007-04-02T16:48:00.000-04:00

Funny thing...On PeerTrainer, someone suggested I commit to 15 minutes of exercise -- just once, to get the exercise ball rolling. Well, I misunderstood, and thought it was a challenge of 15 minutes/day for 1 week. Sounded easy enough! So, I spread the word through my other groups. Some are adding longer daily workouts. Others are adding a longer commitment! People are really doing this! VERY COOL. And today I read that they're calling it Poseymom's Challenge!

Sad part is, the initial challenge was 2 weeks ago, and I haven't exercised a minute AT ALL! I guess if the challenge is going to be named after me, I'll have to actually do it. Shame -- now that's a great motivator!

New month = fresh start.
So, today is Day 1 of Poseymom's challenge, and I WILL EXERCISE at least 15 minutes tonight!

...stay tuned...

So far so good

2007-03-01T08:53:00.000-05:00

Well, I've seen these ticker thingys and decided to put one on my PEER Trainer log, but couldn't figure out how. So I'm gonna put it here. I have a long way to go, but early success is quite encouraging:

Actual weight is quite questionable since my scale is so crummy. If I lean forward or backward, I can make it go up and down in a range of about 10 pounds (Soooooo tempting some days to do the lean that makes it go lowest!). But I've been trying to stand the same way for some sort of consistancy. I do know that my 10 pound range is going down anyway!

Thanks again to Lolly! Her renewed motivation has inspired mine. Plus I am really enjoying PEERTrainer! I have a nice group (2 other women) who are 40-something. I'm also part of a team of people trying to lose 100 pounds. Then of course there's LOSIN' KNIT! So they all provide support in different ways.

On the knitting front. I finally got to make a pair of Koolaid-dyed socks for myself. They're wonderful -- QUITE colorful. I'll be going on a road trip this weekend, so will probably get in quite a bit of knitting -- probably more socks. Hard to believe how hooked I am on those. Especially when you consider this.

WELCOME Friends of Lolly

2007-02-15T08:49:00.000-05:00

Ok, so we've never met. But it feels like we're friends, since we get daily updates from her. Anyway, it looks like there are lolly readers out there who have stopped by here -- that's soo cool! I'm now encouraged to put better content here, since I know people actually read it -- THANKS! Maybe I'll even get out the camera and put something fun to see here too.

I've been kicking out the Kool-aid dyed socks lately like crazy. The yarn is so much fun to knit -- with suprise colors all along the way! Who would imagine you could get these colors from Kool-aid?!

Peertracker is working for me, and I see there's a bunch of new members of Losin' knit! Very Cool -- we'll do it together! I made this graphic, just can't figure out how to put it on our team page, maybe someone else can convert it to an acceptable type. Wait...maybe I just did. Here it is anyway:

Let's take it off and keep it off!

This time I mean it!

2007-02-08T10:12:00.000-05:00

I've said that before, I know! But this time there's so much support, I'm saying it again.

What am I talking about? Weight loss.

Support I say? Well, first there's the "Active U" program where I work, encouraging teams to increase activity and track it -- joined it.

Then there's Lolly, she has found this cool online support program:

Joined it.
I created a support team: Losin' knit.

I'm psyched! The "before" picture I posted there is DISGUSTING -- motivation to fix things and post a better "after" pic.

Project Spectrum Opener

2007-02-05T14:49:00.000-05:00

Just a little playing with the colors for February/March.

What-a-Sale!

2007-01-29T16:00:00.000-05:00

Word sure travels when the entire yarn stock is on sale at 50% off!!!

We arrived at the store, saw the parking situation and got our first hint of the crowd that had gathered for this event, but we went in anyway. We had driven 2.5 hours to this great store for their great yarn at a great price, and we weren't going to turn back! Slight concern set in however, that we might not even get into the store before the 1-hour sale was reduced to 40%. But after waiting on the porch for about 15 minutes, enough shoppers left that we were granted entrance and given the precious 50% ticket.

Sardines -- that's the imagery that comes to mind -- not the smell, but how tightly packed the shoppers were in this house-converted-into-a-yarn-store. You definitely could NOT walk freely, instead you waited until someone inched over and you could squeeze into the spot they vacated. We patiently worked our way over to the sock-yarn corner where Gaugina picked out a few skeins and I found some beautiful cashmerino & cash/silk to make a nice soft warm wrap for work.

Brilliant Plan -- we noticed that the checkout line snaked through the rest of the store entirely. So we decided to get in line now and see what else the store had to offer along the way.
See the Red X in the diagram -- that's about where the end of the line was when we joined in.
It was hot and stuffy and the line moved VERY slowly. People actually cheered when shoppers would exit the store with their bags of goodies, because it meant possible advancement! Now, the slow pace of the line movement really had nothing to do with the employees (they were courteous and hard-working) it had to do with the sheer volume of yarn that was being purchased! By the time our place in line had moved to be near the store entrance, the line had doubled back on itself like you see in the picture. That's about when the 10:00 hour rang end of the 50% sale. Luckily everyone in the outdoors line at that time received a ticket so they could benefit from this big discount when they eventually gained entrance.

The Wait -- actually wasn't miserable, especially once we took off our coats and got a bag for our yarn and got near the fresh air from the entrance door. (Gaugina actually ducked out to run to McDonalds for their restroom and some water while I moved about 1 foot in the line). As you may have guessed, we were surrounded by very pleasant women! We chit-chatted with the 2-in-front and 2-behind for our entire wait -- which turned out to be.... (drum roll)... 3 HOURS!

Impulse Buys -- You know how the grocery store has gum and candy in the checkout lane. You don't really plan to buy these things, but somehow they catch your eye as you wait in line. Well, that's how the entire store beckoned to us -- "feel me" "buy me" "what's a little more" "such a bargain at this price" -- or was that our new friends in line encouraging us? Anyway, we succombed a bit and picked up a few items along the way, and the looking and touching was WAAAAAY better than gum and chapstick.

Finally -- we reached the register, made our purchase, and said goodbye to our line-mates, with best wishes and hopes of re-uniting at the same sale in a year with stories of finished projects made from these new purchases.

Time to go to lunch! Johnny Carinos == YUMMY! A Bellini, yummy food, knit time and coffee did wonders to recouperate our weary bones so we could head off to Yarn Tasting....

Ok, I'll join

2007-01-26T14:47:00.000-05:00

Just signed up for Project Spectrum. Seems like low-pressure fun. With winter well into the grey/white phase, it's fun to think about colors! February/ March colors are Blue/White/Grey -- after looking outside, I guess I'll probably lean in the Blue direction. I've had my fill of white and grey!

Big yarn fun in store for tomorrow -- Gaugina and I are going on a knitter's dream drive. We'll start the day early so we can catch a sale at her favorite store, get some lunch, then head to Lansing for a visit to another store that we found because they sell Blue Moon Yarn, and then our final destination: Yarn Tasting at the shop! We've been looking forward to this for a while -- since we signed up for the Yarn Tasting, not even knowing what that will be! All that yarn, maybe I'll keep the Spectrum in mind if I make any purchases. Plus, since she knows the way better than me (at least that's how I explained it) she'll do the driving. So maybe I'll finish this sock, that I'm making out of this yarn (redwood forest) as a gift for my mom's birthday. Then it'll be back to knitting koolaid-dyed yarn into socks for the kids.

Try Dying...yarn that is

2007-01-05T08:38:00.000-05:00

I thought it would be a Christmas break fun project for the kids to dye some yarn with Koolaid. So I bought 4 skeins of wool and LOTS of Koolaid and gave it as a Christmas present. Well, somehow they had trouble seeing the fun in it that I saw. "Oh yarn....thanks (?)" But attitudes changed when we got down to doing it (after a week of my begging -- "Can we dye yarn today?").

First up, Kid-A. She jumped in quite eagerly...mixing colors...splish-splashing spots all over the yarn. Then we moved the yarn too much and the colors started to bleed all together. We were kind of disappointed that the bright reds and oranges and yellows mushed into a tomato color. I quickly started making promises to order more yarn for another attempt. Disappointment hit a low point when we put the yarn on a plate to cool and it looked like raw hamburger! The yarn was unimpressive as it hung to dry Monday and Tuesday, but when I started to roll it into a ball, it began to show possibilities. Today, she is wearing a pair of socks that she loves! All the different shades really showed up in the knitting and she feels tons of pride in knowing she dyed it herself!

Dye-job #2, Kid-B. After watching the "hamburger" accident, he was much more careful to place his dye in three distinct sections: blue, orange, and black. I wound the ball last night, and it looks like a nicely varigated yarn. His only disappointment is that his "black" looks more purple-ish (it was made from grape) but I think we'll be happy. Originally I didn't think he'd like a pair of hand-knit socks, but we'll see...

Dye-job #3, Kid-S. She's the art student in the family. So she VERY carefully placed her colors and mixed. This is a new medium for her, but she seemed to enjoy it. I'll be starting a moebius wrap today out of the yarn -- we're all very curious to see how that turns out!

Dye-job #4, Kid-K. She's the engineer-minded child. She wanted larger stripes in blue and green, so she spent our whole dying time re-winding her yarn around our bannister...up and down...up and down...up and down and created a very large loop of yarn -- only to find out we were out of blue Koolaid. She'll dye another day. No rush however, because she'll want to knit the socks herself, and she already has a pair on the needles!

Freaky for Felting

2006-12-20T16:55:00.000-05:00

I've felted two projects now and I'm totally hooked! It's hard to believe the transformation! Sure, I remember the times I accidently washed a "dry clean only" sweater and got a similar effect. Somehow it's soo much better when it is planned for. I'm also quite proud of myself, because for both of these projects, I took the time to gauge and to felt the swatch so I could estimate the shrinkage (HIGHLY recommended). Now I have 2 cool hand-knit gifts that don't look hand-knit at all! I may even fool Mom when she sees it.

Now I have some of the felt-worthy wool left over and am wracking my brain trying to think of a use for it so I can felt again.

On another note. Has anyone used these? I thought they looked clever, so made some as gifts -- yet to be received or tried, so I guess I'll have to wait. They're pretty anyway!

Socks that Rock -- I'm spoiled now!

2006-11-29T14:27:00.000-05:00

Well, I did it. I splurged and bought this yarn and LOVE it! I'm making toe-up socks for a change and am being diligent about the fit. These just hug my feet! I love them...and the colors...Ohh Laa Laa! They're my favorite so far (figures doesn't it)! I'm almost done and can't wait to wear them!

Any guesses on how long before I come up with an excuse to buy this or maybe this or maybe this?

It is just like chips and dip

2006-11-21T14:00:00.000-05:00

You know what I mean. When you are eating chips and dip, invariably they never both run out at the same time. You run out of chips with dip still left, but if you go get more chips, then your dip runs out before you are done with the chips. It is difficult to gauge it so they both run out at the same time.

Well I am experiencing the knitters version of this same situation. I bought a ball of Katia Mexico (Tutti Fruiti) to make this baby hat and these mitts. Then thought I better pick up a second ball, you know, just in case.... Then famous last words "I can always return it if I do not use it" (yeah right!) This line is said only to help ease the pain at the register, nobody actually believes it!

Ok, so you know this piece of the story, I finished the baby items and had an entire ball of yarn leftover. There is no way I would return it, it's too beautiful! So I decided to make this hat for my neice so I can learn entrelac on a small project and use the leftover yarn from hat #1.

Of course, now I have the "dip" but need to go get more "chips"...yes, I'm half way through the second hat and out of yarn. How much more to get??? It looks like the hat will be way too big if I continue the prescribed number of rows. I'm just going to have to make a good guess at how much more to buy: just enough to finish without having enough leftover to almost complete another project! Maybe the hat will just get a really big pompom on top :)

EMU == Eastern Michigan University. Right?

2006-11-20T16:49:00.000-05:00

Well that's what I thought. So I went to emu.edu to check out the tuition and other information. I had it in my mind that the tuition was $3000ish per semester. Imagine my shock and suprise to see EMU tuition over $9000 per semester. I was mid way through an email to my hubby stating we needed to either broaden our search for colleges for our senior or broaden our search for finances...when I decided to verify that I was looking at the right thing. When I went back to emu.edu, I found the problem -- across the top of the website:

that explains it.

FYI, Eastern Michigan website is emich.edu -- now we know.

I say po-tay-to, don't know how you say it

2006-11-16T14:21:00.000-05:00

Here's another quiz. It pegged where my accent comes from Meeeechigan!

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

More fun with Mentos and Coke

2006-11-13T17:19:00.000-05:00

In a blink...

2006-11-10T07:53:00.000-05:00

Can't believe I'm the mother of a Senior!!! The future that seemed so far away just snuck up on me! It kind of feels like the dominos are starting to fall. First this, in two years another one, two more years another one, and two more after that and the last one will be posing for Senior Pictures! In a blink it'll all be over. It's exciting and fun times, but man -- no blinking allowed!

Of course that's just me. To her, it's taken a lifetime to get to this point. She has grown, matured, cut a few apron strings, and is ready for the next step (or she will be once we get the college plans nailed down). I'm quite proud of her and the young adult she is becoming! Here she is with her painting that won the honor of hanging at MASB (in Lansing) for a year.

Tomorrow we go to Grand Rapids to check out Grand Valley State University and to see some art critics about her artwork (National Portfolio Day). I totally enjoy her company so tomorrow should be a great day!

On the knitting front...another case of "if you blink, you'll miss it". I got to help a friend frog a mistake (note: not her mistake, but the pattern's) because she likes the way I can make a ball of yarn that pulls from the center. One minute...an afternoon's worth of knitting with a few cabling issues...BLINK...and it's just ribbing with a ball of yarn attached (that pulls so nicely from the center).

Socktoberfest Report

2006-11-03T08:37:00.000-05:00

Well I wasn't quite as proficient at sock-knitting as I had hoped for this month. I did, however complete 1.5 pair and hope to take pictures soon. I am enjoying wearing the socks whenever possible. Really can't believe how much I like them! Even the ones that turn out to have a less-than-perfect fit!

Other knitting progress: Christmas project #2 is finished (well except for the loose ends). I've NEVER been so efficient! My husband says I should put the first one in the mail now, to be sure it gets there on time, since I've been known to send packages late. Isn't he funny!

Now, to knit something for a baby boy. How exciting! I gave a "Knit IOU" at the baby shower since we didn't know what color (pink or blue) to work with. Now it's time to pay up. Maybe a hat with ear flaps?

Now for some totally un-knit-related news. Main Dish Kitchen is now one of my favorite places to hang out! You go there and assemble food to stock your freezer! They do the shopping, chopping and clean-up! What busy working Family could ask for more? Plus the food is good and reasonably priced!!! I'm going there tonight to try their new November recipes. Can't wait. Check it out if there's one in your area. They also have an awesome Meals With a Mission practice of giving meals to needy! I'm about ready to become their SpokesModel -- I just can't say enough good about the place!

Sock of Doom

2006-10-16T14:12:00.000-04:00

Today I found my Sock Wars target's blog. On it, she posted pics of the socks I sent her, so here they are, courtesy of Soapfibergal. They were made from Debbie Bliss wool-cotton.

Michigan teams!

2006-10-09T09:45:00.000-04:00

Gotta say it...

GO BLUE (UM:31 MSU:13)

GO Tigers

A great weekend for knitting and sports!

Who me - sarcastic?

2006-10-05T08:23:00.000-04:00

Silly link has quizzes about everything -- had to try "How sarcastic are you?" (seemed to be appropriate for me) Results:

You Have Your Sarcastic Moments

While you're not sarcastic at all times, you definitely have a cynical edge.
In your opinion, not all people are annoying. Some are dead!
And although you do have your genuine moments, you can't help getting your zingers in.
Some people might be a little hurt by your sarcasm, but it's more likely they think you're hilarious.

How Sarcastic Are You?

Empty Needles

2006-10-04T08:40:00.000-04:00

Ta Da! Another pair completed!
I finally (and I mean FINALLY) finished the 2-at-a-time-on-circs pair of socks last night. I've determined this is NOT my favorite way to knit. I'm glad to say I've done it, but there was too much tangling going on for it to be fun. I'll admit it was nice to not have to count rows or keep track of much to insure socks turned out equal and when you're done, you're done with both. But progress seemed so slow, almost discouraging. I doubt if I'll do it again. I'll stick with Cat Bordhi's 2-circ method!!!

So, I'm new to blogging and new to sock-knitting. I haven't quite decided if I'll be one of those who takes pictures of their knitting to post. Seems kinda silly, not knowing if anyone even looks here. But then again... I love to see other knitters' pics....

Then there's another dilemna -- posting secret Christmas projects. I've got 1 finished and 1 (really cool) WIP that I'd love to show, but...will they be seen by the wrong people and thus ruin the surprise? What's a knit-blogger to do?

At least while I'm deciding, I have yarn and empty needles. All that's left is choosing a pattern and casting on.

Sock Wars update

2006-10-02T08:27:00.000-04:00

I'm out.
My friends Gaugina, Sheri, and Bambi are out.
And Freda killed my mother!

... My Mom!

(start the violins...)

...She's the one who taught me to knit oh so long ago.
(add the orchestra...)

...the one who watched patiently as I learned to cast on
...the one who celebrated my first projects with me
...the one who was there for me when I first had to TINK (a term we thought we had so cleverly made up!).
She helped me untangle messes and taught me to roll a ball of yarn that can be pulled from the center!
I know how to pick up dropped stitches because of her.
(big climax...)

Because of her, I can go on to teach another generation of knitters

(echo) of knitters ... of knitters ... knitters ...

(silence)

Direct Hit

2006-09-28T09:38:00.000-04:00

Now for the waiting.....next target? Could it be me?

Sock Wars -- still in...

2006-09-25T09:16:00.000-04:00

Still no word from my assassin, so I think I'm still alive!!!!!

My socks are done, just waiting for an address to ship to. It was a fun weekend of knitting, even some KIP (or is it KIPping?) at the Beer/Wine tasting festival.

Sock it to me

2006-09-20T08:22:00.000-04:00

First SOCKWARS, now Socktoberfest!

I guess I'm a sock maker for real now! I scoffed at the idea of handmade socks for years, now I'm a convert:

I finished my "practice" pair for SOCKWARS and wear them ALL the time.
I made a quick pair of socks for my neice during a weekend visit.
Now I'm trying 2 at a time on circs just to see if it really is faster (jury is still out).
I have yarn for 2 more pair waiting for some free needles.
found cool website of free sock patterns to try.
And of course, SOCKWARS arsenal is ready and waiting!
Not exactly sure what Socktoberfest will bring, but sounds good to me.

Yes, me too

2006-08-15T16:52:00.000-04:00

Yes, I'm joinging the blogging world. It's so much fun bopping around between the Yarn Harlot, Franklin, Sweater Project and down all of the blog-paths they lead to, I couldn't resist. But the real thing that got me is
SOCK WARS! Although I've never knitted a sock, I just couldn't resist the idea of this. So I guess my first blog project will probably be my trial pair of socks...have to order needles first.