Kvetching

So, I've been dealing with knee issues for about 3 years now. For the most part the issue has been that my knee cap lay slightly to the outside of my knee and I had inflammation that would come and go in my knee. I think these issues all stems back to an injury I sustained when I worked on the Intensive Unit at an Emotionally Disturbed Children’s Home and had an extended take-down :(. And since this all started recurring 3 years ago my family practitioner, my orthopedic and my spinal specialist have all been telling me that if I would just lose weight and strengthen my quad to pull my knee cap back into proper alignment all of knee issues would go away. HA!

Well last June when I stepped on the scale on my 40th birthday and realized I was at my heaviest ever I knew it was time to do something. So I started being more aware of what I was eating and I managed to lose approximately 15 pounds over the summer. Then toward the end of July a knitting buddy wanted to join Weight Watchers and asked me if I wanted to do it with her. I knew that support would be my greatest ally on this journey, so I agreed and we joined and we go every Monday night. I feel this starts my week off on a good note and keeps my in-line over the weekend because I know I have to weight in Monday!

Then school started back up and a co-worker talked me into joining the same gym she goes to and that she would work out with me. Now, I HATE, absolutely HATE working out. But again, I knew and workout partner would get my fat ass to the gym and she would be yet another great support on this extensive journey of mine. I joined the gym and since August we've been working out together. I now go the gym anywhere from 4-6 days a week. We do cardio on the elliptical and lift weights on the nautilus machines. (But let me tell you, if medical reports came out tomorrow that said “You get absolutely NO benefit from working out I’d stop in a heartbeat!) We would walk/run on the elliptical for 30 minutes and when we first started she was running almost 3 miles in 30 minutes and I was lucky to just make 1.5 miles on level 1! Now, I've managed to work up my endurance to 5 miles within 45-55 minutes on level 8!

Back in October, my knee was really starting to feel fabulous. I’m talking, I could run up and down stairs with no pain what-so-ever. I was even able to wear heels again! (Yes, I have a shoe fetish and have been holding on to all my pretty heels because I was determined to one day be able to wear them again!)

Then in November my workout partner wanted to change up our routine a little and we started taking some of the classes that were offered at the gym. We decided to take a Zumba class. I was really looking forward to it. I had danced for 15 years growing up and still love too, so I thought this would be something that would make me actually enjoy working out. We took the class and I had tons of fun and felt fabulous when the class was over. The next morning however, my knee was not :(. It swelled up like an overstuffed sausage and I was back to wearing my brace. High was quickly deflated. My knee has been temperamental ever since that morning. The swelling would come and go, but it never felt as good as it did just before I took that Zumba class. I tried Zumba 2 more times while wearing my brace and not bouncing as much, but I haven’t been back to a Zumba class since Thanksgiving :(

So, I started wearing my brace whenever I went to work out. Then two weeks ago I was home and changing to head to the gym. I put my brace on and headed upstairs to grab a towel. Each step I took and straightened my left knee it popped. Not a painful pop, but not something my knee normally does. I thought that maybe I had put the brace on wrong or too tight, so I took it off, threw it in my gym bag and headed to the gym. I put the brace back on in the locker room and tested it out. Nope, knee still not feeling right, so I took the gel piece out that suppose to aid in pushing the knee cap in the proper position and just wrapped my knee. That seemed to work and I was able to run my 5 miles with no problem, or so I thought!

That night I was at a friend’s house because we are taking this online class together and twice that night my knee locked up on my while I was sitting on the couch and when I forced it to straighten it popped and hurt. When I got home, I iced it took 2 Aleve and went to bed. The next morning my knee had swollen up again and I called the orthopedic. Due to my knee locking up, he ordered another MRI to check my meniscus and to compare it to the MRI I had done back in 2008 to see if I had torn it more.

Sure enough that’s exactly what I did. The doc thinks this happened from Zumba, but that was a little over 2 months ago. On the same note, I can’t think of anything else that I did that could have torn my meniscus.

Now I need to have knee surgery to repair the meniscus and I’m hoping that while they’re in there, they can fix those other pesky issues with my knee as well. I don’t have a surgery date yet, but I’m going to try and schedule it for his first opening as I don’t want to wait too long and run the risk of tearing it worse.

So, despite all the doctors telling me to lose weight and all my knee issues will go away, I’m almost 65 pounds lighter and my knee has never been worse!

As if that wasn’t bad enough – my mother thinks I can fly down to Florida after the surgery to recoup and let her take care of me! Can you picture this – knee bandaged up, crutches, sitting in coach and the damn service cart coming by and hitting my knee?? What is my mother thinking?? *le sigh*

OK, kvetching over with…

On the Road to Healthy

OK, so it’s been two months since my last post. Now that I’m heading to the gym almost on a daily basis, I’m finding it harder and harder to find the time to do web surfing, knitting and house cleaning! So what have I been doing with myself? Basically, working, working out, and hanging out with friends :)

My workout partner, Kit, and I have set-up our workout routine and we’ve been going pretty regularly since the first week of September. We’d go right after work and do the elliptical machine for about 30 – 40 minutes for our cardio routine and then we’d go lift weights. We’d alternate days between the upper and lower body for weights so that our muscles had that recommended 24 hours of rest in-between. Pairing up with Kit as a workout partner was one of the best decisions I’ve made in a long time. We have different strengths that push each of us to get the gym or while we are at the gym. I researched what exercises I definitely needed in my routine that focused around my knee, back and neck and Kit was happy to add them to her routine as well. She is better at making sure we get our cardio in and pushing me to do more during my cardio. As such, her cardio endurance in better than mine and I can lift more weights then her, so we tend to push each other to keep up. We do this in a very helpful and supportive way. We were spending about 2 hours at the gym Monday through Friday. Kit started thinking that was too much time, so she started looking at all the classes that were being offered and picked a class for each day of the week for us to go to. Yes, I did say every day of the week. Do we really think we’ll be working out 7 days a week?? No, we’re not that crazy, but if one or both of us has to miss a day due to LIFE we have a schedule in place to make up for it. Not to mention that some of these classes, neither one of us has taken, so plans may change in the future :)

I never thought I would say this, but I do miss just simply lifting weights. I know cardio is a very important part of my health and mixing it up helps to keep me from getting bored, but building muscles is just as important to me in that muscles are what are going to help me burn more calories. I guess you can say I’m still working on trying to find my happy medium between both.

So far we have tried a Body Sculpt class that focuses on non-impact, toning and shaping utilizes light weights and Spri bands to work the major muscle groups through resistance training. I try to get to the gym early enough so that I can get at least 30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical before class started. I really like this class because in 60 minutes the instructor really does do a total body workout. What I don’t like is that we don’t really stretch much at the end or rather we don’t stretch as much as I would like. I think next week after the class is over I might just move to another part of the gym and do more stretching before I leave. We tried out a mixed-level yoga class, but we had a substitute instructor the time we went, so we’ll be trying that one another time or two before we decide if we stay or try something else. We went in on a Saturday to take a Pilates class and were suppose to follow it with a Kick Boxing class. Unfortunately, that room had just been painted and the fumes were really playing havoc with my head and boarding on triggering a migraine that we didn’t stay for the kick boxing. So after Pilates we rode bikes for about 30 minutes. I really enjoyed the Pilates class. I need to remember to bring my yoga mat with me for that class though. I’m still looking forward to trying the kick boxing class, but I don’t know if we’ll be doing it this weekend, maybe next. We also tried a Core Strength class which was a short 30 minute class, but wow the abs workout was so worth it! Unfortunately, the class is smack dap in the middle of a Friday evening – not really an ideal time for either of us on a weekly basis.

Last night we went to our first Zumba class. OMG! When the class first started I thought I was going to die!! The first few songs that the instructor had us dancing too were fast paced, but then she took us through a slower paced song and we both actually made it through the whole 60 minute class! And I LOVED it! I think this is my new drug! The instructor had so much energy throughout the whole class and you could just tell that she was having a ball up at the front of the class dancing her ass off. I had so much energy surging through my body after this class at I wish I could take it in the morning to start my day off! When I got home, I turned on my computer to see what other days and times this class is being offered. I realize that for this class the instructor can make all the difference in the world, but you never know till you try!! There is a morning class offered, but it would be cutting it close to me getting to work on time. I might try it next week and see.

My progress so far? Well, before Weight Watchers I had lost 17 pounds. Since joining Weight Watchers, I’ve lost 15 pounds which puts me at a total weight loss of 32 pounds!! In addition to losing a small child, I shrunk a total of 9.5” off my body. I’m down a size and just a few pounds away from my 2nd! The great part of all this is that I’m sleeping so much better and feel more up during the day. The best part of all of it was when I went to a doctor’s appointment last week. My blood pressure has dropped significantly! It’s the lowest it’s ever been in my life – 103/63!! Not even when I was in high school and playing sports was my BP that good. I was pretty steady at 120/70 back then. So needless to say, I’m super pumped to keep going!

If at First You Don't Succeed....

Skydiving is probably not for you! :)

Sorry I haven't been around for a while. Things have been a bit, I don't know, up and down, since I got back from my trip. Let's just say some things came to light and I'm tired of being sucker-punched. Sometimes it just doesn't always pay to believe that someone is who you want them to be and that simply listening to others came bring so much to light that I just can't ignore it anymore. Enough said on that, time to move on.

When I got back from my trip I needed to bring my car in for its 60,000 mile check-up. Of course it couldn't be that simple! What was suppose to a simple check up turned into an $1,100 bill. That was a Saturday. It should have stopped there, but nooooooooooooooooooo. Sunday my washing machine decided to visit the Golden Parts in the sky. So, Sunday afternoon I had to go washing machine shopping and dropped another $500. Talk about an expensive weekend! At this point I was just waiting for strike three. Needless to say, I didn't have to wait long! I got home from shopping to find that Frisco's automatic litter box quit too! Well, I guess I should be happy that as the incidents increased the replacements costs decreased!!

July was rather boring. I worked summer school for the whole month. I had 2 days off the whole time - 1st day was when my new washing machine was delivered and the 2nd was the day we had such a bad thunderstorm that it knocked out more of the power across the county that I work in and schools were closed! Nothing like an unexpected day off :)

I decided I needed a little help with my weight loss, so I joined Weight Watchers. What's really good is that my friend Ellen joined with me. We are going to Monday night meetings. I also joined the gym, Fitness First. The best part of joining that particular gym, is that I have a workout buddy and we are planning to go everyday after work. I have a long road ahead of me, but I have a buddy to keep me straight for both components that are necessary for a steady, healthy weight loss change of life! Here's to becoming a lean, mean, fighting machine. *I know, dorkiness at its best*

I am happy to say that despite my little funk, I have been knitting! I've managed to finished four more shawls and I'm working on my 8th toward the goal of 10 shawls in 2010!! I also test knitted a pair of fingerless gloves for the Vampire Sock Club that I am in and I finally managed to finish the granny square blanket that I wrote of in my last post. I should have put the blanket on hold till it got colder out because I surely thought I was going to melt with all that on my lap!!

1st up: Citron Shawl


I added the beaded bindoff to give the edging a little weight so that it wouldn't curl up so much.



2nd is the Traveling Woman:



3rd is the Oscilliscope Shawl. I think Frisco is trying to claim this one as his new blankie!



4th is the 198yds of Heaven shawl:



Oh! And I finally got around to finished the Boneyard shawl that I started way back in January!!



I'm currently working on the Herbivore shawl and should be binding that one off soon. Plus, I've started a baby blanket for my cousin who is due sometime in January, but I have a feeling the baby shower will be sometime in November, before the holiday season gets started. I choose the new pattern called: Lullaby Blanket.

I will try to post more regularly :)

Granny Madness Bites

Granny Madness is running rampade with my knitting group. Denise introduced us all to Lion Brand's new yarn Amazing. She made this incredible giant granny square blanket and me along with several other members of my knitting group fell in love the colors and the lighteness of this yarn and soon we all chose different colorsways so we could all see how they crocheted up! I picked the Wildflowers colorway and I ♥ this yarn! This blanket is done, but for the edging. I still haven't decided what edging I want to use. This picture was taken outside in hopes that it would take a more true to life color shot, but the colors look much bright in this photo then they really are. The colorway is really more muted and just gorgeous!



Just a few finished projects.

Haruni Shawl
I just love how this shawl came out. It was a lot of fun to knit, but a real bitch to pin and block!! It was also a tad difficult doing the crochet cast-off because I'm left handed. This shawl is much more stunning in person, especially done in this color. I think the blue blocking squares detreacts from the beautiful color of this yarn.


Pattern: Haruni (Rav link)
Yarn: Fresh From the Cauldron's Silk Sock
Colorway: Sookie
Needles: KnitPicks Harmony size 8
Modifications: none

November Wrap
This shawl took me a while to complete. I just got bored with it when I reached the ruffle and I put it down. Then about two months ago I caught the finishing bug and finished up several UFOs, this being one of them :)


Pattern: November Wrap (Rav link)
Yarn: A Touch of Twist Peruvian Alpaca & Cascade 220
Colorway: Night & Day and Black
Needles: KnitPicks size 10
Modifications: added 20 stitches for length, added short rows before the ruffle to make a nice curve and added length to the back.

Mobius Cowl
I've been wanting to make this cowl for a while, but I could never decide on a yarn. Then I received this yarn and just know it was perfect for this project. I still have 1/2 a skein left that I don't know what I want to do with!!

Pattern: Mobius Cowl (Rav link)
Yarn: Fresh From the Cauldron's Silk Camel
Colorway: Field of Poppies
Needles: KnitPicks Harmony size 8
Modifications: none

Socks, socks, socks!!

Pattern: Jabberwoky Socks
Yarn: Wullenstudio Sock
Colorway: Feeling Groovey (Sprint Sock Club)
Needles: KnitPicks size 2
Modifications: none


Pattern: Pomatomus (Rav link)
Yarn: Socks that Rock MW
Colorway: Lucky
Needles: KnitPicks size 3
Modifications: none


Pattern: Lace Trellis
Yarn: Wullenstudio Sock (Summer Club colorway)
Colorway: Here Comes the Sun
Needles: KnitPicks size 2
Modifications: none

Another Original Design

I finished up my 2nd design! Again, this has been created for Fresh from the Cauldron's Vampire Sock Club II. The colorway is called Lucien based on the Underworld character Lucien who is leader of the Lycanthropes. He's so yummy looking in this movie!





In the movie, Lucien is obsessed with crossbreeding vampires and lycanthropes, hence the name of the pattern: Lucien's Cross-Breeding Obsession.

Lazy Weekends and Finished Projects!

A few weekends ago I went away with a few friends. We stayed at a cabin in the mountains of W. VA and just enjoyed each others company while we knitted like fiends all weekend long. The night we arrived we found out the cabin has a plethera of Stink Bugs! One of the women that came away with us immediately got out the vacuum and started sucking up all the stink bugs she could find. It was quite funny to watch her squeal as she sucked these bugs into the vacuum!

Over the course of this long weekend away, we were able to watch several movies and had numerous well rounded discussions. We also made a side trip to a LYS *well duh, where else would we go!* For the life of me I can't remember the name of the yarn shop right now, but if I ever remember I'll let you all know. The owner was super nice and helpful!!





While we were at this cabin a deviant knitting fairy visited us during the night and screwed around with Judy's (the woman in the blue top in the picture above) knitting. She was working on a Houdini Sock one night and the next morning something was very wrong with her sock. She asked the Fearless Knitter in our group, Denise, for some assistance and when Denise spotted the error and told her about it, Judy's reply was "Well I didn't do that" in a very serious manner. We all cracked up because who else would have done it? Hence the deviant knitting fairy was born!

Here are a few more finished projects since the last time I posted about knitting :)

Jonty's Bloody Red Cap - Jonty, is a Red Cap Goblin that helped Merry fight in the book Mistral’s Kiss. He sheds a tear as Merry tells him she would bring the Red Caps into their power. He’s a minor character in the book, but for some reason I really liked him and I ♥ this series!


Pattern: Esme (Rav link)
Yarn: Fresh From the Cauldron's MCN Worsted
Colorway: Carrie
Needles: KnitPicks Harmony size 8
Modifications: none

I LUV this yarn!! It's soft, squishy, satured with color and has wonderful stitch defination!!


Ring of Poison Flowers: named for the poisoned poppies that put Dorothy and the Lion to sleep in the Wizard of Oz.


Pattern: Mobius Cowl (Rav link)
Yarn: Fresh From the Cauldron's Silk/Camel DK
Colorway: Field of Poppies from the OZ Club
Needles: KnitPicks Harmony size 8
Modifications: none

This was a very nice yarn to work with. I actually have just under half a skein leftover and might make either a beret to match or a 2nd cowl as a gift *if I can part with such pretty yarn that is*

Wrapped up in the Blues:

Pattern: Sagano Shawl (Rav link)
Yarn: Wullenstudio Sock yarn
Colorway: Tangled Up in Blue
Needles: KnitPicks Harmony size 7
Modifications: none

I got this yarn while helping my friend, Sheila, in her booth at the Homespun Party back in March. As soon as I saw the highly varigated colors in this particular skein, I snatched it up! I just had to have it and I knew it would just have to be a shawl!!

Ruska Shawl:

Pattern: Ruska Shawl (Rav link)
Yarn: Brooks Farm's Acero yarn
Colorway: SE AC8 2
Needles: KnitPicks Harmony size 7
Modifications: none

3 more days till my friend Suzanne comes to visit and the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival!!

My First original design!

I finally bit the bullet and put my creative juices up to designing patterns. I was offered an opportunity to design two sock patterns for Fresh From the Cauldron's Vampire Sock Club. SquibStitcher is the indie dyer and she has an amazing eye for color and isn't afraid to try new dyeing techniques to get the results she envisions for her colors.

Here is the 1st of two patterns I designed for the sock club.


1. Tara sock design, 2. Tara socks - left toes, 3. Tara socks - right toe, 4. Tara socks - 05

The colorway is one of the club exclusives and named after a character in a vampire book. I designed the pattern with the personality of the character in mind. This character always seems to walk the fine line with trouble. She avoids one encounter only to get tangled in another.

The pattern is called Tara's Trials and Tribulations (Ravelry link). It was designed from the cuff down.



I had a lot of fun designing this pattern. It is currently being test knitted for the club. Once the club is over, it will be available on Ravelry. I'm currently working on the 2nd design, this time Toe-up!

Easter!

I know, I am way behind on my postings. I went home to NY for Easter this year. My niece is now 16 months old and an absolute doll to be around. She still isn't really talking yet, but she uses the necessary sign language to get her point across. She's currently the only baby in the family so she gets everyone attention and she loves it!



1. 100_2880, 2. 100_2879, 3. 100_2878, 4. 100_2877, 5. 100_2876, 6. 100_2875, 7. 100_2874, 8. 100_2873, 9. 100_2872, 10. 100_2871, 11. 100_2870, 12. 100_2869, 13. 100_2868, 14. 100_2867, 15. 100_2866, 16. 100_2865, 17. 100_2864, 18. 100_2863, 19. 100_2862, 20. 100_2861, 21. 100_2860, 22. 100_2859, 23. 100_2858, 24. 100_2857, 25. 100_2856, 26. 100_2855, 27. 100_2854, 28. 100_2853, 29. 100_2852, 30. 100_2851, 31. 100_2850, 32. 100_2849, 33. 100_2848, 34. 100_2847, 35. 100_2846, 36. 100_2845

You can see by the pictures of my father wearing the flower headband that she even has the big, bad Italian man wrapped around her little finger! Then again, he always had incredible patience with babies and toddlers, it was when we turned into teanagers that he lost all patience :)

My Favorite Martian!

Restraining Order

By definition:
A restraining order or order of protection is a form of legal injunction. The term is most commonly used in reference to domestic violence, harassment, stalking or sexual assault. Each state has some form of domestic violence restraining order law, and many states also have specific restraining order laws for stalking and sexual assault.

Yet when you have proof of harrassment the courts still do not grant them. I don't understand this. With all the crazyness going on and all the stalker incidents that go wrong, you would think the courts would err on the side of caution and grant them.

All to hope for now is that YOU understand YOUR crazy antics will no longer be tolerated - by anyone. YOU know who you are.

I Know Just How He Feels...

Holy Snow Batman!!

So, here I am walled up in my house behind some 30+" of snow. Sorry I have no yard stick to throw in the snow outside my house to measure, I'm just going by the snow totals that were announced last time I watch TV (the official measure was 33.8").

What? Did Mother Nature just wake up and realize that she had missed out on giving us our fair share of snow over the last few years and decided to make up for all in 1 winter season?? Just before Christmas we received 22-26", 2 other snowfalls in January that probably together totalled around 6" - 8" then yesterdays snow dump of 30+" and as if that wasn't bad enough we have anther storm system with snow heading our way for Tuesday & Wednesday!!

Back in Feb. '03 we got around 24" and schools were out for a week. At the amount we have now and the rate Mother Nature is dumping this stuff on out we'll be out till Easter and the kids will be in till July 4th!! Of course, when states get this amount of snow they usually claim themselves under a "State of Emergency" and when that happens school systems can appeal to to State Dept of Education to waiver the cancelled school days affected while under it. The state can, of course, deny the appeal. Of course both this and the December blizzard both came in on the weekend so I have no idea if that makes a different of not.

Anyhoo, I'm just sitting at home entertaining myself with my knitting and sewing as I wait. I wait on the guy that I called on Thursday to hire to come over and shovel me out that is. I have herniated disks in my lower back and my neck and I'm not suppose to shovel this amount of snow. The last snow we had was a good 5-6" of a the heavy snow and I cleared my driveway and walk to my front door and just in that amount I felt in my back and neck for several days after that. I really did try to obied by both the doctor's and the physical therapist's order not to. I wait till 3pm to see if a neighborhood kid would knock on my door looking to make some money. When 3PM came around and no one came a knocking, I had to do it. As much as I would have loved to have Frisco go out and shovel for me, I don't think that was happening.

Anyway, for those of you not in the DC/Baltimore/Philly area and not affected by this "Winter Powerhouse" as the weather channel has dubbed it here are some picture from my front and back doors...

This was what greeted my yesterday as soon as I opened the front door...


This it the view looking straight out. I swear to you there's suppose to be a road under all that snow there. I wouldn't lie! If I just crop out that "For Sale" sign this would be a beautiful scenery. "Pretty but Deadly"






Now out the back door...


I sent these photos to my folks in Florida. My mom really thought that was Frisco sitting outside on the railing! I laughed so hard!

New Moon - Which Team are You on?

New Moon: Which Team Are You On?

More on Twilight. Created by BuddyTV

Well DOH! Did I really need a test to tell me that?

Which Twilight Character are You?

Which Twilight Character Are You?

More on Twilight. Created by BuddyTV

So friends that know... does this ring true?

Christmas 2009 and 2010 Goals!

Happy New Year everyone *yes Peanut Gallery, I know it's the 11th, but I can still say it* I hope this year brings good health, prosperity and happiness to you all!! I got to the spend the 1st day of the new year sleeping in, playing with my stash and dining & knitting with friends *that was the best part of the day* While I was enjoying the company of friends I also finished my first project for 2010!! I just love it when a year starts off so nicely :) The project was actually part of my niece's Christmas gift and oh there's a story behind this one too. My older sister, Mary, suggested that I make a scarf and hat for my niece as her gift. Mary said that they were in a store the other day and Gabbi had tried on several different style hats and the ones that looked best were the slightly slouchy and had a bill. So of course, I log into Ravelry and we start look at hats to find a pattern. She liked Struan and she also liked Hannah for when she was just out playing around (Gabbi is the sporty girl and wears her hair in a ponytail a lot). We agreed that I would make Struan and a scarf and she told me to make them in blue.

I managed to finish the scarf before I headed up to NY for Christmas. I went to go start the scarf two nights before Christmas and it had this special way of starting it since it is made from the top down. While I was on my mom's computer looking up the directions of how to do the special cast-on Gabbi saw the pattern and a picture of the hat and comment that she liked it and asked if I could make her one! So of course I'm thinking *SCORE!* in my head since I was already making this for her. That's when the Red Barron came crashing down!

"But Zia, can you make for me without this bill thing in the front? And can you make it in grey or bright green. Yeah, bright green would be pretty."

Me - "Bright green??"

"Yeah, I like bright green. Can you make it bright green for me?"

"Gabbi, You are definitely your father's child!" He father loves bright wacky colors. So of course I told her yes, I mean what else could I have told her!

I then go to find my sister and relay the conversation to her and of course says, "Just make it in blue. She'll be fine!"

Pattern: Struan (Rav link)
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted
Colorway: Tuareg
Needles: KnitPicks Harmony size 5
Modifications: none

Needless to say, she loves it. She even send me a Facebook message a few days ago to let me know again just how much she likes it and that all her friends like it and that they all thought it came from Aeropostale! We all know that to a teenager that makes all the more kooler ;)

Here's a picture of the scarf that a knit to go along with it.

Pattern: Malabrigo Waffles Scarf (Rav link)
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted
Colorway: Tuareg
Needles: KnitPicks Harmony size 8
Modifications: none

I also made a Jester Hat Maya. Here's a quick peek, because like most babies they just don't like to keep their hats on!

I just want to squeeze those cheeks! She understands so much for a 1-year old. She might not be able to talk, but she sure does understand and man does she have the should shrugging down pat!

The funniest Christmas story I have to tell has to do with Maya, of course! Here she is in her little party dress.

So, she unwrapping her gift from her godparents. You can see in that picture, I think that was the Playschool CD player that one of them got her. Her Godfather, my cousin Cesidio, bought her a Playschool laptop. Now mama didn't raise no fool, this little girl knew exactly what this was. She pulled the little laptop out of the packaging and toddled over to her little chair. She shimmied her little butt up onto the chair and pulled the laptop onto her lap. *Oh wait, this gets even better!* The little stinker leans over and hits the play button on her new CD player and then flips the top up on her laptop and starts typing!! So, ya think her mommy and daddy are on the computer too much? Just a little?

Well 2010 is here and I'm still dealing with my health issues. As you know I had a round of 3 Cervical Epidural Steriod Injection (CESI) back in November. Then in December I started physical therapy for both the herniated disks in my neck and my lower back. Unfortunately the injections in my neck did not alleviated the pain as much as it was suppose to and now my pinched nerve feels worse then it ever did! I have now started the series of injection in my lower back. Luckily my lower back is very mild. The spinal specialist is very concerned and wants me to try traction. He thinks I'm too young to have neck surgery, and hell, I'm inclined to go with him on this account. If traction in the office helps, then he is going to write a letter to my insurance to try and get them to cover the cost of a home traction device so that I can do traction on myself twice a day until the disk slips back into place. This is the most annoying injury I have ever had.

Goals for 2010 -

Lets just stick to knitting goals for now :)

1. I'm whole heartedly going to try an knit from my stash. I have such beautiful yarn in my stash and SO MUCH of it that it is ridiculous of my to constantly be buying more yarn. My problem is that colors call to me. I love certain colors and I just HAVE to have them. I'm going to take this in small steps my filling up my projects bags with a pattern and the required yarn and slowly work toward emptying a bin of yarn. This will take time and require me to shift yarn between bins every few months so that I can visually see the bins emptying. Maybe I should just say every 3 months (4 x a year) I will shift and hopefully by December I will have en empty bin or two! I am giving myself some exceptions because lets face it, I will buy yarn :) So, here are the exception, The Homespun Party, MDS&W Festival, and FFtC Vampire Sock Club II (if I get in). Any yarn that I receive as payment for testing doesn't count because I didn't spend any $$. I'm even going to cut back on the number of swap I participate in this year in the hopes of more skeins going out then coming in. Do I honestly, truly believe those are the only 3 times I will buy yarn in a whole 12 month period... oh hell no, but it's something to strive for :) I'm just taking it one month at a time. Some people call this going "Cold Sheep" and swear off buy yarn for a whole year. Since that is not what I'm doing I guess you can say I'm going more "Lukewarm Llama" :) *Hey, I haven't bought a single skein of yarn this year!! I'd say I'm off to a good start* Oh, and anything that I ordered back in December that arrives in January doesn't break my oath because I ordered back in '09!


2. I have deemed January as "Finish it or Frog it" month! I need to collect all the unfinished projects that are around my house, hiding in corners, lurking in cubbies, stuffed in knitting bags and take stock and decide to finish it or frog it. I have way to many things on my needles and I am overwhelmed with what to knit when I have so many things started! The only exception to this is my Stain Glass Afghan. Don't get me wrong, I need to determine if I'm going to finish it or frog it, but if the first it will not be done by the end of January. I requires something like 357 squares if memory serves me correctly and I think I have maybe *mublmblemuble* done so far!
   
3. I plan to start knitting my Christmas 2010 gifts starting in February. If I plan it out a little better and plan to knit one give a month I should have my family covered by the time December rolls around and I won't be knitting into the wee hours of the night on Christmas Eve to get a gift done. I'm planning smaller gifts because lets face it, I'm a single woman, on a teacher's salary trying to make ends meet with a mortgage on a 30 year old home that seems to need this or that replaced every time I fix this "other" this or that! I just can't do it all, unless God sees fit to make me a lotto winner to one of those really BIG jackpots!
   
4. I'm shooting to knit 52 items this year. Don't be shocked, this doesn't have to be a major undertaking. I'm not talking like 52 sweaters or 52 shawls, just 52 items in general. A lot of those items will be small projects like hats, scarves, and dishcloths. Items that can be cracked out in a day or two, when I need a break from knitting those more time consuming items. I've seen other people do this on Ravelry and I think this will also be a good way to cut down on my cotton stash and those one or two skeins of yarn I have floating around in my stash.


5. Lastly, I'd like to knit at least 7 pairs of socks and 5 shawls for myself!! I want to do some ME knitting this year :)

I think that's about it.