Blog Interrupted...

Okay, folks.  I have a very busy personal life for the next few weeks (and beyond) so my posting will probably become a little erratic.

This weekend, we're having a huge housewarming party and we still have a number of details to work out for the house and the party.  Check out my pin board for the party, here.

Then, next week, on Wednesday to be exact, we're flying out to St. Kitts.  It's my best friend's wedding and I'm her Matron of Honor, so I'll just have to schlep myself to the Caribbean, oh the sacrifices I make for our friendship....

This week I should be ok with normal posting, but the next two weeks following might be a bit more unpredictable.  Of course, I'm choosing this week to add a new "segment" to my blog, but that's neither here nor there, I suppose.

Anyway, wish me luck with the party because I think I will need it...

Photo Friday

(flowers)

Checking in

Life has been CRAZY, CrAzY, crazy.  Family obligations, moving into a new house, millions of projects around the new house so that we're happy with unpacking, UNPACKING (still in progress), my outrageously bad poison ivy rash (14 days and counting  ya'll), and E not sleeping.  This equals a very stressed out lady on this side of our blogging relationship.

Keep on the journey with me, because I really always have something to say or express my opinion on and I'm always looking for validation feedback about whatever it is I'm blathering about.

Back in January, I made some plans to update this place and clean out some of the cobwebs.  I'm working to expand my reach...and influence people to do my biding...and maybe help some people along the way.  In my real life, I'm somewhat overbearing in my aggressive need to give advice, it's a terrible habit, by the way, and I would suggest that you do not take it up and having an outlet here is probably better for me and all the people that I annoy on a daily basis.

I'm still debating how much to expand the subject base here, simply because this was originally a blog for me to yammer about crafty stuff, but I think I enjoy having a sort of overview of myself...read: egocentric.

In summary...I think I will continue with product reviews, WiP Wednesdays, Photo Fridays (although this isn't so popular, really), PCH updates, and my "being healthier" trek.  I might sprinkle in some words of idiocy wisdom about being a mommy and some other random bits of business, but luckily for the World of the Web, you can just skip the crap posts that you don't like and move along to the ones that you do.

If you're really good, I might even show you a picture of my rather shameful yarn stash...seriously, it's a little insane.

Wish me luck !..?

WiP Wednesday - Olive Basket Cardi

I'm loving this pattern...miles of stockinette with a nice neat mossy border....makes me do a happy dance...except that I don't actually dance b/c I'm slightly chubby and more than slightly, lazy.

One thing that I noticed, and unfortunately, it was about 6" into the body, was that the RS, right edge was a little wonky and loose.  I tried to gently stretch the loose loops back into the fabric and I was not really successful, so I decided to knit a few more rows with the first stitch held tightly, still, no luck.  Well, now I decided to just slip that first stitch and voila, nice even edge, no loops.  It might be the way that I knit versus the way that I purl, but either way, I solved my first knitting issue all by myself and it didn't mess up anything (yet)...

I'm also really crushing on the yarn.  It's the Berroco Vintage DK and it's smooth and stretchy.  It slides nicely along on the needles, holds shape rather nicely, and the colorway is just slightly heather-ed for a woolly look without being 100% scratchy wool (I can't go near the generic wool yarns alone).

Here she is:

Olive Basket Cardigan by Amy Miller
Ravelry Project Page

Product Review - The Fast Metabolism Diet - Done

The Fast Metabolism Diet - Final Review

The journey is over...I'm a bit relieved because it was somewhat difficult to constantly plan every bite that I would eat during the day and how much.  Also, I had some challenges with eating as much as was suggested during meal times.

The hardest part, for me, was all the meat.  I'm a definite meat eater, but at 6 oz of meat for every serving that you have, it's a lot.  It's a hard switch to cut back so much on the carbohydrate portions of my meals.  I really enjoy eating rice and pasta, and I always feel a bit lost without the carb/veg/meat combo on my plate.

I will say that I'm feeling a little unsure of how to proceed.  I know that in the book she discusses how to maintain, but I'm not sure that her guidelines are clear enough for me.  I think that what I will try to do is keep eating about the same portion sizes and times, but cutting back some on the meat.  I will also try to stay away from wheat flour products and substitute healthier carbs.  One thing that I won't give up, even though she suggests it, is dairy.  I very much like to eat yogurt and cheese, so I won't be giving up those things.

So, what does all this mean?  Well, the diet was, in a way, a success.  I did lose quite a bit of weight in a relatively short time, but I did not lose 20 lbs or even close to that much.  Mr. Hollybroke however did lose about 20 lbs, so it was very successful for him.  The reasons for my lack of weight loss are: I did not always eat as much as she suggested, nor drink about 70 oz of water a day, and I did not exercise as much as I wanted to and as much as she recommends.  I will defend myself about the exercise...we are still in the middle of unpacking our house, my little monthly friend came along (I do not exercise during those few days), and I caught a really bad case of poison ivy dermatitis (which I'm still, literally, battling - 14 days).

I really think that this is a great diet and I highly suggest it.  You never really feel deprived, just maybe a bit overwhelmed with planning.

I think I will continue to weigh in here on the blog and talk about my weight loss.  I plan to exercise 3 days a week for 30 minutes and for the most part, I was successful and I think it will get easier as it becomes a habit.  I will somewhat continue with the rules of this diet and see how that goes as well.

Final Diet Stats:

SW: 153.6 lbs

GW: 135 lbs

CW: 145.2 lbs

WL: 8.4 lbs

Photo Friday

(azalea buds)

WiP Wednesday - Olive Basket Cardi

Time to start something new (as if I don't have enough old WiPs to keep me occupied for two years).  I have been swayed by a blog I follow to make the Olive Basket Cardigan.  I've been watching her posts and falling in love with the pattern.

It has a moss stitch type pattern on the bottom...I can barely resist that stitch pattern as it is, but when it's paired with miles of neat little 'v's of stockinette, well...it pushes me over the edge and stash diving.  Luckily, I had plenty of Berroco Vintage DK for this sweater.  So I dug out my size 6 circulars and cast on....Unfortunately, my width gauge was too big and I had to frog, frog, frog.

Now I've recast on for the smallest size and I've reached the stockinette portion...and I'm getting ready to start the decreases....sooo excited.

I don't have a more recent photo, so the pic below will have to suffice.

To clarify, this color is no where near the color and I could not get it right at all....I will hopefully, have a better photo soon.

Pattern : Olive Basket Cardigan

Yarn : Berroco Vintage DK in Breezeway

Ravelry Project Page