Makin' progress

I made a few inches of progress on my sweater last night at knit night.  I need to try it on again, and decide whether it needs more short-rows in the bust area.  I've already done 3 sets of short-rows, but I don't think it's enough.  We'll see...

I went to the gym this morning, and worked my back and legs and did 25 minutes on the bike.  My back is still hurting too much to do Zumba.  After the gym, we went to the thrift shop, and I found a really nice gray dress, which is a little bit snug around the middle.  So I'm going to hang it up, and use it as my motivation to keep working on this weight-loss thing.  It should fit when I lose another 5-10 pounds, so hopefully in a few weeks.

Feelin better

I woke up in a little less pain than what I had when I went to sleep, so after waiting for the outside temperature to reach 33 and melt the ice, I went to the gym.  Worked my back and arms, and did 20 minutes on the bike.  Still not up to the level I was at when I went on my hiatus from the gym.  But at least I didn't gain back any weight during that three weeks.☺

Last night I finished the yoke of my cardi, and set aside the sleeve stitches.  So for the next couple inches, it'll be mostly stockinette, with just basic rope cables at the front opening edges.

Once I get below the bustline, I'll start the cables around the waist.  I'm not going to do any actual decreasing; the cables will create shaping by virtue of their natural "pulling in".  Those cables will be the same as the ones on the sleeves, but with a little bit of ribbing between each column.  It'll be easier to understand what I mean when there's something to see...

And now, back to knitting!

Pain. And Knitting.

I went to the gym yesterday, and had a much better workout than the day before.  I worked my legs again, and worked my abs a little harder than usual.  Today my abs hurt, so I know that worked! ☺ But my back hurts so bad I can hardly move, so I'm not working out today.  I'm using a heating pad, and taking Advil every four hours, and doing a little stretching every once in a while.  I'm staying in my nice warm comfy jammies and staying out of the cccccold rainy weather. 

I took a little break from my sweater project(which, I'll admit is going slowly) to make something "little" in a Bunker Blue yarn.  I used KP Palette in "Pool", and a size 0 needle.  And it turned out really well!  Beyond that, you'll just have to wait to find out what it is, until it is received by my spoilee in the Bunker Blue swap.

And now, back to NCIS and sweater-knitting...

Check the box.

Well, I checked the box for exercise today, but I didn't do much.  I got there just a little while before the kids' club was closing for lunchtime.  So I just did a short workout.  I wasn't feelin' it anyway...too much alcohol, not enough sleep, too much pain.

Surprisingly, I have stayed at the same weight over the past three weeks, despite eating lots of fast food, drinking wine and not working out.  I am glad to get back to exercising again, though.  Hoping I can get my weight-loss jump-started.

Yay!

Yay, me!  I was finally able to get back to the gym yesterday!  I've really missed it.  And of course, my back felt great while I was working it...but hurts like the dickens this morning.  I worked my back and legs, because those are what's been hurting.  I only did 15 minutes on the bike, because my hubby was ready to head home at that point.  We sometimes go together on Sundays. ☺I felt good, and was glad I went.  Now if I can just get my back to hurt a little less...to the point where I can move a little...I'll go this morning too.

Yay, Green Bay Packers!  Normally, I don't give two figs about football, even when it comes to the SuperBowl.  But one of my friends posted something before the game, in our conservative knitting site, that made me want to cheer for a team.  Copying and pasting here; I'm not sure if my friend came up with this on her own, or found it somewhere, so I'll give her credit and she can correct me if I'm wrong.  Thanks, Michelle!

Every Red Blooded American should jump in line to support the Green Bay Packers! The Packers defeated the Chicago Bears on Sunday afternoon thus earning them the opportunity to go to the Super Bowl . By doing so, they saved the Hard-Working, Red Blooded, Taxpaying Americans literally several million dollars of tax money. How you say? Simple... we were told that if the Chicago Bears had won that President Obama (and probably his family) would be attending the Super Bowl to cheer on his hometown team. Since the Bears lost...the President won't be attending. The money saved from not using Air Force 1, the limosines, all the additional security, and let's not forget Michelle Obama's entourage, is literally several million dollars! Therefore every American should cheer on the Green Bay Packers at the Super Bowl to show them our gratitude. Oh...and let's not forget to thank Chicago Bear's Quarterback Jay Cutler for his role in the Packer's success! With that said...let's circulate this email to everyone we know so they can understand why they should cheer for America's team ....the Green Bay Packers!

And the Packers won!  Yay!

Check out my girls' new bathroom!

I just finished re-decorating my daughters' bathroom!  We went with a butterfly theme, because the only fabric they all liked was green and white gingham with butterflies on it.  I used the fabric to make the shower curtain, and drew inspiration from it for the rest of the room.

I painted the walls with a slightly lighter green than what's in the fabric, and stenciled butterflies(and a few dragonflies just for fun) all over the walls, using the colors of the butterflies in the fabric. 

Here's the view in the mirror.

 I found the towel hooks at Hobby Lobby, and let the girls each pick a color from the fabric for their bath towels.  Angel picked dark purple, Princess chose medium blue and Kitty picked bright pink.  I picked the yellow for the hand towels and the green for the bath rug(you can see the rug and a glimpse of the new tile floor in the first picture).

The butterflies hanging from the shower curtain were found in the Christmas ornament aisle at Walmart a few months ago.

I'm really pleased with how the room turned out, and the girls love it.  I just hope they keep it clean and neat.

BBSweKniMo

I'm participating in BBSweKniMo.  Which is sort of like NaSweKniMo.  My friends and I in the Bunker liked the idea of National Sweater Knitting Month, but we weren't ready to start our sweaters right around Christmas.  I mean, seriously, Christmastime is time to knit Christmas stuff.  So February is Bunker Babe Sweater Knitting Month!  We're all knitting different sweaters, and we don't really have any rules. ☺We're BunkerBabes; we don't need no stinkin' rules!

♥

I was going to start my sweater on February 1, but I couldn't find the notes.  I had half-designed it two years ago, then frogged it because I hated the cheap acrylic yarn I was using.  I'm glad I had the foresight to take pictures, because after searching for hours on the first and second of February, the notes I had taken were nowhere to be found.  So, working from my photos, I created new charts, on my computer this time, where they won't get lost.  I had bought new yarn a couple months ago, Knit Picks Merino Style in "Hollyberry".  It's a lovely sport-weight wool.  I had to search for my needle....obviously I'm very disorganized these days.  I found it in a lace project, so I slipped that project to a spare needle, because I really wanted to use that particular needle for this sweater.  So after all this searching, and all this charting, I was ready to start....but then I remembered I hadn't knit my gauge swatch, or done any calculations.  Doh!  So I did that and got it out of the way.  It's a good thing I did; since I never did find my notes, I had no idea how many stitches to cast on.

♥

Anyway, here's the beginning of my sweater, after finishing up the first skein of yarn...

It's a top-down, seamless raglan, cabled, v-neck cardigan.  Those twisted-stitch cables are going to run the length of the sleeves, and there will be more of the same all around the waist.  The front edges will have basic rope cables.  And I'm thinking I might add a crochet border around the front and neck edges, to help control rolling, and add some buttonholes.  I hope I can get it finished by the end of February, because sweater weather won't last much longer than that around here.