Lace and Weight Loss

I'm designing a scarf. I came up with the fish lace motif a few years ago, when I made my Ichthus Shawl. I never did publish the pattern, so I decided to take the motif and put it into a scarf instead.

I'm using KP Alpaca Cloud laceweight yarn, which is incredibly soft. I really like how it's turning out. It's a pretty simple design, which is a nice diversion after the hood and glittens I designed recently. I'm already planning the photo shoot for this one....I'm going to need a white sundress...and a warm day.

I'm so ready for winter to be over. This past week, there were several days when the temperature didn't reach zero. And it snows every day. And it's cold. And windy.

♥

In other news, I've been working out since the beginning of January. It's a secret, though. Well, not a total secret. But the fact that I've lost 13 pounds since New Years is. It would have been more if I hadn't taken a week and a half off from my intensive workouts because of injury(did yoga instead). I'm keeping my progress a secret from my family until I go visit them. I'm hoping to get time in March to do that. By that time, I should have lost enough for them to see the difference and be shocked. Hubby hasn't noticed yet...and I'm not pointing it out to him either. I'm waiting for him to notice. He's going to be traveling this next week, so I'm hoping that I can reach my first goal of 20 pounds while he's gone. 

It's not easy; I'm working out every day(using the PACE system), and eating less than I used to. And I'm drinking water almost exclusively. I allow myself one soda on Friday nights, and alcohol is only for very special occasions. I discovered a day-spa water recipe...I know, that sounds goofy, but it's good! I slice an apple and put it and a cinnamon stick in a pitcher, fill the pitcher halfway with ice, and fill the rest of the way with water. I put it in the fridge for an hour before drinking it. I'm up to almost a gallon a day, which is huge, because I never used to drink water! I'm adding in green tea now; I've heard that it's great for weight loss. My problem with tea is that I hate unsweetened tea, and I detest fake sugar. I usually use two teaspoons of sugar to a cup of tea; I'm cutting it down to one. 

I'm not using any faddish gluten-free/carb-free/all-liquid/protein-shake diets, and no diet pills of any kind. Just the good old-fashioned exercise-more-eat-less diet. No alcohol, no caffeine(well, almost), and I'm allowed to eat what I want as long as it's only a little bit. If I want chocolate, I have one. If I want chips and queso for lunch, I get a very small dish of queso, and only as many chips as it takes to eat up the queso. We had spaghetti tonight, and I really wanted seconds, but I let Hubby have it instead. If I want a cookie, I have one. I've learned that when I refuse to allow myself a little splurge now and then, the craving gets so bad that I end up having a big splurge, and then feel so guilty I give up. Not letting that happen this time.

13 pounds down, 47 to go...

And once I've lost this weight, I'm going to look terrific in my as-of-now non-existent white sundress and Ichthus Scarf...

Designin' and Knittin'

I sent my Posy Patch pattern to Knit Picks this morning! They still have to make their final decision, but I'm fairly confident....I think. Haha. Anyway, now that I've got that project and pattern finished, I've been working on a few other designs. My Upstream scarf is progressing nicely; it's over 2 feet long.
I was struck by inspiration a few days ago...I wanted to make some laceweight bookmarks. After I had made two of them, and taken a few pictures, I decided I needed two more. You see, when I took the pictures, I just grabbed one of my daughter's classic books, and it happened to be "Little Women." I opened it up to a random page and took the pictures. After I had taken the pictures, I noticed that the characters in the story were knitting on that page. ☺ Some of my friends suggested naming the patterns after the characters in the story, and I decided that there ought to be four of them in that case. So here are my four bookmarks...

From top to bottom: Amy, Beth, Jo and Meg. I wrote down the patterns for all four, and made it one pattern for the whole set. This pattern is on its way to Knit Picks also. I hope they like it!

New project on the needles!

I did a few rows on my "Surf" shawl yesterday, but I also decided to cast on a new project. My friend Ally sent me two hanks of Knit Picks Gloss Lace last fall, and I finally picked out a pattern to go with it. I decided to use a pattern written by someone else this time. ☺ It's the "Adamas Shawl" by Miriam Felton. It's a free pattern, and can be found here: http://mimknits.com/shop/index.php?main_page=document_product_info&cPath=65&products_id=199
I really like this pattern so far. It's well-written, and easy to memorize. I started last night, and here's a picture. I just completed the first repeat of the second chart. Thirteen repeats to go.

This is my first project with laceweight yarn. I've done several lace shawls, but all with fingering-weight or thicker yarn. I've been a little afraid to try the thinner yarn, but now I see that my fear was unfounded. It's knitting up beautifully, and isn't any more difficult than sockweight.