30 Day Shred

Oy so much for blogging every day, huh....

Well, Ravelry still consumes my life, I still knit far more than is normal for any human being, and I will update on my crafty type stuff soon.

In other news, I am out of shape.....horribly, HORRIBLY out of shape....so, since I am currently unemployed I decided it was time to do something about it.  I bought Jillian Michael's workout DVD 30 Day Shred, and her book Making the Cut, and am determined to get into a workout regimen.  

I will attempt to start this on sunday, and use the "30 Day Shred" dvd for the next 30 days, then start using her book regimen for the next 30 days after that.  

My schedule will be as follows, doing each workout level for 10 days, hopefully: 

Week 1 (February 8-17) Level 1

Week 2 (February 18-27) Level 2 

Week 3 (February 28-March 9) Level 3

As far as diet changes, I'm gonna try to take it slow and not go crazy, cause I suck at keeping at stuff like this.

-drinking more water

-little to no fried food

-eat more vegetables/salads (without lots of dressing and condiments, per usual)

If I survive the first 30 days I'm gonna try to follow Jillian's diet plan, but I think baby steps are a good plan for now. 

Since no one actually reads this blog, I'm gonna be doing this just for my own purposes, to keep myself motivated and track my progress, but if anyone stumbles upon this and wants to follow along, be my guest.  

Ravelry has consumed my life....

So my intent to blog more often has been completely blown out of the water by this little thing called Ravelry.....I spend almost every waking hour on the site, therefore not having much time to blog.....on the upside though, I've been about 1000x more productive knitting-wise than i was before.....

since starting on Ravelry i've completed:

3 pairs of socks
1 baby hat
2 pairs of mittens
1 hat for me
1 pair of armwarmers

and have another pair of socks and a sweater currently in progress...yay, go me..

if i can tear myself away from it i'll post pictures on here at some point, otherwise go find me as Lightchick, all my flickr pictures are in my notebook.

In other news, i've caved and bought another knitting bag (hangs head in shame).....since it IS tax season, and theyre so pretty, i bought myself a larger bag for summer...

A Namaste Laguna in Olive is on order, and a Namaste Cali Clutch (which will be my purse inside the Laguna) is on its way from The Loopy Ewe as we speak (which is, btw, my new favorite online store....go there, its fabulous!!).

I'll post pics and reviews of those when i get them of course...whee!

Meet Bella

This is slightly late, cause i actually recieved it last monday, but here is my review of the lovely Jordana Paige Bella bag, which is probably one of the best knitting-related investments ive gotten in a while....

Here is Bella right out of the box

Luckily I did my homework before ordering, and came upon a blog where someone recieved a Bella and was so disappointed when they opened the box and saw it was flat with short handles that didnt stretch out; Jordana herself posted a reply saying she should put some weight in it and let the bag expand for a couple days, which seemed to do the trick....

therefore i wasnt concerned with its flat shipping appearance and immediately tossed a bunch of soup cans inside and hung it on the back of my door.....for about 20 minutes before i became impatient and decided that was good enough cause i wanted to use it, dammit!!

Here is Bella with all of my purse and knitting stuff inside, standing up:

and last but not least, an inside shot:

Since then I have crammed 2 socks in progress and a baby hat inside the knitting compartment, plus the usual random stuff into the purse area, with plenty of room to spare...I love this bag!!! The long handles are great cause it fits perfectly over your shoulder, the yarn guide loops are ingenious, and has actually helped me keep tension while i'm knitting b/c my bag is usually sitting on the floor with the yarn inside while i'm working, and in general it's very well made and should last me a while....

now i just need to resist the urge to buy another bag, specifically the deep red knitter's satchel, which was my second choice after Bella....must....resist.....

So if anyone out there reads this and is considering a Jordana Paige bag, I am SO happy with mine and highly recommend ordering one, you wont regret it!

The obsession is back with a vengeance

So i'm back on the sock knitting bandwagon once again....ravelry's sock knitter's anonymous group has a monthly contest called "Sockdown", where you knit a pair of socks per a specific theme, and all the people who finish a full pair by the end of the month are entered in a random contest for yarn and other fun stuff.....

This month's sock was either a Eunny Jang design, or a new heel that you are not familiar with.....i was torn, b/c i love the look of the Bayseriche socks, but the pattern and all the twisty stitches scared me off, cause i only have a month to get them done.....they got added to the queue for a later time though, and i decided instead on the Nine-to-Five socks, which have a much simpler, easy to memorize, and really cool looking twisted faux cable pattern.....

I'm using some green varegated Claudia's Handpainted Yarns, colorway jungle.....not sure yet if the cable will stand out enough against the multicolored yarn, but it was the closest i had to solid at the time....

Since this was my last set of sock yarn in the stash i figured it would be kosher to buy some more, as i hadnt gone to either Birds of a Feather or River Colors since before xmas.....and i now have way more sock yarn than one person should have.....but theyre all so pretty!! i have pictures that will be up on ravelry soon, and hopefully by the summer they will all be socks!....

On another note, Bella is on the UPS truck out for delivery today.....i can't wait to see it in person and try it out.....

Owww....

So I have found another fun wintertime hobby, its a little more active/potential injury causing than knitting, however.....I'm learning how to snowboard! Finally got past the point of spending 90% of the lesson on my ass (I'm down to about 15-20% ass time, which i think isn't too shabby for someone who hadn't been on a board in her life before Jan. 1).

Still though, it fucking hurts!! i'm starting to take some jumps and had a couple rough landings yesterday, several of which were on my knees, into packed snow/ice....wasn't too bad at the time but i woke up this morning and literally could not get out of bed on the first try. i just laid there staring at the ceiling going "damn, why didn't i learn how to do this 8 years ago, when i could beat myself up and be up and ready to go the next morning"....i feel old, dammit, not liking this one bit! lol...

Also, i got the most kickass pair of plaid snowboard pants a couple weeks ago; havent worn them yet but i love them so, and feel that i'm finally to the point where i can rock the plaid and not look like a complete tool...maybe someday i'll find someone to take a picture of me, to prove that i really am doing this...

And on the knitting front..... Ravelry has become a bad influence already, being that i've joined a "sock knitters anonymous" group and promptly decided to participate in their "sockdown" monthly knitting contest....as if i need anymore WIPs, huh.....but i love socks, so oh well...

I think i'm also gonna cast on the Hourglass Sweater once and for all, cause i want to be able to wear it before it gets to be spring...

Oh and i almost forgot---checked the tracking for Bella, it shipped on the 18th and should be here by monday!!! I'm so excited hehehe!! I'll post pictures/review whenever i get it, whee :)

I think I'm in love!!!

So my computer still doesnt like blogger, which is sad news for my resolution to post more....i'll try to do it whenever i can though....anyhoo...

I had a sudden burst of knitting motivation and finally FINALLY finished the harry potter mittens....and they do look quite nice if i do say so myself....i would post pictures but of course, blogger hates me.....and....i found ravelry...

A couple months ago I signed up for the Ravelry beta test wait list; ended up getting invited right after xmas but I just created a username and left, not bothering to explore around.....well the day after finishing the mittens I was feeling extremely unmotivated and uninterested at work and somehow ended up back on the site again...I looked around and came to the realization that this is kinda the best thing in the world for knitters....its like Facebook, except not evil and stalkerish and set up for people to fuck with each others minds (i'm not a fan, in case you couldnt tell), and it serves a useful purpose....

Now its ridiculously simple to keep track of all WIPs and finished projects, yarn stashes, needles, and even which books and magazines you have; all you need to do is click on the book in your "library" and it shows you every pattern inside, with examples of things made by other members...its BRILLIANT!!!

So I have definitely found a new online addiction, and this should get me more inspired to finish all my Christmas knitting that didnt end up happening (I'm so ashamed, foiled again!)....

Also, I finally put my xmas money to use and bought something really fabulous: a Jordana Paige knitting handbag....I got the Bella in black (what else; but it only came in black and white, so its not my fault!), and I'm anxiously awaiting its arrival cause its so pretty!! I'm already trying to justify buying a Satchel in this really cool dark sexy red, but alas I should probably wait until the first bag shows up....

I'm kinda doubting that anyone actually reads this except for me, but if you do, and youre on Ravelry, my name's Lightchick, look me up cause I don't have any friends yet! :)

Christmas has officially invaded....

And I'm having the odd urge to make this:



http://www.jeangreenhowe.com/index.html

Now, I am just about the least religious person on the planet, but come on, theyre just so darn cute!

No time this christmas though, i have gifts to make.....