belly dance rehab - day ??

I have missed a whole bunch of days!!!! More like weeks!!! It was hard to get motivated around Christmas. Although I did about half an hour while at the cottage visiting family - I snuck upstairs and listened to my iPod. :)

Unfortunately, I did not get the DVDs that I requested from Santa, which I figured would help me out (new stuff? yay!) but that's OK - I'll order them myself. I think I'll restart the rehab on January 1... a new start for the new year!

Merry Christmas!

Have a wonderful day with friends and family!

more squares for the afghan swap

Here's the latest square that I received from the afghan square swap:

It is the missing square #7! I don't know who knit it, as it was originally sent to one of the swappers who later dropped out, and her squares were re-assigned to people for whom she was supposed to knit squares. Confused?? I am! I'm not sure that sentence made any sense. Anyway, this "Star of David" square (just in time for Chanukah) goes really well with the pink square I received from Mimosa - it may even be the same yarn. I totally dig the stitch pattern!

The square that I sent to Clashfan77:


She loves it and I'm so happy! The pattern gave me some trouble. Clashfan77 hinted that she wanted a rock-n-roll themed afghan, so I picked out the pattern way in advance. I had tried modifying it for a 7x7 inch square for a different afghan project, got about 2/3 of the way through and then gave up. Even knitting it full size, without mods, was uninspiring... there aren't even that many colour changes! I'm not happy with my colour joins and the yarn carried behind is too tight in some areas. I definitely should have added the musical notes afterward, using duplicate stitch. But, I'll say it again: She loves it and I'm so happy!

belly dance rehab - day 13

• 1 hour bellydance boot camp class

Ooooooh, I'm going to be sore tomorrow!

Total on Day 13: 9 hours

belly dance rehab - day 12

1 hour dance practice:

• warm up
• drills while zylling
• old choreographies - tried to remember them!
• cane choreography
• cool down and stretching

1.25 hour yoga class (worth half)

Total on Day 12: 8 hours

more FOs

Next round....

Remember this one? It was sitting on the sidelines for a almost year, then I knit the straps in the spring, and in August I picked it up and realized I only had TWO ROWS to go! It was finished August 29, 2008. However, by the time I wove in the ends and blocked it (another month), it was too cold to wear it. :/

Pattern: Ribs and Lace Tank by Jodi Green (Interweave Knits Spring 2007)
Yarn: Filati FF Carezza in 08 - mint green
Needles: 5 mm and 2.5 mm
Started May 2007, finished August 2008.

I call this my Paris shawl. T-man bought me this yarn in the summer on our Michigan road trip, and I knit the shawl to wear in Paris. (It's more like a "shawlette" - I'll have to get a photo of me wearing it)

Pattern: Feather and Fan Comfort Shawl by Sarah Bradberry
Yarn: Trendsetter Yarns Venus from Nautical Yarn in Ludington, MI
Needles: 4 mm
Finished September 25, 2008

And a WIP to finish things off:

This is one of my grandmother's patterns - the Condo Sweater. After knitting so many afghan squares, I had a strong urge to crochet a sweater. It's going really quickly! I'm about 2/3 through the second half, and I plan to do 3/4 length sleeves with wide cuffs. If I have enough yarn...

The colour is not accurate in this photo, it's a moss green but more vibrant than it appears here.

Hmm I have a lot of green projects... there are two more that I wanted to post but I don't have photos of the finished objects yet. They are also green! Weird!!

a post about knitting, really?

Yes, really! Well, crochet as well as knitting.

First, some new acquisitions:

I bought these from fellow GTA Ravelry member Craftlover, who is moving out of the country soon and is trying to reduce her stash. I am so happy with my purchases! I wasn't sure about the books, since I have a lot of patterns already, but I'm glad I got them. It's great to meet other Ravellers in person!

Next, some finished knitting projects:

I knit this for J & A's son Eli Henry, who came into this world a littler sooner than expected!

Pattern: Ribbed Baby Jacket by Debbie Bliss
Yarn: stash yarn - green kitchen cotton and Lamb's Pride Cotton Fleece in Putty for the collar
Needles: 4 mm and 3.5 mm circs

The cotton was hard on my hands to knit, and I ran out of the green with 2 rows to go. I've started another sweater for my nephew, and am using washable wool instead. This is a quick and easy pattern, and is currently my go-to knit baby gift.

These arm warmers were a gift for E. and were finished at the beginning of November.

Pattern: Voodoo Wrist Warmers by Bonne Marie Burns
Yarn: Red Heart Ltd. Cotton Twist (50% cotton, 50% acrylic)
Needles: 3.5 mm circulars, I think. I did these 2-at-a-time magic loop style.

OK, that's enough for now.... I have more but I'd better space out my posts! lol.

belly dance rehab - day 11

• 1 hour bellydance hip hop class at Arabesque (we were actually learning Ethopian dance, not hip hop, but it was fun nonetheless. A lot of small, sharp chest movements.)

Total on Day 11: 6 hours and 20 min.

I'm not going to worry too much about the days I missed - hopefully I'll make them up by the end of the challenge, but I won't be discouraged. It's intimidating to think "I have to dance 2 hours a day for the next 4 days and then I'll be caught up." I'll make up the hours sometime in the next 79 days! :)

waaaaaaay behind

I am falling behind on the belly dance rehab! Yikes! I missed Thursday, Friday, Saturday (although I did a show) and Sunday.... I have a lot of hours to make up. E and I have plans to check out some new classes this week as our regular classes are now on holiday break.

I have to get my butt in gear!!

Total on Day 10: 5 hours and 20 min. (down by 4 hours and 40 min.)

belly dance rehab - day 5

• 45 min. pilates DVD (counts as half)
• belly dance class (1 hour)
  
• troupe rehearsal (1 hour)

Total on Day 5: 5 hours and 20 minutes

belly dance rehab - day 4

• 1 hour of choreography practice with E. for the show on Saturday
  

I meant to sneak in some other practice time, but didn't. :/


Total on day 4: 3 hours (down by 1 hour)

belly dance rehab - off the wagon already

Well, I fell off the wagon already. I didn't do anything on day 3, and yesterday (day 4), I only practiced for 10 minutes. :(( But I'm not discouraged!! I WILL make it up this week: tonight I have practice with the girls and tomorrow I have belly dance class and troupe rehearsal, so I'll easily make up a few hours. I just have to keep up with the daily stuff.

belly dance rehab - day 2

My practice today:

• Rachel Brice's Yoga, Isolations and Drills DVD (30 min.)
• shimmy drill and cool down from Aziza's Ultimate Belly Dance Practice Companion DVD (25 min.)

belly dance rehab

Michelle Joyce started a thread on Bhuz with a challenge to take 90 dance classes in 90 days - any type of dance class counts, and other fitness/yoga/pilates classes count as half. (When an alcoholic starts AA they are told to do 90 meetings in 90 days, that's where the rehab/90 days thing comes from.)

A ton of Bhuzzers signed up to join Michelle! And the details were modified by each person to fit their situation - doing a video, dance practice, 90 hours in 90 days instead of practice, etc. It's amazing to see so many belly dancers inspired to improve themselves and further the dance form!

Now, I can hardly commit to this... I have been trying to practice every day since I'm unemployed, and it hasn't happened. I am dying to take more classes but can't afford it right now. I'm going to ask for some belly dance DVDs for Christmas, so that should help. :)

That being said, I have been inspired to step up my practice schedule! And I started today!! I'm going to post my practice log here as a record and to keep me motivated. Plus the blog could use some more content. :)

Belly Dance Rehab - Day 1

• warm up
• waves - standing series
• shimmy to Shik Shak Shok: Egyptian, single leg, ballet, twist **hip shimmy needs work
• veil: went through my list of veil moves, did some simple veil combos, walked through veil intro that I learned in my private lesson with Zahira
• zylls: longa to 5 min. song, long variations, saidi, moving around while zylling
• Hadia choreography and staging