giveaway!!!

A friend from Ravelry, Bohemian Knitter Chic, is having a giveaway on her blog! All you have to do is check out her etsy shop and you could win a fabulous supercoil fibre necklace.

Bohoknitterchic, aka Brittany, is a fibre goddess - she knits, dyes, spins and designs her own patterns! I am amazed at her creativity and obsession (in a good way!). She definitely inspires me to progress in my fibre journey. Check out her wonderful art yarns!

Blog Giveaway

belly dance rehab - day 88

• Wednesday: bellydance class and troupe rehearsal (2.25 hrs.)
• Thursday: Funkabelly (1 hour)
• Saturday: choreography practice and drills (1.25 hr.)

Total on Day 88: 83.5 hours

I've been sick for the past few days, so I didn't get any practicing in, but I don't think it really mattered because I miss a few days every week it seems! I doubt that I'll make up those last few hours in the next two days. :( It's sad to end the rehab under 90 hours, but I'm pretty close and that's A LOT of practice hours!!

belly dance rehab - day 81

• bellydance practice session at home: warm-up, drills, shimmy, choreography practice (1 hour)

Total on Day 81: 79 hours

belly dance rehab - day 80

• day 77: bellydance class and troupe rehearsal (2.5 hours)
• day 78: private lesson with Roula to work on solo choreography (1 hour)
• day 80: class at Arabesque (1 hour)

Total on Day 80: 78 hours

I started a new job on Wednesday. It's part-time, and I am filling in for someone who is away. I tried to get as many hours as I could this week, because there might not be many hours available for me in the future. It's not a hard job, but it IS hard to adjust to working again! :) I worked a full day on Friday and was exhausted. I don't have as much free time to work on costumes or practice, but it's just a matter of scheduling my time better. Less TV. No napping.

Roula and I finished choreographing my solo dance. (mostly Roula - I didn't have a lot to add) Now it's time to practice practice practice and get it in shape for the hafla!

belly dance rehab - day 75

• day 73 - bellydance class at Arabesque (1 hour)
  
• day 75 - home practice: yoga, warm-up, Michelle Joyce Drills! dvd (including zylls), run through choreographies old and new, shimmy drill, cool down (2.5 hours)

Total on Day 75: 73.5 hours

In my last post I said that my goal was to practice zylls a little bit every day, and I did not touch them until today. Whoops. Way to set a goal and stick to it! Gah.

OK, I have 15 days left in my rehab - I'd better end on a high note! I've been slacking off lately, but it would be really great to pull it together for the last stretch. And I have to practice if I plan to perform a solo on April 5, which I am on the fence about. I'm not sure it will be ready in time.

belly dance rehab - day 71

• day 70: bellydance class and troupe rehearsal (2.25 hrs)
• day 71: bellydance practice - warm up, solo choreography, class choreography, zylls, cool down (1.25 hrs)

Total on Day 71: 70 hours

Wow, I'm amazed that I'm only one hour behind. My math must be wrong somewhere!

My goal for this week is to practice zylls for a little bit every day, even just 5 minutes. Unfortunately I have new neighbours, and I thought they were gone for the day (it's a business), so I was zylling away and then I heard movement next door. Oh no! I feel terrible for subjecting them to my zylling as well as listening to the same song over and over as I practice my choreography.

belly dance rehab - day 68

• day 64: private lesson with Roula (1 hour)
• day 65: not a full practice, but I worked on my costume and then danced in it a bit to check for "malfunctions" (1 hour)
• day 68: Tae Bo Boot Camp dvd and stretching (1 hour, worth half)
• also day 68: Aziza's Ultimate Bellydance Practice Companion dvd, followed by hand and arm drills and taksim practice (2 hours)

Total on Day 68: 66.5 hours

crafty slacker, or slacky crafter?

Toronto Craft Alert is having an awesome contest for people like me, who start too many projects and have lots of unfinished business lying around. It's called The Crafty Slacker's Get 'Er Done Giveaway and the prize pack is over the top in looty goodness! Go, check it out, I'll wait here.

OK, hopefully you came back. Or maybe you'll finish reading this post and then go check out the prize pack. :)

I have several entries... remember the work socks? I finished knitting them a year ago, but they have been languishing in the unfinished pile because there are a million ends to weave in. There is self-striping sock yarn for a reason.



My next entry is yet another pair of socks. (why do I keep knitting socks? I don't finish them, and when I do, I hardly wear them and the moths eat them) Anyway, these babies ended up a little too short, so I ripped back the toe of one sock and re-knit it so that it fit. The mate? Still too short. Still waiting for corrective action so that it will match the length of the sock that fits. Sigh.



Item number three is the Condo Sweater. I didn't blog about this one very much. I used one of my grandmother's patterns from the 80's. I crocheted it, sewed it up, washed it, and decided the fit wasn't great. The neckline is too loose and slides off my shoulder - which would be OK if I wanted an off-the-shoulder sweater, but... that's not what I want. All I need to do is tighten up the neckline by one inch on each side. Can I do it by March 16???



My last Get 'Er Done project is also the oldest. It's a bellydance costume that I bought in 2007. There are missing sequins that need to be replaced and hooks to be added (so that I can actually wear it). This baby is a long shot for the giveaway. I have the supplies, but where is the motivation?



Wish me luck! And go enter the contest!!

belly dance rehab - day 63

I am catching up! Yesterday was a busy one.

• bellydance practice at home, drills & solo choreography (1.25 hr.)
• bellydance class and troupe rehearsal (choreo and zylls) (2.5 hr.)

Total on Day 63: 62 hours

belly dance rehab - day 62

I missed posting for over a week! Yikes! How did that happen?!

I kinda lost my dancing mojo after our last gig. I applied to go back to university last week, and that took up a lot of my energy. And I skipped class and troupe rehearsal last week to attend an information session at one of the schools. I'm behind, but hopefully not by too much... let's see...

• day 58: bellydance practice, choreography (1 hour)
  
• day 61: yoga class (counts for 0.75 hr) and hooping workshop with Sadie (2 hours)
  
• day 62: two classes (Intermediate and Foundation) at Arabesque Academy with Bozenka from Florida - she is subbing for the dancers that are getting ready for the big show (2 hours)

Total on Day 62: 58.25 hours

OK, I have quite a few hours to make up! I really need to work on my upcoming solo - the studio hafla is in one month and I've committed to performing at another hafla in early June. I worked on my costume a little bit too. A few sequins had fallen off, and I reattached those as well as sewing the lining that I had opened up, and taking off some gold cord that the previous owner had added to the straps. It looked OK but was very uncomfortable. Now I just need to pad and add wire for shape.

The classes with Bozenka were great! She is in Toronto for some workshops on the weekend, and unfortunately I can't justify the cost. When I heard she was teaching some regular classes I HAD to go! We covered technique in the Intermediate class, and some challenging layers. I picked up a move that I want to add to my choreo. :)) The Foundation class was the basics, but still worthwhile. It's always good to review the basics, and I like learning from different teachers because they explain things differently and each have a unique perspective.