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

justification for knitting with acrylic

There's a lot of chatter online (blogs, Ravelry... OK, I only ever read Ravelry these days) about using acrylic when there are so many other nice fibres available. And it's true, acrylic is kinda crappy and nice wool and alpaca and silk feel soooo lovely.

For the past few days, I've really wanted to start crocheting a sweater. I have a strong urge to crochet! I looked through my stash and didn't want to use any of it. (not surprising ha ha) BUT, my first instinct was to buy some cheap acrylic yarn from the discount store. I fought the urge, and as I was walking to the LYS, I examined my reasons for turning to the dreaded A-yarn....

There is less pressure to produce a "good" product if I make it with acrylic.

And by "good" I mean: wearable, in a colour that I will like for a long time, something that fits well, looks nice, doesn't go out of style, etc.

If I spend money on good yarn, and take the time to knit/crochet a sweater, I had better love it and wear it a lot! But, if I buy cheap yarn, it's OK if the project doesn't work out, and the yarn will survive frogging and re-knitting. Or I can donate it. It doesn't matter because it didn't cost very much.

It was a real eye-opener to me to realize this. I feel OK about using crappy yarn to make a crappy sweater?? That's not the kind of knitter/crocheter I want to be. There is nice yarn that is not expensive that will result in a nice garment. And I can rip it out and make hats, scarves and arm warmers if I don't like the garment. It's OK. :)

And so, I went to the LYS and bought some reasonably priced Moda Dea superwash wool, in a lovely moss green, and started my crochet sweater....

the afghan square swap keeps swapping

More knit afghan squares from the Sexy Ladies Afghan Square Swap on Ravelry!

Square #8, knit by Duckette:

I love that it looks like two interlocking e's. Or yin and yang. It's just plain awesome.

Square #9 is another one from the sweet, sweet Mimosa:

Gorgeous pink lace. Something about it is so soothing! The yarn is very soft too.

If you're keeping track, you may have noticed that square #7 is missing... we had a few knitters drop out of the swap and their squares have yet to be re-distributed. OR someone is being an "angel" and knitting an extra square and it's late. I'm not really sure! I'll find out soon enough! :)

More afghan squares!

This is square #6-received, knit by Mimosa:


Those are swallows swooping down (think of a chest tattoo) and if you didn't see them at first, don't worry, I didn't either! First I thought they were paw prints or cat faces, but then I read Mimosa's note and I could see the birds. The square was knit in one of my favourite yarns, Moda Dea Washable Wool. (although it has some competition - Mission Falls 1824 Superwash Merino is catching up!)

I am waiting for squares 7-9. One is in the mail, and the other two were assigned to people who have now dropped out of the swap. I'm pretty sure they were re-assigned to other swap peeps, but they may be behind schedule. I'm not worried! I can always knit more for myself.

And now for the squares that I have sent out....

Square #7 for Jesshenshaw:

Pattern: Bobbles the Sheep cloth, and I added the bobble border to frame the sheep
Yarn: Moda Dea Washable Wool in Aran
Needles: 4 mm

Square #8 for Teejayhansen:


Pattern: Garterlac Dishcloth
Yarn: Laines Du Nord Giunco in S70 (washable merino)
Needles: 3 mm

This square gave me a bit of trouble. At first, I didn't like the yarn in this pattern because the colour segments are short. It didn't look the way I expected. Before ripping it out (because I had already started a few times to get the right gauge/size), I used the second ball to try some other stitch patterns, but didn't like those either! Hurumph. So I kept on with the garterlac square and overall I'm happy with it. It seemed to take a long time to knit, so I was glad to get back on to 4 mm needles for the next one...

Square #9 for Bohoknitterchic:

Pattern: Be My Dishcloth
Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 Superwash Merino in Zinnia
Needles: 4 mm

This square was super quick to knit after the Garterlac. I think it was one of the first swap patterns I picked out! Bohoknitterchic has a cheesy love theme for her afghan. Lots of love went into this square, even from Oxo...

He enjoyed sleeping on the WIP and on top of the pattern. (don't worry, I gave the square a good wash before mailing it!)

I am currently working on square #10 which is about 75% done, and thinking about square #11 - the last one! I have pretty much decided on the yarn, but not the pattern. The recipient is open to embellishments so there are lots of options! I could knit a plain square and then add buttons, sequins, etc. Or knit a picture and decorate. So many ideas!

baguettes!

There is delicious bread in Paris. You can find baguettes everywhere! Restaurants will serve a little basket of bread with every meal. We bought bread, cheese and wine to keep at the apartment, to snack on post-museum and pre-dinner. Yum!!

Since we got back, I've tried several times to make french bread. The first two attempts resulted in yummy bread, but they were definitely not baguette-like. The third time was a charm.

I used this recipe from King Arthur Flour, instant yeast and Five Roses Unbleached Flour. The ingredients are simple - it truly is the method that makes the difference.

I will definitely make these again! And soon - there is only one left. And they are much better fresh!

knit girl afghan swap - square #5 received

This beautiful square was knit by jesshenshaw:

It is a garter and gull stitch pattern, and I am amazed because it is so tightly knit! And the stitches are so even and perfect!!


This is going to be an awesome afghan. The knitters in the group are really talented!

cobblestone socks

I started these socks way back in June as part of the For the Love of Socks KAL. It's my first time doing 2 socks at once using Magic Loop (one loooooong circular needle).


I love the yarn and the pattern is interesting, but it's just been slow going. I wasn't too motivated to knit wool socks in the summer! But when I took my mom to her doctor's appointments in July and August, I brought the socks with me and made some progress.


Only the foot to go! And then they'll BOTH be finished. No second-sock-syndrome.

Pattern: Menehune Cobblestone Socks by Adrienne Fong
Yarn: Fleece Artist Merino Sock 2/6 in Pinata
Needles: 2 mm metal circulars

Oh yes, I noticed that one sock is more pink than the other... oh well.