Misc. Thoughts

I just did something outrageously fun. I made reservations for manicures at the Grove Park Spa for my niece and myself. Paige will be 18 this year. She is coming to visit for part of her spring break. I wanted to do something fun that she would remember for years. This is a big year. One of the milestones. So I felt she deserved to be bathed (pun intended) in luxury. I am excited. Hot tubs, dry sauna, wet sauna, mineral bath, pounding massage pool, lap pool, and if we are lucky maybe even some time in the sun lounging on a hammock. My birthday is just week before hers so we really are making it a double celebration. Let the pampering begin, well in three weeks let the pampering begin.

I started biking again yesterday. I did not die. I really did enjoy getting back on the bike and moving my body. The mileage was not too high. I only rode for 1/2 hour there aren't too many miles you can go in that short of a time. I may have mentioned before that I am suspicious the bikes here at the studio are calibrated differently than the cheap one at home. The studio bikes are smoother and the seats are softer. Why would I want to go back?

I have a cardio-knit project here at the office now. It doesn't have a special home. It is just plopped down on top of a file box. I could bring a basket from home and put it up on a shelf. Kam wants me to have a special bulletin board set up with the current cardio-knit project posted. I'm not sure there are too many clients who are interested in seeing my knitting patterns and progress thereof. For anyone interested here I brought over the Lakeside knee socks. I turned the heel while biking last night. The sock is long. I will have to ball up the already knitted portion to keep knitting on the bike. I'm hoping the lace will be acceptable cardio-knitting once the heel gusset is picked up. The leg was a simple-ish 3 count. Yes, there will be a second sock! I have learned when it comes to knitting socks it is best not to speak in plurals until the second is cast on. Sometimes there is a delay of game. I don't have any single lonely socks. However, I do have a few that are caught up due to a delay of game.

Spinning

Spinning. The word has so many meanings in my life right now.

I feel I am spinning my wheels with my exercise. I know, I am supposed to be resting and waiting for the healing to tell me how much and when the exercise should take place. In my head the wheels are spinning and I am gaining fat not muscle. How can I gain fat? I am not eating differently. No really even if Kam says I am eating too much comfort food or that I have not been eating enough at the right time. I am eating pretty much the same stuff that I ate before surgery. With the exception of those lemonade popsicles and maybe that ice cream the first week. We don't have to count the extra chocolate that was necessary for emotional support. I also feel the added juice was important for building the blood. So, really, I am just eating simple veggies and protein. Really, really craving the protein right now. No reason to be adding fat. Enough of the food stuff.

What about that spinning exercise? What is going on with the LSH Tour de France? I'm still winning. I have to be I am the only contestant. Want to join in? I will give you a 400 mile jump. You could easily out pace me. My pace is ZERO. Mileage total is better than that though. I am at mile marker 904. Have been since the up fit began on THE FIRE. The thinking about getting the bike spinning again is going on. It is getting to be better than thinking actually. There is intention on a daily basis. Intention leads to action, well in my experience it does. So you too could be in the race starting at mile marker 400. Can't let you start even with me. That would not be fair. Remember the goal is 2200 miles. I doubt I will be starting out with 18+ mile rides. I will be happy if I am going for a quiet 6 mile spin around the park in about a half hour's time. Not sure what the winner will get but I already have my yellow shirt!

Spinning wool is also in my life right now. I belong to a group on Ravelry called Spindlers. This is a group of other fiber geeks like me who are interested in spinning on a drop spindle. I have recently learned that top whorl spindles are in fashion. I taught myself to spin on a bottom whorl spindle. I don't know if I could use the top whorl. The bottom whorl is much like a child's spinning top. The weight is low gravity and there is a hook at the top where you spin from. The yarn is attached to the top and magically gets longer and thinner and more beautiful as the spindle spins and your hands feed the fiber in. I digress. The group Spindlers has a monthly challenge. Every month there is a theme to inspire the group to spin a skein of yarn to. I look at it every month. I drool over everyone's beautiful batts and resulting yarn.

I look at my spinning basket. My spindle has had bits of the same project going on for 15 months now. It is a big project. I am more than half way through it. I dyed 2 pounds of wool. Half was done with food coloring in a variety of green, red, and brown. The other half was tea dyed. (The colors are not too clear in this photo. I needed to take it outside in the sun to give a better feel for what is presented here.) These two are going to be plied together to make a very large amount of yarn. Once the sacred yarn is completed it will be knit into a hoodie for Kam. She will love it. I will be proud for her to wear it. Fortunately the colors are not high fashion and will be fine for when ever it is complete. AND I have not picked the pattern yet. How could I? I am a beginning spinner and have no clue what the yarn weight will be like when I am done with it! The point? I want to enter the challenge but only have one spindle. Beyond that I haven't had any extra wool to create yarn for a challenge. Until this month.
The challenge is "Romance". The wool is one ounce of local hand dyed and one ounce of white alpaca. This says "Romance" because Kam bought it for me on our Saturday date. I have completed the blue roving already and started the white. This is my first time spinning with alpaca. Wow is it a dream. So very soft like goose down. Surprisingly the fiber is almost pre-drafted. I want to run right over and buy more. My budget and sense of restraint has kept me at bay. Besides that there may be plenty to complete a skein of yarn. I am hoping for lots of yardage.

In case anyone is waiting with baited breath this is a pic of the Lakeside knee sock in progress.I am finding it increasingly difficult to take pictures of my own legs and feet. I think I will have to enslave either a model or photographer. The sock is complete to the heel. I then lost interest and went on to trying to make a flirty skirt to wear over my yoga pants. This went on hold because I am missing the extra ball of yarn. How do you misplace a ball of 600 yards of yarn? In my world this could mean it is in some bin somewhere. Would someone please come and sort out my stash, projects, books, magazines, and misc. patterns?

Off to spin...

Lace

I want to play with lace. Could be because the dishes are dirty and I know there is plenty of laundry to be completed. I really want to start a new lace project. I want a new lace shawl to wear to work. I don't think it is too much to ask. I don't want a hard pattern to follow. I want to play with lace weight yarn and large needles. It will be fun. Yes, fun. No one can really stop me. I have plenty of yarn and it all needs to be knit into something. Why not make it something that I can wear at work? OK it's settled. Socks are on the back burner and shawls are in the forefront. Let the fun begin. What pattern? I really want to play with the Fountain Pen shawl. But I may go for something easier and a little more mindless from Victorian Lace Today. That could be done with sock yarn. There is plenty of sock yarn.

Yup, at 9600 steps today I deserve a new knitting break!

Irritations

There are a few things that are irritating me right now. Not many just a few. Most of them have names maybe I should not mention them. But hey, that never stopped me before.

First irritation is Jezzie. She is a cat. She is a beautiful calico prissy cat. She will let you pet her only when she wants to be pet. She thinks when you are sleeping or reading or on the computer is the best time to pet her. She also has a nasty habit of knocking things off high places when she needs something food, water, attention, you name it. This morning she started the knocking things over bit around 8 am. Granted we are out of dry food there still is no call for creating a racket at that hour.

Second irritation is Celie. She is the cute Yorkie in my life. She thinks kissing me awake is fun. She is also not too happy when the cats get close to having my attention. She will run after them, sometimes biting them in the butt and getting a mouth full of fur. Today she played a new game. She ate my last bite of chocolate. This was only about 1/8 of an ounce. I was worried and looked up the consequences on line. She was not displaying any odd behaviors. Then I went and took a shower. As I was getting dressed she started growling down in the living room. I looked out the upstairs window and everything was OK. Why would she be growling? I went down to investigate and found her shaking, growling, and huddled in a ball on the couch. Then I started to really worry. I called the vet. The vet thought she should come in for observation. While on hold with the vet I learned the source of Celie's upset. Someone sent me a get well balloon when I got out of the hospital. She was terrified. That balloon was so frightening to that little girl she could not control herself. I really did not want to go to the vet for observation. I am having enough trouble observing myself. Bottom line, I decided not to go to the vet. Celie is behaving normally. Why make her throw up and then put her through all that testing and watching. Besides that she is just starting to grow out that silly poodle cut they gave her last time she was in for observation.

Third irritation is me. I am not well yet. I am still dizzy. I am still in pain. I am still not able to work as I need or want to.

Other irritation? I want to be working and am feeling not ready yet. My clients are getting used to me being out. They aren't even getting in touch with me if they cannot make their training appointments.

OK. Thanks. I feel better now. Irritations are aired and now I can be free to go about my lazy day.

Start something new!

Took my sock project to work with me. Left it at work. Did not touch it other than to move it from the car to the office. Now I need a project to work on. I am not happy with anything I am currently working on. I like all of the projects don't get me wrong. They are just complicated. I am in the mood for easy. That is super easy. No lace involved. Yes, I said no lace. Does that mean I can start something new? I think that means just that. New. New yarn. New needles. New attitude. Watch out world April is getting her creativity fired up. Something out of the Spring Knits maybe. Watch for news of the mad knitter who has reached her stepping potential for the day.

Ambition

Ambition. I have it. Boy do I have it. If all it took were ambition then I would be out there right now in this "feels like 37 degree, overcast skies" weather hiking up Mt. Mitchell! Maybe not Mt. Mitchell, maybe just a nice day hike or even a few hour hike off the Blue Ridge Parkway some where. Then I would get into The Fire and do a full body workout followed up by a nice stretching routine. Ambition is a wonderful thing.

Realism. I have that too. I learned that this week. Well, maybe I have been learning it for years but I think I learned quite a bit of it this week. Since I have learned realism I am going for the safer route with exercise today. LAUNDRY That may seem like small potatoes in the fitness realm but in my current state of well-being it is a realistic route. The machines are in the basement. This means multiple trips up and down the stairs. (Remember what those stair climber things look like in the gym?) I am wearing my pedometer again today. The goal is 6500 steps. I'll reach this easy. I am not into the weightlifting during cardio stuff yet. So the clean laundry will stay in the basement until someone who is able to climb stairs and carry heavy loads comes along to take it all upstairs for me.

I tried some functional weightlifting yesterday. I went out shopping. I bought many food and beverage items. I even bought a case of bottled water. Water is heavy when put into containers. Each of these containers on their own would have been easy to transport. This was a case of 24 bottles each holding 20 ounces. No matter how you do the math that case of water was heavier than my 20 pound weight lifting limit. The math I was doing was on how many bottles and how much they cost. Then if we resell the bottles is it a profit or not. Bottom line? The cart became quite heavy. (Yes, I did do that silly move and lift that case from the bottom shelf up to the cart and then realize it needed to go under the basket!) At the 3/4 mark I called Kam to come help me complete the process. The cart was too heavy to push. I thought it would be a piece of cake. Fill this thing on wheels and push it to the finish line. Then ask that the bags all be 20 pounds or lighter. That way I could get them into the car. After all that I planned to drive home and unload the car. Somehow I forgot that the driveway is at quite a steep incline. (I am still needing help holding the car door open so it does not hit me as I slowly ease out of this machine.) Lucky for me Kam the super trainer came to rescue me. She was able to push the cart load of food to the finish line. She was also able to drive us home, my exhaustion level was high and not encouraging of driving a Mustang down I40! Then to make the whole experience a dream she unloaded all the groceries! After a quick lunch I took a nap for 2 1/2 hours.

Which brings me back to realism. Laundry is the big goal today. I get to rest between trips to the basement. Later I plan to go into The Fire and train my clients and run my evening class. I am not sure when the nap comes into play but since I have become attached to it in a better-do-it-or-you-will-fall-over kind of way I am sure nap time will present itself.

yet another beautiful day

It is another gorgeous day here in the mountains of WNC. I have traded in my Tour de France goals for step goals. This makes more sense now that I am working the recovery from surgery angle of health. Yesterday I made it 4300 steps. I was tired. I slept good. I woke earlier than a) I wanted to and b) the usual recovery hour. This was due to the return of the house mate. Somehow Kam can leave the house before 7 AM and I never hear her. She is getting out of bed, taking the dog out, showering, eating, and leaving through the same front door. Then just an hour later doors slam from bedroom to shower, shower to bedroom, and finally out the front door. (OK done ranting!) So, up earlier and feeling a bit battered by a baseball bat around the mid section. )I am really looking forward to those bruises going away. Could be that craving for juice filled with anti-oxidants in it that will help. I just thought it was sugar!) And here we are part way through the next day and I have already got 3044 logged in. Today may actually out step yesterday.

Celie is liking the new stepping thing. She wants to be smelling all the spring smells. I am amazed at how many dead worms and crushed bugs there are in the neighborhood! I am wanting to be noticing the crocus blooms and green sprouts of iris and tulip peaking through the mulch in the neighbor's garden. My garden is also showing some green stuff coming up. It will be quite interesting to see what is there this year. I was given so many bulbs in pots as congratulations and condolences last spring. They all went to the flower garden. I am tempted to put down some good fertilizer. I am afraid though it will smell like dead fish or some other wonderfulness that Celie will just have to roll in and bring back inside! These are the moments that she reminds me she is a dog not just a princess.

The sock is progressing right along. I am decreasing as told. Kam thinks I should have started sooner. She thinks the thing will be too big. I am hoping she is wrong. I have lovely pictures of it. I am just in a bad tech way and cannot seem to get the photos off the camera, or camera phone, and onto the web. There is most likely a book for dummies out there on the subject. I would just rather someone come along and tell me how it is done. Too bad my nephews don't live closer. I am of the opinion that anyone under the age of 16 knows all there is to know about these things.

Happy early spring air to all!

The ambitious slug

Once there was a slug named April. She sat and laid around all day. When night time came she slept. When her partner went off to work she slept for another 3 hours. Even the small dog Celie could not get her to move around and go for walks. Then the weather changed. Celie won and April slugged her way around the block in the sun. After this grand adventure both needed a nap. A new day dawned and April found she wanted to walk further. She and Celie walked all the way to work. There April paid a bill and made a list of items needed from the office supply store. After the office supply store April was worn out and needed a nap. Silly slug thought she would be able to see her clients after all that activity!

Surgery recovery has been a bit slower than advertised. Pain level high and head full of pain meds have made the knitting progress slow too. I have been working on Lakeside in chocolate brown Sock it to Me 4 ply from Elann.com. Now that the fog is clearing I am having more fun with the lace. Still on the first sock but am onto the initial decreases. I think that puts me at about a third of one sock. I thought I would have the pair completed before I was back at work but that is not happening. Saddness. Bright side? As soon as I can go back to work I think this will be something I can work on while doing my cardio knits!

Off to play with some yarn...