My First Sweater

I had been wanting to try a more challenging knitting project and when I found out that Jai's cousin and his wife were expecting a baby boy I decided to try a sweater. I found a pattern in the Natural Nursery Knits book that I found at the library. I have to admit that I wish I had picked a different pattern, but this one was easy which was probably a good thing since this was my first sweater attempt. Next time I would like to find a pattern where you sew the sleeves on so there is more of a "professional" look.

I learned tons of new things by making this sweater. Some were basic things like how to M1 (make 1), what working even means, and using a stitch holder. I also learned to listen to my gut. If you feel like something isn't right, it probably isn't!! Trust me, I had to pull out about 20 rows because I just kept working even when I had this feeling that something was wrong. I also learned to not look to closely at the sweater once you are done. There are going to be mistakes and there is nothing you can do, unless you want to start all over, but the mistakes are what make is special and better than some generic sweater that was just bought at the store.

I hope that baby boy Kwatra stays warm in his sweater and I can't wait to give it to his mommy this weekend at the baby shower.

A Broken Heart

Friday evening I got the phone call that I had been dreading. Stitch was unable to walk or even stand up and his eyes were twitching. The vet said that at his age she didn't want to put him through lots of test and that with the signs he was showing he wasn't going to get better. She thought it was probably a brain tumor or a stroke. So my mom called and together we made the hard decision to let him go.

Stitch was my first born and best friend. I was there when he was born and he was with me through all of the ups and downs of my life. I bought my first house for him, he was my therapist when my first marriage ended, he was my nurse and physical therapist after surgery, he was my popcorn eating study buddy when I was in nursing school, he was my side kick when I moved to Virginia and had no friends, he was there when Jai proposed to me and he was there when I brought home my first baby.

A little over a year ago he went to live with my parents. As the mom of a toddler and another baby on the way I didn't feel like he was getting the attention that he deserved and needed and I knew that my parents could give him all the love he needed plus some. They have his brother and they had the time to go on walks and take camping trips. I know this was the best thing for Stitch, but it still breaks my heart that I didn't have him here and that I wasn't there in those final moments. I wanted to see him one more time and let him know how much I loved him. My parents and their dog spent an hour sitting with him and loving him and my mom told him that I loved him and so his final moments were peaceful and filled with love.

I promised Stitch that someday I would take him to the beach. I always thought we would go to the Oregon Coast, but we never made it so when we moved to Virginia we took him to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. This is a picture of him enjoying the sand and sun on Okracoke Island. It was one of the best trips Jai and I ever took with him.

This is my favorite picture of him. This was taken at Skinny Dipper hot springs in Idaho. That was a great day. Nothing better than a hike up to the hot springs in the snow.

Isha loves Stitch. She asks me about him all the time. I don't know how to explain this to her now so I haven't said anything. I guess when the time comes I will just tell her the truth, that Stitch is in Heaven.

My parents also had Stitch's dad, who died last year. Some day when Gator goes to be with them we will take all of their ashes up in the mountains in Idaho and let the three of them be together always.

I LOVE YOU STITCH

It Only Took Six Years

I know this is pathetic but I started this project over six years ago. I can't even count how many times I have ripped it out and started over. Now that it is finished I have no idea why it took this long to finish it. It is a super easy pattern, all you do is knit across and knit in the front and back on the end to increase by one. I guess after doing Diya's blanket I have found some knitting confidence.

I have no idea what I am going to do with a shawl. What was I thinking when I picked this project? It was so long ago I don't even remember. I guess I will keep it until I am 80 and then it will be "cool" to wear a shawl. I have to wear it some point because I spent a small fortune on the yarn.

Now I can move on to some other projects. I still need to finish a few projects for my craft game I posted on here over a year ago. Sara, Meg and Heather, I promise you will get something from me eventually!!! I am also going to attempt a sweater for Jai's cousins who are having a little boy this fall. Wish me luck!!!

Finally Finished

I finally finished Diya's baby blanket. I was originally going to finish it before she was born, then I moved my goal to by the time we moved her into her room, then it was by the time she was six months old and then there was my final goal of finishing it before she turned a year old.


There is no better feeling in the world than when you can finally start binding off on a long drawn out project!!! This is the biggest knitting job I have ever completed. My only other knitting projects were a felted bag and a few wash clothes.

This pattern was fairly easy but pretty. I have decided that I don't think I will every knit another blanket (I'm sure I will be eating these words someday!) It is very cumbersome trying to knit once the blanket starts getting big and the way the needles curl up drives me insane!!! I had a few problems while making this blanket, but luckily my neighbors mother-in-law watches
her kids twice and she is a knitter so I had someone to go to for help. It seems like I had more problems towards the end. I think that I was so anxious to be finished that I was making stupid mistakes.

Diya seems to like her new blankie. I hope she knows all the love that went into making this for her.

I figured that if I was going to show off my handy work I would throw in a picture of my two best creations ever!!!

I Did It! Two Big Milestones

My first milestone is that I made my goal weight on May 11 2010! I lost an even 30 pounds. But to be honest this has been a work in progress since before I had kids. Before I got pregnant with Isha I lost 22 pounds and then after she was born I lost an additional 20 pounds. Thank you breastfeeding. Unfortunately between that time and after Diya was born I had gained a few pounds back so I needed to lose 30 pounds to get me where I am today. That makes for a total of 58 pounds lost from my highest weight ever.

Some days I am scared about how I am going to keep the weight off. It takes a lot of work, but to be honest it takes a lot of work to be fat and to constantly worry about being fat so I will do what I need to do and keep it off. I just have to realize that I am not cured and that I am always going to have to watch what I eat. Honestly though, no one needs to eat as much ice cream as I did anyways!!!

My other milestone is that I ran my 5K race!! It was a ton of fun. The weather was perfect and I was able to run the entire race without having to stop and walk. I didn't get the best time, but my goal was just to run the whole race and I did it!!!! It was such a great feeling and I hope that the girls will learn to enjoy being active and not have to ever have 58 extra pounds on their bodies.

I also went shopping this weekend and bought some new clothes for the summer. I went from wearing a size 12 to a size 6!!! Any time I feel stressed about keeping the weight off I should just pull out a pair of my old jeans and that should freak me out enough to get me motivated to be healthy and make good choices about food.

Here I am close to the finish line!!! My next goal is to run a 10K and NO I have no desire to ever run a marathon, but a half marathon... well MAYBE.

Before And After

I was excited to get rid of the baby weight after having Diya last summer. I had gained 35 pounds during my pregnancy and just like when I had Isha all of the weight came off pretty fast, but I was still 30 or so pounds overweight. I was hoping that just like when I breastfed Isha I would lose another 20 pounds over the next six months. Well, that didn't happen!! By the time Diya was 4 months old I was already starting to gain weight and I was feeling miserable. I really needed to do something and after reading a great post on the Domestic Goddess's blog and talking to a friend who teaches at Weight Watchers I decided to join the beginning of this year.

I can't believe I am posting this picture, but boy was it a motivator for me. Check out those hips. All I have to say is thank goodness for the cover up around my waist!!!

So after 16 weeks of Weight Watchers I am down 27 pounds (my goal is to lose 30 pounds) and here I am now:

It feels so good to be able to put my old pants back on and it feels even better not to be constantly worrying about whether or not other people think I am fat. I spent way to much mental energy worrying about what others thought. Most importantly I feel good about setting a good example for my girls.

Along with this desire to lose weight also came a desire to be fit and in shape. I used to think that people who loved to run where crazy. I still think that they might be because I don't know that I will ever "LOVE" to run, but I have realized that it is much easier to do when you aren't 30 pounds overweight. I set a goal to run a 5K race and this week I started my 5th week in a 6 week training program. I registered for my race, which is on May 29, so now I am committed to following through with this.

Even thought I am almost at my goal weight I have realized that I still have some work to do. Having two kids has really changed my body. Nothing is where it used to be!!! I have realized that instead of needing to lose more weight I just need to tone what I've got and accept the fact that gravity has become my enemy!!!

Fast Food Nation

Wow...Have I been a slacker or what!!!! I haven't had much to post here and when I finally read an interesting book I never got around to posting about it so here it finally is.

I read this for book club a few months ago and it was really interesting. I thought it was just going to be about fast food, but it is really about how fast food has changed the American way of life. The issues covered in this book ranged from advertising in public schools to the meat packing industry to violence in the work place. All of this stemming from our addiction to fast food. Thank goodness I don't eat fast food very often (usually just on road trips or when stuck in the airport) because this book left me never wanting a Big Mac again!! It really opened my eyes to how it effects so many lives in a really negative way.

I am glad I read this book because it has me fired up to be more involved in my dear friend Heather's Local Eating challenge. Last year was hard because I was a bit preoccupied with being pregnant, but this year I am ready!!! I am the healthiest, fittest and lowest weight I have been in years and that is a big motivator to make sure I am only putting healthy stuff in this body!!! NO fast food for me!!