Consult a Doctor Before Starting Any Programme

You know all exercise programmes and diets say this. It is a CYA because the purveyors/promotors of these regimes do not want bad publicity or to be sued.

I have always ignored this advice. After all, I am not stupid enough to do something which is going to hurt me. Surely not. But the balmy days have gone to my head and I embarked on a popular exercise routine that has done me more harm than good.

For a long time I have wanted to follow the Couch to 5K programme. I don't know who came up with the concept but there are plenty of examples on the internet. I liked the idea of the running increasing each week and that there was a goal at the end of 9 weeks. I was really keen on being able to say that I had run 5K. Without the limitations of work and weather there was no excuse not to start the programme, which I did the week after Thanksgiving (US). Three times a week I went for a walk/run and upped the running time each week according to the progamme. I felt really pleased with myself after each session and, although, it wasn't easy I was able to increase the running time each week.

Then suddenly my knees started to hurt. And when I say suddenly I mean one day, not even a running day, they started to hurt. And when I say hurt, I mean really painful so I couldn't bend my knees and could hardly walk. As an aside, I have a very low pain tolerance, what can I say, I'm sensitive, and my husband usually hears about every little injury. But this time I didn't want him to know as I knew he would tell me that maybe running wasn't such a good idea. But I couldn't keep it from him when he noticed that I had great difficulty walking down the steps to the beach. And, of course, he told me that I should give up running. I really don't think he got it as to how good it made me feel.

So while I was laid up I turned to trusty Google to research how to make my knees stop hurting (don't run duh!) and what caused the problem. It seems likely that the problem is my running style, more specifically how my foot/feet land after each step. It is possible to check this out and remedy yourself by watching your feet as you run. Which sounds just as body damaging as your head collides with trees, lamp posts etc. Or you could work with a trainer.

Now I need to find another form of exercise that is not going to damage my body but will give me the same sense of achievement and well being as the running.

First in 2013

So here is my first finished item of 2013, although it was started in 2012. It is a quick easy knit so was saved for those times when I didn't want to look at a pattern.

The pattern is Quincy by Jared Flood and it is the third time I have made this pattern. Here is the first time I made it, I also made it for my sister but never posted a photo. Since I first knitted it, I have made a couple of adjustments; I add 5 stitches to the initial cast on as I found the hat only just fit me. Before cutting the yarn after the working the band, I make sure that I have a knit side at one end and a purl side at the other to start the garter stitch graft. An extra row may be necessary depending on the type of provisional cast on.

The yarn is Merisoft Hand Painted Aran by Punta Yarns and purchased just because I liked it; probably because I was with my friend Clair who is a Punta fiend. Having moved, there seemed little point in making hat, gloves or scarf for myself so decided to make this hat for my friend Sally who lives in Calgary and always commented on my pink hat.

It is difficult to photograph this hat but this should give you an idea.



And now my Knit Meter is no longer zero!

A New Year, A New Look

It started with a new widget - the Knit Meter at the top of the blog and then I decided it was time for a new look.

The widget is lying because I have knit this year and yesterday I finished a project. Just need to take some photos and the widget and blog can be updated.

Plans

So much better than resolutions; plans can be changed, resolutions are meant to be kept.

My plans for 2013 are eat better, exercise better, (I need to write a separate post for this), finish work on the house, knit from stash, read more.

Hmm pretty standard stuff for New Year plans/resolutions. Working on the house is in partnership with hubby and, although, it seems that the list is long it is doable. We just have to do it and not go for walks on the beach like we are about to do today. I'm also hopeful that I will read more than last year as the beginning of the year won't involve boxing things up.

On the knitting front I still intend to knit from stash this year with a couple of exceptions. A baby is due in the family and I do not have any yarn to make a blanket and if we have another dishcloth gift exchange I will need more cotton. Because, yay, the dishcloth cotton is mostly gone. There are left overs some of which are big enough to be combined to make a stripey cloth so I'm not sure I can say I achieved the target from last year of no dishcloth cotton but it's darn close. I am going to have to knit socks as sock yarn in equaled socks out but that is better than increasing the total sock yarn. And the lacey thing that has been on the needles for ever, my excuse being that I can't find the right needles to go with the yarn, I'm thinking that if I work two rows a day (one patterned, one plain) that will go a long way towards finishing it and with only two rows the needles won't be such an issue. I also really need to find a pattern to work with the last ball of yarn from the yarn crawl and then all the yarn from big blocks of purchases will have been used. So I'm really hoping that this time next year I can say that I have made a good dent in my stash.

Happy New Year everyone.

Year End Round Up

So just how little did I knit this year? According to Ravelry there were 35 projects on my needles in 2012. Although this number is half of 2011s it is more in line with previous years and I have a very large shawl.

Of these 35 projects, 3 were frogged, 2 are carry overs from last year, one of which should be frogged, and there are 4 others still on the needles. Of the finished projects there were 6 pairs of socks, 5 dishcloths, 1 pair of gloves and a pair of mittens, 3 scarves and 2 shawls, an adult sweater, 4 sections for WCOBBS blankets and a complete blanket, 1 section for Warm Up America and a dress for a teddy bear. Only the sweater has not been photographed.

I was surprised that I had actually made 6 pairs of socks as I completed just one pair in the first 4 months of the year so I still have sock yarn but I don't feel owned by it and even if it does not get all used up in 2013 I am aiming to reduce it significantly. I also knit more (just) than I added to my stash. I have a plan for the yarn I bought in the 2011 year end sales although I have not used it all yet, and I have just one left of the three different yarns I bought in the summer just before we left Calgary. I have used all yarn I dyed in 2011 but still have one skein of yarn left from the yarn crawl in 2010.

On the book front, I read 49, which is not surprising as reading was low at the start of the year and in the fall. As usual my reading has been across the board. We are lucky to have a good library system where we now live.

The changes on the personal front have been recorded here. The most significant being our move from Calgary to Southern California and saying goodbye to our cat. And, of course, all of this has happened because a number of years ago I married my wonderful husband. Happy anniversary darling.

Done in December

I'm not a fan of the word done as I feel writers use it instead of a variety of words so you end up with a sentence like this: the picture done by Monet done in the impressionist style and done in oil was done by sunset. But as I am aiming for alliteration and I need to have this post written by the end of the day (because, surely, I will write a great post tomorrow) done it is.

And done it is, because I finished quite a few things this month. Which is a relief after not having any finished items since the beginning of October. This month I have five finished objects to show you.

Firstly, two small items to show. Our knitting group decided to have a dishcloth gift exchange and make sections for Warm up America.





These were both quick to make and they used stash yarn. The good news is that I have used up most of my dishcloth cotton. The bad news is that it has been suggested that we have another exchange so I am going to have to buy more cotton. The pattern for the section for Warm Up America was from their website which I adjusted for the yarn I used.

I finally finished my road trip shawl. So named as I started it when we were on our moving road trip. I was really glad to finish it especially as I did such a good job with the amount of yarn and beads. I had 5 grams of yarn left and about 1/10th of a pot of beads. (This was a big relief as both yarn and beads had been purchased in Calgary so I didn't want to run out.)

There are two photos of the shawl. One is more of a close up and the other is to show the size.



So, of course, one shawl a month is not enough and I finished one of the shawls I started in October. This was the shawl that had much unpicking as I changed my mind about the order of the colours.



The yarn is my hand-dyed as seen in this post and the end of this post. I used up all the yarn and am really pleased with the end result.

And finally for the month I finished a pair of socks. The pattern was the mystery for November and the yarn was Wollmeise, a gift from one of Calgary knitting friends.



I am looking forward to tomorrow when I count up what I have done/completed/made/achieved for the year.

Nothing Finished November

I can't believe that another month has passed with no finished items. I was so hopeful for this month but obviously 30 days was not enough. But so close.

One of the shawls I cast on in October would have been finished if I hadn't changed my mind about the colour sequence, which I changed my mind about again. If I can stick to the current arrangement it will be finished very shortly. I was also hoping that the road-trip shawl would be completed but that also snuck into December for finishing.

And I cast on a pair of socks. I decided to start the mystery sock for November from SKA on Ravelry. I finished all the clues on time and have started the second sock so am hopeful that will be a December finisher.

Overall it doesn't seem fruitful but December's round up should be full of photos of finished items.

Dogs

or what are their owners thinking?

I've often thought that dog owners assume that as they love their dogs everybody else should too. You know those people who don't control their dogs because "it's OK he's friendly". I remember an acquaintance being quite taken aback when I told her that some people really do not like dogs running up to them, as she related a tale of some teenagers trying to escape into bushes to avoid her dog. She really was surprised by their actions, after all she was standing in her driveway shouting "he's friendly".

I do not know how much dog ownership has increased, so I Googled and found differing statistics with different start years and end years but pet ownership (in the US) has been rising since the 1950s. There are more households with dogs than cats but there are more pet cats than dogs as households are more likely to have multiple cats than dogs.

So with the rise in ownership of dogs as pets has come the expectation of some owners that their dogs should accompany them anywhere and everywhere they go. The problem with this way of thinking is that it is all about the owner with no consideration for the poor dog.

A couple of weeks ago was the village fair. Streets were blocked off and filled with vendors. (As an aside the trains made their way through this without incident.) The weather was wonderful with temperatures hovering just below 90, so you can imagine that it was very busy. And in the middle of this people brought their dogs. (Did they see the posters of burnt paws from hot pavement?) The owners of big dogs kept on short leashes were not a problem, but those girls with their little dogs (why does it seem to be girls in their early 20s who need a living fashion accessory?) on long leashes. Being hugged by children on the same level was the least of the poor canines' problems as many a yelp was heard as they were trod on or run over. But surely that's not the fault of the owners.

And another aside about fairs, the day of making glasses by cutting the top off bottles is over.

Remember

Today is Veteran's Day. Now I am back in the US there are not poppies to be worn to remind us of the sacrifices servicemen have made for us. And for many this was a choice made by government and not their own free will.

The husband of my good friend in Denver is retired from the US Air Force. I never really gave much thought to what he did until one day after 9/11 we were at a BBQ and when another guest found out that Steve was in the military, he shook his hand and said thank you. Even then I thought what's the fuss about because I was blinded by the camaraderie, teasing and joking that goes on between friends.

What had Steve done that prompted a stranger to thank him? From the age of 18 he was prepared to go where the government said he was needed. Nearly half of his career was spent overseas including a year in Korea. Not exactly a relaxing assignment. And this stranger recognized that Steve was prepared to do what most could not, put his life on the line to protect his country.

So Steve for all those times I joked with you about the safety of the US being in peril because you had taken the day off, I'd like to say thank you for serving the country. And thank you to all current and former serving members of the military.

Ongoing October

So to continue the alliteration from last month I had to come up with a catchy title to show that although I have no completed projects to show you, I have been knitting away.

With the relief that came from having just two projects on the needles on the 2nd day of October I had to cast on three projects. Two of which were shawls. Yes you read that correctly two more shawls. Instead of knitting socks I am now knitting shawls; but they are needed as the average day time temperatures are now below 70.

Talking of socks, the other item cast on was a sock. One of the challenges in the sock knitting group on Ravelry was a pattern specially designed for self-striping yarn. I had some such yarn that I was given a while ago and my aim is to use gifted yarn before yarn I've purchased. I chose a pattern from Knitty.com, liked how it worked with the yarn but did not like how the pattern looked. It incorporated short rows and in some places yarn overs had been used to try to hide the hole and in some places there was a hole. I tried to compensate for this by picking up threads/stitches to hide the hole but it was rather tedious especially as the needles I was using were rather blunt. So goodbye to that sock. But here's a photo of what it looked like before I pulled the needle and a picture of the balls of yarn pre-knitting.





So this crazy-knitting lady is actively working on three shawls and as it is the beginning of the month there is a good chance that more socks will be started - from gifted yarn of course.

San Francisco Again

Hubby had to go to San Francisco for a conference so we rented a car and both headed up there. It was very strange not to have a cat with us.

Successful September

I decided that the titles of my monthly update posts needed more excitement than just the month name. So here I have gone for some alliteration; except when I checked Ravelry for completed projects it wasn't as successful a month as I remembered, so the title is "Successful September With a Couple of Days of October Thrown in".

The month was productive as I finished all those projects that were nearly finished and just needed the intent from me to get 'em done.

First off the needles were the socks that I had technically finished in July but I decided were not quite long enough. All that was needed was to unpick the toe shaping add some rows of pattern and then redo the toe shaping - twice.



The yarn is Fame Trend by Marks & Kattens, the same yarn as these socks and also a Christmas gift from hubby. I decided that I was not going to match the colors on the socks which was a good decision as I came across 5 knots in this ball of yarn. This is totally unacceptable in one ball of yarn but as I was on the road I didn't do anything about it except I had extra ends to sew in.

I also finished the sweater, which just needed ends sewing in and another blocking. I am really pleased with how it fits. No photos yet as it will look better if I am wearing it so I either have to speak nicely to hubby or set up the tripod. It should be just right for Southern California winters.

And then squeezing into October, I finished the easy project that mostly lived in the car. A good number of years ago I bought Teddy Bears when they were on sale with the intention of dressing them in outfits I had knitted and giving them to charity. Well I finally achieved one dressed teddy. Left over yarn was used so that helps in using up yarn left over from other projects.



All I have to do know is knit outfits for the other bears.

So as at the 2 October I had 2 projects on the needles. Both lace shawls so I felt very pleased with my accomplishments. Now for the next projects!

San Diego Honours Members of the Military

San Diego is supportive of members of the military. With a Naval base on Coronado Island and a Marine base just north of where we live it is not surprising. I wonder if it has always been that way here. But that is not a conversation that I will start. And for any non-Americans reading this you have no idea of how members of the military, many of whom were drafted - read no choice - were treated by the press and therefore members of the public during the Vietnam era.

Anyway the purpose of the post is to show a couple of photos I took at sporting events recently. We were lucky to go to the opening home game of the Chargers (football) and the last home game of the Padres (baseball).

Both games honoured members of the military and had fly pasts before the game started. The Padres game was very touching as they honoured Japanese-American veterans from WWII. (Again for non-Americans, some poor decisions were made by those in power during this time affecting Japanese and their American-born children.)

During the singer of the National Anthem at the Chargers game a flag was unfurled. This was the size of the football field (nearly typed pitch there).



You see that it is not smooth. There are people underneath that flag holding it up as the flag is not allowed to touch the ground. And it was a very hot day.

At the Padres game, the team wore their camo uniform. When a baseball game starts the home team runs out on the field and takes their position. Before the start of this last game members of the military stood in the positions which for some reason I thought was pretty cool.

Life At The Beach

Yesterday we walked to the village to hear some live music in a park near the sea. We then went for our usual walk along the beach. Coming back I wanted to capture the sun shining on the sea. These were taken with my phone - not bad.

August

There's even less to say about August than there was July. Nothing was started and nothing was finished.

I didn't do anything to the socks that need to be lengthened and one of the close to completion projects was put in the car for a just in case project. (Which is where it had been residing before our long trip.) The sweater is almost finished. The neckband is attached and the sweater has been blocked - just need to sew in the ends.

I am probably about half way through the beaded shawl. But that is by rows and as it increases in size on every right side row, I am no where near half way through. Part of me wants to make a spreadsheet to work out where I am as a percentage of size and part of me thinks I should just pick up the needles.

That is what I should do - pick up the needles and knit. I haven't opened my knitting bag since we left San Francisco nearly 3 weeks ago. But I have finished a book of over 1000 pages.

What Not To Say When Your Husband Is Driving

Do not start off a statement with an extended arrrrghh just when he has pulled out of the driveway. This will make him pull over wondering where the problem is. Potential accident, disaster, sickness. Whereas really it was an extended excited arrrrgh followed by there's the sea. (You can see the sea from our driveway - it makes me sooo happy.)

Some People Move Houses - We Move Countries

We haven't moved much since we've been married. In fact we've only moved house in the same city once and that was because we started off in a rented apartment (with rented furniture). But when we do move, we have to change the country.

A few days after getting married we moved from the UK to the US; 9 years later we moved from the US to Canada; and 6 1/2 years after that we moved back to the US.

In addition to everything involved with moving house there is all the additional paperwork for moving to another country. For people, belongings and animals. Except as we were driving this time we did not need any paperwork for the cats. Good thing as their vaccination records were not with all the other paperwork I had for crossing the border. (Put in a safe place that I would never have thought of looking if asked.)

As with our other moves, we have moved to a place where neither of us know anyone, although hubby has lived in California before; northern California and now we're in southern California. One big difference about this move is the time of year. The last two moves have been at the beginning of January to places that have winter; a shock to the system but at least you know what you are getting. Having moved here in the summer, I can't imagine that it will not be cold in the winter.

Moving countries presents more challenges than just extra paperwork. Suddenly there is a gap in the records of your life. Credit and employment history shows no activity. To be able to live normally, deposits have to be paid to obtain services and an explanation of every aspect of your life has to be provided to obtain a mortgage. But at last we have a house, internet and cell phones.

Let the good times roll.

A Day In San Francisco

How To Help Your Child Become An Adult

Last month I passed on a parenting tip. But how do you know your parenting skills have worked? After all it is easy to make your child think you are awesome but how does this translate into real life. One sign is when they grow up to be independent human beings making their own way in the world, obtaining information to make decisions secure in the knowledge that they can do this as you have been behind them encouraging and teaching.

And you feel so proud of them when it works out as this example shows.

We are in California and our son is in Calgary. So as I am an awesome mother I sent him a food parcel. The dear child considerately emailed me he had received the notice to pick up the parcel from the post office and he would do so after work. He then asked me what time they close!

One of us needs some work in the growing up to be independent department.

July

I thought I had loads of projects to show you that I had completed in July but I have one to tell you about. Agh, what happened? Well, despite knitting a bunch it still doesn't translate into completed projects. And in July I completed one pair of socks and almost another pair. This pair is technically completed but I want to lengthen the foot so I am not counting them as finished yet.

So here they are, the one finished item. I started the first one on 28 June as the designer - Anne Campbell was a featured designer in the SKA group for June and I had previously queued this pattern. The yarn is Fame Trend by Marks & Kattens and was a Christmas gift from hubby.

After completing the first sock, I decided to make the second sock with the same colour sequence. Except this ball of yarn was dyed in such a way that it was not possible to make two matching socks. Even where I found the same colours, it was plyed with a darker colour.

I mentioned in a previous post that there were two projects close to completion that I could finish. Well that didn't happen and now I have three projects close to completion. We'll be house sitting in a couple of weeks so if my memory holds up that would be a good time to finish projects.

Ignoring those projects I have just one thing on the needles which is a beaded shawl. Because I have all this time to knit. Huh!