WIP It Into Shape Wednesday

Knitting WIP
This week's knitting WIP is the pair of socks I cast on New Year's Day.  As I mentioned, one of my goals for 2016 is to knit at least 12 pairs of socks.  I don't know that I will do exactly 1 pair per month, but I know that if I finish at least 1 pair each month, I'll hit my goal, so these are January's pair in progress.

I'm just doing a plain "vanilla" sock, toe up.  The yarn is Knit Picks Felici in Rainbow. I will do the Fish Lips Kiss Heel when I get to that point.  I prefer to knit my socks two at a time on two circulars if possible.  There are occasions when doing certain types of patterned socks where that's not possible, but if I can, I do.

These are being housed in my Dr. Who Tardis bag from Erin Lane Bags.  This is a small sock bag that has a divider inside to keep two skeins of yarn separate.  I love the fabric and I like the interior design.  I'm not a big fan of the way she does her drawstring on this bag.  The bag is very well constructed, it's just a personal preference thing.  I prefer one drawstring coming out one side with a tension clip or something.  This one has two ribbons running through and you pull from both sides. This is the first of her bags I've bought, so it may just be this particular style of bag.  I bought this one at SAFF, so I'll have to look at her others next time.

I'm using a Poke Me Not from JanBSmiley to not only keep my stitches from sliding off the needles, but to keep the small pointy needles from poking through the bag.  I have about 7 of these things because I use them on just about every project.  Highly recommend!


WIP Me Into Shape
I've decided to add weightloss progress to Wednesday's as well.  After all, I'm a WIP too.  I don't really want this to become a weightloss blog, but I don't want to ignore that part of my daily life either, so I will attempt to strike a balance between sharing some of my efforts to be healthier with you without going overboard.

I may do a longer post at some point with a little more of my lifetime battle with my weight, but suffice it to say it's not the first time I've made an effort to lose weight.  I've tried tons of times, and even been successful a couple of those.  I can lose weight when I set my mind to it.  I just need to make it stick at some point.  But for now, I need to focus on losing.  Hopefully by the time I get to where I want to be this time, I'll figure out how to maintain it too.

I'm a lifetime Weight Watchers member, but I'm way over goal.  I've tried to get back into WW the past few months, but it just wasn't clicking and with the changes to the new program, it's not going to work for me.  So I'm doing this without an official program of any kind.  I need to make lifestyle changes that are just that, my lifestyle, and not work this program or that, or this eating plan or that.  So my current tools are my Fitbit Surge and the Fitbit App to track my food intake.  I'm trying a couple of different online groups to find the right fit for support, but mainly I'm trying to eat healthier and move more.

I "officially" started last Tuesday, January 5th and I will record my weight every Tuesday morning.  Doesn't mean I won't weigh myself other days, but the weight I will record for tracking purposes will be whatever I weigh Tuesday morning before I get into the shower.  So yesterday was my first weigh-in day and I did really well this week.  Of course, the first week, when you go from eating a bunch of junk to actually eating somewhat healthy is always good, but it's always a nice boost as well.

I have a lot of weight to lose, and I haven't decided yet whether I want to share actual numbers here or not.  I have a feeling that if I'm actually successful in making some progress this time I will get more comfortable with sharing the details, but until then, I'm sorry if I keep that part vague.  I will say that my first goal is to lose 5# by February 2, and in one week I'm well on my way to that goal.

Happy Hump Day!

Watch Me WIP Wednesday

I've realized that in order to post here more regularly, I need to have some recurring segments to fall back on when the brain is not cooperating.  So welcome to the first WIP Wednesday.

For you nonknitters, WIP stands for Work in Progress, so this segment will be related to projects I'm in the process of making using some form of crafting, most often knitting.

This week's WIP is my Jamestown Sweater, which I'm making out of Alisha Goes Around Bevy of Swans DK in a beautiful teal color.  I bought this yarn at SAFF in October and it is sooo luscious!

 I spent most of November knitting this sweater.  I had finished all the pieces and seamed it together, only to discover that I had made it too short.  I knew I needed to make the front and back pieces shorter than what the pattern called for because of my height.  Unfortunately, I wasn't thinking clearly and kept holding the piece up to my side to determine when to start the armhole, which means I didn't account for the amount of length going over my boobs and belly and hips would take up.  End result, I put it on & it's at least 2 inches shorter than I need it to be, and I don't think I'll be able to block it out those extra inches.

Since this is knit from the bottom up, I can't just take out the bottom and knit it longer, so as you can see above, I've ripped the back piece back down below the armholes and I'm in the process of getting the stitches back on the needles correctly so I can knit some more straight before doing the armholes.  Hopefully I'll get it right this time.

I love this pattern and the yarn though, so I really want to finish this sweater.  I'm just trying to stay motivated to get it done now so i can wear it a little this winter.

This sweater is being housed in my library card bag made by Amy Beth aka The Fat Squirrel.  I love this bag because the reading geek in me is thrilled by all the old library cards for books I mostly read as a kid.  Jane Eyre, The Secret of the Old Clock (Nancy Drew), Where the Wild Things Are, and so many more!

I've really become a bit of a knitting bag addict, so I'll try to make a point of showing my knitting bags with my WIPS as well.

Until next time....