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!

2016 Goals

Unlike 2015, which was the year of no goals, I've set some goals for 2016, and one of them is to blog here at least three times per week, so I probably should get on that by actually writing a post huh?

I've done some serious thinking and planning about goals this year.  Who knows if I'll be able to achieve all of them, but I'm going to try.  I'm also trying a technique I've read a lot about of having a word and a mission statement for the year. 

While I will probably talk more about most of these in future posts, for the purpose of this one, I'm just going to give you the list, or as Joe Friday says..."just the facts."

My word for the year is....  

DETERMINATION

My mission statement for the year is....

 Determination and action lead to achievement.

Writing Goals

• Blog 3x/week
• Write 30 minutes 3x/week
• Journal regularly

Health Goals

• Make exercise a habit
• Lose weight (I've set a more specific number, but I'm going to keep it general here for now) 

Crafting Goals

• More yarn out (knit) than in (purchased)
• Knit 12 pairs of socks
• Spin the bin challenge
• 2 laceweight projects
• 2 handspun projects
• Finish Marigold Moroccan
• Steeked & Zippered Cardigan
• Learn to sew 

(Lack of) Planning for 2015

I've been thinking about goals for 2015, and I've essentially decided not to set any really specific goals for this year. 

My broad categories are still the same as always...eat healthier/exercise more/lose weight, and write more... things that I haven't made much progress on the past few years despite my yearly goal declarations.  I usually set some very specific goals within those categories and then I don't meet them and I feel bad about myself, or guilty, and that's just not productive.

So this year, no specific goals, at least not in a long range way.  I still want to eat healthier/exercise more/lose weight, but I know what I need to do to do that, and setting specific goals such as exercise 3 times per week apparently doesn't help me do it.  I still want to write more, but obligating myself to write here a certain number of days or work on my ever languishing novel a certain amount doesn't appear to work either.

I'm not even setting any knitting or spinning goals this year.  I usually start off the year with some goals such as "knit a pair of socks per month" or "knit 2 sweaters", etc., but this year I've declared that I'm going to knit or spin what I want, when I want with no obligations or deadlines, not even self-imposed ones.  That doesn't mean I don't currently have some thoughts on what I might want to knit this year, or that I won't knit for others.  I just started a baby blanket for a baby due in 3 months, but you know what, if it's not done until after the baby is born then so what?

The fact of the matter is, I'm already very stressed about how the next 7-8 months of work are going to go, and I just don't need any other reason to feel guilty about not getting something done.  I'm not giving up, I'm not depressed, I'm just trying to give myself permission to take things as they come and do what I can do and not beat myself up for those things I can't.

New Year, New Approach

This little guy has nothing to do with the New Year, but he makes me smile.

I don't know what it is about the New Year that makes me feel like I have a clean slate.  It's not like there's any real change that occurs between December 31 and January 1, but it just feels like a fresh start.

I long ago gave up the idea of resolutions in favor of goals.  Resolutions always result in a feeling of guilt when they're broken, as almost always happens.  Goals feel more ongoing somehow, like something I'm striving towards rather than a set guideline or rule.  It's all terminology and semantics I suppose, but the word goal feels less strict to me.

This year I'm modifying my approach a little more and I'm stating several broad goals for the year, but I'm setting much smaller short term goals in each area.  I'm hopeful that this will keep me a little more focused in the short term.  Sort of a take it a day at a time approach, but on a monthly basis (or in some cases even weekly).  So rather than saying I'll post here 10 times per month, I'm saying my goal is to write blog posts more often, and my specific goal for January is at least 10 posts after this one.

I'm keeping most of the specifics to myself for the moment, although I may talk about some of them in the future, but here are my broad goals for the year.

• Health - Eat healthier, exercise more, lose weight
• Writing - Write more in all aspects, including blog posts, personal journal, short stories, novel
• Fiber Arts - Use my existing yarn/fiber stash and limit additions to stash, spin more

Crawling Back Into the Light

Darcy demonstrates my recent desire to curl up and hide from the world

The General Assembly finally adjourned in late July.  Since then, it's been a mixture of trying to figure out exactly what the hell happened the last few weeks of the session and recover my mental and physical equilibrium.  Throw in a few health issues with my father, and it's been an up and down few weeks.

Things finally seem to be settling down a bit and I've been thinking once again about working on goals and doing some things I want to do outside of work. That includes writing here again at least more often than every 7 months.

I've been working on a couple of writing projects off and on, including the book I've been trying to write for well over a year now.  I attended the 2013 Writers' Police Academy last weekend, but that amazing event deserves its own separate post, so look for that sometime around this weekend.

I haven't had as much time for knitting or reading the past few months, but I have done some of both.  My 2013 books read list is up to date if you care to see what I've read lately.  I'm woefully behind on my goal to knit 13 pairs of socks in 2013, and I doubt I'll meet that goal, but I have finished a few pair.  I also just bought a spinning wheel, so I may have some things to say about that as I get to know my wheel better.

So if any or all of that interests you (and assuming there is anyone who still checks to see if I've posted anything) please check back in soon!

Resting Up and Gearing Up

Wow! I can't believe it's been three weeks. This has been a month of resting up and gearing up for the fun that begins tomorrow, otherwise known as legislative session.

On the resting up front, we spent a weekend with friends down in SC and have otherwise been enjoying some down time. This past weekend was spent laying around the house partially due to the ice outside and the rest a combination of Rob being sick and me being lazy.

On the gearing up front, work has been steadily increasing and I've just been trying to leave at a decent hour every day because I know that soon that won't always be an option.  I've also been trying to work on some personal goals for 2013.

I've decided that 2013 is "The Year of Knitting Socks", so one of my knitting goals is to knit 13 pairs of socks in 2013.

Aren't they lovely?

My other personal goals all relate to my recurring two goals to lose weight and write more.  At least I   keep trying right?  I'm trying a new tactic this year.  I have a "goal notebook" and once a week I set specific goals for each day of that week.  I also have "to do" for each day for things that just need to get done, but aren't really goals.  I give myself a star, yes a real gold star sticker, for every goal I meet each day and a smiley face, yes a sticker, for each "to do" I get crossed off the list.  At the end of the week I total up my stars and smiley faces.  Sounds silly in a way, but it really is fun to see a bunch of stars in one day!  So far, I'm only getting about 50% success per week, but once again....keep trying right?

I had something else in my head to write about today, but once again, trying to post a picture here from my ipad has ruined my mood, and now that I've finally come to the laptop to post the picture and finish this post, I can't remember what I had in mind to say.