100 Day Project Update

It's Day 39 of the 100 Day Project. Our prompt today was to show a grouping of what we've been doing for the past 6 weeks (Whoa! It's been 6 weeks!). I'm 9 swatches (yikes) behind on my project but I have a nice collection of 30. I've been throwing them in a plastic shoebox at the end of the dining room table and was fascinated to see how much there were when I dumped them out today.

I've also started the writing portion of my TKGA Master Knitting 1 submission and I'm getting excited about digging deep. I think I reserved every knitting technique book available through the Seattle Public Library.

I'm currently deep into research on blocking knits. I never knew there was so much written about blocking one's knitted garments and yet this is such an important part of caring for your knitted work. Got any great blocking tips? I'd love to hear them!

Forty (40) or The Year I Get My Sh*t Together

I turned 40 a few weeks ago and while I honestly still feel like I'm 25 with all the confusion that goes with being 25, I also feel quite grown-up. I have two kids, own a home, take care of my Mother, usually show up to things early and try to take care of myself. This past year though I really stopped taking care of myself. I just had too many other people who needed my care more than me (or so I told myself). This coming year though, I plan to get my sh*t together again and start taking care of me, again.

I stopped exercising before Maggie was born (due to pelvic pain) and stopped eating healthy once she was born. I comforted myself in sweet treats and savory snacks. And that went just as well as one can guess. I started feeling lazy and icky, I gained weight and I lost the bounce in my step. I need to find the bounce again.

I'm taking charge of the road ahead of me by making goals for the year. I am a goal-oriented person so this is what will push and guide me through this process. I recently had my yearly physical and my doctor (the most awesome doctor ever) really spurred me on. She reminded me that I once had my sh*t together and that she knew I could do it again. And so I shall.

Getting My Sh*t Together Goals

1. Complete the Barre3 Challenge from Jan. 5 to Feb. 1 - I purchased a one month unlimited membership to jumpstart my fitness. I plan to continue Barre3 after the challenge but have not yet determined exactly how I want to do this. I might do class packages or more unlimited memberships. I have already started taking classes to begin preparing for the challenge and I love going. More on this later!
2. Complete Whole30 in January - I plan to post more about this shortly along with my menu plan for the month. 
3. Build a Capsule Wardrobe for all 4 seasons - I will take this season by season but after two pregnancies and some weight gain, my wardrobe really needs a revamp. I love the idea of limiting my wardrobe to a few key and inspirational pieces.
4. Start Purging the House with the Bowl Full of Lemons 14 Week Plan - This link is to her old plan but she is launching a new one in January. I did this in 2013 and it was really helpful. I look forward to clearing out some stuff and simplifying again this coming year. 
5. Complete Four (4) Day in the Life Challenges
6. Get back into running by doing Couch to 5K and running at least one race. (this is a repeat from last year) 
7. Revive the blog by posting more regularly and thoughtfully. I've been thinking really hard about this goal and I don't have an specifics in mind just yet but I do have a whole lot of ideas. 
8. Complete TKGA Master Knitting Level I - This is a goal that I've been working on for almost 10 years. I think it might be time to finally knock it out of the ballpark. This will be a challenging goal for me to accomplish given the amount of time I have and the amount of time I think this goal deserves. 
9. Become more thoughtful about how I consume products and produce waste. I want to compost more, recycle more and produce less trash. 
10. Grow a kick-ass Garden! I want to have a Spring, Summer and Fall Garden this year. I want to plan it better and eat more of our abundant produce. I can not wait to dive my hands into the rich earth and grow something. 

These two little energetic girls are my inspiration and will spur me on through my loft goals. A happy and healthy mama means a happy and healthy family. Here's to getting my sh*t together! (Photo Credit: Sweet Peeks Photography)

TKGA Master Knitting 1 Check-In

I have been slacking on this project! I did however make a good dent in my swatches this weekend. I went through my old notebook and compared the swatches along with their instructions to the current set of instructions. I whittled down my swatch list to THREE swatches! I need to swatch up #5, #15 and #16. Once I've completed all of these, I'm going to take a careful look at all my swatches and decide if any need to be re-done. 

I've also been busy gathering research materials. My highlighter has been busy! I have a lot of information on my blocking report and just need to sit down and write it. I've also been jotting down notes on my swatches along with answering the corresponding questions as I go. I am only on question three out of eighteen but I'm feeling confident. 

And then I do need to tackle the mitten. I'm not really worried about knitting it but to be honest, I find the pattern to be hideous. I just need to get over that and do the work because they want to see my capabilities, not my design sensibilities. So I'm making progress, just slow and steady progress!

TKGA Master Knitting 1 Check-In

Swatching, Swatching, Swatching! That's my new chant. I feel like I'm swatching all the time. 

I've completed 4 of the 16 swatches so far. I am not 100% that any of these are finalists but I decided to move on and start working on the remainder of the swatches before circling back to see if I need to redo any of my work. If I don't keep plowing ahead, I have a strong feeling I'd get in a cycle of analysis paralysis and I'd never make any progress!

Swatch #1 

The directions for this swatch are to knit a swatch with K2P2 ribbing for a few inches and then complete in Garter Stitch. I've done this one a few times because I had some issues figuring out how much Cascade 220 grew when blocked. I think I have it figured out now as this swatch is now the correct size. 

Swatch #2

This swatch's directions call for a K1P1 ribbing  for a few inches and then finish in stockinette stitch. I did this swatch first because it was easier to figure out how my yarn reacted to blocking. Again, I did a few of these before finally saying this swatch was fine. I tried a few different blocking methods on the other swatches before settling on my current method. 

Swatch #3

This has to be my least swatch! This swatch is done in seed stitch which sounds easy until you realize how hard it is to get the stitches just right. I have a strong feeling that I'll be doing this one again. I feel like there are holes. I might be imagining things or not. Either way, I'll review this one later. 

Swatch #14

This swatch has to be done in the same yarn as swatches 1, 2, and 3 so I decided to tackle it before the other ones. This is a horseshoe cable and I loved knitting it. I only knitted it twice and I really like it. 

Whew! I still have 12 more swatches to attack and I hope they aren't as hard as these have been. I know most of my questions regarding yarn have been answered so I'm feeling a wee more confident. I also need to get down my thoughts for the blocking report and answer a few questions. 

Insanity (more so than normal) and the TKGA Master Hand Knitting Level 1 Program

Way, way, way back in 2007, I signed up for the TKGA Master Hand Knitting Level 1 program. I quickly dove in and swatched, swatched, swatched between gathering all the information I could on knitting. Somehow along the way, I got side-tracked. I want to blame it on meeting Scott but really my attention span can be fickle and this is an intense program.

In July, I got a renewed feeling to get back to this project. I found my old binder and I contacted TKGA for new instructions. Of course, letting something like this marinate for so long means that I pretty much have to start from scratch. The one really good thing is that I have copious notes and swatches from my last round. 

I've been busy swatching again while gathering information on knitting. I don't have the same time to devote to knitting that I used to and I still have that fickle attention span. I also want to knit all the things for Chicken Nugget so I'm just going to see where this new obsession goes. I have a year to finish up the project with the current instructions so it might happen (or it might not) but for now, I know I'm having fun knitting swatches and thinking hard about knitting. 

You can follow my progress (or lack there of) on Ravelry on my project page