January Resolution Update

Well, it's the last day of January, so I figured I should update on those New Year's resolutions I made.  Here goes.

1.  Sewing

I haven't worked at this skill at all over the past month.  It's one of those things that I need to be able to set aside a substantial amount of time to work on, and I just haven't done that. 

2.  Knitting

I've learned this month about cables, knitting on double pointed needles, making bobbles or popcorn stitches, and working from a chart.  I have made wrist warmers and a Dalek wash cloth..germs must be exterminated! Still a lot to learn, but I feel like I've made some good progress in this area.

3.  New Foods

My absolutely fabulous and amazing friend, Jenn, told me I needed to try taziki.  I'm glad she did.  I love it! Soooooo good with carrots and celery.  It's pretty low calorie and it's been helping me eat my veggies a lot more often.  I also re-tried cottage cheese.  I used to eat it all the time until my sister and friend convinced me it was gross (considering how few foods I liked at the time, I think this was uncalled for on their parts!).  For the past decade or so I've been too grossed out to eat it, but I finally decided to give it another try.  Turns out, I still love it.  I needed another form of calcium in my diet, so I'm very happy to be eating cottage cheese again. 

4.  Exercise
I'll admit that I'm not doing so great here.  I have been playing Wii Sports Resort, and some of the games on it are a pretty decent workout.  However, I haven't been playing it or doing anything else consistently.  This is still an area I need to work on.

Blog World, I Don't Think We Are In Florida Anymore

Have you met my scarf?  When I made it back in November for my trip to Tennessee, I had no idea that in January it would become my new best friend.  (The scarf, btw, was loosely inspired by this one that Rose Tyler wears in season 1 of Doctor Who.) 

People, it is COLD here in Florida this weekend!  Just a couple hours north of me it SNOWED today.  I was out shopping this afternoon, and I swear the temperature gauge on my car never got over 39 degrees.  I'm loving it!  I'm knitting myself up a pair of fingerless gloves, and I've pretty much kept the finished one on all evening.  I can't wait to get the second one done.  I may have to sleep with them on tonight.  I'm not used to this kind of weather anymore.  :D

Speaking of the fingerless gloves, I have now learned how to knit cables! Guess what.  It wasn't even that hard!  I also have been practicing working with double pointed knitting needles, and I've found that those aren't really all that complicated either.  It seems like, for me, the most complicated thing is sizing.  I think I need to start making gauge swatches.  For some reason, this is something I've never really done.  I have a tendency to rush headlong into a project and just hope that it will come out the right size.  I won't be able to do that if I am making things to wear.  At any rate, I'm excited about the things I have learned, and I'm discovering that I really enjoy knitting. 

Happy New Year!

It's 2010 now.  Gonna take me awhile to get the hang of writing/typing that. I've messed up typing it several times already.

I don't always make a new year's resolution.  Sometimes I just can't think of one.  Sometimes I can think of things but figure, why bother...no one sticks to them anyway. But you know, one year I did stick to it.  One year I decided it was time to lose some weight, and I did it.  I lost about 80 lbs over the next year and a half after that.  If I could stick to that, why can't I stick to something else?  I CAN!  So here they are.  Maybe if I use my blog to keep myself accountable, it will be a little easier to not let them slide.

1. Learn to make my own clothing
Now, this is something I know a little about already.  I have made a few things over the years, but I'm not good at it and I can't do it without a lot of help.  My goal is to keep working on this skill over the next year and get myself to the point where I can make myself an outfit without stressing out my mother with all my pleas for help and temper tantrums.  

2. Knit myself at least one garment
This cannot be something like a scarf or hat.  I has to be something that requires me to learn new techniques.  It will be something along the lines of a sweater I think.  We'll see.

3.  Try at least 1 new food each month and blog about it.
I'm not talking about putting foods I already like together in a new way.  I'm talking about either a totally new food that I've never tried or a food that I've tried in the past but  didn't like and never tried again.  At first I was going to make it 1 a week, but I know myself well enough to know that this will be very hard for me.  I want something I can stick to.  If I try a minimum of 1 a month, that will be at least 12 foods I've tried by the end of the year.  This may not seem like a big deal to the average person, but for me it is.  If, by the end of a month, I haven't blogged about something new I've tried, get on my case about it! Please!

4. Get off my butt and get moving!
Exercise is such a cliche resolution, but I really do spend way too much time sitting around...computer, reading, sitting the floor with kids, knitting, crocheting.  I need to get up and move.  I'm hoping that some of the new Wii games I just ordered will help with this, but I also am going to be looking for some other activities to get me out and moving.  There is only so much I can take of working out in my room. 

So there they are.  Anyone else making any resolutions this year?

Picture Update

I just wanted to update today with some pictures.

My niece is waaaaay cuter in my knitted hat than I am. ;)





And here is today's 1940's hairstyle. I curled it with a curling iron and then attempted some victory rolls.



I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out...not sure if they will stay in though. I guess we will see. I figure if they can survive a classroom full of toddlers, they will be able to survive anything!

Could Someone Spare Some Focus?

It's been too long since I've posted anything. I feel rather like I'm being pulled in 57 different creative directions right now. Of course, I'm the one doing the pulling! And what happens when I want to do so many things? Well, I end up focus-less and doing nothing, and that is not cool!

I've been working a lot lately on my vidding. I have completed several Lois and Clark videos (see the youtube link in the sidebar if you care to watch) in the past few weeks, and I'm working on a new one for Doctor Who that I am pretty excited about. I've learned some new techniques and effects that I'm having a lot of fun playing around with. I have about a million video ideas in my head right now, and I can't wait to get going on all of them.

I recently decided to get over my fear of knitting and give that a whirl. I started by watching some youtube videos and reading some online tutorials. Once I got the hang of the basics I hit the library for some knitting books. I ended up making myself a hat that I will probably never get to wear in this Florida heat, but I'm still pretty proud of it. I want to start working on something else, but I think I'm still hanging on to some fears that I really can't do it. Sure, that hat was simple, but can I really tackle a more complicated project. The truth is, I probably can, but I just hate to fail! I especially hate to go out and spend money on yarn and then fail. I guess I need to do some more small projects with the scrap yarns I already have. That way I can improve my technique before going on to more difficult projects.

For awhile I was crocheting like crazy, but the fact of the matter is, there are only so many little dolls that one girl needs! ;) I'd really like to find some patterns for things that are more useful, but I haven't found many that I think are worth making yet. I did see a pattern for a clutch that I may make this weekend. It's a fairly simple pattern that could be fun to do on the long car trip I have ahead of me...but more on that later.

I really, really, really (is that enough reallys?) want to start working on improving my nearly non-existent sewing skills. I mean, sure I can use the sewing machine. I can piece a quilt, and I've made a few fairly simple things in the past (with a ton of help from my mom!), but I would love to be able to make some of my own clothing. I'm totally in love so many vintage clothing styles, but I don't love digging through piles of nasty clothes at a thrift store in hopes of finding that one great treasure. My preference would be to simply make my own clothes based on those styles. I suppose I just need to get some cheap fabric and some simple patterns and dig in and start practicing, but as I said with the knitting, I HATE to fail. That fear of failure thing is a huge issue for me, but that's subject matter for an entirely different post.

To go along with the subject of vintage clothing, I am now also going to be trying out some vintage hair styles. Last night, quite by chance, I discovered youtube video tutorials on 1940s hairstyles. I watched several of them, and said to myself, "Self, we can do this!" (Ok, I don't actually talk to myself like that, but you get the idea.) So, this morning I decided to try out a 40s style. It would have turned out better if I'd had the time to curl my hair, but I still like how it turned out. I'm pretty sure this will not be the last time this sort of hairstyle graces my head!

Anyway, so many projects, so little time...wait! What am I saying?! I work 25 hours a week, and about half of those hours are spent sitting in a room with sleeping children! I have loads of time. I just need to get going!

Speaking of going, I'll be heading up to one of my favorite places this weekend! Time for a little Disney trip! I'm going up with some friends from church for Night of Joy. We will be leaving sometime around the crack of dawn on Saturday morning and coming home Sunday afternoon. Yay for Disney!!

ETA: I am so jealous of all these blogs with beautiful, professional looking photography! I apologize for my crappy web cam pics, but really, it's the best I can do for you right now. ;) Perhaps I should hire my photographer sister to start taking my pictures for my blog.