WLAP

It's been almost a year since my last post, and I'm sorry for that. A lot has obviously happened since then, but the main reason I'm back is my new Weight Loss Accountability Plan (WLAP for short)!

My boyfriend and I have decided that we really need to step up our efforts to get in shape, as in we actually need to start doing something instead of just sitting around talking about it. My main problem right now is my job; it's hard to find even a smidgeon of energy to work out when I have to be at work at 3 AM. Add to that my returning status as a full-time student, and you get a major lack of day-to-day consistency. BUT that's all about to change, because next Wednesday is officially my last day at Michaels, and I can't tell you how excited I am!

Last week, I was offered a job as a Work-Study Student Assistant on campus, a position I have been struggling to get for quite some time (like several years; I wanted a job like this when I was working on my first bachelor's degree). What this means in terms of WLAP is that I'll be waking up around the same time every day, which will do wonders for my body in terms of sleep and will hopefully make it easier for me to keep up a fairly consistent workout schedule. It should also help me eat at more regular intervals.

Now, WLAP. I'm going to start taking pictures of everything I eat. Why? Because I'm too obsessive-compulsive to be efficient at tracking my calories. I spend way too much time trying to make sure my measurements are perfect, and not nearly enough time moving my ass. I still want to be held accountable for what I'm eating though, hence the pictures. I got my first smartphone back in July, and it has a really decent camera, so I'm going to take advantage of it. I figure it's always with me, so why not?

I also want to work out for at least an hour at least five days a week. I know it'll take some time to work up to this, but I'll get there. I want to eventually start running as well. I'm going to start taking advantage of the gym on campus; I'm paying for it, so I might as well. I'm going to start hiking again. I love hiking, especially in the fall, and there's no shortage of places I can go around here. I have several workout apps on my phone too, so I really have no excuse not to work out.

I'm going to drink more water, less coffee. I'm going to take the stairs at every possible opportunity. I'm going to use my lunch box, bringing extra food to make sure there's no reason for me to buy the crap they sell on campus. I'm going to cook often. In fact, I'm going to post about all the Pinterest recipes I try! I've had great success with some of the recipes I've gotten off there, but not everything has turned out the way it was supposed to. Documenting those experiences should be fun. ;)

Tomorrow morning I'm going to weigh myself, and I'm going to take "Before" pictures when I get home from work. I probably won't post those pictures until I feel more comfortable with my body though. Then I'll be so proud, I'll likely be posting them everywhere! This journey has been a long time coming, and I'm going to document every step of the way. I'm sure I'll get lost a few times, but that's part of the fun.

Diagonal Washcloth Makeup Remover Pads

So I've recently become obsessed with knitting those diagonal garter stitch washcloths, because they're really the best washcloths ever, and it only takes me a few hours to knit one. I knit one yesterday:

And I really am just so in love with the way the colors turned out. Then I decided that I wanted to make matching makeup remover pads (Because how freakin' cute would that be?!), but there are only patterns for rectangular or square ones (that I could find, anyway), and I wanted them to be diagonal like the washcloth, but without the eyelets. So I just made up a pattern! If it can even be called a pattern. I'm sure anybody could figure it out without one, BUT here it is just in case:

CO 3 (I used size 8 (5 mm) needles and Lily Sugar'n Cream yarn, because that's what I used for my washcloth, but you can use whatever needle/yarn combination you prefer.)

Row 1: K2, CO 1, K1
Row 2: Knit
Row 3: K2, CO 1, K2
Row 4: Knit
Row 5: K1, KFB, Knit until 2 stitches remain, KFB, K1 (7 stitches)
Row 6: Knit
Rows 7-12: Repeat rows 5 and 6 until you have 13 stitches
Row 13: K1, K2Tog, Knit until 3 stitches remain, K2Tog, K1 (11 stitches)
Row 14: Knit
Rows 15-20: Repeat rows 13 and 14 until you have 5 stitches
Row 21: K1, S1 K-wise, K2Tog, PSSO, K1

BO and weave in ends, and voilà! you have a diagonal garter stitch makeup remover pad! Make several more, and you'll have a set! :D

Oh, and here's a picture to give you an idea of the size:

A Series of Unfortunate Events, that Is Turning Out Surprisingly Well

GUYS!!!!!! My LAST. SEMESTER. EVA!!!!!! starts tomorrow morning!!!!!!

I was supposed to graduate in May, but I failed my Perception class. In my defense, about half the class failed. It was hard. I've been trying to look at it as a good thing though, because I now get to take Theories of Personality, a class that I've always wanted to take, but previously didn't have time for. I'm also taking a Human Services class on Family Violence, which is gonna be cool, and a Public History class, which I'm eh about, but the more hours I take, the more financial aid I get, and I am b.r.o.k.e. And on that note...

Bank of America is auctioning off my dad's house on September 6, so my dad, my two sisters, and I are about to be homeless, which royally sucks. It's been a long time coming, but looking back on everything, I really don't see how I could have done anything differently. An unfortunate series of job losses, car accidents, and other such lovely events hit my family at an already bad time, and this is just the end result. As much as it sucks though, I really do believe that this needed to happen. The reasons are many, but far too personal for me to feel comfortable blogging about. Luckily, as of right now, we all have places to stay until we can get things straightened out.

I'm staying with a friend who lives, like, five minutes away from campus, which pretty much eliminates all the issues I've been having with getting to school, finding a job, etc. I can walk to all sorts of places if I have to, and there's a bus system. I only wish that getting around without a car could be so easy in Jasper. Anyway, I'm moving in on Saturday, and things are really looking up for me. Oh, and I get to keep Salem, which I am so far beyond excited about! That's something that I just was not expecting, and I was really upset about it too. I have some truly incredible friends. <3 I hope that I'll always be able to be there for them like they've been here for me.

Fall 2011

Okay, so I'm apparently not all that great at this whole planning thing, but I'm really, really, really going to try this time!!!

September

• Veyla fingerless mittens (for the Gryffindor Fingerless Glove Along September Challenge)
• At least one Grandmother's Favorite washcloth
• A few Wave blanket squares (for the Gryffindor Scrapghan-A-Long)
• A dyeing project
• Finish The Brightest Witch of Her Age for Detention

October

• At least one more Grandmother's Favorite washcloth
• A few more Wave blanket squares
• Summer Flies shawl
• Finish Dad's Vampy Sweater for Detention

November

• Commuter Fingerless Mittens (for the Gryffindor Fingerless Glove Along November Challenge)
• At least one more Grandmother's Favorite washcloth
• A few more Wave blanket squares
• Finish My Vampire Muse for Detention

Advanced Studies

• Four pairs of Bella's Mittens for my Arithmancy OWL (A Vampire Slumber Party, An Obsessed, Vampire Stalker, The World's Only Clumsy Vampire, and Just Like a Real Vampire)
• Gryffindor Hogwarts Scarf for the Order of the Phoenix

Quidditch

• TBD

I'm going to stick as close to this plan as possible!!! Third year, HERE I COME!!!

On another note, I started listening to a new podcast yesterday. Two fellow Gryffindors, naturallyknitty and StarKnits, started it not too long ago, and they're so much fun! They're sisters, and their podcast is appropriately called The Weasley Sisters. It's a knitting/spinning/Gryffindor podcast, so if you're interested in any of those things, you should definitely check it out! You can subscribe for free on iTunes!

My Rest-of-July Knitting Plan

I'm trying to get in the habit of blogging more often. Of course, it's been difficult to type anything lately, especially a long-winded blog post, because Salem thinks my boobs are the perfect place for a nap. I mean, really, have you ever tried typing with a kitten napping on your boobs?? It doesn't help that he thinks the perfect time for a nap is when I'm on my laptop and therefore paying less attention to him than he likes.

So, I've noticed that I tend to spend a lot more time planning to knit than actually knitting. Another way of saying this: I spend way too much time on Ravelry. My current effort to remedy this is a knitting plan for the rest of this month, along with weekly knitting goals. So, without further ado:

My Rest-of-July Knitting Plan

• By the end of this week (Sunday, the 10th):
• Knit 3 more balls on Dad's Vampy Sweater.
• Knit Hermione's Deathly Hallows hat.
• Knit 2 more panels on My Vampire Muse.
• By the end of next week (Sunday, the 17th):
• Finish knitting Dad's Vampy Sweater.
• Knit 3 more panels on My Vampire Muse.
• Finish knitting first Wave blanket square to block and measure.
• By Sunday, the 24th:
• Weave in ends, block, etc. Dad's Vampy Sweater.
• Finish knitting My Vampire Muse.
• Finish blanket squares.
• By Sunday, the 31st:
• Block, seam, etc. My Vampire Muse.
• Knit Summer Flies.

It's a lot for me, but I'm going to try really hard to get it all done!

Kitty!

I got a kitty yesterday! His name is Salem, and this is him:

He likes to play with my yarn and needles while I'm knitting. :/ But I loves him anyway!

Twi-Hard Knits

Okay, so I'm a total Twi-hard. And I really love finding knitting patterns based off things that are worn by my favorite characters in my favorite movies. In fact, the whole reason I started knitting was because I really, really, really wanted a pair of Bella's mittens, the ones she wears in both Twilight and New Moon.

Of course, I still haven't knit the mittens yet, because I wanted to make sure I'd gotten in lots of knitting practice first. But I'm planning on knitting myself four pairs this fall, in four different colors (gray, red, blue, and purple), as well as a pair for my sister (in brown). I guess I could've just bought a pair from the original maker, Ruth Cross, but $74.26 is just more than I can spend on a pair of mittens, even though it's totally worth it, since they're hand-knit. This way though, I can afford several pairs, and I can also get my hands on other knits from the Twilight (and other) movies! Now, before I get back to my original point, here's another picture of the mittens (from the Ruth Cross website):

Aren't they lovely?

Anyway, I didn't originally plan for this blog entry to be about all the great things you can knit from Twilight, but I guess that's where it's headed, because what I originally wanted to share is that I started knitting Bella's scarf from the baseball scene. Great pictures of this scarf seem to be very hard to find, so here's one from its Ravelry pattern page:

Now, I love this scarf and am beyond excited to be making it! It's made by seaming together a bunch of knit panels, and the seaming is apparently a bitch, but it's supposed to be totally worth it in the end. I've only finished one of the panels, but I'm actually really glad this scarf is made the way it is, because I usually find knitting scarves to be very boring (which is sad, really, because scarves are one of my very favorite accessories!).

And that was what I wanted to share!

My Yarn Stash Is Expanding...

I'm getting better, like way better, at knitting. Of course, I blame the HPKCHC for this (and they happily accept the blame :P), but I've recently decided that there's nothing I can't knit. And my yarn stash reflects this... Because it just keeps getting bigger, and I just can't seem to stop myself buying more. So, to make myself feel better, I decided to run some statistics (because I am a statistics nerd):

As of right now, I have 122 different types of yarn stashed (I am also completely anal about keeping my stash updated on Ravelry.).

• Of those 122, 52 were given to me, either in swaps, as gifts, or because I won them, so I didn't even pay for about 43% of the yarn in my stash (well, if we're not taking individual skeins into account, which I'm not). See, I already feel better!
• 38 of them I bought for a specific project, so there's another 31% that I no longer feel bad about!
• Now, the other 26%... Yeah, I feel kind of bad about that. Not that it isn't perfectly useable yarn! I just haven't figured out what to use it for yet.

Okay, so I'd really like to keep the I-have-absolutely-no-idea-what-I'm-going-to-do-with-this-yarn-but-I-just-had-to-buy-it-because-it's-so-pretty-or-it-was-so-cheap percentage at like... 10-ish%? Of course, yarn like that is really great to have lying around, for those last-minute gifts, or for when you're pattern browsing and find the perfect pattern that you just have to cast on right NOW! But right now, I have about 2.5-ish times too much of that yarn.

So, on another note, I've officially decided that Caron Simply Soft is my go-to cheapy yarn of choice. I have a lot of it, but it's just so soft, and there are so many colors, and it's soft, and it has really excellent drape, and there aren't any dye lots, so running out and having to buy more is okay, and did I mention that it's soft?

Another thing I really need to work on is not buying yarn for projects that I know I won't get to for a while. :/ I do that a lot... But it's like, I decide that I really wanna make something, and then I pick out the yarn, and I have to buy it as soon as possible! Which is just silly, because most likely, the yarn isn't going to go anywhere.

My HPKCHC Plan for the Spring 2011 Term

It's the 1st!! Classes were posted super early, right at midnight PST (or PrincessOnica time, as it's known in the House Cup group), and excitement was so high, you could taste it! So, as of today, here is my plan for the term:

May

• Stirrup Socks for History of Magic
• House Hat for Ancient Runes (which I'm teaching this term! Squee!!!!)
• Helix Gloves for Charms
• Washcloth for... a class. I'm not sure which one yet.

June

• Godric's Hollow Hat
• Yummy Beret

July

• Sitio Stockings
• Romantic Fingerless Gloves

Advanced Studies

• Love Bites-for Him for my Muggle Studies OWL

Quidditch

• Quaffles: TBD
• Hallows:
• Elder Wand: Bella Swan's Baseball Scarf (if approved)
• Resurrection Stone: TBD
• Invisibility Cloak: Gryffindor Scarf

On a non-HPKCHC note, I restarted my fitness program today! So far, so good!

An Overview of What I've Been Up To

Wow, it's been a long time since I've blogged (Well, on my personal blog, this blog, anyway--I wrote for the HPKCHC Blog from January to March.)

What is the HPKCHC, you ask? Well, the HPKCHC is the Harry Potter Knitting & Crochet House Cup. If you're a Harry Potter fan, and you're on Ravelry, you should check it out! January through March was my first "year" at Hogwarts, and I was one of two First Year Bloggers. Anyway, if you'd like to read about my experiences being a First Year Gryffindor, here are linkies to the blog posts I wrote:

• January 14
• February 4
• February 11
• February 18
• March 10
• March 18

Now, the last time I wrote for you guys, I was still working on my first project. Boy, have I been a busy bee since then! I've completed quite a few projects, although none of them have been especially big. Rather than bore you with a list of all the things I've learned to do, I'm going to post pictures of some of the things I've made:

I've also been experimenting with Kool-Aid dyeing:

As you can see, most of the stuff I've done so far has been fairly simple, but I plan on changing that this "year" (I'm a Second Year Gryffindor now in the HPKCHC.). Yep, I plan on making a couple sweaters and a few really long scarves in the next three months. :) I'm even going to try my hand at designing (a scarf, nothing major)! Ravelry linkies to some of the stuff I've got planned as of right now:

• Love Bites-for Him (a sweater for my dad)
• 2 Werewolf Hats
• Stirrup Socks, Yoga or Pedicure Socks, and a few other pairs of yoga/dancer's socks
• Several more hats, such as a House Hat (from the book Charmed Knits), Yummy Beret, and Godric's Hollow Hat
• A Hogwarts Scarf (Gryffindor, of course!), Bella Swan's Baseball Scarf, Rosalie Has Been Bitten, and Seattle
• Several pairs of Bella's Mittens
• $5 in Paris (a sweater for me!)

Ooooooh, I'd also like to share my knitting library! Seeing as my very first blog post, back in November, was about my lack of any and all knitting books.

• Charmed Knits: Projects for Fans of Harry Potter
• DomiKNITrix: Whip Your Knitting into Shape
• Knit Christmas Stockings!: 19 Patterns for Stockings and Ornaments
• Knitting for Dummies (2nd Edition)
• Respect the Spindle: Spin Infinite Yarns with One Amazing Tool (which is a spinning book, not a knitting book, but still)
• Romantic Hand Knits: 26 Flirtatious Designs that Flatter Your Figure
• Sensual Knits: Luxurious Yarns, Sexy Designs
• Stitch'n Bitch Superstar Knitting: Go Beyond the Basics
• Vampire Knits: Projects to Keep You Knitting from Twilight to Dawn

Well, I could keep adding to this blog post, but it's getting really late (3 AM where I am), and I'm getting sleepy, so I'm going to end it for now. I'll write again soon though! I won't stay away for four months this time, I promise. ;)

~Niccy

I Have a WIP Photo!!

I'm actually making something!! Oh, my gosh, I'm so excited! I'm making the Learn to Knit Cuffs for my friend Kymmy. I was going to keep my first FO for myself, but Kymmy's the only person I know who actually wears bright, sunny colors, and I do want them to be worn! The colors are turning out quite nicely, if I do say so myself, way nicer than I expected them to. And I have a pic!:

Yay! I wanna learn to spin my own yarn too, and dye it!

Find me on ravelry!

My Knit Picks Wish List!

My new favorite online knitting store: Knit Picks
Seriously, this place has some really great stuff, and their prices are very reasonable. Unfortunately, I have over $250 worth of stuff in my wish list... but it's all really great! I've heard nothing but good things about their needles, and their yarns are so pretty! Click the link below to check out my wish list, and you can see for yourself!

My Knit Picks Wish List!

Books for a New Knitter

Okay, so apparently, knitting is expensive, at least when you're first starting out. I still wanna learn though. I'll just have to save up some money first. In the meantime though, I've been doing some research, and I already know two different ways to cast on! Woohoo! Yay, me! I learned Single Cast-On and Long-Tail Cast-On (a.k.a. Double Cast-On or Continental Cast-On) from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Knitting and Crocheting. Now, I'm an avid reader, so I always go to books first when I want to learn anything new. I obviously haven't gotten very far into this particular book yet, but I can already tell it's an excellent source for people who want to teach themselves how to knit (like me!). I've actually been reading an electronic copy that I borrowed from the library, but I think I'm going to buy my own copy to have around for a reference. If you're interested in reading reviews and/or buying this book, Amazon sells new copies for about $14. You can also get decent used copies for less than $10!

I buy almost all my books from Amazon, and a lot of other things too, so I'll probably recommend them a lot. Also, if you end up deciding to buy something on Amazon that I recommend, I get a small commission, so please, please, please help me out, and click on the "Buy from amazon.com" links in this blog if you're really interested in buying this stuff.

Now, I plan on buying several books to help me get started on my knitting endeavors. As of right now, I plan on buying Knitting for Dummies, The Knitting Answer Book: Solutions to Every Problem You'll Ever Face, Answers to Every Question You'll Ever Ask, 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders, and Vampire Knits: Projects to Keep You Knitting from Twilight to Dawn. I'm especially excited about Vampire Knits, seeing as Bella's Ruth Cross mittens were what originally inspired me to learn how to knit. They're absolutely beautiful, but if you know how to knit them, you can make about seven pairs for the price she's selling one for, and I just can't see paying $75 for a pair of mittens. Anyway, there's a pattern for similar mittens in Vampire Knits, as well as several other things I'm just dying to make.

Now, if there are any other books you think a beginner knitter should take a look at, please comment below! You can also comment for any other reason, of course. And thank you for reading my blog!

~Nicole