Mammoth Post

So, the shrug is finished – almost. I have finished knitting it and I have sewn up the side-seams. However, there is now the small matter of adding buttons. I would have done this at the weekend, but I managed to only buy three buttons when I should have bought four. I went back to Duttons today and picked up the additional button, so all is now well. The buttons are rather nice, though they did cost more than the yarn! Anyway, I should be adding those to the shrug tonight and then it will be all finished and ready to wear.
I haven’t decided whether it is going to be a casual item of clothing, or dressy, or somewhere in between. I guess it depends.
I also now have three balls of chunky pink/white/brown wool mix yarn and nothing to do with them (yet). They are lovely, I could just get them out and stroke them occasionally. I wonder if I could make use of the website mentioned in Simply Knitting. I can’t remember the name right now. If it’s any good, I’ll post it in the blogroll.
Other than the shrug, I am still knitting the needle roll, although it’s pretty much ground to a halt. I like things I'm going to wear and use, and as I got a knitting needle holder from my recent copy of Simply Knitting, I don’t really need a needle roll right now. And that lovely blue would be better served as a top of some sort, or possibly a baby item. Kids look cute in knitted garments.
Lastly, I’ve begun on my socks from Knitterbabes’ ebay shop. I bought a kit from them which I thought was excellent value for money. Included in the kit was a ball of self-patterning sock yarn (I chose one of the Opal ones), a set of three stitch markers suitable for making socks with (which are fab!), a set of 5 Surina dpns (I’m told Surina is a type of tree) and a pattern for making not only the socks but also a little pouch in which to keep the socks. If I get good at them then they might make nice gifts. We’ll see though, as sock yarn isn’t exactly cheap! I’ve got my eye on some more sock yarn, but I promised that I’d finish at least one sock from this ball before I order any more.
I also hope to start on some of my squares for the Sudoku blanket. I’m off on a long weekend to Cambridge via Gainsborough and our only plan is that we’ll be going to the wedding on the Sunday. The patterns for the different squares are in a nice small book, so that should help. There are three balls of each colour of yarn for the blanket, including at least two shades of pink! Anyway, each pattern needs to be made up in each colour. The booklet recommends that you knit all the squares of one pattern in each colour so that you get into the swing of it. I don’t know how well that will avoid boredom, but the only other option will be to knit all of one colour. Any other way will be difficult to keep track of what squares I have done in which colours.

On top of finishing the shrug, I have had a good weekend, in the end. We went to town on Saturday morning and I bought a new sports bra and the buttons. I also bought a headband for exercising in because I don’t like to have my fringe in my eyes when I’m trying to run. (I had bought a new running vest on Friday which I’ll be wearing to pilates) we had a look at the all-stars shoes I'm after as Office had a sale on, but the shoes I like aren’t in the sale. Ho-hum. Anyway, we went to the gym after that, and I did almost my full program (I missed off the stuff on the cable column because it was busy) and Leon got the rest of his program sorted. Then we went to Boots to look at the potential for meal replacement. It’s expensive, unless you’re doing slim fast. That didn’t work for me when I tried it - I always felt like I was missing out on having food to chew! So, I got quite annoyed about that and quite upset about the fact that I haven’t lost any weight (well, except 2lbs which are on and off at the moment) since I began going to the gym.
Anyway, I put my details into the maximuscle website and they gave me a number of calories to aim for in 6 meals a day. It’s basically really low fat. So, today I’ve had three meals so far, they’ve been:
07:45 – Porridge with skimmed milk and raisins, cup of white tea
11:20 – two wholemeal Ryvita with cottage cheese, cup of white tea
13:00 – wholemeal wrap with smoked mackerel, lettuce and orange peppers, cup of white tea
I have a plum to have later on, but I might consider getting a low-fat snack of some sort. It needs to be high in protein and in fibre, but low in fat (less than 6g per meal, over 6 meals though) I will probably have a snack bar when I get to Moorside before I hit New Look. I don’t know what we got out for tea, fish I think. I will probably have sweet potato with mine, but I’ll see what Leon thinks.

I’m off to New Look to do some actual shopping! I have to get a new dress for the wedding we’re going to. As we’re at the do all day, and as it is a mid-afternoon affair, then food, then party, I need a dress that can cope with all of those. In other words it needs to be a nice colour (not black) and of a style which is suitable for daytime (under a suit jacket perhaps) and evening. Of course, that’s not that easy to achieve. There is a dress I have in mind, but there might be others when I get to New Look.
I’m hoping to get a dress that doesn’t require the purchase of new shoes (the more I can save now the more I’ll have for America!) but we’ll see. I may also have spotted an appropriate dress for over jeans in flight. I guess we’ll see though. I might have a look for some cheap belts too, as some of my trousers are becoming a little loose. (so much for the not lost any weight. I might measure my girth again soon.)
I did try on a bunch of dresses last night. I have a suitcase which I keep lots of dresses in, usually ball dresses and party dresses. Anyway, I tried these on, some of which I haven’t worn in ages. Most of them looked better on now than they did when I originally wore them, which was quite a result! I have a nice biscuit coloured dress (which I need to get a strapless flesh coloured bra for, to avoid visible nipples) which, if I tone up my tummy a little more will look fantastic! (I’m uber chuffed about that actually) I forget these things when I have fat days though one of them is one I bought about three-or-four years ago, the cut of which has come back into fashion. That is fab!
I may have to do some re-using of the dress that I get for the wedding though, as Leon and I are off to an NU barbeque the following weekend, and I really can’t justify buying a new outfit for that.

On Sunday we went for our first “outdoors” run, in preparation for the Race for Life. We ran for a total of 25 minutes, so probably about 2.5 miles. We’ve got a circuit that we’re doing at the moment that we think is about three miles. We’re running on Clifton Ings, which is pleasant because it’s grassy and by the river. Running near traffic is unpleasant. The only bit I don’t like is the cattle grids! Leon has decided he needs a running vest though, and I'm considering getting some more light weight running trousers. It looks like it’s going to be a hot-ish summer and the Race for Life last year was pretty warm, so I don’t want to be running in winter jogging bottoms! I’ll keep an eye out. The problem is that most of the thinner bottoms, or those with special cooling properties, are all a bit figure hugging. Now I’m fine about my bottom, it’s not that unpleasant to look at. (It’s no Kylie, but hey…) however, I’m not sure that some tight fitting lycra show-all-the-lumps-bumps-and-wobbles style bottoms are the answer (and if they are, what is the question?)
Who knows; or cares?

too tired to knit 6 rows

Last night I was very tired when I got home. I went to bed for an hour before Leon got in! I was a bit grumpy having to get up to let him in, but that was my fault for having left the keys in the door and the door locked.

I managed to get down to 6 rows left to do on my shrug. It actually looks a bit like an item of clothing now and much less like a randomly shaped bit of knitting! I’m going to take one of the practice squares I did with me to town on Saturday morning in order to match up some buttons for it. In the magazine it suggests that I could use a large pin, which might work, I may get a couple of kilt pins anyway because I’ll need one for the bag from an earlier issue that I hope to make too.
There are only a couple of things that I want to make in the new issue, which is a shame. However, there are still things from the earlier issues that I would like to make. I’m also looking forwards to the next issue, which has at least two things I want to make in it! There’s also the Sudoku throw which came in the supplement for the first issue I bought. I’m enjoying knitting still, though it’s not a fast process! I enjoy being able to zone-out, and just get on with the knitting.

I’m conscious that the idea of “change one thing” has been somewhat lost on me. Here are the things I'm changing (or trying to) right now:

1. Learn a new skill (knitting)
2. Lose weight
3. Learn to drive
4. Go to the gym regularly
5. Keep within my spending limits
6. Save up for the Florida Holiday

While they’re linked, to some degree (except the knitting they’re all about getting ready for my holiday) it’s challenging!
Today I am feeling reasonably positive, although I suspect that I should not have had bacon, brie and cranberry sauce sandwich and some spinach and pea soup. On the plus side, that’s lots of veg (spinach and pea, I don’t think they add much else, it’s lovely) and the bread was brown. Though we’re off out for a birthday dinner tonight, which means eating (and spending) But it is payday!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Cold Post

It seems a long day when I know that I have stuff that needs doing but I'm not sure that I can concentrate enough to do it. I’ve been so tired recently! I think I’m getting enough sleep, though I'm not sure about the quality of the sleep. I do keep waking up at crazy times!

The shrug is still in progress, despite there only being a small number of stitches per row on the sleeve, it seems to take an age. It doesn’t help that I'm not used to circular knitting. Still, I have only 26 rows to go (or it may be 24) and then it’ll be done. Well – I’ll still have to sew up the seams and buy and fit some buttons.

I picked up another issue of simply knitting today, my last one before my subscription starts. There are some nice “wrist warmers” which I hope to knit. There’s a cute teddy too that I might be able to do with some of the feathery yarn I made the pink scarf from. I haven’t got very far with the needle roll, I must confess that I have somewhat lost interest. I hope that the same will not happen on a big project like a cardigan or similar!
I am hoping to design some patterns of my own at some point. I’ve seen a couple of sweaters (in catalogues or on people) which I quite like and think I can tell how they go. I can make my own patterns for dresses, so I hope that the same applies!

I haven’t decided what I am wearing to the wedding Leon and I are going to. We need to check the invite and see how long there is in between the actual wedding bit (with the food and such) and the party bit. I might be able to get away with wearing one of the dresses I still have kicking about in a suitcase on top of the wardrobe. Depends on how they look on me now, what Leon thinks (it’s his friend after all) and whether I need different outfits for different bits of the day. Oh – and I don’t think that I should wear black to a wedding. (Though I have worn white to weddings before) I’ll probably continue to have a crisis about this until we get there and I have no choice!

They claim that the air conditioning isn’t working, so they’ve brought in some portable units to cool the building. It’s freezing! I have a backup cardigan in my drawer in case I get cold. I’m wearing it now, and I’m still cold. I don’t mind if the air conditioning isn’t working if it means that I get to be warm for a day or two.

Knitting while running

I don't know about you, but the thought of running 26 miles is one which makes me cringe. I struggle with the 3 miles for the Race for Life! So when I saw Extreme Knitting Red Head had not only run all the way around the 26.2 miles in under 6 hours, but that she had knitted a scarf on the way around... I was amazed. And impressed. Go read the post, it's a touching reminder that each person running in the fun runners was doing so for a reason.

Gainsborough killed my flippin' car*

I am so close to finishing my shrug now! I’m on the arm which is knitted in the round. Basically, as it’s asymmetrical, each sleeve is knitted differently. I’m hoping that the sleeves will be wide enough for my arms though! Haha. I went for the 10-12 size, which is probably a bit smaller than I am. We’ll see though, I'm sure it’ll be okay. It’s quite nice that it’s all knitted in one piece because that means minimal sewing to make it up.

At the weekend we went to Gainsborough. But first, when I arrived home I had a card from the sorting office – a parcel was waiting for me. This was the much anticipated Angel Yarns package. In it were three each of nine colours (the maroon being replaced by black as Sirdar have stopped making it) for my sudoku blanket. I have to knit up nine 10x10cm squares in each of the nine colours. It’ll take a while, but I hope that by winter I will have a nice cosy blanket to snuggle under made from 100% wool Sirdar chunky yarn.

Anyway, we had some dinner and then set off to Gainsborough. We got there at about 9pm, in time for a cuppa and a cake. The following morning we went into town to see what they have been doing since I was last around. We looked at the roundabout at the bottom of the dual carriageway. (yes, that makes one full size roundabout in the town at the bottom of the one dual carriageway – do we fee sorry for the learner drivers yet? No, because I have horrible roundabouts in York) Then we headed into town to see the new Marshall’s Yard complex. It’s still not finished, but it is quite nice. It’s basically a car park with shops around it. There’s quite a variety of shops, ranging from JJB to New Look to Greggs. We had a good wander around, and I managed to convince mum to buy a nice new top from Next. It’s one that can be worn as a dress or a top for the flight out to Florida. Unlike most of the smock tops we saw, this one has a little shape and looked really nice on. I have yet to find my dress/top (it was my idea) to wear over my jeans for the flight. I’m after something similar, although I don’t know what I may end up with. I’ll be checking out the shops regularly.

Anyway, when we got back as we walked past our Escort I could smell petrol. This has happened more than once, so I pointed that out to Leon and Dad. They put the car up on the ramps. It needs a new fuel tank. In fact, there are a few things that would need replacing in order to get it past the MOT in July, so we’re probably going to have to trade it in at a garage. One of these “Guaranteed minimum trade in of £1000” would be nice! We’ll have to talk to the bank too, we might need a loan if we’re going to buy another car.

For some reason I keep having dreams involving hamsters and guinea pigs. Odd, very odd indeed.

The whole weight loss thing is going okay (ish). I’ve got a spreadsheet with a graph. I have what my aim is plotted on the graph as well as how I’m doing against that.
I have a goal weight (always helpful, something to aim for) which is 9st 6lbs. that means that from my start weight of 10st 10lbs (although I was 10st 12 in Jan, I’m not counting that as it unbalances the graph) I need to lose 18lbs in 15 weeks. That’s only 1.2lbs per week, which should be possible without doing anything extreme. So, I planned this out last Friday. I’ll try to keep the info in the bar on the right up to date with how I’m doing.

* not really

It's Friday

I received my knitting related teapot yesterday, or rather; I collected it from the sorting office. It is not especially large, which is good because it fits nicely on the dresser in our living/dining room. It’s shaped like a ball of blue yarn with some chunky knitting needles stuck through it. I’m really pleased with it.

We’re off to visit my parents this weekend. We hadn’t planned to, but mum phoned and suggested it last night. There’s been a lot of regeneration happening in Gainsborough recently, including the renovation of the Britannia Works. They’ve called the resulting leisure complex the Marshall’s Yard. I hope that it is going to be good for the town. Apparently there’s a variety of shops in there, many of which were open for Easter. We’ll have a bit of a wander around anyway, which should be interesting.

I’m driving on Sunday morning, hopefully we’ll do the parallel park again; I’m worried about that one. I’m not bad at left reverse (aka reverse round a corner) and turn in the road, although I must observe more. Of course there’s a bit more to the driving test than just the manoeuvres, so I have to practice those bits too. I practiced not going to B&Q last lesson (anyone who’s taken their test here should understand) and also I practiced not killing cats. I would really like to pass on my first (well, fourth) attempt. Not because I think that will make me a better driver, in fact I suspect the opposite can often be true. No, because it’s so difficult when people ask. That’s one of the reasons I have not put the exact date on here, and one of the reasons that only Leon knows the date of the test. It’s just more pressure that I don’t want. And there are some people (they know who they are) who will gloat and laugh if I don’t pass this time.
They certainly gloated and laughed before.

Anyway, the knitting is going well. I’ve gotten to the point on the shrug that I'm decreasing for the front. I’ve also found a typo in the pattern! Anyway, I was expecting to finish the shrug this weekend, but it may be later than that now that we’re off to Gainsborough; unless I take it with me. It is a bit complicated, but not that bad. As long as I remember to put all the bits I need in my knitting bag. I also need to buy some buttons for it, I was thinking of maybe using toggles (like on duffel coats) although something a bit more girly might be good as it’s a pink and fluffy shrug. I don’t know, really. I am looking forward to it being finished though, since the weather is a bit hit and miss here in the North of England at the moment.
You might also have noticed the iKnit icon on the right there, that’s a link to the knitting podcast I listen to. It’s quite interesting, although you need to be into knitting! I don’t actually knit to this podcast though; I generally listen to it in the bath!

Fab and Funny

I’ve pinched this from Knit and Purl Mama who pinched it from Funky Lindsay

1. go to Google
2. click on “maps” (above the search box)
3. click on “get directions” (under the search box)
4. type “New York” in the first box (the “from” box)
5. type “London” in the second box (the “to” box)
6. scroll down to step #23

Very funny!

Fund raising page now live!

I've finally got around to creating my fundraising page for the Race for Life 2007. I've convinced my sister to join me this year, so we have a joint page. If you'd like to sponsor me online, as opposed to on a bit of paper, please click here: http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/gayleandhayley
Thanks.

Another Day Out

Today Leon and I decided to get out of the house and enjoy the sunshine. As I spent all of yesterday morning in the hairdresser and we shopped all afternoon, I didn't think we made the most of it yesterday.
So, we jumped into the car and headed off for Sutton Bank. We did a 3 mile (5km) walk which was lovely. We then headed down to the Hambleton Arms for lunch.
We decided to sit outside as it was nice weather still, but we picked a table in the shade. We ordered some drinks and some food and enjoyed the sunshine some more. We also spotted some nice little birds, though I haven't a clue what sort they were.
Here's the food anyway:

Spring has... been skipped?

I like the nicer weather we’re having at the moment. It’s a little easier to get up in the morning when the sun is shining. Given how hard I find it to get out of bed, every little helps! We’ve even turned off the heating! I’m feeling especially summary today as I have painted my toenails and am wearing sandals.

I’ll probably be cold later on.

So, I got around to booking my waxing and hairdresser appointments. Hooray! I’ll be hair-free (legs, anyway) tonight, and my hair-do will be redone on Saturday morning.
I chose the beauty salon (for waxing) on the grounds that they only do nails, tanning and waxing. Also the girl on the desk was so helpful and nice when I went in to get a pricelist, which is shiny with silver writing.
I’ll have to be careful not to be sucked in to the whole false nails thing. I love false nails – mine are so weak and are not good shapes. I suppose I could get a manicure to make them nice, but not today. Anyway, I have coped with my nails for over a year now. They are improving a little I think. Partly due to the fact that I'm a bit nicer to them and cut and file rather than break, bite and pick.
If I have managed to correctly book my hair appointment, I’ll be having a cut-and-colour. If not, I may only have a cut and blow-dry. Either will be fine, as I just need to get rid of some of the thickness – it’s a bit bouffant!

All this is preparation for my pre-holiday beautification. (!)
I’ll need to be waxed (for bikini wearing on the beach). I’d like to be tanned (again for bikini wearing and also for not looking like a tourist!) and I would enjoy a manicure and pedicure, though we’ll see. Hair also needs to be done, mostly for ease of maintenance when I’m there as I can’t take my appliances (like straighteners) with me. I might look into travel versions suitable for use on 110v electrics. I might just be frizzy!

Lastly, though, I want to knit a nice wrap/stole/poncho type garment for wearing in the evening. I may look at my pattern book for a nice lacy pattern and then buy some glittery yarn to make it with. I may not. We’ll see. I may just see what ideas I get in Simply Knitting!
Sadly, though, I can not take my knitting needles on a plane in the cabin. This means a long flight with no knitting, unless I can smuggle some small sock needles on (my current set are wooden) and knit socks all the way there! Haha. Perhaps not the best idea to try, and I’d have no way of cutting my yarn anyway (without one of the cutters which I guess are probably banned now too). I could always take up crochet for the flight, as crochet hooks are not on the prohibited list!

Blog Censorship

I was just reading This Article from the BBC.
I wouldn't like anyone to post anything mean on my site(s) which is why I don't allow annonymous comments. I wouldn't put anything mean either. I am careful not to write anything which might be offensive (unless you find knitting or jogging offensive!) and the nearest I come to controversial is politics.
When I read Boris Johnson's blog I sometimes find his writing controversial. He is a politicain though!
I guess the problem is if you're a regular person who gives out more information than they perhaps should, then you might be at risk. If someone were to put a post on my blog threatoning me, I'd be able to track them down, and I'd also know that although they know which city I live in, I bet they couldn't easily find me. That said, I'm probably in the phone book.
Bother.

Bank Holiday Fun

I had a really good bank holiday weekend! Normally I feel like these weekends have been a bit of a waste because we spend the whole time at home being lazy.

Not so this weekend just gone! Thanks to Leon being able to drive, we were able to go to Whitby and Helmsley on Friday. We set off early, to beat the traffic. That was successful, so we parked up and went for a wander round. We stopped in “Tea and Tarts” for tea and a teacake in my case. Leon had a bacon and egg sandwich! We headed back up to the beach, but decided that it was too windy for Frisbee. It was pretty chilly with the wind blowing in off the sea. However, we walked the length of the West Beach – down to the pier where the donkeys are. We also looked for crabs, but all we saw were seagulls and some insects. We headed back up the beach to collect our lunch from the car, which turned out to be a bit rancid (despite the cool pack!) so we had our yoghurt and then decided to move on. After a peruse of the map we decided that Helmsley would be nice. We set off out of Whitby with only a small chuckle at the vast number of people heading into Whitby. It didn’t take long to get to Helmsley, and so we parked (eventually) and went to the Walled Gardens. Sadly it was a bit dear to get in to the walled gardens, but we bought a jar of local honey and then went into the café there for a drink and cake. I had some lovely carrot cake. There wasn’t much else to do in Helmsley, but we wandered around the shops and generally meandered about for a while. We bought a book of walks in North Yorkshire which has handy maps. The maps have pubs marked on them! After a non-waffle-shaped waffle cone ice-cream each we got back in the car and headed home. Fabulous day!

So, Saturday came around and we got our gym kit together. Once we’d dropped off Leon’s overdue library books, we headed to the gym for a workout. Having walked around and up more hills than on a normal day on Friday, I found my cardio exercise quite difficult. However, I did almost all of it (must try harder) and then did all of my strength training. We also signed up for Pilates, which should be good. I haven’t been to a class of any sort for a long time, but this should be fine.

Sunday was more of a normal slack day. I did a lot of knitting and some painting. I got a set of “modern art” canvasses for my birthday, which is very cool. I picked three (out of four) of them, and used slightly different colours (we have loads of paints and they came with pink which is very me, but doesn’t match the bathroom!) to make a piece of art which we can put in the bathroom. I intend to turn the middle canvas into a clock – we have the kit needed but I need to make some fancy handles for the time as the ones with the kit are too short.
On the knitting front, I have finished the top border of the needle roll, only about 100 rows to go on the outer part then. On the shrug, I have knitted one arm and I am currently knitting the front and back. It’s asymmetrical, apparently. It’s looking really good, and I should have plenty of yarn to finish it too. Maybe even enough to make something else out of later! We did consider going on one of the walks, but my legs and neck were very sore, so we didn’t.

Monday. I had a driving lesson at 11:30, which went okay. I’m so close to my test date though, I’m terrified! My instructor seems confident though. I managed to do a left reverse and a parallel park without tears.
In the afternoon, after finishing the paintings and hanging out some washing (and the new wool my parents brought, which smells much nicer now) we headed off to the outlet to see if we could find Leon some Daniel Craig swimming shorts. We were not successful. We did manage to buy Sims 2 for me, and three DVDs. (strapped for cash? Me?) Sims 2 is as addictive as the Sims – Bustin out was, but with a more fluid structure to it. There are still goals and stuff, which is good. The game play is better too.

And that was my bank holiday. We watched one of the DVDs, Layer Cake, too. I’m looking forwards to the next bank holiday now so that we can go on one of the walks from our book. One that doesn’t involve “a small scramble”! At least I have walking boots now. I don’t have any sensible shorts though, so if the weather keeps improving that could be interesting.

Waxing?

Yes, I have decided to get waxed. I have to find a salon that does waxing, and find out how expensive it is. My main reason for wanting to be waxed now is threefold:

1. It’s still cold enough to wear trousers if I go all blotchy
2. I am pretty hairy right now
3. It’s about 4 months til my holiday, waxing is meant to last for 6 weeks, if it works well I’ll want to go again the week before my holiday

That is going to work out as an expensive week really, because I’ll want a haircut and colour, wax and possibly tan. (I may tan myself, but we’ll see. I have a San Tropez kit at home, which has been pretty successful, as long as I remember to use moisturiser with the self tan stuff on my face!)
Then there is only one remaining question: exactly what do I want them to wax?
I suspect that it might be too much detail to go into here, but probably legs and maybe eyebrows should do. If any female readers of this want to

• comment
• join me
• laugh

then please let me know. My main concern is that it will not last as long as they claim, and also whether they can do it on shorter hairs. We will see. I have to go ask at a couple of salons for price lists I guess. Cripes!

Eggs and Holidays

Today I hope to go into town and buy Easter Eggs for my Team. This is my first Easter as their “Team Lead” (I get into bother if I refer to myself as a manager) and so I’ll be doing an Easter Egg shop in honour of this.

I’m also going to get my new sunglasses straightened out as they currently sit a little lower on the left (my left)

On the weight-loss front (which I haven’t mentioned for a while) the whole weight thing is seeming like it might be an inappropriate measure. I have lost a meagre 2lbs since I joined the gym in January. I do feel pretty good though. My legs haven’t looked as good as they do now for years – I’m even considering sorting them out (1) so that I can bare them to the world when the weather improves! I’ve lost an inch off each of my hips and thighs, which means that I can fit in to (without squeezing) the two pairs of hipsters I’ve been hanging on to. I’m not happy with the lack of tone in my stomach but I do have some exercises to work the oblique muscles as well as the two sets of muscles in the front (I forget their names).
I took a risk last night, and tried on some of my holiday clothes. This consists of two pairs of quite tight stretchy cotton shorts, a short and tight cotton skirt, a short and loose cotton skirt and a pair of camouflage patterned shorts which are not stretchy. I bought these items a while ago for our holiday in the Canaries. As a result I haven’t worn them. I was concerned that the stretchy things would look too stretched and that I wouldn’t be able to get into the not-stretchy ones. However, they all looked okay, and I not only got into the not-stretchy ones, but they were actually a bit loose! I was cheered up immensely by this. I think that my longer summer skirts are looking past their best and may need to be replaced this summer. It saddens me to have to do this, but they’re looking a bit shapeless and old. I may try to get a few more that match my sandals, although some of them are on their last legs too. I may have to do a full blitz and begin almost from scratch. Still, that’s the fun of big holidays.
I suspect that I’ll be able to buy some things in Florida when I get there, but I don’t want to count too much on that. I do want to get a pair of All Stars, but not the boots, the shoes. I think that they will be nice for walking about in theme parks because they are breathable. Depends on the sock situation I guess. I tend to wear my boots with socks, but I don’t think I should with the shoes. I’ve seen some fab sandals in New Look that I'm trying hard not to buy. There are also some nice linen mix skirts and trousers which I will be buying some of. I reckon I’ll be travelling in a dress-over-jeans type combo, so that I can just take off my jeans when we hit the Florida heat. I will be getting some flight socks (I bet they don’t come in fancy patterns). I should have a to-do list somewhere! The other trouble is, if I lose any more inches I might need to replace more clothes! That said, my stretchy stuff should be okay. I might even be able to wear some fashionable shorts this summer. And sun dresses, I love sun dresses!
I’m trying not to get too excited about it yet because it’s not happening until August which is still four months away. Of course, that’s only four months! Before then I have the Race for Life to run! I would consider trying to get away somewhere before we go off to Florida, but I’m not sure that Leon and I have the money for that.

Anyway, I’m off on an Easter Egg Hunt now.


1 – sorting out legs for baring to the world involves exfoliating , epilating, moisturising and possibly a touch of self-tan (depending on how late in the year it gets warm enough for me to consider wearing a skirt)

Out of the Blue

I got an email a couple of days ago from an old friend I haven’t heard from in about six years or more. It was really nice to hear from him. Hopefully, as he’s not too far away, we’ll be able to meet up and have a drink somewhere. I would like that, he was a good friend through sixth form. Okay, everyone knows that I used to fancy him, but it was mostly for his muscles, and Leon has that (and more).
I’ve always had someone like him around, until quite recently. When I went to uni I found another muscular lad who would go dance to cheesy music with me. One of the main benefits (and main drawbacks) of this is that they scare away any potentially annoying men. These days I don’t go dancing much, so the whole being hit on thing is less of an issue.
Anyway, that was a nice surprise for me.

Knitting Poem

Knitting is my pastime
Not sewing or crochet
It is rather comforting
Takes my cares away
Time I spend just knitting
In patterns and in squares
Nothing seems to matter, it
Goes with me everywhere