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?