Ooo! Take me with you! 
You’re gonna love it, Brenda. cloud9
Hi Sandy! Myrtle Beach is 5 hrs and 55 mins away from me! I just looked it up :teehee:. Do you live in the southeast?
Yep - I’m in Charlotte, North Carolina. Been here my whole life. It takes me a few hours to get to the beach.
Aha! Well its nice to know we are not “that” far away from each other!
I’m longing to start a summer project - what yarns are you enjoying in this weather?
You’re right. Not far at all! 
Now, you might want to update your profile to show that you’re in Georgia now. It still says you’re in Arizona.
I’m loving ALL my yarns so far this season. This past week, I went through all of them, organizing my boxes, drawers, shelves, baskets and storage bins. :teehee: (I’m considering selling some of my yarn on eBay, to make a little money.)
As for knitting projects, I’m buried under too many to list. Recently, I started making a furry wrap, using Lion Fancy Fur. I usually HATE eyelash yarn, but this particular brand has a velvety chenille yarn running through it, which makes it SO fun to knit with. The yarn is black with white “blobs”, so it looks like a cottonfield in Hell. :roflhard: But, I love it, and I’m looking forward to wearing it around my shoulders with a nice black dress.
I’m also busy with Oddball Charity Projects (blankets and shawls), which take a lot of my time. My goal is to finish up all of the large blanketsthis year, so I can give them all to charity.
Last night, I cast on a chemo cap, since that’s what we’re making for the monthly KH knit-along this month. I’m using simple worsted weight cotton yarn for that. Should be a quick knit. I’m using the Mushroom Cap pattern.
There are some things I want to make for myself, if I can find time for them. I’ve been wanting to design a pattern for plus-size panties, believe it or not. :roll: All the knitting patterns I have found so far are either too small or too sexy. I want to make some simple briefs that are comfy to wear. This past week, I got a pair of my most comfortable pair, and traced the different parts of them onto a piece of posterboard. That way, I can start knitting, and hold my knitting up to the traced “pattern pieces” to see if they are the right size. We’ll see how that goes. The traced pattern pieces look HUGE! :shock:
I also want to make a tank top. I have several patterns I really like, and lots of good yarns to choose from. If I am able to come up with a good panty design, I’ll make a set with a tank top to wear as summer pajamas. 
Cool yarn. Is it hard to work with? I would think…
It’s not hard for me. I’m an English knitter, wrapping every stitch slowly. It might work differently for a fast Continental knitter.
I’ve knit two scarves using that yarn. I knit continental and it wasn’t hard at all. EVERYONE raves about the scarves too. I knit one for the boss, so I scored major points! HAHA
Hmm…Yeah, I knit English too. I can’t stand virtually any yarn that has anything on it, like the eyelash-y stuff and such. It makes me frustrated and I rip it out.
I wish I was you…
Cool! Nice to get a review from a Continental knitter. 
That yarn is SO SOFT and CUDDLY, isn’t it Brenda?
I’m the same way usually…so it surprised me that I enjoy knitting with this particular eyelash yarn. It’s just so much more luxurious feeling, and the fabric it makes is so nice!
If you want to try it, check out your local Big Lots. They sometimes have it for $1.50 a skein. I’ve seen it at Dollar Tree too! Funny thing, because it used to be over $5 a skein at Michaels and AC Moore and Hobby Lobby. :teehee:
A couple days ago, I started a new diet and fitness plan, and I love it! I think I’ve heard Jan mention it before.
So cool! I was not happy with the low carb diet I tried last year. After losing 40 pounds in the first two months, I never lost any more, even though I stayed on the diet RELIGIOUSLY for an entire year. :pout: Plus, I was having some bad side effects. I was feeling confused and tired. Sometimes, I would be driving to a piano lesson, and forget where I was going. It was just weird.
So, now, I’m doing the food and exercise plan on the Spark People site, and it’s wonderful. I’m eating bread and cereal again! :woohoo:
I’ve made it through two days with great results. I’ve been drinking 8 glasses of water a day, sleeping 8 hours a night, and eating exactly what they say I should.
And I’m exercising! :thud:
I HATE exercise, but I love to dance. So, I’ve been finding songs on Blip.fmthat I like to listen to, then dancing all over the house. So much fun.
Ha, you know that kinda a coincidence. One of my best friends mentioned that recently (the SparkTeens one) and said, "Oh, you should join! My username is blahblahblah and you should add me…Blahblahblahblahblahblahblah… 
Go for it, Rosalie! it’s a good way to get good eating habits.
Today, i did well for the most part. Then, I had an adventure on the road that kind of threw me for a loop. I was driving home from teaching piano lessons, and was stuck in the middle of a HUGE thunderstorm. The sky looked just like the photos I’ve seen of tornado weather, so I was very nervous. Wind was blowing like CRAZY, and I hit something in the road that I couldn’t see very well. No damage to my car, and I’m okay. It just took me by surprise. It blew onto the road in front of me with no warning at all, then made a loud bump underneath my car as I drove over it. WEIRD! :shock:
Anyway, when I got home, I was too wiped out to do my exercise, so I moved my cardio to tomorrow instead.
I went straight to bed, and slept for 3 hours. That storm was incredible!
Today, I was doing fine on my diet, then messed it all up with my dinner.
For breakfast, I had a bowl of Total cereal and milk.
For lunch, I met lestrella at Panera Bread. It was nice to see her again - we hadn’t seen each other in about a year! :shock:
I was happy to see that I could add Panera Bread menu items on my SparkPeople nutrition page. Cool I chose the “Pick Two” with half a Strawberry Poppy Seed Salad with Chicken and half Chicken Salad Sandwich on Whole Wheat Bread. Water to Drink. Very yummy! :mmm:
Next, I took lestrella to Big Lots, because she didn’t know they carried yarn. I got three skeins (2 Lion Boucle & 1 Lion Incredible).
After we said goodbye, I went to teach piano lessons. On the way home, I started getting very sleepy. So, when I got home, I took a good 3 hour nap. (I’ve gotten in the habit of those nice naps lately!) 
When I woke up, I was very hungry, so I took myself to Bojangles to get some Chicken Supremes, Fries, and a Biscuit. YUMMY!!! I knew they were probably not on my diet, but I decided to let myself enjoy them. When I got home, I tried to add them on my SparkPeople nutrition page, but Bojangles was not an option for entering. :pout:
So, I entered a KFC biscuit, fries from Wendy’s, and Chick Fil A Chicken Strips. Unbelievably, the fries were 340 calories! OMG!! Those fries had almost as many calories as my entire lunch at Panera Bread!!! :thud:
I’m staying away from fries for the rest of my life. Just too much fat and calories.
Yeah, Sandy! Good for you! I honestly don’t think low carb is all that healthy, it just leaves too many healthy foods off and it’s hard to stick to. You’ll really start feeling better and be so much healthier doing it on Sparkpeople.
It’s okay to give yourself a meal or even an occasional day off, but make sure you journal it. One thing being my daughter and I started doing on Sparkpeople was looking up the restaurant websites so when we do eat out we can make better choices.
I’m rooting for you!! :yay:
Thanks Jan!
Yeah, the low carb thing worked well at first, then let me down. It might be good for some people, but it didn’t work out for me. But, at least I gave it a good try! I was certainly a very devoted dieter, sticking with it for an entire year. So, I think I really gave it all I had. And I proved to myself that I can stick to a diet, even if I don’t like it. :teehee:
So, THIS diet is not going to be as difficult for me. I feel much more relaxed, and ready to face it head on. The food is definitely easier to eat, and I’m enjoying exercising.
Today, I celebrated the World Wide Knit in Public Day in Charlotte, at the Books a Million at Cotswold Mall. It was fun!
Here’s the group inside Books A Million. (I had just started getting set up at the empty table on the right.) You can also see some of the knitters outside, if you look through the window at the left.
More of the inside knitters:
Here are the people from the Charlotte Knitting Guild that hosted the event. They were sitting outside.
When each person arrived at the event, they would leave yarn on this table to trade. I gave three skeins of yarn, and chose three skeins of Lion Woolease for me. Nice.
Right after I got seated, they asked me to sign up for their drawing. I won in just a few minutes! :woohoo:
I chose this sock yarn and a darning egg. (I’ve been wanting a darning egg for a LONG time!)
I took one of our large Oddball Blankets (#5), as well as a couple Oddball Baby Blankets I’ve been working on locally with some Charlotte knitters. Three people knit a row on the baby blankets, and one person knit a couple rows on the large one.
Here’s a couple photos I took of the volunteer knitters.
Denise worked on one of the baby blankets:
And Amy worked on Oddball Blanket #5:
After a while, everyone had seen my display about the Oddball Blankets, and had finished their questions. Some people came up and gave me some yarn for our projects. Cool! I got two skeins of mohair for our shawls, and three skeins of other yarn for our large blankets.
So, it was a wonderful day, and the weather was perfect! cloud9
Glad you enjoyed WWKIP. I didn’t actually get to knit in public (:pout:) because I wasn’t really in a convenient place.
Yahoo!!! I’m so happy to see that I have lost a pound on my new diet. This diet is a lot slower, but it will be PERMANENT. I’m never gonna see that pound again. GOODBYE FOREVER!
I also lost an inch around my waist! :woohoo:
And I lost half an inch around my neck! :cheering:
I’ve been following the FREE diet and exercise plan on SparkPeople.com
That is a really great way to lose weight.
Congratulations! :cheering: