Friday, February 10, 2017

Mosaic

Have I ever mentioned how much I love mosaic knitting? It's freaking brilliant. You create this amazing colorwork, but only use one color at a time, slipping the stitches you want to be in the opposite color. It can be done on garter or stockinette stitch, so the possibilities are endless. It just so happens I'm wearing mosaic socks today.



Pattern: Masonry by Kate Gilbert. Yarn: Cascade Yarns Heritage in Marine and Crystal Palace Yarns Sausalito in Big Sur.

I also have a mosaic cowl on the needles.



Pattern: Earth Weave Cowl by Kim Sequeira. Yarn: Cascade 220 in various colors.


Now I'm eyeing the Optimist Shawl by Lisa Hannes.  Here are the colors (Cascade Heritage again) I'm planning to use. Don't they just scream "OPTIMISM!!!"  I love light, bright, happy colors.


I'll very likely start that one this weekend.

What knitting techniques are you particularly fond of? What techniques would you like to learn?

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Resolutions

Hi Everyone!  (Ha! See how I said that like someone is actually reading this?)

So, here's what's going on in my life right now: a week before Christmas, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. It sucks. I was shocked. My A1C levels had never been elevated before. Now, suddenly, they were high enough to make me diabetic. I tried not to think about it too much because it was Christmas! But, I knew that as soon as the holidays were over, I needed to make some major changes.

Enter New Year's Resolutions. I didn't resolve to lose weight. I didn't resolve to exercise. I didn't resolve to overhaul my life. I resolved to do just one thing: DO WHAT'S RIGHT FOR ME. In ALL things. Not just for my physical health, but for all of me. My mental and emotional health. My need to be creative. My life. I'm not setting specific resolutions. Instead, I am making decisions as I go using that one resolution as a guiding light: do what's right for me.

So far, it's working for me. I'm spending more time with friends. I've started painting a bit. I've drastically reduced the amount of time I spend on social media. I've started seeking out unbiased news sources. I've almost entirely eliminated excess sugar from my diet. (Seriously: I used to eat Apple Jacks for breakfast. Every day. There's a damn lot of sugar there, which resulted in me wanting sugar the rest of the day. Switching breakfasts to a protein-packed, delicious breakfast sandwich drastically reduced my sugar cravings.) I've started loving my body exactly as it is. I'm not worried about losing weight. I'm done focusing on that. DONE. (It's really quite liberating to say that.) If it happens, great. If not, that's fine too. As long as I know I'm doing what's right for me, that's all that matters.

So here I am, determined to live my best life. Determined to do what's right for me in all things. You should watch and see what happens. Part of my plan is to write more here. I'll still talk a lot about knitting and my other creative endeavors, but there might be some more personal stuff too. Stick around. Let's see what I do.