So My Son Says…..

…”Mom, you should start a jogging program. You could do the Couch to 5K.”

I look at him and think, “There, there, child. You’re just having a senior moment.”

Hell, I’m 62 y/o. MOVEMENT is my goal! I don’t want to be pushed around in a wheelchair. I don’t want to fear stairs and have to do that one foot shuffle thing just to get up or down them. I don’t want younger folks to think, “OMG, there’s an old person, shuffling along this walkway. Quick, let’s get around her.” I don’t want to be that old lady at the beach wearing a bikini and have people nearly break their necks doing a double take. I don’t want to be a contestant on The Biggest Loser.

This is what I want.

I want to be able to control my high cholesterol with diet alone and get off the medication.
I want to be able to walk up or down stairs without fear of tripping and falling.
I want to be able to walk around a museum or zoo or garden without becoming winded and having to rest every few feet.
I want to be healthy and stay out of a hospital.
I want strong bones.
I want a healthy heart.
I want muscles strong enough to pick up a few bags of groceries or a heavy skillet without fear of dropping it on my foot.
I want to be able to walk without shuffling my feet like so many folks do in a nursing home.
I want to be able to sit in a chair at a restaurant without my a$$ hanging over the sides.
I want my internal organs to function as normally as possible.
I want to be able to take a trip and not have to sleep for 2 days just to recouperate.
I want to enjoy my retirement.
I want to be the healthy person younger folks look up to.

These are just a few of the things I want. Healthy is my goal, not running some 5k thing. And I am working on my goal.

I am walking my dog about 2 miles a day. I am drinking more water. I am counting calories and monitoring the kinds of foods I eat. Yes, I do splurge on occasion but that’s ok.

So I will continue with my goals to become that healthy person. The rest will all fall into place in time.

See you on the good side of healthy.

Designing a New Sock

I am currently designing a new sock for men. I wanted something that was somewhat generic, but that men would wear. I talked with my youngest son. He said it’s all about color, not fancy stitches. So I came up with a plaid sock.

First of all, I worked it out on graph paper. I played around with it until I got it like I wanted. Then I began to implement it.

Now I am no stranger to stranded (colorwork or fairisle) knitting. I know it takes longer to knit and it also tends to draw up the width more so than just knitting with a single yarn. BUT, OMG! This sock is labor intensive. I do like the results, but I don’t think I will be making this again. If I do I will only, repeat, ONLY do the plaid section on the top or cuff of the sock and only for a short distance.

Figuring out on paper where to change colors is so much different than the actual knitting of said colors. As I said, it is labor intensive. And I still have to write it up as a pattern and place said pattern in my store for sale.

After all this work, I certainly hope the pattern sells well.

Oh BTW, I call it Mens Plaid PIA Sox.

Thinking of Mom on Mother’s Day

My mother went to Heaven many years ago, way before my own children were born. I still miss her.

I often think how she might respond to certain situations in my life and what she would have done under those circumstances.

Sometimes I think of the funny things she said throughout my life. My dog, for example, is a mixed breed. She would have called her a Sooner…just as soon be one thing as another.

I wonder how she would have liked having 5 grandchildren, all boys, BTW. I think she would have spoiled each and everyone as much as possible. And she probably would have harped on me and my brother to grace her with a granddaughter.

She died 30+ years ago, but I still think about her and smile. I think we would be best friends, not just mother and daughter.

Happy Mother’s Day Everyone.

Sock Patterns

The past few months I have been working on several sock patterns. I have finally got them listed on Ravelry and Etsy. They are digital downloads for a small fee of $2.50 each.

Now that I am retired from the working world, I hope to be able to create more knitting patterns. It’s not an easy process. I get ideas and not all of them are feasible in a sock. So before a particular pattern comes to fruition, there is a lot of trial and error.

First, I write down my ideas. Then I have to do a gauge swatch and sometimes a pattern swatch to see how the idea looks in a tangible item. Sometimes they look ugly and sometimes they look just like I want them to. Once that is done, then I knit the sock to see how many repeats of a pattern are needed and how it will look as a whole. I write down everything I do as I knit so that I can write up the pattern when the sock in completed.

These are the sock patterns currently for sale on Ravelry and Etsy.

Some Days You Just Don’t Want to…..

…exercise! And that’s OK!

I had one of those days yesterday. Of course, the rain did a lot to reinforce that idea. I just didn’t feel like going for a walk or doing much of anything else other than knitting.

However, I can’t and won’t make that a habit. It’s OK to take a break from exercise. Some days you just need to do something else or nothing at all. I spent most of the day working on a new sock pattern (my design, BTW). I did stop long enough to help hubby rearrange all the DVDs and do the dishes (no dishwasher, except me). So I did get some movement in, not cardio movement, but at least movement. I did monitor my food and water intake and didn’t exceed my limit. So that was good.

Today, however, I did take my dog on her 2 mile walk. Got my cardio in early. Later this coming week we plan to visit the Parade of Homes in our area. So I will have some extra walking in.

Sometimes you just have to change your routine to keep from being bored out of your mind.

See you on the good side of healthy.

Walking With My Dog

Bella is a half Westie, half Spitz, 20 pound terror on 4 legs when I take a walk with her.

She’s smart, energetic and totally stubborn. She also has the attention span of a rock. She is easily distracted by sights, sounds and smells. I have tried everything to get her to pay attention to me and not sprint off to the end of her leash checking out those sights, sounds and smells. If she meets another dog on our walk, she takes a defensive, aggressive posture and barks her head off. I’ve tried picking her up, yelling, jerking the leash, and, in frustration, I have popped her one. Nothing worked. If she was determined to be Lord of the Manor, barking out orders to her subordinates, she was going to do that no matter what I tried.

Today was different. I planned ahead. I know she is food oriented, so I took one of her favorite snacks, Pupperoni, broken into small pieces and put the pieces in my fanny pack. I kept one piece in my hand for the expected misbehavior I knew was going to happen.

Sure enough, we ran into Elvis and his human. I could tell she was on the verge of erupting into a full blown barking maniac any second. So I waved the snack in front of her nose. Lo and behold she kept her eyes on me until we were well past Elvis. When we reached a safe distance, I gave her the snack and took out another one just in case.

Well there were no further incidents on our 2 mile walk. She stayed next to me for the duration. When we arrived home, I gave her the one in my hand.

Now that I know what to do, our walks should be much more enjoyable.

Update:

Had to take Bella in for her shots today. I know she is not a friendly dog, so I had to muzzle her. She didn’t like it, but I’m glad I did. She growled at the vet tech. Just cannot take the chance that she might bite someone.

Take a Hike!

Yes, take a hike. You want to get fit and a gym is not your thing. Well there are other things you can do and you don’t literally have to take a “climb Mt. Everest” type hike to get there.

Here are some suggestions:

1. Visit a local museum. Walk around and enjoy the exhibits. Take pictures and document your trip.

2. Go to your local zoo. Feed the animals and enjoy the day.

3. Visit a public garden in your area. Take pictures of the flora and fauna. Enjoy being outside.

4. Go to a state or federal park. Walk the nature trails. Look for things you wouldn’t normally see in your neighborhood.

5. Go to yard sales, especially neighborhood yard sales. Park your car and walk from house to house.

6. If your area has a yearly Parade of Homes (a builder’s way of showing off), visit each house in the new neighborhood.

7. Visit your downtown area. You may see something you haven’t seen before.

8. Visit historic sites. Learn about your town or state.

These are just a few ideas to get you up and moving.

See you on the good side of healthy.

BTW, this photo was taken yesterday at Bellingrath Gardens in Alabama. It is a lovely place and takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours to walk thru. That does not include a tour of the house, which I recommend at least once if you visit there.

Wearing Socks in Florida

I’m a knitter, a sock knitter primarily. I just love to knit them and wear them. And, yes, I live in Florida. I wear socks year around.

Why? you ask. Well, I’ll tell you. First, it does get extremely hot and humid here. That includes the sand at the beach. That sand can blister your feet in seconds. Then you can give up walking for awhile. The sun can blister the tops of your feet while the sand takes care of the bottoms.

Second, this is the South. Air conditioning is used everywhere. I don’t mean just cool comfort from the heat outside. I mean freezing temperatures, walk-in freezer type temperatures in stores, theaters, homes, businesses, schools, etc. That cool blast feels pretty good the first few minutes you are inside, then you begin to get cold and that includes your feet.

Third, I make my socks with a wool blend sock yarn. Wool pulls moisture away from the skin so you don’t have that yukky, sticky, wet squishy feeling while wearing your socks.

So, I’ll continue to wear my socks year round…in Florida.

That Scale is a BULLY!!

Yes, that’s right. That weight scale is a bully! It governs your every move. You hop on it secretly wishing to see less numbers and it doesn’t cooperate with you. It is a liar and a cheat. It lies to you about your healthy lifestyle choices. It cheats you out of feeling good about yourself.

So why do you allow that? You wouldn’t tolerate a bully at work or school? You would shut them down ASAP. Get rid of it! At the least, move it to another room that you don’t go in very often.

You are doing everything necessary for a healthy, more fit you. You eat healthy and you exercise. You want numbers? Use a measuring tape. Monitor the losses in inches not pounds.

Don’t let a scale cheat you out of feeling good about your healthy accomplishments.

See you on the good side of healthy.

Fingering Yarns Are NOT All the Same!

I want to talk to all of you knitters out there who knit socks. I love knitting socks and I love sock yarn or fingering yarn. But they are NOT all the same.

Most patterns call for 50g (grams) per sock. So you know it will take 2 to make a pair. But do you pay attention to the yardage/meters? If not, you should. Why? Because not all 50g skeins have the same yardage/meters. They vary greatly from manufacturer to manufacturer. I know when I knit socks it will take close to 200 yards per sock to complete, so 400 yards for a pair.

Here are a few pics to show the difference in fingering yarns.

As you can tell by the above pic, these skeins are different sizes. Each is 50g or 1.75 ounces, but the number of yards/meters varies in each one. The Patons Kroy has 166 yards/152m; the Knit Picks has 218 yards (doesn’t list the meters); the Regia has 210 meters (yardage not listed, but is over 200 yards) and the Pegasus is 180 meters (196 yards).

This sock I knitted from the Patons had a very, very small amount left over. And that is only because I decided not to complete 5 rounds of the cuff pattern, just 3 rounds. If I had done 5 rounds, I would have run out of yarn on the first sock.

So be careful when choosing your fingering yarn. Compare the yards/meters required in your pattern to what is on the label. You may need more than 2 to complete your socks.