Bad figure skating costume

Hey! Someone knit that horrendous looking headband. Back when my girls did a wee bit of figure skating, I always wanted to find a way to incorporate knitting into one of their costumes, but that is not what I had in mind.

No, my girl's aren't skating anymore, but I'm still a fan of figure skating. In their defense, bad costumes have their place, as it gives us low brow folks something to talk smack about.

knitting for profit

Saw this article online, What's it Worth? by Sam Hunter of Hunter's Design Studio and had to comment.

This is how I began to feel about knitting...there's no way anyone would pay me, even minimum wages, for the time I spent knitting my goods. For a solid year I did knit none stop trying to keep up with orders for my knit goods on Etsy, I made many, many dresses and sold them for prices that were competitive with the typical catalog. And at the end of it all, subtract materials and not even factoring cost of labor, I made a whopping $300 in profits...hardly enough to purchase a low end kitchen appliance. I love to knit, and wish I had more  hours in the day, to make things for folks, but my time away from my kids sure isn't worth such a measly price.

Gross Domestic Product

Reports that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) went up yesterday catch my attention. Indeed I patronize Lumber Liquidator, Home Depot, and the LG appliance line this month. My local contractors saw a spike in business when I hired a duct cleaner to clear my dyer vent, an appliance repairman to fix my stove, and finally my favorite local plumber to repair the leaky pipes in the kitchen. Oh I'm good at consumerism! Perhaps I have personally driven up the GDP thanks to me leaky kitchen sink pipe and the need to do some serious kitchen repairs this past week.

However, my own personal GDP as an Amazon affiliate is an absolute 0%, and I'm about to get a pink slip from the program. I am not so good at advertising.

There is no such thing as a free lunch, so if you're wondering if becoming an Amazon affiliate really pays, I'm one example of when it doesn't. It seems to me that if you already have a large web following, or have a fantastic idea that generates buzz then it certainly is a good idea to monetize your blog, but don't get your hopes up that the money is going to just start rolling in.

Mystery project answer: A Shrug knit in the round.

Snowday

While all the county schools and agencies shut down for the snow dusting, we drove on and attended all our regularly scheduled appointments. On the way home we stopped at Costco to pick up milk. A kindly older woman walked by and said, "oh you have everyone with you today," by which she likely assumed the kids had gotten out of class. One of my elder children looked at me totally confused and I reminded her that the public schools had canceled class and so everyone was out of school for the day. "But not you" I said with a bit of a chuckle.

We first saw our house while it was still covered in snow about four years ago. Snow can make everything look so quaint and charming... and hide many imperfections. Seeing the white ground and surface covering again today stirs the nostalgia of those first impression days when our home was so new (to us) and there was such a great sense of anticipation our finally getting our first home. Recently, a friend closed on a second home and this also reminded us of our big move. All these reminders are helping me to cherish what we have and be grateful.

Sacrafice is...

letting the kids have the last Costco croissants and eating the homemade rye bread instead. The thought crossed my mind that perhaps they might like the healthier rye bread option, and so I asked them all if anyone would rather have rye instead of a croissant egg sandwich. Alas, nobody chose rye over a scrumptious fluffy pastry. Once seated, my two year old devoured half his croissant, then looked at my rye slices and insisted he wanted my toast too. "Can I have your croissant then?" I asked. Of course he said no, but still wanted my rye toast. I stipulated he eat his eggs first before getting anything more, and of course by that point he'd forgot all about seconds. Tomorrow we'll all have rye.

Today was day 6 of week 7 of P90X, and I've noticed that hyper flexing my lower back in moves like cobra and upward dog correlate with pain and tightness the following day. So I'm backing off those moves and looking for alternate ways to stretch out the abs without the lumbar compression. My weight is about 128lbs (starting at 130), and my waist has lost about an inch (now 34-35 instead of 35-36). More importantly, I feel like I'm making some minor strides in getting some things accomplished. While I've read that some folks don't like Kempo X, I kind of dig it and feel so inspired "while" I'm throwing all those punches and kicks, which make me feel as if I could accomplish just about anything I put my mind to. Though it seems that might just be the endorphins kicking in, as I'm happy to ratchet back the ambitions once the workout is complete.

Knitting newbie mistakes: accidental stitch increases

Foam Roller

My husband has been having some issues with his knee, and his physical therapist recommended he try foam rolling. So I got him a big piece of foam exactly like the one in the picture (from amazon) for Christmas. It looks like an over sized pool noodle, only it's harder, thicker around, and rigid. He feels it's really helping him and has been looking up all sorts of ways to roll various muscles on YouTube. When my middle back was tightening up, he was able to instruct me on some rolling points to help alleviate my discomfort. It does feel kind of nice to be honest.

While I've been doing the P90X lean schedule (currently finishing up week 6), I deviated today by joining my husband in doing the plyometric workout, which I'd never attempted before. Some of the plyometric exercises are in the core synergistic and cardio workout and if I could rename it I'd call it "Jump, jump, jump, x infinity." Tony Horton calls plyometric "the mother of all workouts." Indeed, this workout generated the greatest amount of sweat I've experienced while doing a P90X workout.