It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..

 We've had our Pageant.

Another fabulous community event.

With lots of local floats, lollies and good cheer.

It's such a lovely way to get together as a community 

and celebrate the start of the Christmas Season.

 It's become a tradition to put our tree up after the Pageant.

Heather was fascinated with the process.

All the decorations from years past were hung with lots of talk about their history.

" I remember ..." was said frequently.

 Very few of our ornaments are shop bought.

Mostly they have been made by the kids in years past.

And here is the little Geek.

Heather managed to snaffle both ipads.

One she had iview on and the other she was playing the new ABC Kids app.

She is a whiz with an ipad.

Not a lot crafty going on here.

I've been baking lots of Gingerbread and eating it too!

I've been swimming a lot, which makes finding time to run difficult.

Rose and I have been to two swim meets this season..

Rose keeps beating her personal best times.

I'm slowly improving my technique.

The kids are all out swimming me.

Many of the kids I train with, I taught when I was relief teaching a couple of years back.

It's nice to spend time with them again in a different context.

The kids are been great in accepting me as a fellow team member.

Our swimming club has such a lovely supportive and friendly atmosphere.

 

Taking the plunge

 

Pattern For the English Woman's Weekly 29th November 2011

Less than 4 weeks to go... 

and I still haven't bought a single present!

So much for last years promise to myself not to leave it to the last minute this year!

I've opened an Etsy store.

My handspun yarns will slowly get listed as 

I work out what I have and get the time to take photos.

The LINK to the new Shop.

I've been setting myself some new goals.

One of which is to become a Successful Creative Fibre Artist.

I had to think about what my measure of success is.

I've decided it's money!

And as such I need to start making an effort to sell some of my yarns and creations.

If I fail, well I fail, there's nothing lost.

And I'm used to failing so it's not a new emotion to deal with.

But you never know I may just be successful.

Feel the fear and do it anyway!

Ho Ho Ho....

Ho Ho Ho..

There's 4 weeks to go!

Just in case you didn't know

A rather wobbly santa.

Pattern from the English Woman's Weekly 29 November 2011

Fit Your knits.

Another Craftsy course I'm enrolled in is Fit Your Knits.

One of the knits featured is Bad Penny by Stefanie Japel

 Bad Penny is a free pattern from Knitty.com

 I've altered the Bad Penny pattern to include waist and hip shaping.

Although the pattern is a little big in the shoulders for me,

I am happy with the fit of the waist and hip shaping.

I knitted the smallest size of this pattern,

I will knit it again but will reduce the size by casting on less stitches.

 I'm enjoying the Craftsy Course.

I've been binge eating again.

I still battle with the emotional eating.

Last night I baked some Afghan biscuits and

I knew when I was making them I was going to binge, 

but it didn't stop me!

I'm an emotional eater, 12 months ago I would of told you 

I'm fat because I eat too much and don't exercise. I just like eating.

I know now it's a lot more complicated than that.

You can like eating and not be obese.

My obesity came from emotional eating.

From not dealing with my feelings but eating them down.

From not saying and expressing how I feel.

I can see now if I don't change my parenting my children

may too be dealing with obesity.

I need to help my children to learn to express themselves emotionally.

I need to stop telling them how they should and should not feel.

I need to start telling them it's ok to feel angry.

When I'm angry and frustrated I eat my feelings.

The kids were noisy, arguing and fighting last Saturday.

I was feeling frustrated and angry and fed up.

I headed off to the supermarket to grab a few things for lunch.

While there I bought a large pack of Salt and Vinegar chips.

The thought pattern as I put those chips in the trolley was....

"Oh you've been so good, 

you deserve a treat, 

you can just have a few and put the rest on the table for the kids,

they are on special!"

Most of the chips were eaten by the time I got home.

I won't be going near the supermarket when I feel so angry and frustrated again.

When I started my journey to lose weight,

I never knew how much I'd learn about myself along the way.

When I started I was so focused on all I had to give up to lose the weight,

now I see how much more I have gained.

I may never get to the point where I don't battle the binge,

but being aware of my behaviours and the triggers for them 

gives me the ability to learn new coping skills.

Comments are turned back on

After cleaning out my email inbox of over 2000 emails!!
I have come to the conclusion that having comments turned back on may be a good idea.
I found emails in my inbox that readers have sent and I've not replied too because I hadn't realised they were there. Emails lost amongst the marketing emails and spam emails. I think I have been a little too free in signing up to all the FREE marketing emails, with all the FREE patterns and information.

Another example of information overload and how it gets in the way of being productive.

I'm going to start blocking and unsubscribing from many of the marketing ones, will be a work in progress!

If you have sent me an email of late and not heard back from me, expect a reply shortly!

It's all in my mind...

In the supermarket yesterday I was lined up at the checkouts. One of the other school mums stopped and smiled at the woman in front of me and started a conversation, she never acknowledged me! Seemed to look blankly at me as I smiled at her from behind the woman she was chatting to.

I was a little upset as I left the supermarket. Had I offended this woman? She normally smiles and says hi. We aren't friends, more nodding acquaintances.

I let myself stew on the incident for awhile, then it struck me, she probably hadn't recognized me! I haven't seen her for awhile. It's happened a couple of times now. Especially since my last hair cut and colour.

Makes me ponder how I sometimes create my own dramas, by making assumptions.

It's just not FAIR!

One of my children just loves to scream, "It's just not fair!"
Usually screamed at another sibling, or me, or just life as a whole.

Life really isn't fair.  Something I tell my kids often, a lesson they seem to be learning slowly.
Makes me ponder, why do many of us believe life should be fair?
Does it make us feel safe, by believing there is a set of fairness rules for life?


How my children deal with their perceived unfairness of life will be a test of their character and of my parenting.

I can finally see there are three ways I can deal with difficult moments in my life....

1. Rant, rave, scream. Make myself and everyone around me as miserable about the situation as possible.

2. Work to change the situation. Take inspiration from the adversity and make the most of it, as an opportunity to grow. Use it as the catalyst for change, that will make the world a better place.

3. Let go and move on.

I am much happier when I can accept that life is just not fair.

While I'm in a deep and meaningful mood....

I've discovered that:
I'm much happier when I'm not overwhelming myself with too much information.
I'm more creative when I'm not constantly on the net looking for inspiration.
When I focus on a few core things in my life,  I can achieve many things.
Simple doesn't mean easy. It's simple to lose weight eat less, exercise more... but is it easy?
Simple things are the most important things.

Hat, hat and more hats!

Sweetpea hat

 I spent a happy weekend working through the Craftsy Course

Learn to Knit Hats four ways.

Wheeler

 I really enjoyed the course.

Even though this course is aimed at beginners 

there were still a few little tricks I learned.

There are 3 hat patterns included in the Course Materials.

I enjoyed knitting along with Stefanie Japel

Sweet Pea again

 I tried a couple of new to me ways of knitting hats.

I'd never knit in the round with one long circular needle before.

I still prefer the short circular and will mostly use my new found skills 

for decreasing the tops of hats instead of Double Pointed needles

Rosie

 The course covered a lot about design of hats.

And I feel pretty confident now in designing a few of my own hats.

You may see one or two new hat designs popping up on the blog in the near future.

If you are interested in doing the course,

check out the discount you get if you enroll in the FREE shrug workshop.

I need to knit a couple more of the shrugs in cotton.

They'll be handy in keeping the sun off my shoulders as I walk down to the pool.

You're worse than a reformed smoker!

I had a huge chuckle when Pete threw at me today..."You're worse than a reformed smoker!!"

He's right you know!

I just want to shake some people and tell 'em.

"Wake up! You're killing yourself!"
"You are beautiful, you are worthy, you need to love yourself!"
" You deserve to be here for as long as you can."
"The world needs you!"

I walked past a beautiful, tender young mother in the shopping mall the other day. She was cuddling and kissing her child. The love just radiated from her. And she was morbidly obese. And I felt so sad for her, sad for all she may miss out on. Sad for the example she unwillingly is setting for her child.

I am going to keep this weight off. I have too, I have seven beautiful children to raise. I tell myself it would be wrong for me, not do everything in my power to ensure I am the healthiest I can be, to live as long as I can, to be the mother they need me to be. That is my motivation, it's also the stick I hit myself with when I think it's all too hard.

One-skein knit shrug

I've been getting emails with offers for joining Craftsy.

I've ignored them mostly, then I took a little peak 

and found they had a FREE workshop with Stefanie Japel

 One-Skein Knit Shrug

The pattern is free with the workshop.

I really enjoyed the workshop and ended up buying a couple of the courses.

psst...Size 9 Jeans west jeans ;-)

 I knitted my shrug in my handspun yarn.

The shrug is easy to knit and can be varied easily.

I will be knitting a few more of these little shrugs.

I've discovered that swimming is like riding a bike,

once you know how to do it you can remember how to years later!

After 20 plus years of not going anywhere near a swimsuit I'm now swimming laps!

I'm remembering how much I loved swimming as a kid and the skills are returning.

I'm getting better technique, endurance and speed every session.

As a kid I was in Surf Life Savers and spent many hours in the pool training.

I grew up on the beach and even used to surf!!

Over the years I had forgotten how much I loved to be physically active.

I used to think my weight wasn't a problem, it never stopped me doing what I wanted to do.

I had forgotten how much I enjoyed being active.

I'm turning 45 in a few weeks!

And for my birthday I'm hoping to get an underwater MP3 player.

handspun and knit socks.

It's been a while since I made socks.

My stash of handspun is getting out of hand so time to get some knitting done.

 I spun the yarn from a Lucinvale fleece, I dyed with Earth Palette dyes.

It's not a particularly soft fibre so will wear well for socks.

 I'm not a snob with fibres or fabrics.

I've been working with fibres and fabrics long enough to know they all have their place.

I like a fibre with a little strength for bags, socks and hats, things that need to take hard wear.

I like soft fibers for scarfs, cowls and things to cuddle into.

 Hand knit socks are just so nice,

I knit them to fit my feet perfectly.

I can make them delicate and pretty or practical and hard wearing.

I can make them soft and snuggly for indoor wear 

or tough and practical for hiking up a mountain.

Since losing the weight my feet now fit into lots of pretty shoes!

I now have a shoe fetish.

Was it easy for me?

"It was easy for you to lose the weight!" 

I know why people make such an inane comment, that belittles my weight loss. They do it because they think anyone who loses the weight it is easy for. It makes them feel better about not having lost the weight themselves.

I too made those excuses. It was too hard for me to lose weight, I have 7 kids under 14 years, I have a husband who works away from home, I'm breastfeeding, I don't have the time for me to exercise and on and on I'd make those excuses. They are just excuses!

I worked hard to lose my weight. It took a lot of effort and focus to change my behaviours. It didn't happen over night, it was day in and day out of eating to propoints and exercising. It was recording everything I put into my mouth. It was exercising when I didn't want to or feel like it. It was staying focused on remaining positive I was doing the 'right' thing on weeks where the scales didn't move or worst moved the wrong way!

Being in the normal weight range makes me one of the odd ones out these days. I go shopping and I'm often the only person in a normal weight range in the shop! I never realised when I was obese how many of us are.

And I also never realised how much harder it can be to find clothes for people in normal weight ranges these days. Miller's starts at size 10, and a very generous size 10 it is!! Dress sizes have been sneaking up, big time. I know because my Size 12 1990's Lisa Ho ballgown just fits me, but I can squeeze into a few size 8's these days.

With so many of us being overweight, it has become normal. To such an extent that plus size models are  becoming popular. The media jumped up and down seeing the super skinny models but no one seems to find plus size models to also not be a great role model. I want women of a healthy weight advertising clothes. I don't want permission to get big again. I don't want to feel comfortable to be outside of my healthy weight range again. I don't want clothes sizes to continue to get increasingly generous to make me feel it's ok to put on those extra few kilos.

It is not ok to be obese, it's not ok to be over weight! It's a health risk and just as smoking and alcohol abuse are not ok neither is over eating and under exercising. Like smoking around kids affects their health, being overweight and obese when you have kids affects their health too. Kids learn from what they see around them. As a community we do pay for the health care costs as a result. Not that I'd advocate we don't but I think it is all of our concern that as a society we are becoming so unhealthy.

If I can do it, you can too!

Oh so far.....

 Taken 25th September 2010

Taken 19th September 2011

Today I wore a swimsuit, 

I went to the local pool and swam my first lap in about...

I have no idea!  Must be at least 20 years at least.

Silk, merino, glitz and bunny OH MY!

 The fiber was from a Batt Club from Jane at Moseley Park

 I chose a simple pattern to show off the beauty of this yarn.

Josephine shawl

I added a crochet shell edge.

Where's Ollie?

Sleeping in a pile of fleece!

Spin and weave

 Spun from Lucinvale fleece, that I dyed with Earth Palette Rubin.

I left this as a single yarn which I heavily fulled to add strength.

The fulling must of worked as I was able to use the yarn in the warp with no breakage.

 I love the texture and colour in this scarf.

It's already gone to a new home.

Spin, weave, sew

 Romney X fleece from Lucinvale.

Spun and plied on itself. 

I spun mostly from the fold of the lock.

Woven on an Ashford Knitters loom into fabric.

 Sewn into little drawstring bags.

Embellished with crochet flowers also from handspun yarn.

 Amazing how much I get done when I'm not surfing the web for inspiration!

Interweave Fall 2011

 I love a good knitting magazine.

I do try to resist buying them as I have way too many now.

Interweave Knits Fall 2011 was too good to walk past in the newsagents.

 Yarn: Shiver

Pattern: Pembroke Wrap

This took less than a day to knit.

I bought the Shiver at spotlight on special for 50c a ball.

It's a soft acrylic and has been in the stash for a couple of years now.

From fleece, to yarn, to skirt

 There is great satisfaction in taking a fleece.

Washing it, combing it, spinning it, 

washing the yarn and knitting it.

 To produce something wearable.

Pattern: Bryn Mawr skirt - Interweave Knits fall 2011

 I spun the fleece by grabbing handfuls at random and spinning from the lock.

This lead to the lovely variation in the colour.

The yarn was plied on it self.

The fleece was incredibly soft a Finn X cross from Lucinvale.

 

 Now at 59kg, I am working on maintaining my weight.

I bought size 9 jeans from Jeanswest yesterday.

I finally found jeans tight enough in the legs with enough room for the mummy tummy.

Halloween

Bliss...

Two cups of skim milk Cappuccino, an hour of uninterrupted knitting, 

reading emags and NO children!

What more could a mum want...

to come home and do an 8km run before starting dinner.

Scream!!!!!

I didn't realize I was the first woman over the finish line and left after the run.

Turns out I won a medal and some cash! Not bad for a 44 year old mum of 7. All goes to prove it's never too late to get fit and fabulous!

How much yarn is in that ball? A simple way to work it out!

I have lots of balls of yarn sitting around that I have partly used and have 

no idea how many meters are left.

This is what I worked out to do....

It's the maths teacher approach ( in a former life I was a maths teacher!!)

Here 10 meters of yarn = 12 grams

 Measure out ten meters from the ball, 

make a little ball around your hand, without breaking the yarn.

Measure the weight of the little ball on the kitchen scales.

Weight all the yarn.

This yarn is 60 grams.

I know that 12 grams is equal to 10 meters

I divide 12 ( the mass of 10 meters) into 60 ( the mass of all the yarn)

Which gives me 5, I have 5 lots of 10 meters
Therefor 5 multiplied by 10 is 50 meters of yarn.

Now isn't that easier than measuring it all....

Another Goal Kicked!

 Way back on February the 2nd I set myself a few goals.

Even wrote them down.

To loose 30kgs and run in the Jamestown Fun Run.

crossing the finish line ..Time of 27:01:83

Today all my goals are complete.

I need to set myself a few more goals.

From Obese Couch Potato to Fit Fabulous Forty+ 

in 10 months!

Dreams do come true, it takes an hour a day.

Challenge completed

We made it. Ten playgrounds in one day! One in Alford and three in Port Pirie.

I didn't take a photo of the fast food outlet playground. The last one, at the beach, we made just on dusk!

Home safe and sound. All tired and happy from our adventures. I'm trying to work out how far I drove today, I'll estimate about 400kms.