A Pom Hat

I’ve been a busy bee this weekend.  I made three hats this weekend.  The first two you can see by reading my past two blog entries.  This one is the latest in granny square hats.  I used the granny square idea that I got from Laughing Goldfish Designs pattern.  This time I used a combo of variegated orange and white/cream yarns.  I’m still having a problem figuring out how to adjust the size for adult heads.  I’ve followed Goldfish’s pattern for the number of rows and expansions and either my gauge is smaller than hers or Aussie heads are smaller than my American head (just kidding J).

When this hat was finished I decided that it too needed some embellishment.  I found a pom pom maker as I was looking for beads this weekend.  I don’t know where I bought it but it’s these three sets of plastic circles.  You put the circles together and wrap yarn all the way around the circle.  You can put as much or as little yarn around each circle. 

Once you have it wrapped all around you cut the yarn on the outer loops.  And wrap a piece of yarn or piece of string around the center you just cut out.  Tie it VERY tightly and then rub it all between your hands to fluffy it up. And Viola you end up with a pom pom. 

So for this hat I made three small pom poms and then I did a combo knot/sew job to affix them to the hat.  Of course, now they just look like 1 pom pom so I probably should’ve just made a big pom pom in the first place, but Oh, Well…  Whatya gonna do? Right?

So, here’s the finished product.

I think I need to learn how to crochet a brim.  I think these hats would look cute with a turned up brim.

Another New Hat

A few months ago – when it was cold – I began working on a hat.  It was a simple single crochet round hat.  The basic pattern was to go round and round and round increasing the number of stitches on each row until you have a hat big enough for your head.  I ran out of yarn and I put it aside.  I finally picked up a new skein of the same color yarn.  It’s not from the same lot of coloring but I don’t think you can tell the difference.  Instead of just continuing with the plain single crochet I decided to add a little flair to the hat.

So, I created several rows of double crochet granny square type stiching.  I finished off the edging of the cap by doing a reverse crochet.  I don’t remember where I heard about reverse crochet but thanks to You Tube I was able to figure out how to do it and made that my main edging on this hat.

Once I finished that, I decided it needed more flair.  I wanted to add beads so I began looking around my house.  I knew I had beads in one of my drawers.  (I’m not a very organized person).  Well, I found a bag of beads and ornaments.  They were from a kit.  I made these ornaments to give away one year but never gave them away.  So, I took the circle ornament and some gold thread that came with the kit and sewed the ornament onto the hat.  I don’t know if the ornament or thread will survive if/when the hat is washed, but until then, I’m very pleased with how this came out.  

This is the best close up I could get of the ornament, granny stitching and the reverse crochet.

Had to take a pic of it on my head.  I don't know how people take pictures of themselves.  Mine are always blurry or off center or just plain gross.  Anyway, there's the best shot out of too many where you can see what it'll look like on my head.

I think now it's time I get back to making squares for my afghan.  

I can't wait for winter to come.

My latest project

I must be crazy.  My AC compressor stopped working 4 days ago.  It was hotter in my house than it was outside.  This week was a hot week.  It was between 85-90 each day.  It was at least 88 degrees in the house.  All this leads me to trying to explain WHY I chose this latest project.  Well, I don’t know.  I follow a blog called Laughing Purple Goldfish Designs.  I believe the woman who writes this blog is in Australia.  She creates the best stuff by crocheting or knitting.  She knits with recycled VCR tape, plastic bags, cloth straps.   She has some of the greatest ideas.  She posted an article in April with a project called the Shabby Hat.  I don’t know why she called it shabby.  I thought it was pretty cool looking.  So I decided a few days ago, in the midst of sweating away the pounds I decided it was time to pull out her pattern instructions and give it a shot.  I didn’t understand all her instructions for the first round but I improvised and was able to make it work.  Below are the photos of my finished product.  It’s my Pink Camo Hat.  I almost can’t wait until winter comes so that I can wear this baby.

Front side of the hat with simple flower embellishments.

I've never done any embellishments before but I was inspired by Laughing Goldfish woman.

So I made these small simple flowers.

This is the back side of the hat.

 

A couple of shots of me wearing my new hat.

I really like this hat.  I'm going to make several more versions of it and see what kind of variations I can me.  

Thank you Laughing Purple Goldfish Designs for inspiring me.  

Man I can't wait for winter to come.

A Transformation Revolution

This past Saturday (May 15) I participated in my first 5K race.  I walked the “Riverfront Revolution 10K/5K run/walk” at the National Harbor in MD.

I’ve done 5K walks during my teen and college years but never a race.  I signed up for this event as a training exercise for myself.  I thought as long as I had a goal it would give me incentive to keep going to the gym and eat correctly.  I was really nervous.  I wasn’t certain that I would be able to finish the race within the required timeline.  The organizer told me (via e-mail) that they recommend people finish within 1 hour but they did have some people finish within 1:20:00 in the past.  I received two pieces of encouragement from some friends and my therapist.

What are you committed to? Are you more committed to your health and getting out there or being last and not being embarrassed? Being the last person over the line as the tear up the track you would still be better then the 100's of people who never got off the couch, better yet you can do it for all the people who could not walk if they wanted to.”

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31

When I picked up the race packet the organizer told several of us that if we didn’t get parked by 6 or 6:30am we’d have a hard time finding parking because they were going to close the roads and that’ll block the entrance to the parking garages too.  So, Friday I decided I would reserve myself a room at the Gaylord National Resort/Hotel.  I made the reservation for 2 days but only intended to stay for 1 night.  I ended up staying both night and I’m really glad that I did.

I am so glad I did.  I woke up and got ready for the race completely stress-free. 

I prayed a lot before the race began.  

The whole day was fun.  I came in at 1:21:06 and averaged a 21-min mile walking.  One section of it was hard because it went from pavement to gravel to sand for a short period.  Then there was this rather long hill.  It wasn't steep but long.  I looked at the map afterward and this hill was basically the first ½ of the 2^nd mile leg of the race.  There were 6-8 people behind me when I hit the hill and then about 1/4 way up I realized I was all alone.  I guess they quit and turned around.  The only reason I noticed I was all alone is because of what happened next. 

The hill was the stretch to the 5K turn around.  I could see people jogging and walking in front of me but there were a long way ahead of me.   I began to notice quite a few 10K/5K joggers were coming down the hill.  The first few gave me thumbs up, smiles, waves, said “way to go” and then it changed.  One by one they started cheering me on.  I’m pretty sure that wasn’t organized.  God just worked it out that way that I would feel encourage.  Of course, when I finally was coming back down the hill I was getting passed up but they kept encouraging me.  There was a spot about ¾ of the way through the race course where I could have cheated and cut across a field and cut probably ¼ mile off my walk.  It was very tempting but I passed it by. 

When I came into the finish line several of the 5K joggers waited for me because they didn't want me to be alone when I finished.  Some weird young guy gave me a hug, took a picture with me on his camera.  He then asked if he could have a drink out of my camel-pack.  What a weirdo.  A bunch of people came up and hugged me and called me brave.  I came away with a few battle scars.  I have an enormous blister on the bottom of my right foot that thankfully never popped.  If it had I don't think I would've been able to finish.  I hung around and sat outside for a while before leaving the harbor.  Got some sun on my face.

I felt really good when I was done.  The organizer gave out prizes for the best times in all the age groups but by the time he got around to giving them out most of the people were gone.  So, when he was done, I walked up to him and told him it was my first 5K and that I had done well and deserved a prize.  He looked shocked for a moment and then reached into his bag of goodies and gave me a free admission pass for DC Trolley Tours. 

There was a woman there who I talked with for a while.  She was 250lbs when she started walking/exercising in Jan. 2009.  I forgot to ask her how much she weighed now but she's kinda thin.  She was telling me all the different things she had done and that she didn't do her first 5K until after she had lost over 100lbs.  She kept telling me how impressed she was that I did it on my own.  She just kept saying that she never would have done it when she started off.  She was too self-conscious too.  I’m self-conscious too but I just had to do this.  I had to prove to myself that I could do it. 

I twittered a bunch before and after the race = http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23riverfront5k

Below are some random photos I took before and after the race.

I was glad to see that I hadn't finished last.  However, I have no idea where that person who came in behind me was.  There was no one behind me as I was walking up the long hill to the turn around point and I didn't pass by a single person as I was going back down the race route.

I didn't wear this shirt.  It's a nice XL shirt.  It fits very nicely too.

The awakening man.  I really think he looked better at Haines Point.  

I still don't understand why they moved him.

The Lost Dog Food

I lost a bag of dog food.

Well not literally.  I’ve been weighing myself semi-weekly.  Not on any regular schedule but often enough to track my progress.  I’ve lost 22 pounds.

I’ve been talking to my therapist for over a year now and I’m finally making progress.  It’s a long story on what I’m doing or how I’m doing it.  It’s a combination of things:

• In December 2009 I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.  To most people this is bad news but for me it was good news.  May be the best news.  I’m now forced to take my health seriously.  If I don’t, I could end up really hurting myself.
• I hooked up with a really great nutritionist - Robyn Webb.  I’ve known her for years.  She writes for Diabetes Forecast Magazine, does broadcasts on TV and writes books for the ADA and she writes cookbooks too.
• I started eating right and exercising at Bally’s Fitness.  I’m still only on a semi-regular exercise schedule but I get more and more consistent each week.
• Lastly, I’ve begun a Bible study with some of the women at my church.  The study is called the Lord’s Table.  It focuses on our relationship with God and how he wants to and can fill the void.  It’s an interesting study and it’s really helping me to not focus on food and focus on him more.

Anyway, so I’ve lost 22 pounds. That’s equal to 1 big and 1 med size bag of dog food.  I put them in my grocery cart and tried pushing them down the aisle.  It was heavy and hard.  See what that looks like.