Creative Juices are FLOWING!!!

I am working on some designs right now for a line of knits. I am on a lace kick right now so they are starting out as a few different lace shawls and then maybe I will go on to a few sweaters and maybe some socks from there. I am just sketching on them right now. I still have some decisions to make as far as what I want them to look like and all that. I am in the middle of knitting a shawl right now that I would really like to finish first. I am excited because I have never done much designing before so this is going to be my first "real" design. I have done some small stuff before but nothing on quite this big of a scale before. It feels very good to get this creative side out and exercising it a little bit. I am also wanting to spin the yarn for these. At least for the final products, not necessarily for the "trial" ones. I have colors that I am working on in my head that my limited amount of colored pencils is just not allowing me to show on paper right now. Mostly because I am thinking probably doing heathered colors since I LOVE heathers. I have one of the colors pretty well picked out, just have to spin it up and go. I might play with some dying next weekend. I don't have much time during the week right now to dye. My supervisor just had a baby so I have to stay an hour later at work every day (OT for me!) and it really cuts into my evenings. Plus I am usually so exhausted that by the time I get done exercising and eating dinner, it is time for bed. I may try to soak some yarn tonight and have it dying while I exercise tomorrow. LOL! Maybe I will take my crock pot to work with me and dye there! It is just going to be a very small amount because I am experimenting with it. I need to buy some more fiber. *sigh*

The Creatures of the Reef shawl is coming along nicely. I finished the first chart last night and ran a lifeline. I am three rows into the second chart. I have to say I really enjoy this pattern. It was designed by Dorothy Siemens and she has several others that are very lovely. I will definitely be knitting the peacock feathers shawl, maybe later this year. I may try to get a blog post going later on today or tomorrow on what all I will be trying to knit for the remainder of 2009. It will be kind of short right now because we are going to be moving in a couple months and I am trying to not buy much yarn/fiber right now so that there will be less to pack. Since we have a soft top Jeep we can't rent a pull behind UHaul and we don't have much we want to take with us. Most of our stuff will either be sold or donated. We already donated what amounted to 6 or 7 lawn sized bags of clothes, and there are still more to go! Oh and there was close to one bag of unmendable, stained, or otherwise undonatable clothes. So basically if it is not in my stash now, it won't be for a couple of months (maybe I will buy enough to knit another shawl). I am trying really hard to destash what I have now. I am knitting an afghan for my aunt to destash and I am going to do a couple of charity projects as well, if I have enough yarn that I can do it in. I have lots of single skeins. The rest will probably be donated or something. Just keep my good yarns.

I am feeling like my brain is working a lot better right now than it was. I wonder if it is because I have cut way down on the amount of carbs I eat. I really hate admitting that because I am a self admitted carboholic and I kind of miss my carbs. I am doing pretty good on my diet. Not that I have been perfect, but even the times that I have been "bad" I have limited myself and, well, I am proud. It has taken a long time for me to get to this point, where I am in control of what I am eating. I think I am driving my husband crazy with it though. He is the one "helping" me with the diet and there are times when I get kind of cranky when all I want is a big bowl of pasta. I don't mean to make him feel bad. I really do appreciate what it is that he is helping me do. It is getting easier and I have been losing weight. I haven't done so hot this weekend. I haven't worked out once and I have had steamed WHITE rice twice and I am not admitting what I ate at Village Inn with my dad the other morning. Pancakes and fried potatoes may have been involved. But other than those minor setbacks I am still good. Oh and I have not had enough water this weekend. Oh well. I will drink some in a bit.