Obviously, I am not merely watching this DVD. I am strenuously working out to it. I remember the Lotte Berk method from my dancing days, so I knew it would be a good choice for days when I did not go rassle with the Hammer Strength machines. This is one of those deceptive workouts, like Pilates and ballet, which are — if you do them right — much more effective than you would think if you were in fact just sitting down and watching them. The very toned instructor is almost 50, and says “Courage!” in the middle of a segment, as well as gloating “I love the weights section!” more than once. This appeals to the little bit of gym-masochism I have left over from said dancing days.
Also, Yarn Ho!
Here is the Plymouth Stone Cotton, in Red and Electric Blue. This is a Dutch yarn. It is not mercerized, not shiny, not slippery. It has a much firmer hand and more traditional cotton-y feel. I swatched it up for a second T-shirt. I tried it on #3 needles, and got 17 stitches over 4″, so I switched to #2s with complete success. The swatch below was done half on 3s and half on 2s, and I am going to take it entirely apart now so I can use all the yarn.
The characters of the two yarns are very different, and I will be doing them rather differently, so I don’t think I’ll feel like I have two identical garments.
The blue is for Pokey — but shall I send her some #2 needles? I notice that a lot of people are knitting their T-shirts on 8s and 10s. I suspect rampant nervousness, but I don’t know. Maybe I’ll let her get her own needles. I hope we all remember that the yarn for Pokey was supposed to be a bribe so that she would tell me how to put links on my xanga. See, without being able to do that, I have to try to work them into the discussion, like this: Creating (Text)iles is one of my new favorite knitting blogs. Otherwise, I have to try to remember which blog it was that I thought was cool, and then find it again. If I could put them all on the left with my xanga subscriptions, I would not have this problem. I admit that it is not much of a problem, but I am sending that yarn off today, Pokey, so think about it in your copious free time.
At this link you will find Kim‘s completed T-shirt looking very cute.
It is such a cute pattern, but it looks so hard! And I don’t have any cottony yarn, I’d have to buy some. Ack! Knitting peer pressure! 🙂
LOL, I am not Japanese. I also don’t really wear skirts that short. My sister is just a big Manga fan, so she drew me Manga-style.
Working out in front of a video only works for a while. I found I needed someone live with me when working from a video. My dance teacher runs pilates-yoga sessions in front of a video twice a week that I used to go to when I was a student (I still try to sneak away from work occasionally to attend) It’s more fun than watching the video alone. Whenever the video instructor is giving his suggestions, instructions, and positive thinking cliches we all grumble and say things like ‘It’s fine for him, he is only talking’ or ‘Don’t you hate Julia?’ (she’s the slim leggy student on the video who can do everything the instructor says and she doesn’t even ‘glow’. We sweat, we don’t glow.
I would be seriously considering homeschooling if I were bringing up school age kids in today’s world. I don’t like the education system here (neither do the kids apparently) nor do I think schools are as safe for children as they once were. There may not necessarily be more physical bullying but I think verbal bullying (particularly with girls as the perpetrators and the victims) has increased since my school days.