5 days!

That's right. 5 days until my belly dance workshop of DOOM!! Or something. First, I would like to intro this post with something that one of the girls who is going to be in this workshop showed me. It is a comic to those who don't know any better, and so much an ironic truth to those of us who do. This, I imagine is what I will look like every. single. day. next week. I am so excited and feeling almost not prepared enough. Luckily, I have this weekend to jsut sit down and think about the power bars I need to get, the towel and deodorant I need to bring, the gatorades and lunches I need to plan. And then how to relax and just dance! That's what this is about, right? Dancing all week for one week. Intense dancing. Lots of it. But dancing!!
So what could top that comic? Envisioning me dragging myself up 3 flights of stairs to the cushy bed that will be calling my name. Well, it has been too long since the last time I bought dance shoes. They are too small and my cats chewed one of the laces so it ties.. oddly. Every time I put them on I think "Dammit.. I need new shoes". So today I stopped at the dance store (Actually, it was a costume store and along with dance stuff they had a whole inventory for Halloween..) and tried on various shoes. I found a pair that fit! And needs major breaking in. But they fit. (Can I break in a pair of shoes in one weekend?) I go to pay and they have these little bad sock/shoe thingies. Image included if my description wasn't good enough. The brand name is "footUndeez". Why? Well.. look at them. They look like granny panties. And (I wish I could google an image) when they are NOT on a cute little model's foot, they look even more like the Undeez. They are comfortable (I bought a pair) but it makes me giggle just thinking about the conversation I had with the cashier: "I thought they were little panties people would put on their keychains! It seemed wierd to me, but they are really popular!" Heh.
Those are my thoughts for the day. I must eat something before going to (guess?) dance. And I'll wear my new foot paraphernalia :o)

Ending one, Beginning one

The blanket is finished. And that makes me happy. Mr. A told me last night when I held it up to show him that "it looks like a normal people blanket because it's so big!" Aren't I glad I only used 3 of the 6 balls I had bought? Haha. Here is the picture as promised in the last post. I couldn't find the pen I kept using as a size guage, but I think the couch gives a good indication of size.



Thursday night was the second Boise night. At least for me anyway. Everyone who was working on the shawl had such beautiful progress. It was very exciting to see everyone's work and all the pretty colors that this shawl was chosen to be made into. I wasn't quite as far as the others though. At the cast on last week, I ripped out my first cast on in order to do one I preferred better. Then I dropped a stitch and didn't realize that my mysterious missing stitch was a dropped one until Friday. It was fixed. I had finished the purl row after my second pattern row, and since my fingers were occupied on another project, I didn't touch it until this Thursday. It was then that I realized that instead of moving forward in my pattern, I had just knit the first row again and my second pattern row. Read: I wasn't getting anywhere. So before starting I opted to rip back instead of tinking. Yep. Had to cast on again. I got into the first pattern row and at the end of it, I realized I had one too many stitches. Arg. Rip. After this cast on, I was still in the garter stitch border when it looked like a YO next to the cast on row, but there was no way to get rid of the ugly little hole. And yes.. something that small would drive me nuts. For those of you counting, this is rip #4. By the time I left knit night, I had a greand total of 2 garter stitch rows. It was a little frustrating, but I guess some nights are just not meant to be spent knitting. Even though it takes me all night to make that realization. I did not try to work on it at home, instead I just crawled in bed to try to sleep my headache away.

Last night I decided was a perfect night for knitting. Wonderful Ms. J sent me the chart she made for the pattern. I have never read a chart before, but I decided trying to decipher "\ . ./././. /" is easier than trying to read "blah blah blah, [blah (ee!!!)x3 blah blah] x3 blah blah (blah) x3 blah blah blah." It is very nice that I can look at my work and look at the chart and see the same image on my fabric as there are symbols on the chart. Thank you Ms. J for introducing me to this wonderful world of easy pattern reading! (And to the Queen for offering her version as well) The peg board that Maya Papaya let me borrow is also helping very much to keep track of exactly where I am. By the time I set down the Boise shawl last night, I had finished the first 11 row repeat. Hooray!! Now that I have that one set finished, I really understand the pattern. This is going to fly. I showed Mr. A what I had done so far and he poked at it saying "Wow! It's like.. you're first real pattern!" o.O Hey! My sock wasn't a real pattern? The blanket wasn't a real pattern?! The FROG BAG??? "I mean... your first complicated pattern.. with like... the little holes in it and the stuff and this [pointing to some stitch repeat in the shawl]" Thanks, hun! I corrected him in that this was not my first pattern or my first complicated pattern, but probably my first lace pattern. :p Since I was in a picture taking mood, I also took pictures of the first repeat. Hooray!!
The image on the left is the overall image. Silly circs make it curl.

The image on the right (or bottom) is a close up of the patterning.

FO!!

I finished the baby blanket at midnight last night. I was working on it is the evening and by the time I started the border of 12 garter stitches, I thought "I am not going to sleep until this is completed!" I ended up using only half the yarn I thought I was going to need. It is so big and soft and stretchy. And I am very proud of it. All I have to do on it is weave in the ends. I'll be posting pictures .... later when I am looking more awake.
Now I only have my boise shawl! Hello monogomy :o) I feel so much better when I only have one project, especially when that project is something that I am really excited about and want to put all of my focus into. Hooray!!!

1 week, 4 days!

Until the Suhaila workshop, that is. And how am I feeling? A little nervous. A little scared. And a lot unprepared. I can't believe it is already September, and the MIDDLE of September at that. I've hit a plateau and it is making it hard on me. I know mentally what my body should be doing, when it should be doing it and how to do it. But my body is half assedly relpying. I am thinking too hard on getting it right. Maybe that is my problem. Monday I felt like a duck again, and things didn't look right. At least to my super critical eye. I wonder if I was a little to overzealous in signing up for this workshop and if maybe I should have waited a few months to a year. I hope this helps me grow and gives my body at least a better understanding of how to go about dancing.
I think I am too stressed out about things. The baby blanket that needs to be finished. The boise shawl that I am itching to work on. The sweater that I can't wait to start. The 4 teeth that I are going to be extracted in less than a month. Too much is going on. I am getting a little overwhealmed. Eek. I am also trying to figure out how I am going to pull off going to this workshop all week 9am-3:30pm and then battle traffic to get to work to at least do something. Sigh.

Blanket Part 2

I have spent almost all day today working on the baby blanket, some of yesterday, and a few hours Friday night. I am currently on the third skein of yarn and at the rate I am going I may finish sooner than expected. It is actually growing larger than expected with the yardage already knit up.

I am really excited to almost being finished with a project and only having just begun the Boise. At least I can claim I am mostly project monogomous! :o)

Oh boy, oh Boise!

Tonight was the cast on for the boise shawl. Hooray! I had brought the baby blanket to work on until we officially cast on. We had red velvet cupcakes ala Snark, and wine brought in by Lisa. Perfect cast on party treats. It was great fun; the group was our usual boisterous selves during the cast on and the first 4 rows of garter stitch. But there was a large silence where it was obvious that we were all concentrating very hard on the first row of actual stuff.. the 3 repeats in the section to be repeated 3 times, followed by something very similar that overall lasts for 94 stitches. Once most of us had that first row down it was gabby time for the purl row until the stuff row happened again. I managed to end my second row with 4 too many stitches and spent the last 10 minutes of knit night undoing that row to within 10 stitches of the beginning, and redoing it. The second time it came out exact. Hooray!

The yarn is very nice and fun to knit with. It is all soft and speedy. And speedy does mean it knits fast and it slips.. a lot. But it is soft, so it's all okay. This is my and the group as a unit's first knit along, and I am super thrilled. :o) I can't wait until we are all mid knit with the same shawl in varying lengths and colors all with our own personal touches. Mmmm KAL's.

Blanket

I had a little bit of time, so I thought I would show what I had done on the baby blanket. This is the amount after a week and a half of knitting. Note, I don't have a huge amount of time to knit what with 8 hours of work and a number of hours of dancing each week. But by these estimations, I should be done in 3 more weeks? Maybe? Why didn't someone tell me to make an itty bitty sweater? :p I also added a close up picture of the corner to show the stitch detail. Yai blanket. And two days until Boise!!!

Knit-in-law

The Boise knit along starts this week! Can I be any more excited? My mother in law came out this week, half on business and half to visit us. They were supposed to get in about 5pm Thursday night, and my plan was to take her to knit night while Mr. A found something for his dad to do. Of course, the train got in 7 hours late, so that didn't happen. Instead, before all of the rush of everything we had planned to do this weekend, I took her to Marin Fiber Arts on Saturday morning. She noticed the main difference between a California shop and a New England shop: here we have light yarns to make a variety of light things while there, they have very heavy wools for making afghans and thick sweaters. She was amazed at all of the yarns and the different types Warren has. We seemed to do a pretty good job of distracting Warren and Maya from rearranging the shop to actually get some yarn on shelves. We both ended up getting the Rowan Classic Style book 16, because there were so many cute things in there! She also bought some yarn to do one of the vests in said book along with 2 balls of the very Tapestry I have been eyeing since it first surfaced in the shop. Since it was recently my birthday, she was going to let me spend some money on yarn. After some debate, I ended up going with the turquiose (525 Kingfisher apparently) color. I have commited to the 2 person knit along that will commence once the shawl is completed! :o) Maya and I have both fallen for a certain sweater top pattern in the most recent Interweave Knits, and since there was so much talk about knit alongs being thrown around what with the addictive shawl, we decided to have a mini one as well. Hooray!
We came back to the apartment and Deb had some hanks that she wanted spun; she doesn't have a swift in Boston (why there are knitters out there who don't is beyond me. It is your best friend!!). She has been working on a sweater for me and had just finished the back. We measured it to make sure it would fit. One of the hanks we spun was the yarn for this. I didn't recognize it since it was almost a year since I picked out the yarn and commented how pretty it was as I was setting it up. At least it's nice to know that I still like it! It is a wool blend with.. something (refer back to that year thing.. and I was hurrying a little so I didn't look at the tag) and is very soft when loose in the hank. However, when knit it became a little rougher. It is still very nice in the sweater, it is just going to need to have a little cami under it when I wear it. Yai! Someone is knitting me something! I think this may be my first knitted gift FROM someone. Heh.
There was a good deal of driving the past 2 days, and at every chance I could (when not getting car sick) I would knit a row on the baby blanket. One ball down....5 to go? At the rate I seem to be going It may taken me a month to finish it. But the knit alongs will hinder progress that quickly. Oh well. Speaking of which.. I should make some progress...

I need 40 hour days...

Only two weeks until the Boise knit along. Every day I come into my "yarn room" (yes, in my teeny apartment I have a yarn room.. also a guitar room, a sewing room, a train room... it's all the same room, but it's there!) and I stare at my bag of beautiful yarn. I can't wait to start it, and it is going to be so cool that a whole group of other people are going to be knitting it with me. Going to this knitting group has brought me a lot of firsts. I made my first felted bag (first larger felted object), I am going to be doing my first knit along, and last night, I finished my first sock!!! So exciting! I'll post pictures in my next entry, I don't have quite enough time to do it now. But it felt so good! The sock is very cute. I made it an ankle sock since I don't like for them to be too tall on my leg. I think it is just barely too big and that I should have started the heel almost half and inch before I did. But oh well. It still fits reasonably well, and it was a learning experience. These are going to be socks for wearing at home when my feet are cold. Well, when I finish the nexst sock.
Before starting the sock, I had to struggle to think of something to do.. before I eventually decided on braving sock making. Now, I have so many projects lined up that I am going to have to work on multiple items at once. Don had a baby on Monday. It wasn't due until October, so I thought I had plenty of time to waste before diving into the baby item for him. Brandon is only about 4.5lbs, and I have to work quick! I am making a baby blanket and will send it out to them as quickly as I can. Oh yeah, did I mention I have this knit along? And the knit along after that? Or how about the mate to my first sock? Yep. Looks like I am going to have plenty of things to keep me busy.
And if I didn't have enough knitting to do, dancing has become very intense. On Monday I am taking 2 hours of class, Wednesday I am taking another hour of class, and on Saturday I am taking a choreography class. Because of the choreogrpahy, I need to practice the dance a good amount of time so that when I go into class I don't look like the only fool who doesn't know what they are doing. I think I get too stressed out before classes. Outside of class I think all these happy things about dancing and how fun it is, and how much I love belly dancing. But at the same time, I look at all these girls who are dancing with me and I think how will I ever become as good as them? Will I always be tripping over my own feet and never be able to do a horizontal figure 8 front to back while my feet are doing a pas de bourettee? It also didn't help that I talked to a girl before class on Wednesday and she told me about a journal she follows of one of the girls who is taking the currently on going Level3 Workshop (note: in a few weeks, I am going to be taking the level 2 Workshop). Apparently in the journal, the girl says that in the survivor bag that Suhaila gives everyone, one fo the items is a box if tissues. And that on the first day she had the whole group in tears. o_O She also said everything was double time... I can just barely do full time and get lost when I have to even think about double time. When I told the girl that I am going to the level2 workshop, she said she wasn't because she didn't have the endurance... This girl dances better than I do. She has better buscle control and can have her feet do one thing while her hips/abs/objiques are doing something else. What the hell have I gotten myself into? I am beginning to doubt that I should have signed up for this. I think that talking about all of these things made me stress out before dancing. Eesh!

It's Official

The knit along is on! Last week at knit night we saw the demo of the Karabella Boise Lace Wrap, which was absolutely devine. It was in Warren's store made with the rose color (64 on the website). It was decided that we should have a knit along and we would cast on as a group on the first Thursday of September. I was bouncing between a few possible colors to make mine out of. There was a purple (65), a soft blue (67.. however it looks grey on my computer screen), and a soft green (68). I ultimately decided on the green since I am fond of the color and already have a blue shawl. The purple was also a little too striking although it is my favorite color. Maybe if it had been softer. In any case, I bought my yarn! Three of us did, actually and it seemed to make Warren's night. :o) I am very excited to start this and can't wait for September! We are decidedly having a party when the last person (most likely me.. I knit slow) finishes the wrap.
At the same time, Papaya and I decided to make the same top from the last issue of IK. Once the first knit along is completed, we are going to begin our own little knit along. Hooray!

Yarn Swap

Yesterday the Berkeley SnB had a yarn swap where a bunch of people could get together and share their stashes of yarn in exchange for whatever else anyone wanted. I figured I'd bring a bunch of the yarns I have laying around that wasn't already tagged for some project and whatever I couldn't exchange for something I would have donated to the local women's shelter. One of the women bought 4 skeins from me, and I traded one skein with another woman for 2 small skeins of her yarn. I ended up leaving most of my yarn there for being donated, and the fact that I left with my Stitches bag almost completely empty made me feel like the day was quite successful.
One of the girls there wore her freshly completed Mesilla from knitty. I *think* she used knitpick's Shine yarn, and it came out really pretty. It kinda fit better than the one of the website. Another woman brought her foster kittens. They were so cute and were very curious! 3 week old kittens! I wanted to trade yarn for one of them although I don't think someone would have forgiven me if I had. Mr. A would have gotten over it because it's a small cute fuzzy thing, but Ms. CoraTess on the other hand.. She wasn't too happy a year ago when I brought our second cat home. Oh well, they were fun to pet.
I also got some time to work on my sock. There were two other socks in progress by various people. Hooray for socks! In all, it was a very nice time with other knitters. AND I made some room in my bureau for more yarns! Hooray! Oh, and everyone commented on my frog purse. Yai for fun knitting!

Commence Belly Dance Boot Camp

Wednesday night was my weekly Belly Dance Level 2 class from 8-9:15pm. For some reason there were only 4 of us there as opposed to the usual 10+. This didn't bother me since it was also the reason why I liked dancing in the middle of the day on Thursday, not to mention I am a morning person and after getting up at 7am all week, dancing until 9pm is a little hard. It was a good class. We were doing exterior hip circles with varying foot work. And I was actually getting it! I could (even if it was only for a few counts) do a 3 beat foot work like paus de bourette with the 4 beat hip circles layered ontop of that. I'm finally coming out of my plateau, and it feels great. The only problem was I would get a little screwed up and miss miss a foot step which would then switch my feet.. So, while everyone was stepping on their left foot, I would be stepping on my right. But it was okay, because I realized what was making me do that.

At the end of class, Kendra told me that I was going to need to start working on my stamina. She knows I don't like taking Dance Movements and Belly Dance 2 back to back, but that I am going to have to start doing so in order to be able to survive the week long workshop in September. Oof. I hadn't even thought of that. If I had, I would have been doing this whole 10-week rotation with the classes back to back... and I would be complaining about it more here. I have 7 weeks until the workshop as of this coming Monday. Eee!! That means from 9:30am-3:30pm Monday-Friday of the last week in September, I am going to be dancing my tush off while being pushed by Suhaila herself. And apparently she's not going to let me get away with some of the lazy things I do in Kendra and Tiffany's classes. 0:) So to ease myself in, on Monday's I am going to start doing both classes, and still show up to level 2 on Wednesdays. I am hoping to do that for maybe 2 or 3 weeks before taking both classes both nights. Ee! I am either going to come out of this more exhausted than I have ever been in my life, or I am going to be crazy energized from it. Kendra also told me that the pain my muscles are going to feel after the workshops is going to be the kind where I am going to need a salt soak in the bath every night when I get home... someone please tell em what I have gotten myself into. I'm so looking forward to it though! But I can't believe it is coming up so quickly!!

My name is Kiwi... and I have a problem...

Tonight I walked into MFA with a completed felted frog bag (that I am testing out to make sure it works before sending it out... we don't want it falling apart while I am not available to fix it!!) ;o) as well as the desire to start my first pair of socks. I wanted to go all out with this pair; knit two at once on the magic loop! I can start big! I've never knit socks before, but who cares?! I have my book on knitting socks and my 2 print outs on how to do the magic loop. I didn't quite get off to such a booming start as I had hoped. With Warren's help, I started slightly slower by getting myself 2 US1 Addi Turbo needles so that I could knit one sock on two needles. Ehh. Two socks on one needle, one sock on two needles.. who's counting? Warren showed me an excellent cast on using a crochet hook (which also reminded me how long it has been since I have crocheted anything) and once I got the hang of using such small needles, things went very well.

Socks are addictive. I haven't even finished my first TOE and I know *why* socks are addictive. They flow so nicely, everything moves smoothly, it is truely relaxing. And with my half finished toe at 9pm I decided it would be more than appropriate to join the sockanon club. Because it may be a little early to tell, but I think I am going to be addicted. Socks are going to become my default projects. I can see it now. Once I get my first pair done, I am going to move onto the magic loop (I'm on a mission with this thing.. there's no stopping me) and just pump these critters out as quickly as my little fingers can get them. The most recent knitty was dedicated to socks and I can't wait to try them. No sock will be left unknit. Guess what everyone I know is getting for Christmas this year. So yes, I think joining sockanon was a good idea. Plus, I'll be able to get more tips from Warren on how to do special sock-knitting techniques. (he couldn't show me te toe up cast on he was working on at the time since it is scheduled to be shown at the next meeting and a riot would have ensued by at least two of the members had I learned said CO early and as a non-member, no less) But I am very excited!

I also got a chance to have a turn at "looky what I did!" with the frog bag. Everyone watched as it was a large green pile of stockinette and now it came back as a teeny, put together, felted bag. :o) The only problem I have discovered during my test drive is that the flap doesn't stay down. ::sighs dreamily:: If only I could find a button in the shape of a bug so that it wouldn't look odd coming out of frog's tongue. :gasp:: What's this? Warren has buttons? In the shapes of LADY BUGS?! I bought the purple and green one, and before too long it will forever be perched precariously on the tip of the frog's tongue. Hooray for knitting.

Oh, and it is a sad day in the knitting community. The authors of "You Knit What??" have decided to hang it up. The comments and hilarity in regards to the never ending fug that people seem to be drawn to create and knit will never be the same without this site. Here's to hoping someone takes it over and continues making fun of the fun fur, unidentifiable creations, and other odd knittings.

PIctures of the Frog

This morning I felted the frog bag for my mom. This pattern came from Nicky Epstein's book "Fabulous Felted Bags". It did a little better on the first cycle than I thought it would, and it also managed to wriggle its way out of the laundry bag I had stuffed it in which caused it to lose one eye in the felting process. No worries! I had extra yarn and easily sewed it back on.





Hooray!!!

Item is done!!!

Before leaving for work yesterday, I searched all over the house for something I would never find there. I had a ball of light green Cascade 220 left over from part of *item* and I was thinking of using scraps of it for the last two little pieces I had left. I eventually gave up looking for it at home, and when I arrived at the shop Warren told me I had left it there last week. Oops! I guess I was just so excited seaming last week that the idea of where my yarn was was out of my mind. Papaya also found lots of scraps for me to attempt to use for the negligable yards that I needed. I decided to use her purpley/pink color.

I didn't realize this until I got home and was stuffing the little bits, but the book has a typo! It told me to start with color A and switch to color D to make the bits, but when I was stuffing and holding them up to the rest of the project, something didn't look quite right. Boo. So I had to undo one to get the purpley/pink yarn out and used the very last little bit of dark green I had. And boy am I glad I had more than what the pattern required. With the "opps" that used a total of 4 rows of yarn (maybe a whole yard and a half) I had exactly enough to make both the bits. I was stressing at the end hoping that it would stretch to my needs, but then I was proud when I only had about 6 inches left, thinking "Ha! Take that, yarn."

This weekend I am going to felt it. I am so excited. This thing was very nice to knit and there was only one boring part, so I could definitely have knit forever, but I am also so excited to see it completed. Don't worry, pictures will be up within the next week or so. :o)

ANd now what shall my next project be??

Schedules of fun

On Monday I was not feeling spectacular enough to endure a class of hard core fendues with Tif, so I opted to stay home and relax instead. This meant that Wednesday was going to be very hard. Then I got the bright idea to only take Dance Movements Wednseday night and then slip out of work in the middle of the day to go to Belly Dance 2 on Thursday. Great plan. Wednesday was quite the workout. As much as it is painful at the time, I really like when Tif teaches because at the end it is very refreshing. Thursday I got into work a little early so that I could afford to take a few hours out of the middle of the day and still be able to get off in time for knitting that night. (yes, I know I have my priorities in line) There were only four of us in the midday class as opposed to the usual 10 or so. It made it very nice. We were also all hoovering around the same levels of ability, so that made it better. Because there were so few of us, we had more individual attention and could get better grasps on what we were doing. This week was interior hip squares, which are surprisingly complicated. I was actually able to do them even though I took it half as fast as I was supposed to. It felt so good to be dancing 12-1:15 instead of the typical 8-9:15pm. It was easier because I was more awake. I am almost considering making that my usual time because I enjoyed it so much. The only problem was a few hours later while I was running up and down stairs, running my assays I was starting to feel it in my calves. I was used to dancing and instantly passing out, not dancing then working even harder.
At knit night, I finished knitting the front of *item* and pieced it all togther. There are only two teeny tiny itty little pieces I have left to do, but that has to wait until I can get the scraps of the last color to make them. It's almost done! I'm so excited! Knit kight was relatively quiet last night, with only a select few of us in attendance. Aside from the preview of Hair, it was quiet for the most part outside as well.
Last night I was also informed that it is hard to follow my schedule and time of events. And I admit, looking at all of these posts I bounce from knitting to dancing to cross stitching to plants. So pretty much, I dance on Monday and Wednesday nights and go to knit night on Thursday nights. Thursday may also soon be home to midday dancing. And I also have that job thing during the day, more or less a 9-5. I have too many hobbies and interests. Or maybe I suffer from some serious ADD of sorts. But anyone who knew me would tell you that's obvious. ;)

Moving On

I finished one whole color tonight at knit night! The most tedious part of *item* is done! Hooray! Now it is onto smaller parts. I am so excited! I'm moving onto a new color! Before long, it will start to look like wha it is supposed to be. :o)

That is all..

What I've Learned

Dance this week has been quite a learning experience, so I have compiled a slight list for amusement.

When we are at the bar doing a particularly difficult set, when Tif asks "What are you guys thinking about" she doesn't want to hear "I'm hungry", she wants to hear that we are thinking about our turn out, where our toes are, pointing, square hips and chest lifted. Oops.

While doing the 10 minute sets of crunches, no matter how painful it is do not stop and close your eyes on the yoga mat. This results in sleep, and it's a lot harder to pull off falling asleep in a dance class than in your typical Calculus 2 course.

Part of learning how to belly dance is getting over the fact that the first 2 years you dance, you will feel like a duck. It's natural. The only way to overcome looking like a duck is being comfortable with the fact that at some times, you might look ducky. Once you have that established, the duck feeling magically goes away. ...I haven't accepted it yet.

If all else fails, describe the format creator when she was teaching these same movements while pregnant. For instance, hip triangles and hip V's: "So, when you do the triangle you pull your lower abs in and think about Suhaila when she was pregnant.. Her stomach would go to the sides and POOM POOM. So that's the visual you want to go for, where you're just pulling in your belly button." Then see how many of us can actually do it instead of standing there laughing.

As hard as Tif's classes are, they are much easier when you take one on one day and the other on the next scheduled day instead of unknowingly doing both classes back to back. 1 hour of her class leaves you feeling light and energized the next day. 2.5 hours of her class makes you not be able to walk normally for 4 days.

Part of not having a/c in the studio means that the front door must remain open if you don't want to suffocate. Part of leaving the door open means creepy guys walking down the street will see girls in skimpy tight dance gear and will hang around to get their jollies off of it. Part of creepy guys hanging around the school means the front doors need to be closed during the hottest part of the work out. Don't depend on the outside breeze, expect to sweat, and bring water.

Finally, everything is mental. You can't think about it too much or your body won't respond. And our bodies are more like belly dancers than we realize. "What?! You want me to do what?!?! Well you haven't paid attention to me, so I am going to go over here and do my own thing and NOT what you want me to do. Ha!!"

BD2 and Birthday!!

With dance this week, I decided that on the off chance Tif was teaching Dance Movements as well as Belly Dance 2 I was going to be sure to go to class both Monday and Wednesday night instead of doubling up and being in pain until Saturday as was the case last week. Of course, when I think of these things K was back to teaching. Oh well. Dance Movements has become a lot easier than it was when I first started. I remember being frustrated at the end of every class not understanding why I couldn't do paus de bourrets, why I nearly fell over attempting to do something as "easy" as grande plie, and why my feet never looked right when I would go into releve. I now understand the answer to all these question, and can now actually *do* them. I am also learning with each class how to further improve what I am getting better at. I think the consept of the singular calf-thigh-quad-glute-lower ab muscle recently sunk in, and the idea that you keep that one large muscle contracted during everything. I am also learning that home position for belly dancing is *very* different than for jazz/ballet. And sometimes they get confused. This was the second week in the 10 week rotation. Tendues in Jazz/ballet and downs in Belly dancing. I feel stuck in belly dacing. I know what I am supposed to be doing. I know my glutes are supposed to contract at one timing as I walk in another timing. I conciously know what my body is supposed to do and what it is supposed to look like. But did my glutes want to do anything? Nope. They wanted to be lazy and let my obliques take over. It was very frustrating that all I could do was walk. They were not listening to me. I can do them beautifully just standing or in straddle split, but add travelling to that, and they freak out because suddenly something has changed. Gahh. I need to practice at home more. I have set up a schedule and I am so behind. I practiced once when I was supposed to. Very bad. Must. Work. This weekend.

Knitting! I have finished the first part of *item* (see previous post). Hooray! Now it is 60" of stockinette stitch! ...hooray. When I went into the store tonight, Papaya instantly gave me a job. Yai! String together letter spelling out "Happy Birthday Warren", when of course as I got the last few letters together, he walks in. We strung the letters across the walls of the store, of course the "string" was yarn.. since it is a yarn shop and all. I was up on the ladder trying to hold a half taped end to the wall while reaching unsuccessfully for a piece of tape only inches from my fingers. That's when the camera came out. Quickly followed by pointy party hats which were promptly handed out. Snarky made a Coca-Cola cake (so good and SO southern!!!) which turned out excellent. If you didn't know, Southerners will put coke on or in everything and it turns out very yummi. The chocolate goo was awesome. Papaya was the first to say a speech about us helping out which was followed by Warren's speech about the knitting group being special. Hooray for knit night! It was major show and tell night. Everyone had a cami/yarn/something to show and be proud of. :o) Fun times.

Crafty ADD

Well, it's definitely been a while. So much has been going on lately that i haven't have a chance to sit down and think about it all. I took a brief break from knitting to begin yet another crafty obsession: counted cross stiching. Oh my, it is tedious. This is an old picture of what I am working on, where old is what it looked like on June 20th.

It looks a lot more complete now and has more colors, but I am too lazy to pull out my camera, take a picture, upload it to the computer and then to the web site. So.. old picture it is! Even though I did get quite a bit farther in the 9 days since the picture was taken, for the past few days things have been a little too hectic for me to really make much more progress. So what do I do? Become inspired to start new knitting projects. I think my hobby is to start and never finish anything. I like beginning things and imagine what they will possibly (never) become. :o) So this time it is the kitty pi for the cats since they like to sleep on my clothes, bed, knitting, sewing.. pretty much anything soft that smells like me. I am hoping that when I make this and throw it on the floor they will instantly find it a more than perfect place to sleep/shed. ie, not my bed. I cast on for that at knit night after having a felting discussion with Papaya to make sure my chosen yarn will have a high tendancy to felt instead of... not. Hooray!
I also chose a substitute yarn for what was called for in a pattern for an item that I am making my mom. I *finally* found one I can succeed in even beginning!! And since she has decided that she wants it to be a surprise, the gift is now being referred to as "item". I bought Cascade 220 as the substitute yarn; I figured W wouldn't carry the yarn that the pattern called for, but was more looking for advice on what to use as a substitute; another something that would felt well. As soon as I finish and yes, I will finish!!) Kitty Pi, I can begin item. It doesn't look too complicated, and felting fixes everything, so I am confident in this one. I emailed mom to ask if she wanted to know what it was I was making for her, saying " And this is something that even if I didn't make it (because anything I make even if it is ass ugly you will like) you'd still get a kick out of and like. Do you want to know what it is, or do you want to just find out when you get it?" Her response (cut to the amusing part, of course) "The buttass-uglier, the more I'll love it. Of course, if it's breathtakingly beautiful I'll love it every bit as much." Awesome. Ass-ugly gift, here I come!

In other crafty-ish hobbiness, I managed to get myself quite sunburned this weekend despite my attempts to avoid such a fate. Bahh. Oh well. I had planned on going to dance as I usually do on Monday evenings, but seeing as how I had to wear a strapless bra to work all day because my shoulders couldn't handle thin straps with pressure, I decided that wearing normal dancing garb + fast movements and lots of crunches would not be too favorable that night. This is the beginning of the 10 week rotation schedule, so in Dance Movements we were scheduled to work on plies and in Belly Dance we were going to be working on Singles. Easy stuff, right? So I thought it would be a good idea to take it slow on Monday night and resorted to drilling by myself for about 30 minutes on Tuesday eveing, while doubling up on classes on Wednesday night. So, Dance Movements 7-8pm and Belly Dance 8-9:15pm. I can handle it! It's the easy stuff! ....except not when Tif teaches. And she taught both classes. Holy bajeesus! I have never been to the point of so much pain and strain and trying so hard that I was laughing and crying at the same time while trying not to do either. We had to do a set of passe, degage (or battement) front, back to passe while plieing and then back into ballet first position. Then doing the same thing while degageing to the side, then back, then the set of three repeats until Tif decided our torture session had been complete.

*Note: for those not familiar with the evil dance terms, we were supposed to stand with our heels touching, toes turned out. Then bring our right foot up, toes pointed so that the knee was bent and the heel was touching the side of left knee. Then we keep proper turn out in our leg while bringing the foot front (or left or back behind us) and about 6 inches or more off the floor, still keeping the toes pointed. Then we bring our foot back to touching our knee, turned out (the turn out is what makes it painful) while we are plieing (plee-ay) or.. bending our knees. Finally, we could bring out foot back down next to the left one before we started the whoel thing over. Sound fun?*

So, yes. While doing the last of many sets I was in such pain that I couldn't stop giggling. I was forcing my turn out with my hands, my foot was beginning to refuse to touch my knee, my degage was turning into a slighly elevated tendue, and tears were beginning to pour. This happened both with the right and left foot, but a little worse so on the left. Yep... supposed to be easy week. Ha! It was quite a work out, and it was only the first of the two classes! Belly dancing went decently. I didn't feel like a duck! I am debating on how much I have improved since entering level 2 .. 20 weeks ago. I am using my glutes better and am actually starting to see it visually. I am however still not as flexible as I would like to be and still can't flex and release at double time. I finally got a good handle on full time, and have *just* gotten 3/4 time as long as I slow it down to .. 3/4 of half time instead of 3/4 of full time, if that makes sense.
Today was planning on drilling again, but since it still hurts to even walk down stairs, I think I may save the drills for tomorrow.. or Saturday. It's a long weekend. I am planning on dedicating 2 hours on Tuesday for drills. Oof! And so begins my training in order to be good enough to take the Level 2 workshop where I'll actually be in a class with Suhaila!