Alluring Lace Cardi

My latest fo is the alluring lace cardi from the current issue of creative knitting. I made this cardi with a sports weight yarn in my stash. I made a lot of modifications to this. The lace was changed to a dayflower lace (using the double lace scarf pattern found on ravelry and the lace pattern from the dayflower camisole). I really wasn't sure which direction I wanted to go with this. I made the bottom half (of both front pieces) in all lace, and only did 1 dayflower lace pattern up the front. I had intended for it to look somewhat similar to the original design ~ even though it doesn't! It was a good experience making changes to it and trying to figure out what to do next. I'm happy the cardi is complete but I'm not happy with all the changes I made (because I didn't account for the extra stockingnette stitches+1 extra stitch in garter). I realized too that I still need a lot of work in the seaming department! One day I'm going to have to take a class on seams!

I have 2 knitting projects I'm current working on. I have always loved the feather weight cardigan I made last year. Last summer? I put it in the wash and the cardi felted! I was very sad so I always intended to make another one. I finally started on this last week. I'm using (again) yarn in my stash. The yarn is a lace weight called Shimmer in Spice from Knit Picks. It's more fall colors but I thought it would go with one of my dresses. The second project is called beach party. It's a summer dress from the July 2008 issue of Creative Knitting. (Yes, I do like Creative Knitting Magazines)! I'm using the yarn Plymouth Fantasy I recently purchased from the LYS. I intend on finishing this dress by the end of May for a family graduation party.

I went to Stitches South on Friday with my friend, Carolyn. It was fun! It was a long ride, about 2 hours & 15 minutes. It made it nice that Carolyn drove so I didn't have to deal with the Atlanta traffic. I didn't attend any classes (next year), I just walked the market place. I got a chance to look at all the different yarns, patterns, etc. I ended up buying about 10 skeins of yarn. For lunch we went to a mongolian beef type restaurant which was delicious. It was a fun day and I got home around 4:30!

Lately, I've been feeling a bit heavy! I decided to start on a diet about 3 weeks ago. I've cut out most of the sugars (splenda is ok), and keep it low on the carbs. I can have all the salads I want w/ low carb dressing. I'm eating mostly proteins with some vegetables. I love sweets so I've made macaroons without flour and (regular) sugar! I also made some cheesecake yesterday, which are very low in carbs. It's not the real thing but it's still good. I'll probably keep experimenting with different stuff to keep the diet interesting. On a real positive note, I've actually lost a lot of belly fat which I'm thrilled! My jeans are no long super super tight! I can actually fit into some of my jeans from last summer... :) I'm also feeling better, I think cutting out the the starch and sugar keeps me more alert!