May Madness....it's nearly June!

Hi! So apparently I such at blogging these days. It's been nearly TWO months!!

The rest of April? Well, the boys are playing soccer now (my guy, his brother and friends) so I attended a few soccer games on Saturday afternoons. This is new to me. My sister played basketball in highschool, and I dated a hockey player (c'mon I am Canadian!) but soccer is not something I have watched a great deal of.

Ev (my guy's sister) and I ran a 5km race. Quite a few of the ladies from the running group ran it & it was fun. My second one, but this time I did run the whole 5km without stopping. There were hills, so I was pretty proud of myself!

Our Before & After race photos & the map of our run!

 
Finally - I went to a wedding! Two friends, both of whom I met & who met one another on the same Contiki trip that I met my guy on! It was small & lovely, and they got some gorgeous photos. It was a morning wedding, and we had a tasty lunch afterwards. I got to wear the new dress my sister had sent me!! It was a great day!

May has brought Greek Easter! It brought some new traditions for me, we decorated eggs on Saturday (most people do this Thursday but we had no time), and we stayed up until midnight that night and went to the church with candles. We waited on the street (because there are that many people there!) until the prayers were finished and the flame was passed from candle to candle through the crowd. Then we had to get home with the candle still lit to bring luck & good fortune for the year. The tradition is then to burn a cross at the entry to the house. Once we got home we ate (because tradition is to fast for 40 days before hand - even though we didn't) chicken, lemon & rice soup. Avgolemono. A bit different than the Catholic Easters we had with my grandparents as a child! The next day brought an all day.... BBQ!! (You knew that was coming didn't you!?) This time we had lamb & pork chunks of meat on a spit & sausages.

Makin' Greek Easter eggs! Very cool!

BBQ, cricket, my newly spun yarn drying on the line...

Other than that, it's been pretty much just working...haven't been anywhere or done anything touristy that it noteworthy!

Needles:
I have long since completed my Manhattan by Lisa Dykstra socks which I used Everything Old Signature Sock in the Pyrotechnic colourway. I love them, but they are going to be a gift for someone special!

I finished off 4 preemie hats, I did these patterns: Hand-Painted Preemie Hat by Amanda Schwabe, Preemie Baby Beanies by Karen Everitt Designs, Lipstick Pizza Preemie Cap by Karen Chan, Swirl Hat by Mandie Harrington in various sock yarns that I had leftover from projects!

So cute! Still need to donate these to a hospital!

Also started and finished is the Pei by Michele Wang which I did in The Yellow Hobbit Fingering- Autumn Socks colourway on size 3.75mm HiyaHiyas. It's not the yarn called for, so it's a bit "light" but it's lovely is is great for spring!

Pretty Pei

 I also finished spinning up some 100% Corriedale. I purchased it only a couple of months ago at a craft event. It was 50 grams of Orange, and 50 grams of Summer Days. I did a 2ply. It came out to approximately a Worsted and I got around 240.6 yards (220.0 m) so I think it's going to be a toy of some kind. It's self striping, the way that I spun it, so it will be interesting to see how it looks!!

100% Corriedale spun on my spindles!

 I used up some leftovers to make the Origami Falls Cowl by Teleri and I love it! The yarn is Cascade Yarns Heritage Paints that I previously used for my sister's Age of Brass and Steam shawlette. I knit it on 3.25mm needles.

Love this yarn!

Finally I knit up Cafe Au Lait Mitts by Paula McKeever and I used SMC Select Extra Soft Merino (DK) in Ruby with size 3.5mm needles. Love them, and they are also going to be a gift. This is the second pair of fingerless mitts I made out of this yarn, and the second time I am giving them away! hahaha They do make deliciously soft mitts!

Cute Mitts!

 I am currently working on Market Bag by Vicki Square in Katia Paper yarn which is why it's taking so long. I usually fly through bags, but the paper is not the most fun on the fingers! LOL I do like the fabric it's making, so I will keep on with it, but it is like work. I am using 10mm and 6mm needles for this one.

I am a little further along, but haven't taken another photo.

 I am also working on Trillian by Martina Behm for the Wolfe Farms BEHM Along KAL. I am making it with Fresh from the Cauldron Schoodic Sock in the Tyler colourway that I received in a SWAP in March! It's gorgeous, and I am loving how it's turning out, but it's a bit slow going because my hands are quite dry being that it's Autumn here now and the humidity has changed quite a bit. Gotta have it done by the end of June!

Trillian gorgeousness

 Lastly I started spinning up some Everything Old Spinning Fibre  it is 50/50 SW Merino and Silk, and in the Lady of the Lake colourway. It's beautiful. I got this at Fibres West in 2012 but was afraid to ruin it by spinning it before I had some more practice under my belt. It's spinning up VERY thin, so I think I will get a lot of yardage, and I split it in half and then I will divide the second half as well to Fractal spin it. It am excited!

So soft & silky

Upcoming is a pair of self striping socks, a slouchy hat made with leftover alpaca, and lots of spinning for Tour de Fleece starting at the end of June! I am super stoked because I recently purchased a Trindle, and got a Phat Fibre box! Neither has arrived yet, but I can't wait to try out both! I also won a braid of a new-to-me fibre & company! So I have plenty to try spinning!!  

Fitness:
So I address the Fun Run already. I was very happy to have completed it without stopping, though I was a teensy bit slower than the first one I ran last year. However, there was more humidity here & those dang hills!! 

I completed Ripped in 30, and it was tough, but I am SO glad I did it before starting Insanity...Insanity is killin' me!

I completed the Green Smoothie challenge, and have continued to make green smoothies many mornings since April ended. I like it, it's healthy, it's pretty quick, and I can take it on the go in the mornings! I have been using the MyFitnessPal and have mostly been sticking within the calories set out. I get more calories with more exercise, so it's easier. I continue to try and make sure that the calories are not just empty garbage ones!
Still wanting to try Paleo & am trying to implement it as much as I can, but I still would like to do a meal plan & have both of us try it for a couple of weeks. Haven't yet...but it's on the list.
 
So INSANITY - it's crazy. It's about 40 minutes, 6 days a week. It's some pretty intense cardio, plus a lot of Plyometric moves, squats, lunges and pushups. I have lost some weight & tightened up a bit. It's nice to finally be seeing some changes!!  I just finished up the first month. Now I do a week of "recovery" type moves, and the second month is 60min, 6 days a week. I believe that is the deal anyway! So I hope that in 5 weeks I have seen even more improvements with my body & my fitness. I still have 5lbs I want to lose, and after that I want to just be more fit, more toned, etc. I am shrinking out of my "fat" clothes, but I am not fitting into my "skinny" clothes LOL.


Since it is so very cardio based I am unable to run while doing it, however, Thursdays are a recovery day & the workout is more "yoga" like, so last Thursday I went for a run. I wanted to see how I was doing, if I would need to stop, etc. but I didn't! I did 4.64km without stopping at a pace very similar to what I was running pre-Insanity. I think it is improving my cardio a bit, I KNOW it's improving my recovery ability!


Once I am done Insanity I think I am going to start doing 3 days running + 3 days strength training. I think I am also going to do the City to Surf 14km race in August. I am not planning to run the whole thing without stopping, however, my friend who just got married is doing it for work. A bunch of the women from the running group I had been running with are doing it as well. So I think I will just run with my friend, and when we run, we run and when we walk, we walk! It will be fun, and my parents will be here then so I will have a cheering section!


I will try to do this more frequently, as I have things to show!!!