Month: June 2014

Working Out Week 26 of 2014

June 28, 2014 kimberlee 2 Comments

This week marks that we are halfway through the year – can you believe it? I was able to workout for a few days this week but not the entire week like usual due to our ceilings being redone. Our house was built in the early 1980’s and we have those horrid popcorn ceilings in most of the house. We decided to hire a company to remove them from the lower level and that meant my workout room, also our living room, would not be able to be used for several days – which looks like now it will be five or six days.

The photo above is what my workout room aka living room looks like the past few days – the objects in the middle are our furniture covered in two layers of plastic. This is a really messy process and I will be glad when it is all done.

The photo above here shows the ceilings scraped of the popcorn – its hard to get a good photo as the windows are covered in plastic and they have removed all the light bulbs.

I was able to workout the beginning of this week since they started working on Thursday morning. I did a couple of my Cathe Friedrich dvd’s and rode my bike one day.

Monday – Cathe X10 premix X41 – 41 minutes
Tuesday – Ride Bike + exercise ball routine for abs – 33 minutes
Wednesday – Cathe Lean Legs and Abs premix compound legs+bonus barre+core – 50 minutes

I love the Cathe X10 workout – tons of variety and lots of sweat with this dvd. It is a combination of cardio and weights and lots of creative and fun moves. The cat is supervising my moves, as usual.

Today, Saturday, I am hoping to ride my bike this afternoon or evening if it doesn’t rain. The ceiling workers were here until about 1pm – they get here early like at 8:30am so I am not able to get up and get in a workout before they come unless I want to get up before 6 and I don’t. I like to at least have a cup of coffee and breakfast and do my daily scripture reading before the workers get here. They are also working in our kitchen so I have to be out of there by the time they show up.

It looks like the ceilings will not be finished until Tuesday of next week so I will only be working out half of next week as well, unless I can do some outdoor activity in the evening. I will be really glad when we get this project finished and our house back together.

I hope you had a great week and got in some exercise. Have a good weekend!

Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise

Tags: ceiling work, ceilings redone, exercise, fitness, working out, workout dvd's, workouts

Working Out Week 25 of 2014

June 21, 2014 kimberlee 2 Comments

This past week my workouts were a mixture of biking, cardio and yoga. It seems like every summer I tend to do more outdoor activities like biking and swimming as it gets warmer and I also like to alternate with some yoga.

Schedule this past week:

Monday – Ride Bike + exercise ball routine – 33 minutes
Tuesday – Yoga – Yoga Life Magazine Core Curriculum routine – 20 minutes
Wednesday – Cathe To The Max dvd, Less Impact Premix – 39 minutes
Thursday – P90X3 – Isometrix – 30 minutes
Friday – Ride Bike + exercise ball routine – 33 minutes
Saturday – Yoga Life + Yoga Journal Magazine routines – 25 minutes

Every other day was yoga this past week. The yoga routines were a mixture of magazine routines and my P90X3 Isometrix dvd, which is one of my favorite dvd’s in the X3 series. I had not used this dvd in about three months and forgot how challenging it is – you hold each pose for 45 seconds.

The other yoga routines I did were from a Prevention magazine called Yoga Life that I bought back in 2010 from Sams, I believe. There are some really good yoga routines in this magazine so I have kept it and pull it out from time to time to use it. I also used a Yoga Journal magazine this past week that I checked out from the library. I took my kids there earlier in the week to check out books for their summer reading and I also checked out a couple of Yoga Journal magazines.

My cardio dvd this week was Cathe Friedrich’s To The Max. I did a 39 minute premix that was a little less impact but still very challenging and gave me a great workout. This workout uses the step for parts of the workout and it seems my cat loves to hang out on the step when I am not using it as seen in the photo below. The core with upper body weights session of this workout is tough and one of my favorite parts of this dvd.

I also rode my bike again a couple of mornings this past week on my neighborhood route. I really like being out early and riding in the fresh morning air. After my riding I usually come in and do some light stretching and some core work with my stability ball.

This coming week I will only be working out for a few days of the week and not my usual six days. We are having some work done to our house and will have people here working for a few days. There is also a possibility that I will not be able to do my post next week if they are still here finishing the work on Saturday – we’ll see.

I hope everyone had a great week and you are enjoying warmer weather and some outdoor activities and workouts.

Have a great weekend!

Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise

Tags: Cathe workouts, exercise, exercise schedule, exercising, fitness, isometrix, working out, workout routine, workout schedule, yoga, yoga routines

WIP for June

June 18, 2014 kimberlee 4 Comments

WIP stands for work in progress and I have quite a few of those for this month. I typically have at least one crochet and one or two knitting projects going at all times but I got involved in a few extra this month and wanted to show what I have been working on lately.

I continue to work on my Noro garter and lace shawl that I started last summer and put aside. I really like this yarn and the project but it is like knitting with toothpicks on these tiny size 4 needles. I have a goal to get it done this summer though. I am a little more than halfway through with it now.

Below is a close up of the lace and garter rows. I now have over 250 stitches on my circular needles so it takes me at least 10 minutes to complete one row. I believe I will end up with over 375 stitches by the time it is finished.

My friend Karen and I decided to knit this advanced lace shawl called My Cat Stole My Heart. It is a pattern from Knit Picks. We usually meet and knit together at Starbucks twice a month and decided to do a KAL – Knit Along – together. She was planning to knit this for a friend and give it to her by September but the pattern is so long and very complex that she has changed her mind and will be knitting something a little easier for her friend.

The yarn I choose to knit this Cat Stole My Heart shawl is from Knit Picks – called Chroma fingering weight yarn. The color is called prism and I love it! The pattern called for lace weight yarn but I just couldn’t find one I really liked and decided to try it with this fingering weight. So far I am pleased with how it looks – this is my progress after about 10 days. I do not work on this every day because it is the type of knitting project that you have to really focus on and pay attention so you can not be talking to anyone or watching TV. I usually sit outside in the morning on my patio with my coffee after my workout and knit a few rows.

The below photo is a close up of the shawl – it is altering rows of a cat paw print and a lace heart design – the hearts go one way the paw print the other.

Around the same time I started the cat shawl I began a baby blanket for a gift for my neighbor who I just found out was pregnant and due any day. They are new neighbors and I had not seen them much the past few months and didn’t know she was having a baby. This is their first child and a little girl so of course I had to go through my stash and find a pretty pink yarn to knit a baby blanket. I never get to make pink things – other than for myself – since I have three sons. I am about halfway done with this little blanket. I am just using a simple diagonal knitting pattern (like for the dishcloths) that has a little openwork edge.

The dishcloths are a new obsession of mine lately since I participated in the May KAL with my facebook knitting group. I started another star pattern dishcloth in this red, white and blue stripe cotton yarn that I found at Joann last week. I like working on this for something simple that I can do while watching TV or talking to someone. Also, these dishcloths are very portable projects and easy to work on anywhere.

One of the other things I have started in the past few weeks is a crochet project using the Patons Glam stripe yarn I got on sale at Michaels back in May. I really like this yarn and I am designing a wrap and a shrug pattern with it. I have already knit a scarf with the yarn and I like how it looks and it is a nice yarn to work with.

I have also continued to watch some of my craftsy knitting class Lace Knitting Basics and Beyond with Eunny Jang. I am already familiar with knitting lace but I wanted to take this class to learn more about knitting lace patterns and reading charts. So far I am really pleased with the class and I like the instructor. She is easy to listen to and understand. You can click on the highlighted link to learn more about the class or click on the craftsy link in the right sidebar to learn more about their other knitting classes.

I would love to hear about your WIP – (work in progress) or any finished projects as well. Click on Leave a Reply to tell me about them.

Have a great day!

Kimberlee

Categories: Crochet Knitting

Tags: baby blanket, blanket, Crochet, crocheting, knitting, lace knitting, lace shawl, noro shawl, shawls, work in progress

Working Out Week 24 of 2014

June 14, 2014 kimberlee 4 Comments

This past week I decided to follow my same workout routine as the previous week doing cardio, biking and yoga. I did cardio on Monday and Thursday, biking on Tuesday and Friday and yoga on Wednesday and Saturday. To change things up from the previous week I used a different workout dvd, different magazine routines and my Flat Belly Yoga book – my schedule was as follows:

Monday 6-9 – Cathe Cross Fire dvd, Circuit Blast premix – 36 minutes
Tuesday 6-10 – Ride Bike + Foam Roller Stretch routine – 30 minutes
Wednesday 6-11 – Flat Belly Yoga Book – 20 minutes
Thursday 6-12 – Cathe Cross Fire dvd, Fitness Blast/Plyo Tabata/Core premix – 33 minutes
Friday 6-13 – Ride Bike + exercise ball abs routine from magazine – 33 minutes
Saturday 6-14 – Flat Belly Yoga Book – 15 minutes

I kind of took it a little easier this week and didn’t do any really long workouts. I am really enjoying getting outside more and riding my bike early in the morning and I also rode my bike to the store on Wednesday for a few groceries, so I got a little extra workout in that day.

I really like the Cathe Friedrich Cross Fire dvd. I did a couple of the different premixes on the workout this past week and even though they are only a little over 30 minutes you get a great workout and sweat a lot. The core workout on this dvd was really good and had some new moves to work your abs. The speed skater with weights is part of the cardio in this workout and challenging since you are adding 3 pound weights to the move.

Cathe Cross Fire - Speed Skater with weights Kimberlees Korner — Speed Skater with weights – Cathe Cross Fire workout

For my yoga days this past week I chose to go back to using my Flat Belly Yoga Book by Kimberly Fowler. I really like the exercise routines in this book and how the use of light weights are incorporated into the yoga moves. The exercises are well explained and all the photos are in color. When I did the 20 minute session on Wednesday I decided to take it outside again and do my yoga on the back patio. I am really enjoying being able to workout outside on some days of the week.

This past week was the first week of summer break for my kids. It was nice to have a less hectic week and not worry about getting kids off to school, packing lunches and picking them up at a set time every afternoon. My oldest son is working this summer and has a lifeguard job at a local pool so that is keeping him busy.

I hope everyone had a great week and you have some workouts planned for the upcoming week. I was planning my schedule for next week this morning and will share them again next Saturday.

Have a great day!

Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise

Tags: Cathe workouts, exercise routine, exercise schedule, exercising, fitness, flat belly yoga, working out

Artyarns KAL Silk Halo Shawl

June 11, 2014 kimberlee 5 Comments

I recently finished another shawl that was part of a KAL (Knit Along) with the Artyarns group on Ravelry. This is the first time I have ever participated in an Artyarns KAL or used one of their yarns.

The yarn used to make this shawl was called Silk Halo. It is very soft and I enjoyed knitting with it. The yarn is 60% super kid mohair and 40% silk. The color I bought was called winter bouquet. It is a very pale blue and it has a little bit of cream or almost a tan color in it.

This shawl looked like a very complicated pattern but it was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. The pattern was a three part pattern where you knit part one, took a photo and posted it on Ravelry and then Iris, the designer of the pattern, sent you part 2. When you completed that part you took another photo and then you received part 3. It was a lot of fun. I think doing the KAL this way motivates you to complete the project so you can get the rest of the instructions. I think it took me about two weeks to knit this shawl and I also worked on a couple of other crochet and knitting projects in between knitting this one.

The shawl I knit was the shorter version. There is also a longer version so it would make it much wider but for that version you need two skeins and I only bought one. I think I will order more yarn in the future though and try out the longer version.

I am really pleased with the way this turned out and have already wore it a couple of times. I have a lot of things it will go with and the size and weight of it is perfect for our Texas spring and summer weather.

Currently I am knitting a couple of other projects that I will share in the future on my blog and crocheting a new shrug. I also have some sewing projects that I am working on as well. I have lots of things to keep me busy – if I get bored with one thing I work on something else. What projects are you currently working on? – click on Leave a Reply and tell me about them.

Have a great week!

Kimberlee

Categories: Knitting

Tags: Artyarns KAL, KAL for Silk Halo yarn, knit shawl, knitting, knitting project, lace shawl

Working Out Week 23 of 2014

June 7, 2014 kimberlee

Wow – the first week of June has already gone by. This past week was also the last week of school for my kids and now they are on their summer vacation. I am looking forward to having a less hectic schedule with them being out of school for a while. I also try and do a little more variety in my summer workout schedule, more outdoor activities like biking and swimming. This past week I began my outdoor workout activities by adding in some biking and outdoor yoga.

Monday 6-2 – Amy Bento Ross Body Box dvd Short & Sweaty premix – 50 min
Tuesday 6-3 – Ride Bike – 22 min + Exercise-Medicine ball magazine routine – 15 min
Wednesday 6-4 – 21 Day Yoga Challenge Magazine routine – Go With the Flow – 20 min
Thursday 6-5 – Amy Bento Ross – Body Box dvd All Cardio premix – 52 min
Friday 6-6 – Ride Bike – 22 min + magazine routine – 15 min
Saturday 6-7 – 21 Day Yoga Challenge Magazine routine – Sitting Pretty routine – 20 min

This past week I did a routine of cardio, biking + toning exercises, and yoga. I really liked this schedule as it was a change from my normal dvd routine or doing an exercise book. I also took it outdoors with the biking and I even did my two days of yoga out on my back patio at 6:45 am. It was nice and peaceful outside in the early morning and a great way to begin my day.

I did use one dvd this week. It is actually a new dvd that I bought about six weeks ago and had not done it yet. It got pushed aside when I decided to do the Betty Rocker Spring Challenge in May. The dvd is called Body Box by Amy Bento Ross. I have a couple of her older kickboxing and weight training dvd’s and thought I would enjoy this one, too. So far after using it twice this week I am not sure if I like it as well as I like her older Kickbox Xtreme dvd. It is a good overall cardio workout but some of the routines are kind of hard to keep up with for me. There are intervals that can be done between kickboxing combos and I really like those intervals – they are body weight type of exercises. Overall it is a good workout but I think you need to have kickboxing experience to keep up – I do but it is still not easy to get all the combos down the first time. I guess that is true for a lot of new advanced type of workout dvd’s though. I usually have to do them a few times to figure out all the moves.

I really enjoyed riding my bike a couple of times this past week on my neighborhood route that I do. I wore my sport watch and set the stopwatch and it takes me about 22 to 23 minutes to do the route – I am not sure how far it is. I try and ride at least half of it in my hardest gear which is 3 since I have a 3 speed bike. When I got home from the ride I would do a routine from my binder of fitness routines I have ripped out of magazines I have subscribed to over the last 10 years. I have them organized in a 3-ring binder and divided with tabs as to the type of workouts. I have not used them in a while and got a couple of them out this past week. One of them was with an exercise ball, a medicine ball plus weights and the other was total body toning with 8 and 5 pound weights.

As you can see my workout buddy was present for the exercise ball routine. When not exercising he likes to sit on the exercise mat bag as seen in the other photo.

I also made a couple of more salads this week with some green leaf and romaine lettuce I grew in our little garden out back. This is only the second time I have tried to grow lettuce and the first time at actually being successful at it. The first time a lot of bugs got to it before we did so we didn’t get very much. It is really nice to be able to go out back and pick some lettuce for a salad to go with dinner.

This past week I also preordered the new Cathe Friedrich dvd’s that are to be released in the fall. The new series is called Ripped with Hiit. All of the workouts are high intensity interval training and if you preorder you get free shipping, too. You can read more about it on her site Cathe.com if you are interested. I have used her workouts for years and they are all great and worth the money.

I hope everyone had a great week! Let me know what your workout plans are for the week coming up by clicking on Leave a Reply.

Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise Food

Tags: exercising, fitness, kickboxing, outdoor workout, workout cat, workout routine, workout schedule, yoga

Garter and Lace Knit Wrap

June 4, 2014 kimberlee 4 Comments

Recently I finished another knitting project. I started this knit wrap earlier in the spring. The wrap combines rows of knit stitches and then rows of lace using a solid color and a variegated color yarn. I am really pleased with how it turned out.

I was also able to get some photos of it when my roses in the back yard were in full bloom – I thought the colors of the wrap looked pretty against the roses.

This wrap is a rectangle shape – it measures approximately 70 inches long and 16 inches wide. I like the versatility of this accessory as it can be worn a variety of ways as a wrap and you can also wear it doubled around and ends tucked in for a scarf.

The yarn I used for this knitting project was Caron Simply Soft for the solid color turquoise and the multi colored yarn was from Hobby Lobby – I Love This Yarn in a color called Kaleidoscope. I love the vibrant colors in the Kaleidoscope yarn. Both yarns are easy to work with and very soft worsted weight yarns. I love working Caron Simply Soft and have made many projects with that yarn – it is also washable.

I have plans to design other projects using the same idea of combining the garter and lace rows. I currently have plans to knit a sweater next. I also think it is fun to combine a solid color yarn with a variegated coordinating yarn. The pattern for the wrap above is now available in my etsy shop or on craftsy if you are interested in knitting this fun wrap.

Currently I am working on a lace wrap that had become a UFO – Unfinished Object. I started this wrap last July or August as I wrote down summer of 2013 on the pattern. It is a pattern from Noro Knitting Magazine from spring-summer 2013. I really like the wrap but it is knit on size 4 needles and the yarn is like working with dmc floss – it is very fine. The yarn is Noro Sekku and is a blend of cotton, wool, nylon and silk. I think I bought it a couple of years ago on sale at my local yarn shop. Below is a photo of my progress – I have knit about two or three inches since this past Sunday night. I am determined to complete this by the end of this summer.

What are you currently working on? I am also going to be starting another shawl with a pattern I recently bought from Knit Picks. It is called My Cat Stole My Heart – it is a beautiful lacy shawl. My friend Karen and I are going to do our own KAL – Knit Along – using this pattern.

Have a great day!

Kimberlee

Categories: Knitting

Tags: caron simply soft yarn, knit scarf, knit shawl, knitting pattern, lace knitting, lace shawl, lace wrap, lacy wrap, noro wrap, shawls