New Year, New Me?

I hate diets, I hate exercising. There - I said it. However, I seem to have failed a bit in the sense of keeping off the weight that I lost. Last year, I lost 40 pounds. WOO-HOO! Unfortunately, I gained 25 of it back...BUT! At least I weigh less this year than I did last year, right? :)

So, here we go again. Started South Beach on Monday, January 3. Stepped on the scale that morning: 239.0

January 4: 236.4. WOO-HOO!
January 5: 234.8. WOO-HOO!

So in 3 days, almost 5 pounds. Not bad. Goal this year is to see 175. And then knit me a new sweater...one that fits.

Speaking of sweaters, I cast on and finished the lovely Althea sweater by Snowden Becker, which is a top-down sweater with a beautiful yoke design. Cast on the XL on September 5. completed the yoke and moved on into the boring rib design. Tried it on, just to see. FAIL. Too big. But luckily, the yoke schematics were the same for the L, so I just had to rip out the ribbing and could keep the yoke. Wishful thinking.

Finished the sweater over New Year's, blocked it Monday night, wore it and HATED it on Tuesday. Why? TOO BIG. Took it to knit night last night and my guru Lynne (hi Lynne!) examined it. Basically, my needle size was too big. Why? Did Stacey do a gauge? Of course not! Grrrrrrrrrrr. So the Althea now needs to be frogged in it's entirety - there is not one bit of it that can be salvaged. Fortunately, yarn is different from fabric: when you cut fabric, if you mess up, you're in trouble. With knitting, you can just rip it back and start all over AGAIN. Grrrrrr....