Knit-Nerd-Rant

So the belly dance has continued apace, and thanks to the recent discovery (via random Pinterest link) of a great tutorial on creating cabaret belly dance tops , I've finally gotten up the courage to create my own.  While I"m not ready for performances, I'm hoping that by the time I do get there, I'll have an awesome costume ready to go. This one features some really fun purple lame fabric found at a recent blow out sale form Bits of Thread, and the beads so far are from previous projects. I'm really excited about it! Was talking with my mother earlier and she noted that when my dad started back into his old cycling habit, he warned her that he would be enthusiastic/obsessive, and that didn't end up getting anywhere hear close to describing reality. So at least I know where I get it from! I'm also working on some simple baby blankets for the newborn ICU where the soon-to-bee mother-in-law volunteers.  So there's a lot of crafting going on up in h...

I recently started taking a belly dance class. I love it intensely. Over a decade ago, I had previously taken a couple classes taught by a friend in high school and feel head-over-heels with the style. It was fun, it looked cool, I liked the music, and it was really self-affirming. Backing up, I was an overweight kid, who surprisingly grew up to be an overweight adult. It wasn't always that way. When I was a very young kid, I was short but skinny. Sometime around 3rd grade something happened and by 4th or 5th grade, I was plump. There was no change in my constant level of activity - there were dance classed, soccer teams, softball teams, even a short lived basketball team. I loved moving and sports and generally being active, and I still do. I loved vegetables and still do. Just something happened with my internal chemistry that changed how my body managed chemical energy conversion. It was something frequently on my mind - that I was bigger than the other girls. I looked di...