Finally sat down with the new Vogue Knitting last night - there is a very good article on repetitive stress injury, and a number of exercises to do to work out the kinks and minimize the damage. I'm showing some early hints of carpal tunnel, so this hit home for me, but my problem is mostly extreme tightness in my neck and shoulders - let's see, I sit at a desk most days in a high-pressure job, use a computer at home, and knit. Nope, can't understand why I would have such tight shoulders. Even three weeks of regular exercise, just walking and basic mat Pilates, has helped me a great deal, I'm becoming addicted to exercise again. The Girlchild has talked me into trying Tae Bo, because she absolutely loves it, so I've ordered an intro DVD. Will report on it at some later date.

Right now it's still walking and stretching, and this morning the scale registered another half pound loss. I know, it's "wrong" to weigh in so often, I get on the scale every morning instead of once a week as the "experts" say we should, but I know I got into this fix by NOT weighing myself often or making excuses for my weight when I did get on the scale "Oh, up four pounds? Must be Water Weight (not the pizza and beer diet)." Then I would just avoid thinking about it until that "up four pounds" became my new "normal weight," and then the next three pounds crept on and that became the status quo, and so on.... While I am the first to say don't get too hung up on the numbers if you are happy with your size, I also know my own good weight range, and I know that ignoring the scale, trying not to be "too hung up on those numbers" -- a philosophy which then led to giving up full-length mirrors and looking at myself in the mirror from the neck up only -- got me into the fine mess I was in. I'm down 6.5 pounds since Dec. 27th, and I'm really not working all that hard at it, no counting, measuring, calculating, playing games of "if I eat this I won't eat that," I just follow the basic principles of portion control and eating low on the glycemic index. Plus daily walking and occasional Pilates (I don't do that daily.) This is actually working. I'm very jazzed.

Of the VK patterns, I of course gravitated toward #20 - the Debbie Bliss jacket in Cotton Denim Aran. That's going on the must knit this spring list.