In other knews, here is a little update on my knitting activities and projects completed.

Pattern: Autumn Rose Pullover
Source: Simply Shetland 4
Yarn: Jamieson's Shetland DoubleKnitting

This is the status of my Autumn Rose. I have been taking my sweet time with this project. I am, however, totally in love with my Autumn Rose. It took a while to get the fit right (if you recall, I procured the incorrect weight yarn and have had to rework the pattern accordingly), but I am finally very happy and satisfied with how it's coming along. Also, the colors make me swoon!

Pattern: Daisy Stitch Scarf
Source: Barbara Walker's Treasury of Knitting Book 1
Yarn: Garnstudio DROPS Alpaca

I love scarves. In addition to their being an integral component to my wardrobe, scarves are a nice way to balance the knitting of an eight-color fair isle sweater. I cast on for this scarf the other week ago and it was a joy to knit. The yarn, DROPS Alpaca, is gloriously soft and snuggly. And the resulting scarf is nommy beyond belief.

Project: Serious Hat Means Serious Business
Yarn: Cascade 220
Needles: US 7

This hat is hilarious. Last week, I randomly decided that I wanted to knit a hat. In consulting my stash with regards to patterns I wanted to knit, I realized that this pattern (a free download!) would be ideal for a stashbusting project. In particular, I located several leftover and partial skeins of Cascade 220 that had the potential of remaining unknit for a LONG time, and decided to cast on.

As I was knitting this hat, it occurred to me that my color choices were questionable. Once I finished it and pulled it over my head, I realized they were brilliant. The hat itself, I have noted, is somewhat silly. So silly that it makes me smile. So silly that I decided to name the hat an ironic and silly name; this is Serious Hat Means Serious Business. In fact, it is such a serious hat, that one might find oneself doing the following with it at the bar...

Pattern: Foliage
Source: Knitty
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend

I must be on a hat kick. This evening, I cast on for Foliage, a free Knitty download. Foliage is knit from the top down, which I thought was sufficiently interesting to warrant a cast on. I went bananas doing yoga this weekend and have spent most of today with awful back pain, so I will bring some joy and relaxation to my evening by watching a movie, drinking tea, and working on my Foliage. Not only is the pattern fun to knit, but the yarn is delightful.

My other main bit of knitting knews is that I am excited to be an official test knitter for an awesome sweater pattern. Whee! The sweater design is an amazing fitted sweater with an elaborate cable motif that the designer created herself, inspired by the Lord of the Rings. The cables are really out of this world! Despite my abundant stash, I did not have any appropriate yarn, and I ordered some online. I must wait until the yarn arrives before I can cast on.

Over the weekend, I completed my Silk Diamonds Scarf. I started this scarf sometime in November and the fact that it took almost four months for me to complete is a testament to how knitting countless mitered squares is not the funnest activity on the planet. When I first began work on the scarf, I definitely found it enjoyable, but over time it became somewhat dull and tedious. I made a big push over the past few weeks to finish it because otherwise I feared that it would fall into the basket of hibernation, forever a work-in-progress.

This yarn comes from two scarves that I knit previously, that have gone unworn for some time. This scarf is an effort to bring new life to the yarn.

As you can see from the detail, I used a three-needle bind off to connect the two halves of the scarf. I like the seam created with the three-needle bind off, particularly here.

Of course, one of the exciting aspects of finishing a project is the opportunity to cast on for another.

There was a time when I blogged regularly, and was witty and awesome. Over time, this (the regularity) has changed and sometimes I wonder why I maintain this site. The focus of my posts has also changed beyond observations of my world to personal adventures and creative endeavors. I continue to have the goal to post regularly, but consistently fail in that goal. This past month would be an example of that failure.

Around about a month ago, there was a night when I did not sleep well. The next night, I also did not sleep well. For many nights thereafter, the anxiety that I had about not sleeping kept me up all night. During a four week period, I received between zero and three hours of sleep each night. I felt exhausted and was completely obsessed with sleep. I tried a variety of sleep aids, from prescription sleeping pills, to over-the-counter sleep aids, herbal remedies, alcohol, meditation and deep breathing, yoga, etc. I saw medical professionals and checked out every single book on sleep disorders from the library. And every time I mentioned my insomnia to someone, they would say something not helpful, such as recommending camomile tea, as though I had not already tried the most obvious and readily-available sleep aids.

This past week, I had a mental breakdown at work and took a few days off to try and get myself back together. I was aware that it was the anxiety about my insomnia that was the source of my insomnia, but how to break that anxiety eluded me. I felt frustrated because all of the advice from medical professionals and typical notions of "sleep hygiene" failed to address my anxiety; and no matter how diligently I followed this advice, it was still the utter dread of another sleepless night that kept me awake. So I took some personal time. And somewhere, on some internet forum for insomniacs, I came upon a recommendation for a book about insomnia that supposedly addressed the anxiety about insomnia. The book is Say Good Night to Insomnia by Gregg Jacobs, PhD and it has a cognitive restructuring focus about sleep. If you read through the reviews, which I did several times, there are many indicating that the person was able to sleep much better right away. My personal experience is the same. I got the book on Wednesday and that night was the first night in weeks that I did not use any sort of artificial sleep aid, and while I did not sleep the full night, I slept about four hours and it was good sleep. Prior to this, it had been about three nights in which I had not fallen asleep at all. The next night, I slept about six hours. The next, eight hours. And last night, eight hours again and I am no longer spending all of my waking moments obsessing about sleep. The goal of the book is to make insomniacs normal sleepers and I cannot go on enough about how helpful it was in getting rid of the anxiety that I had built up about insomnia.

Anyway, I did not mean for this post to be a product endorsement, but I wanted to explain what has been up with my lack of posting, and to articulate my utter relief and excitement that I am sleeping again. In addition, I might mention my disgust for the medical establishment and my over $400 worth of medical bills that I have to pay for useless medical advice and ineffective sleeping pills; whereas this book was about $12.

As a sidebar, I'd also like to mention my experience with Ambien. In reading some user reviews of the drug, it is clear that many people consider it to be an effective sleep aide. As I have since learned from both some scholarly literature and my own personal experience, its effectiveness may be deceiving because it is an amnesiac, which means that people might think that they slept while in reality they might just not remember being awake. In my own example, I think this might be what happened. So, as prelim information, my bed is lined up with the "head" of the bed against the wall facing East and the "foot" of the bed facing West. Typically, I sleep with my head at the "foot" of the bed facing West. So, after I took some Ambien, I went to bed normally, with my head at the "foot" of the bed. When I awoke in the morning, my body had flipped and my head was at the "head" of the bed and I had several books next to my pillow. I kind of remember reading in bed, but not really, rather I have a weird foggy memory of holding a book. I also have a weird feeling that I spent most of the night being awake and frustrated, but I have no memory of this. The positive was that I did sleep because I did "wake up" in the morning, however I had no memories of dreams and my confidence that I slept was undermined by the fact that I woke up in a completely different position on the bed than normal and that I had all of these books next to me. In addition, that day I felt particularly exhausted.

One positive experience from my insomnia was that I've started doing yoga and I love the way that it makes my body feel. While I am a flexible individual, what with years of gymnastics and various dance classes when I was a kid ingraining in me the importance of stretching, I find yoga quite challenging. But physical challenges are good and I particularly like the balance and coordination challenges afforded by yoga.

Anyhoo, I hope to post regularly about adventures and my creative endeavors again.

On Friday, for example, Josh and I went on an awesome night mountain bike ride up Rocky Canyon Road. For most of the climb, we didn't need to use our headlights because the moon was almost full and lit up the road very well. It also cast eerie shadows of the trees and canyon wall along the road. I had a lot of fun on the descent; the road was nicely tacky and smooth, I hardly had to use my breaks, and I had a wonderful feeling of flying down the road.

Today, I'm going to start planning my vegetable garden and compost system.

Over the weekend, I finished up my Alpaka Tunic from last fall's Interweave Knits. I used not-alpaca for my version, specifically the Noro Cash Iroha, which is a a silk, wool, cashmere, nylon blend. This yarn has excellent drape, perfect for a tunic, and it is so unbelievably soft - - I salivate at how soft and wonderful it feels next to my skin.

This pattern is sized very large; the smallest bust size is at 43 inches. After fanagling with the pattern for a while, I omitted several of the lace panels, thereby taking out 11 inches of ease. I also modified the tunic to be seamless. Below are the specific details of what I did. The yoke was improvised starting as a raglan, and then a hybrid saddle sleeve and circular yoke decrease. I did not take notes on the yoke part and winged it based on trying the tunic on and then decreasing accordingly.

BODY

SLEEVES

YOKE

In an effort to ward off the January blues I have been more of a home-body and am accepting that this as a natural hibernation period. My home-body coping mechanisms have included listening to music and knitting. In the way of music, I've been listening to a lot of alternative country. As for the knitting, here is an update on what I've been working up.

Pattern: Autumn Rose Pullover
Source: Simply Shetland 4
Yarn: Jamieson's Shetland DoubleKnitting

This is the latest installment of my Autumn Rose saga. You may or may not recall that it used to look different. I have had a few false starts with this project and am currently on my third version, having knit and unravelled two previous sleeves. Heavy sigh...

Despite the frustration of frogging such a time-intensive project, I am confident and satisfied that I have it right this time. As opposed to my two previous versions, this sleeve fits properly and has color changes that I like. The current "plan" is to make this into a jacket, instead of the pullover of the pattern.

Pattern: Alpaka Tunic
Source: Interweave Knits Fall 2009
Yarn: Noro Cash Iroha

Here is my take on the Alpaka Tunic, which I am working in Noro Cash Iroha, a silk, wool, cashmere, nylon blend. I am very excited about this yarn/pattern combination. You may recall again that I was using this yarn previously for a different pattern. That other pattern failed to hold my interest and I sought another pattern idea that would work well with this yarn. As I previously discussed, this yarn stretches about an inch over 30 rows, a quality that made me carefully consider my pattern choice. Ultimately, I decided that a drapey tunic would work nicely with this yarn. And voila!

This particular pattern is sized very large; the smallest bust size is at 43 inches. After fanagling with the pattern for a while, I omitted several of the lace panels, thereby taking out 11 inches of ease. For the interested, I am keeping my Ravelry page updated with the specifics. Overall, I have really been enjoying this project. It is a lovely, stress-free contrast to my Autumn Rose, and has been knitting up quickly and easily. I anticipate that I will be happy with the finished tunic.

Pattern: Silk Diamonds Scarf
Source: Simply Shetland 4
Yarn: Simply Sheltand Silk and Lambswool

This is another pattern in the Simply Shetland 4 booklet, along with the Autumn Rose pattern. When I purchased the booklet, I only had a desire to knit the Autumn Rose pattern, but was pleasantly surprised to find that I like many of the patterns, including this scarf.

I've been trucking away at this project for a while. It is my movie-watching project, or my on-and-off project that requires no mental energy. I have approximately three times the amount of scarf completed than what is depicted in the photograph. And I am about halfway done with the full scarf.

Pattern: Cocoon Scarf
Source: Barbara Walker's Second Treasury of Knitting
Yarn: Berocco Jasper, repurposed

The yarn for this project is a repurpose project from an older project, my Neaty Cardigan. Having greatly enhanced my knowledge of wool and yarn since I knit my Neaty, I have ascertained that the Jasper yarn and Neaty pattern combination were a poor match. This is particularly true because I have worn the cardigan in ways that the yarn was not durable enough to handle well - - for example, camping. After years of solid use, the cardigan was looking very ratty. Rather than allow the cardigan to sit in my closet being unworn (because no one wants to wear a ratty cardigan), I decided to unravel the entire sweater and reuse the yarn to make a big scarf.

Over this past weekend, I went snowshoeing with a group of friends, to include Josh, Elizabeth, Amy, David, my Dad, and dogs Buddy and Lebowski. We shoed near Idaho City and had a fun time. It was not the most glorious day, weather-wise, but I was very pleased that we were able to get out of the rain that was happening at the lower elevations. The snow upon which we shoed was on the crusty side, but perfectly snowshoeable.

As can be imagined when one gathers a group of friends wearing silly footwear in the snow, the maturity level did not always remain at high levels. This was evinced by several snowshoe races. Wow, running whilst wearing snowshoes is extremely hilarious! In addition, later in the shoeing, Elizabeth abandoned all self-composure and ran down several hills with her arms, legs, and hips flayling everywhere. She explained to us that such form served to maintain the ideal stability when running down hills in snowshoes. To test her theory, I tried it, but did not feel particularly stable...

We shoed around for a while until a few peeps had to return to Boise, and those remaining chose to hike up into the mountains farther. The below photo is not the greatest of all time, but I like it because it shows the pre-existing snowshoe trail that we found and that it took us up some mountains and through the trees.

Once we quit the snowshoeing, we enjoyed some greasey food in Idaho City. I salivate just thinking about my onion rings... yum!

The inspiration for these mittens came from how I decided to name them. Dionysus was the god of wine and inspirer of ritual madness. This combination of wine and ritual maddness was the foundation for my design process and color choices. The idea was to have the colorwork appear both chaotic and structured... hence, the ritual maddness. The colors and their movement was to suggest the flow of wine... for some of us, a source giddiness and rosy cheeks.

The possibilities for yarn combinations are endless. For my mittens, I used Araucania Ranco Solid and Kauni Wool 8/2 Effektgarn from my stash. This combines a soft yarn with sharp definition (ie, the Araucania) and a scratchy yarn that blooms (ie, Kauni). My mittens are very warm, but also soft.

The pattern might be suitable for a novice strander or a new mittener, but it does require some intermediate level skills. The color charts are small and manageable and the construction of the mittens is simple. They begin with an i-cord, after which stitches are picked up along the side and worked in the round for the cuff, followed by an increase for the hand, a thumb gusset, and a simple decrease and grafting. Skills required include knitting in the round, stranded knitting (including understanding of tension and color dominance), picking up stitches, i-cord, decreasing and increasing, grafting, and reading a colorwork chart.

Here are some details:

Pattern: Dionysus Mittens
Subtitle: God of Wine / Inspirer of Ritual Madness
Needles: US1, or size needed to get gauge.
Yarn: approx 150 yards fingering weight yarn in two colors (300 yards total)
Gauge: 10/12 stitches per inch in stranded charts
Notions: stitch marker, waste yarn, tapestry needle
Size: S, M, L
Actual Measurements: 6.5" (8", 9.25") palm circumference; 6" (7.2", 8.4") wrist circumference; 10" (10.5", 11") length.
Note on Fit: These mittens are designed to fit snugly. To determine your size, measure the circumference of your hand and choose the closest size.
Pattern Format: PDF- 4 pages, 828 KB

Click here to download the pattern, or access via Ravelry

On Saturday, Josh and I went out to the Wilson Creek area for a hike in the Owyhees. We started from the main trailhead and trekked along some various trails eastward, towards Reynolds Creek. We lost the trail a few times and had to bushwhack to our way to the next trail. The inversion over Boise had caused depression to accumulate, however, the clouds broke over the Owyhees and we were able to experience some glorious sunshine. The light was particularly stunning that day.

We hiked to the top of one of the buttes to take in the view and admire some interesting geology. There were odd boulders with distinctive striping. Later, we discussed how the Owyhees contain many fascinating geological features.

A few ridges later, we happened upon a trail that Josh hypothesized would lead us to the China Wall, a trail we have been trying to find. We hike and hiked, and just has we were coming up over a ridge, someone called out, "Hey, it's Josh and Jennifer." I was totally weirded out that someone would recognize us in the middle of the Owyhees. It was a group of friendly mountain bikers who were just coming out of the China Wall. We stopped and chatted and they suggested that we hike the China Wall and that we would be able to get back to the Wilson Creek Trailhead from there.

It was an awesome hike through the Reynolds Creek Canyon, along this rocky trail-bridge ("China Wall"). I was curious about the history behind this trail and I discovered that the trail is formally known as "China Ditch" and informally as the "China Wall," and that it was built by Chinese laborers who were diverting water from Reynolds Creek for irrigation purposes. The trail took us down to the bottom of the canyon, with what seemed like the cliffs of Mordor rising above us.

Eventually, we hiked out of the canyon, where we were faced with several trail options. We decided to follow the bike tracks from the group of riders we had chatted with, a plan that proved very wise. Tracking their tire prints allowed us to navigate back to the trailhead with great ease.

During the hike, we also decided that we would return the next day with our mountain bikes, and with Elizabeth.

The bike ride was awesome. We rode a few different trails to access the canyon area, most of which were in pretty good condition. The trails were rougher than the previous day due to horse travel; Josh and I felt bad because Elizabeth isn't accustomed to the rough trails in the Owyhees, but she seemed perfectly fine. One trail traversing the backside of a butte was particularly muddy and we had difficulty riding to the top. I worked up a sweat and got my heart racing because I was dead set on riding it - - meanwhile, Josh and Elizabeth were hiking behind me, having faced reality in a more timely fashion. Otherwise, the trails were dry.

Descending into and through the canyon afforded us an opportunity to practice some technical skills.

Riding along the wall was fun. More photos on my photoset

Here is my Ella shawl, a free pattern from Knitty. This pattern has been on my list to knit for years and I finally cast on a few weeks ago with the Drops Alpaca yarn. What drew me to the pattern was the hybrid shawl/scarf construction - - by which one has the neat corner of a shawl and the long ends of a scarf. What also drew me to this pattern was the stitch design, with its nifty scale or armor appearance.

The yarn is lovely; so soft and warm. And I love the color. You'll be seeing a lot of this yarn come off my needles in the future, as I procured a ridiculous amount of it at 60% off during the LYS "GOOBS" sale.

Cycling

My primary personal goal involves putting in a lot of miles on the bike. With school soon no longer being an impediment to being able to ride my bike everyday, not only do I want to ride my bike everyday, but I want to ride it over longer and longer distances everyday. I feel a strong desire to embark on long bike adventures, including the multi-day/week variety. Additionally, I will continue to improve my technical skills, downhill speed, and I hope to complete at least one race.

Sometime around my birthday, Josh and I are going to go on a two week bike excursion. And I've recently been inspired to pair it with a brewery tour. The tentative idea being to drive down through Utah, stopping possibly at Park City and maybe hitting Arches, and then doing a tour of Western Colorado, camping for cheap on BLM lands, spending a day or two at each location, mountain biking the days away, and somewhere in between enjoying some quality beer. This plan is by no means certain, another strong inclination I have is to head north into Alberta. Furthermore, the plan seems to rest on my feeling inspired and excited, and I continue to search for exciting resources on the internet. My two primary sources for Colorado/Utah excitement include the Beer Drinker's Guide to Colorado and Mountain Biking Mayhem which has a lot of neat info about the trails in CO and UT (including fun videos!).

Food

Working full time and going to graduate school is a great opportunity to forget how to cook and to develop a love of processed foods. By the end of last semester, I was eating microwavable burritos every single day. The combination of my stomach virus and eating nothing but greasy food in Arkansas served as a reminder for me that there are better ways to eat.

Since my return from Arkansas, I have been cooking and loving it. Last night, for example, Josh and I made beef gorditas (a recipe from my my new cookbook) and they were delicious and satisfying. Over the weekend, I made an exciting chickpea stew. Tonight, I will make a curried sweet potato and chicken dish. No more microwavable burritos.

Furthermore, I am going to have a real garden this year. I've got a compost pile (sorta) going and a mulch system in place, and lots of enthusiasm. I also hope to buy more from the farmer's market.

Knitting

Over the past few years, I have developed a more meticulous attention to detail. I still tend to knit by the seat of my pants, but it is a little more structured and planned. A huge knitting goal for me is to implement a more rigorous approach to planning out my projects, which would facilitate my then being able to translate them into patterns. Last year, I succeeded in accomplishing my goal of writing up a real pattern - - I don't know if I'll ever make it public - - and it was a significant learning experience for me, instilling in me the understanding that a rigorous planning process would make pattern-writing A LOT easier. Lesson learned.

A second knitting goal is to expand my skills and learn new ways of knitting. I am pleased to have recently incorporated doubleknitting and seamless set-in sleeves into my knitting repertoire; my hope is to continue to expand it.

A third knitting goal is to knit exclusively from my yarn stash.

Here's a mosaic of my 2009 finished knitting projects.

I have a sense that my mosaic for 2010 will contain considerably less stockinette, more stranded knitting, more obscenely complex cables, fewer sweaters and more mittens.

Josh and I maintained our sanity in Arkansas, wherein the population is considerably more religious and less physically active than we're used to, by enjoying some morning coffees and going on walks and hikes. One route we hiked a few times took us along a bit of actual nature, where there were thick vines hanging from the trees. Below, Josh practices his Tarzan.

One adventure was Saturday night karaoke at a local biker bar. The only beer served on tap was Budweiser, of which I had several in addition to a few tequila shots. Josh and I sang "Proud Mary" karaoke, danced and had a lot of fun. I shot several videos of the karaoke, as I found it culturally different than Boise, in a country-western sense. I was pretty toasted by the time that I filmed this video, as evidenced by my failure to keep the camera steady.

Another adventure occurred on Tuesday, when I went along with Josh, his mom and his brother Seth to visit the Pea Ridge National Military Park, which is a civil war historical site. At the visitor's center, we watched an interesting documentary about the battle site and then we took a driving tour to the various points of interest.

While we were headed out to the Pea Ridge site, we saw an interesting piece of property that was littered with old vehicles. One caught our eye; an old Model T with a tree growing out of it. Pretty cool.

That evening, the entire family gathered for a few games of bowling. I bowled my finest game, with a score of 114.

The final adventure of the trip was to visit the Walmart museum where we learned all about the rise of the Walton family and learned the secrets to Walmart's success. I found it to be a one-sided and biased interpretation of history and success, but it was nonetheless interesting. A few days earlier, I had lunch at a Walmart Distribution Center (a big warehouse that serves as a hub for the trucking distribution of goods, that houses enough goods to fill ten entire Walmart stores) where Josh's brother Jim works. This was also an interesting experience - - we had to go through security, were assigned "visitor" name badges, and were not allowed to take photos inside the building. Below is a photo of Josh, brother Seth, and mom Kathy on the outside.

More photos on my photoset.

BACKSTORY

This past Saturday, I spent most of the day in anticipation of a holiday potluck among friends. For the potluck bit, I cuddled up with my library of cookbooks and selected an item that sounded delicious and appropriate for a holiday potluck. Specifically, I chose an apple onion cheese gratin from one of my Moosewood cookbooks.

So, I actually do like to cook. But I like to cook my own way, which normally involves only a cursory attention to the recipe. Interestingly, my methodology for cooking mirrors that of my knitting - - using the recipe/pattern as a guide and then making it my own. As with knitting, this manner of cooking can occasionally not work out.

Josh also likes to cook and he was excited about a recipe that he had selected from my edition of the Joy of Cooking: ginger molasses cookies. The methodology that Josh employs in his style of cooking, however, is the opposite of mine and is a small source of contention and mockery between the two of us. Namely, he rigidly follows the recipes.

Despite our incompatible cooking styles, we manage to get along fine in other aspects of life.

ANYWAY, a few hours before the potluck, Josh and I went to the grocery store to gather items for our respective recipes. It was during the drive home that the evening took a turn for the worse... As I navigated the car through our neighborhood, I became aware of a grumbly in my tummy. After a session in the restroom, I found that the grumblies were increasing and making my existence very uncomfortable. I managed to slice up the apples just fine, but became severely nauseous while slicing the onions. Josh offered to grate the cheese so that I could lie down for a while. A while came and went and I was in no condition to attend a potluck, let alone position my person in any way other than remaining perfectly still on my bed. Josh went to the potluck as one. Neither myself nor his ginger molasses cookies were "up" for a potluck, the latter lacked a necessary ingredient.

It turned out that I had a contagious 24 hour stomach virus-thing. I spent all evening on Saturday, and until about 7pm on Sunday feeling MISERABLE. On Monday, Josh came home from work with the exact same symptoms that I had experienced.

THE PLOT THICKENS... or does it?

As of this writing, it is Tuesday and the sliced apples and onions, diced walnuts and grated cheese have been sitting in the refrigerator since Saturday when I gave up on life. Now that I can look at food without wanting to vomit, I've decided to finalize my dish.

Part of my frustration with "cooking" and "recipes" is that I am a novice. After work today, I whipped out all of the ingredients and the recipe and got to work on preparing what I hoped would be a delicious meal. In reading the recipe, there was an elusive set of instructions about "scalding milk" and continually whisking it with butter and flower until it thickened. Whatever. Sure, I don't have a clue how to "scald milk" nor do I understand its benefits in the cooking process, but I determined that was an unnecessary component to the recipe, so I merely added milk, flour, and butter to a pan and whisked away. Whisk, whisk, whisk. I continued to whisk for what seemed like HOURS with no discernible thickening before exclaiming to Josh, "What a waste of time!"

We then discussed how I would not be a good candidate for a cooking show.

Whisk, whisk, whisk.

Eventually, the sauce did thicken. And instead of following the recipe about drizzling the sauce over all of the ingredients once they were in the baking dish, I determined the better method was to first add brown sugar and then mix it all together before adding to the baking dish.

CONCLUSION

Apples, onions, walnuts, gruyere cheese, milk, flour, butter, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and my secret ingredient brown sugar. But really, wouldn't microwavable burritos have been better?

On Friday night, Josh and I did a hike around the foothills. The trails were frozen but the air temperature was comfortable. We brought lights, and chose to hike in the darkness.

Fog limited what visibility there was and rendered the night eerie.

Later, we used our lights to search for nocturnal creatures.

Below is a photo from a night ride through the snow several days ago. The snow had good traction that night and we had an excellent ride.

Josh and I are not the wealthiest of individuals: notice how Josh affixed duct tape to his booties rather than purchase a new pair.

Pattern: Autumn Rose Pullover
Source: Simply Shetland 4.
Yarn: Jamieson's Shetland DoubleKnitting

This project has been on the needles for about a month. I have oogled the Autumn Rose pullover for YEARS and finally decided to go for it. For those who haven't considered this pattern, it is a FITTED fair isle RAGLAN. This is awesome because typical fair isle sweaters tend to be boxy and not at all figure-flattering. Inspiration for my colorways came from a Ravelry user and yarn availability at the LYS.

One significant yarn/gauge issue revolves around the fact that I somehow purchased the wrong yarn weight. I have been having some MAJOR BRAIN ISSUES lately, and for this project I purchased DK weight instead of fingering weight. Along with my other major brain issues, I don't have a clue how I managed to do this... It should also be noted that I purchased the yarn at 60% off (yay!) during a going-out-of-business sale at an LYS (boo!) and I cannot return the yarn. To compensate for the yarn weight, I recalculated stitch counts in the stranded pattern. I will keep my Ravelry page updated with my mods.

Pattern: Everybody Knows
Yarn: Noro Cash Iroha

Due to the aforementioned LYS "going-out-of-business sale" (heretofore referred to as GOOBS), I have procured A LOT of yarn over the past few months, most of which I bought without having a specific pattern in mind. This Noro would be a prime example. By the way, the color is difficult to photograph - - it's a dark blue/black, with a metalic sheen. You may be interested in the fiber content: 40% silk, 30% lambswool, 20% cashmere, and 10% nylon. Yum. It is soft, has a lovely hand, and a wonderful drape. In contemplating an appropriate pattern for this yarn, I noted that many knitters experienced significant growth lengthwise after blocking. Having learned my lession a few too many times about effective swatching, I knit up a sizable swatch, traced an outline of it, washed the swatch, and then traced a new outline of the dried swatch. The below photo shows the results of that - - namely, that the 36 row swatch grew an inch after blocking. That is a significant amount of growth.

I decided that the yarn might be best suited to a simple garment that would make use of the drape, and one that I could carefully monitor the growth of the yarn. I chose the pattern Everybody Knows (a free Knitty download) because I liked the punk-styled garter stitch. I anticipate that the metalic sheen of the blue/black yarn will add another punkish element. I love the collar on this sweater, however, I'm thinking about adding a Ninja Hood instead.

Pattern: Ella
Yarn: Garnstudio DROPS Alpaca

This alpaca is another GOOBS acquisition at 60% off with no plan for its use. I have two skeins of this particular color, which should work for a scarf. Ella is another free Knitty pattern that I've admired for a while. It reminds me of lizard scales. And one of the reasons that it appeals to me is that it is a triangular shawl divided in the center to produce a scarf-like construction. That is a little different from the typical lace shawl. Furthermore, that the lace of this shawl is simple also appealed to me, as I am a very novice lace knitter.

Pattern: Linnaeus, my own design
Yarn: Noro Kureyon Sock and Colinette Jitterbug

Linnaeus is an asymmetrical stranded jacket... or, it will be eventually. I presented Linnaeus in another version several months ago, and afterwards decided that I didn't like it. This is a new version with a much simplified stranded motif (16 stitches by 18 rows) and I've inverted the yarns.

In stash news, the Type A nerd in me salivated excessively earlier this week upon realizing that one can export one's Ravelry stash information to an excel spreadsheet. During my GOOBS yarn acquisition, I decided that it was imperative for me to update my stash records so that I would know its exact contents. Since then, the challenge has been deciding what yarn to use with what project - - I find that having A LOT of choices makes the decision process very difficult, especially when it involves lots of nommy yarn. Anyway, I spent some time with my excel spreadsheet yarn inventory and added a column to identify appropriate pattern ideas. In thinking about my excel stash inventory, I DROOL.

Mountain biking through the winter months went up a notch this weekend for Josh and I as we set out on our first real snow bike excursion. Some have suggested that my inspiration has come from Jill in Alaska and her winter adventures, but it is much more than inspiration that her blog provides - - it suggests that the winter months can be unique opportunities to pursue the same outdoor activities that one does in the warmer months, and that one only needs different gear and an attitude adjustment. For me, the problem with winter sports is that I have been unable to pursue them directly outside my front door. Cross country skiing is a winter sport that I could really get behind, except for that it requires that I drive to somewhere that is good for skiing. Driving, in general, is something I try to avoid doing and driving in the winter, in particular, is something that can really take the fun out of an activity. Just the pure fact that I cannot engage in skiing unless I drive somewhere has been the major barrier to my developing a strong interest in skiing. Mountain biking, in contrast, is something that I can do without driving anywhere, what with my living less than a mile away from the foothills trails. And if you think about it, is mountain biking really so different than cross country skiing? (other than the driving thing). I wonder why a general attitude about mountain biking is that it is for the non-winter months...

As I've previously written, having the proper gear for winter biking is a science. And Josh and I have pretty much figured it out. When I last wrote, we continued to have trouble with our hands and feet. I hinted at the bottom of my last post that I was thinking about procuring a pair of handlebar sleeve mitts/pogies... and I did! This past week, I conducted an extensive local and online search. I was unable to find anyone locally who sold such an item and I was unable to find mountain bike pogies for under $60. As I've already spent a good wad of cash on winter gear recently, I was hoping to find something more affordable. I ended up locating a very affordable option from a hunting shop in Bonners Ferry. They are essentially pogies for ATVs or snowmobiles (and are endorsed by the National Rifle Association). They are windproof, insulated, and cost a whopping $30. I also received excellent customer service - - the man I chatted with on the phone was very helpful, and I ordered two pairs on Thursday and received them on Saturday. Josh and I had planned to go on a big snow bike adventure, and I was delighted when the pogies arrived in the mail.

We rode Bucktail/Shanes to Rocky Canyon Road and up the lower part of Orchard Trail. Riding through the snow, both climbing and descending was very SLOW. My cycle-computer needs new batteries, so I don't have any official stats, but I think we were out for three hours. (of course, we were not riding for that whole time). I am satisfied to report that the pogies worked very well. During the climbs, I removed my gloves entirely and rode with my hands contained in the pogie-cocoon of warmth. During the descent, my hands did get cold - - but I believe there are specific reasons for this (one, I rubbed cold snow all over my hands prior to starting the descent because I had gotten something sticky on them (the learning here is to tolerate the sticky and not rub snow on your hands), and two, because my gloves were too tight and cut off blood flow). The cutting off of blood circulation has been a key reason for coldness, and ever since I bought these gloves I've wondered if they are too small. That evening, I went out to REI and exchanged the gloves for a bigger pair. Also, I was able to warm my hands back up on the descent. It is also worth noting that the temperature was 22 degrees.

As for the feet, I had great success. I wore one pair of Smartwool cycling socks, wrapped a chemical toe warmer over my little toes, wore my normal cycling shoes, insulated with a bootie, wrapped all of this with a plastic grocery bag, and then finalized with a windblocking bootie. (in the above photo, you can see the plastic grocery bags sticking out of my booties). This worked very well for warmth. THE PROBLEM was that snow and ice clogged up my cleats and pedals every time I put my foot down (which was more frequently than normal because I kept losing traction on the slippery snow), and after three hours this got to be very frustrating. I have resolved to switch to platform pedals and ride with hiking boots for the snow season.

Speaking of traction, I am concerned about losing traction with flat pedals, but I don't know what else to do. Traction was a big issue on this ride. In the above photo, you can see something that is so rare, it is astonishing I actually captured it in a photo. The photo is of Josh walking his bike up a little hill after losing traction. This is the tiny hill/dip on Shanes. That Josh had to walk his bike up this measely hill evinces how slippery the snow was at times. SHOCKINGLY, I was able to maintain traction better than Josh. I attribute this to running my tires at very very low psi. Before we left on the ride, Josh and I both put studded tires on our bikes. As we were filling them with air, I said something about wanting to run low pressure. I have been reading about snow biking on the internets (for example, at IceBike) and a general piece of wisdom has to do with really really low psi. When I filled my tires up to 25 psi, Josh acted as though that was too low - - then when I let most of that air out on the trail, Josh had a very small freakout about how I did not know what I was doing. He later recanted, and affirmed that this was one time when I was right and he was wrong. Anyway, throughout the ride, I had significantly better traction. Yes, I was still slipping out, but Josh kept remarking about how I wasn't struggling as much as he was. When we began the descent down Rocky Canyon Road, Josh noticed very clearly that I was able to ride along and maintain a little stability, while he was fishtailing all over. He then let out a lot of his air, and agreed that it was much better. He also mentioned that maybe he should ride fatter tires. (in the below photo, check his skinny tires).

Biking in the snow required a lot more effort, obviously. We rode the flatter/lower portion of Orchard Trail before turning around for the descent. The descent was interesting. I tried to find the right balance of keeping my speed in check and not hitting my brakes. I tried to steer the bike down the trail, but did not steer away from how the snow was making the bike travel. It was the dichotomy of being in control of one's mountain biking but being relaxed to allow the trail and snow to carry me and my bike along. It was fun, but it was definitely unnerving to surrender so much control. And it was not at all scary. Going down Rocky Canyon Road was the same - - riding faster but keeping the speed in check and going with the flow of the snow. We ended up connecting back to Shanes and Bucktail for the last portion of the descent. This proved to be an excellent route because (1) descending Bucktail through the snow actually required expending some energy which was helpful in retaining body heat, and (2) we succeeded in having some awesome flow along the singletrack.

Also of note is that during this ride, we were able to ride out of the inversion. In the below photo, the grey portion on the horizon is actually the inversion smoke. We hit it once we got to Shanes and smelled a very distinct nasty smokey smell and my throat started to get sore.

More photos on my photoset.