September 9, 2008
~ bruised apple ~
I finished my first pair of mittens this weekend. They are the "Yellow Harvest" mittens from the Fall 2008 Vogue Knitting. The yarn is Noro Silk Garden (the same yarn from a scarf I knat a few months ago, which I ended up not liking very much...so I harvested the yarn to knit up my "Noro Harvest" mittens). As far as a pattern for first-mittens goes, this is a good one - - well written with several nice details that are fun to work. Morning temperatures have recently dipped into the chilly zone for my walk to work, and so I have had the opportunity to wear these mittens both yesterday and today and have found them lovely.
In mountain biking news, I have been getting in a lot of riding now that the weather is cooling off. Last Friday, Josh and I rode a most awesome foothills 'loop' - - up Bogus Basin, up Corralls, up Scott's , down Scott's, down Trail 4, and down Crestline/Kestrel. The ride was somewhat monumental for me, signifying that I am overcoming my fears about steep drop-offs. I don't believe I wrote about this, but last year when I had the bike with the grabby breaks that exacerbated many of my fears about steepness, heights, and drop-offs, Josh and I went on a ride on Scott's Trail and I experienced something of a total panic attack about the drop-off along a steeper part of the trail. As this year is a different year, with a different bike, and a different attitude, I have been feeling very accomplished at overcoming my fears and anxieties - - which is particularly significant because so much of mountain biking is about mental attitude. I've been riding trails which I had become rather wimpy about, and challenging myself on much more technical terrain, discovering that most of the time, things just LOOK hard, and that when I relax and pedal/roll over something, I find that it is much easier than expected. So anyway, Scott's trail was the final test to myself that I am totally OVER the crashes and negative mental attitudes that got me down last year. To clarify, there's nothing about Scott's that is really hard (it's a nice intermediate trail) but a few sections of trail had qualities that would freak me out. Anyway, so on Friday when we were doing our awesome loop, I was mentally preparing myself to ride down Scott's. I kept giving myself all kinds of encouragement, reminding myself that I've ridden much more difficult trails, and that this was nothing, NOTHING to get a panic attack about. And as I was descending, I told myself to focus on the trail, relax, breath...and I kept thinking that the scary sections of the trail must be around the next turn, so I stayed relaxed, breathed, and focused on the trail in front of me. I was still expecting the scary section of the trail to be around the next turn when I realized that I had made it to the bottom. HUH? The trail on which I had experienced a panic attack, I had now ridden without a single hesitation. I am serious when I argue that mountain biking is primarily about mental attitude, and secondarily about fitness. After descending Scott's, there was still a LOT of downhill left, and I had a blast bonzaiing down the mountains.
On Saturday, we returned to the Owyhees and tried to ride from 'our parking space' to Succor Creek. The previous weekend when we went out there, we encountered a couple on an ATV picking up litter, and had a conversation about how some of the roads we were riding would take a person out to Succor Creek. And so this weekend, we tried to do just that. Of course, I had gotten all complacent in the cooler temperatures and convinced Josh that it would be okay if we left in the afternoon, rather than bright and early in the morning. BAD MOVE. Aside from being a bit on the hot side, I found the roads a tad sandier than I prefer. It was still very ridable, just took a bit more effort to plow through. Before I would feel comfortable giving it an official review, however, I think I need to ride it again. I realize that my being kinda too hot was detrimental to my fully appreciating the ride - - also, I now realize that I did not consume many calories during the lengthy ride, and so I possibly lacked energy that I might have had if I had been more responsible with my caloric intake.
So, it takes about an hour to drive out to 'our parking spot' in the Owyhees. Since joining the modern era with the acquisition of my iPod, I have placed all of my compact discs into a compact disc book-holder-deal, which I have placed in my car (for, you know, road trips). Despite the plethora of music available during this particular road trip, Josh and I opted to listen to the Flight of the Conchords cd THREE TIMES IN A ROW. Needless to say, we have since had the catchy tunes stuck in our heads. In fact, I am pretty much in a constant state of mentally huming the tunes to myself, both awake and asleep, and it is kind of annoying.
September 2, 2008
~ burning the midnight oil ~
This past weekend proved to be a most excellent three-day weekend. Clearly, three day weekends are far superior to two day weekends.
I'll begin by highlighting Saturday evening's fun, a BBQ chez Amy. In spite of the good company (Amy, Elizabeth, Leah, David, Josh, and Eric), the good atmosphere (the backyard lawn), the good food (chorizos, potato salad, fruit salad, roasted veggies), and the beverages (beer), no one had a very good time. In fact, it was so terrible, that we have decided never to have a BBQ ever again. What made the experience pretty much unbearable was this puppy-dog who was running around trying to swindle everyone's beer. Note, that below photo was a shot from the gods - - it appears as though David was giving the puppy beer, when in fact the puppy was the perpetrator, having suddenly lunged at the beer bottle. Through the course of the evening, so much beer was spilled as a result of puppy (and subsequently licked up by puppy) that we surmised he had become rather tipsy. Photos of the horrendous evening are available here.
Saturday was also the day when Josh and I had yet another adventure in the Owyhees. Unfortunately, it's been a while since we were down there - - but we decided to do a refined version of the Sage Creek Loop that we did in June. We've been out there enough that we're really getting to know our way around. This was the first time in the Sage Creek zone when we didn't have to spend time figuring out where we were going and back-tracking because we went the wrong way. We did a perfect loop that I approximate was 2.5 hours. Ultimately, I bet Josh and I could make some money by developing a mountain biking Owyhees book - - Josh was even talking about opening a bike shop in Marsing (maybe not the best idea in today's economy). Anyway, the loop took us over lots of ups and downs, some unridable ups that we had to hike-a-bike, and some pretty challengingly technical downhills that I felt very accomplished after riding successfully. I've developed a lot more confidence on the more technical downhills - - the Owyhees are great for that. The Boise foothills, all groomed and smooth, are wonderful but can hold a person back from developing confidence on not-groomed and not-smooth trails. I love the Owyhees - - so much potential adventure. Photos from this ride may be viewed here.
I've been getting a good amount of riding in, which adds to my feeling good on the bike. On Sunday, Josh and I rode Sidewinder, which is a nice fun quickie ride. Funny story about that ride... I had been having a bit of trouble with the shifting on my bike. On the ride in the Owyhees, the front gears were very malaligned - - Josh did a complete gear adjustment on the trail, but they wouldn't function properly. I took the bike into the shop to have the mechanics fix it. Got the bike back on Sunday and Josh and I rode Sidewinder. The front gears were working, but the back gears were not. Josh spent more time trail-side trying to adjust them, to no avail. We rode anyway. As I was grunting up one of the climbs, the chain broke. Josh was the mechanical hero, as he was able to fix the chain with his semi-broken chain tool and we were able to finish the ride. That night, we hung out at the bike shop drinking beers, Josh fixing my bike for good, and me knitting.
And finally, I know how you have all being eagerly awaiting my knitting report.
I've finished Inishfern. TAHDAH!!! My improvised top-down asymmetrical seamless raglan. The cables both diminish and transform into different cables. It is fitted with a flair at the waist. And the button band - - an opportunity for improvisation! After trying a number of options, I found that I liked the expanding garter panel with a set of cables - - the buttons are set by the cables, as opposed to traditional button holes. Tradition, smadition! Below you may see more clearly the cabled button band - - also, note my vintage buttons.
In other knews, I know I've been going bananas obsessing about mittens. This explains why I randomly cast on for Ice Queen over the weekend. I have to roll my eyes at myself - - not only do I have several projects currently in progress, not only do I have my sights set on several patterns, but Ice Queen is a very random and spontaneous cast on. I suppose that it happened after I was reading about how cowls are the new scarves, and I realized that the pattern might be a good use for that lace yarn I procured for a failed project a few months ago. And so...Ice Queen. I've taken the Cascade Elite Silky Alpaca lace yarn, doubled it, and also included a strand of the green angora from a thrift store sweater I recycled. Very very soft and very very warm. As evidenced by the below status-photo, I am knitting it much tighter than the pattern, so as to make for a more warm cowl.
June 12, 2008
~ Ruffled Jacket ~
Converted this to seamless raglan.
I must have passed over this project in Vogue Knitting twenty times without ever thinking anything of it. Then, between projects, I was searching for a cabled cardigan pattern and began considering this project with modifications. Please see here and here for original pattern photos. I made considerable modifications, as per my tendency to not follow patterns. I've posted my pattern notes on Ravelry. More photos on flickr as well. I employed Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Knitting Workshop for the Raglan shaping. This was my first bottom-up raglan, and I made some error on the shoulder shaping. Now begins the experiment to fix the error. How pompous I feel after converting this project to seamless! The original instructions call for knitting this in EIGHT PIECES (two fronts, one back, two sleeves, two cable panels, and one ruffle = 8 = CRAZYPANTS!) and then seaming them all together. Finally, I would like to articulate my great love of this yarn. This yarn came from a thrice-frogged project and has held up beautifully after being knit and pulled apart three times.
April 16, 2008
~ Cozy Sweater ~
I finished my Cozy V-Neck Sweater, from Fitted Knits, over the weekend. To spice up the ridiculous amount of k2p2 ribbing, I added some cabling from the Wheat Ear Cable Yoke. I also knat the neck much lower and wider than the pattern called for, in addition to leaving that gap in the front of the neck (which is similar to other 'fitted knits'). The sweater fits very well and I like it a lot. The yarn is Berocco Ultra Alpaca which is a bit on the itchy side, but quite lovely. I have worn the sweater twice since finishing it and am shocked, SHOCKED! by how much it pills. The Jasper pills excessively, but this yarn, OH MY!, after two wears there were these ginormous accumulations of fuzz along the side. Not impressed!
March 24, 2008
~ young grasshopper ~
In anticipation of my upcoming mountain bike race, I took advantage of the warm weather this weekend and practiced riding the race course three times - - on Friday and Sunday with Josh, and Saturday with another female mountain biker. While I am not exactly in top riding form, what with all of the not-biking I've been doing, I managed to greatly impress myself this weekend - - primarily in the way of taking in a deep breath and riding those sections of the course that caused me to hesitate out of fear. Those shots above depict exactly that - - sections that I had to work up some guts to ride. Naturally, the photos don't do justice to the actual trail conditions - - I felt as though I was surmounting one ginormous challenge after another.
The first two photos are essentially the same. They show me riding a part of the trail that was very sandy, somewhat steepish, with a tight downhill swooping turn to the left. I took in a number of deep breaths in an attempt to get the guts to ride this - - what I continue to learn after successfully riding obstacles that make me hesitate is that most of the time these obstacles look worse on the approach than they actually are. I hiked myself back up to the top of this part of the trail several times to try and try again - - and as I was finally riding down the length of the trail, I had to scream because I was so excited that the trail was FUN and not horrid and scary. Imagine that! Something that appeared terrifying was loads of FUN!
The third photo depicts me overcoming one of my biggest fears - - drop offs. This particular one begins with a little uphill jaunt over some boulders and then a few step-steps down, all the while with the trail sloping towards the drop off. I successfully took in deep breaths and rode it three times, having fun each time, feeling very accomplished - - though, the deep breath was still very necessary even on the third time.
The fourth photo probably doesn't look like anything. And it's not, really. It's simply the epitome of a scary-looking approach that turns into no big deal to ride. What it was, was a steepish downhill with a sloping trail with lots of loose stuff on the top. But what it really was, was a really fun section leading into a superfast awesome fun downhill.
Anyway, the full course is 10.5 miles and I felt pretty good riding all of it this weekend. I've still got a few more weekends to practice before the race. Speaking of the race, I have absolutely no idea what to expect out of myself. My athletic competition history is virtually none. Though, in middle school, I was on a volleyball team - - we didn't win a single game, so I have a lot of experience being a good loser. Actually, what I gleaned from that experience was to not take athletic competition seriously. So this race, I'm doing it as a goal for myself - - but I have no idea what my attitude will be during the race. Anyway, this year I'm hoping to jump up to the next skill level of biking, and I feel that so far I've done a splendid job of that.
In other news, a photo of my Textured Tunic - - of which I am very fond. I've worn it several times and I love the way that it hangs, I love the feeling of the cotton, and I find it simply attractive.
Then, one of my current projects: Iceland. Here's the start of the sleeve. The yarn is surprisingly easy to work with, despite some reviews that it tends to split, and it is quite soft. I also like the color a lot. The leafy pattern is remarkably userfriendly, even though its a 20 row lace pattern. I began the Iceland about four days ago, so it appears to be a relatively quick knit. Of course, by yesterday, I was needing some good ol' stockinette to relax me away from the lace. So I began another top-down raglan...it will be very similar to the Tunic above, but I'm working it in some fine alpaca and will incorporate some cabling.
March 6, 2008
~ Neaty ~
Finished my Neaty and I love it. As I indicated previously, there was a bit of a snafu with the blocking, but I was able to correct that - - one of the glories of yarn, if you ask me. At any rate, I've worn my Neaty both yesterday and now today, apparently it's my new favorite garment, and I'm delighted with how cozy and comfy it is, the yarn is super soft. While I did not follow the pattern from Rowan hardly at all, I feel that the end product contains the 'spirit and intent' of Neaty, even though the process to arrive here was substantially different.
April 12, 2007
~ disappointment on my knitted brow ~
At the moment, I am super excited about all of these items which I lack the time to pursue. For a time, I have been working on the Nantucket Jacket which I started working on strong, but have had to place aside for days (and weeks) at a time for work and school. I've recently had an opportunity to take up the needles again, and I must say!, this is a very fun pattern to work on. The pattern has enough going on with it that it is plenty interesting and fun, what with the alternating cables and lacework, but is simple enough that I do not have to constantly be reading the pattern. Which is another way of saying that I have had the opportunity to watch numerous quality episodes of Star Trek: the Next Generation. Nevertheless, I still have to finish my two sleeves and then must learn some basic crochet skillz for the edging.
I have also been excited about being able to do some bicycling. Unfortunately, the weather has not been consistently glorious and I've gone to the gym a few more times than I would prefer. Also, I have been a bit disappointed in this female-only mountain biking group with whom I am aligned. There has been nary a group-ride scheduled and I continue to desire more estrogen on my mountain bike rides. I have exchanged several emails with the female who shares my given name, who I went road biking with several times last year, and we are trying to schedule a tough girls mountain bike ride, but scheduling has proven to be an issue. Also, I have received some good news and some not-wonderful news regarding my acquisition of a full suspension mountain bike. The good news is that the bicycle shop owners were feeling particularly generous and have offered to let me buy the bike at an incredible deal. The not-wonderful news is that somehow the bicycle is not currently available and it might be a whole entire MONTH until I can get it. I know, I know! A month! I, too, have no idea how I'm going to survive what I have determined to be approximately thirty days! I mean, what am I supposed to do? Ride the perfectly servicible bike that I've been riding for two years??? I AM NOT A BARBARIAN!
On the other hand, I don't really have time (or, I shouldn't have the time) to do these and other things that I would like to...what with the whole school thing. Boy, am I looking forward to summer break! The best part about school is not being in it! I know that I'm only taking two classes, but trying to have a quality life balance and working full time plus is a challenge. Additionally, I'm simply not all that excited about being a student. I mean, it's neat in some ways, and my program is much more interesting than I was expecting, but I feel very OVER being a student. I hypothesize that my undergraduate experience totally burned me out from academia and I feel very DONE with the whole thing. Of course, part of the problem is that I've got something of a Type A personality and I simply have to do my best in everything that I do. Oh sure, I'm pleased that on all three of the research papers so far this semester that I received the highest grade in the class and the professors were just RAVING about how good they were, but the process that it took to do so well on those papers involved a drastic reduction in the quality of my personal life. Not that I don't think it's great fun to get up at 4:00 a.m. to work on my paper for four hours before going to work and then working on my paper again when I arrive home from work until midnight for a week and a half...but lately I've been reconsidering the important things in life and at the end of the day I don't think that getting the highest grade in the class is meaningful or indicative of a quality existence. Rather, a measure of quality existence would probably involve the successful achievement of qualitative happiness along a moment-to-moment continuum. The happiness that I felt at finding out my paper grade was significantly less happiness than if I had had some fun and enjoyable experiences during the week and a half that I spent writing the infernal thing. And the same thing goes for how I've been handling my work load at the job. In essence, I should abandon my Type A need for perfection and get a life.
