Los Angeles Weekender

A few weeks back we took a quick little weekend trip to Los Angeles. We went with our friend and neighbor Scott, who lived there for some years. The trip started well with a plane ride full of beers all around and good conversation. Hurray for traveling with friends!

For our first day, we split up with Scott and spent the day primarily at the beach in Santa Monica. Needless to say, my hot-weather-loving husband was in heaven with all of the sunshine. The beach is his happy place for sure. Since our time was limited he decided not to make it a surfing trip, though, so we contented ourselves by just soaking up the sun and watching the other surfers. We also did my favorite beach activity: beach cruisers! We rode all the way up and down the coast line from beyond Santa Monica beach to Venice beach. There were stops for ice cream, swimsuit shopping, and ogling at Muscle Beach along the way. Lovely.

Later that night we went back to the Santa Monica Pier for a funnel cake and the photo booth. Unfortunately, I ended up accidentally throwing away our photo strip a few days later. It wasn't a super great one, though, so I'm not heart broken. The funnel cake was of course delicious and we of course ended up covered in powdered sugar (okay, it was mostly me) before meeting up with a super hold friend from Wisconsin Rapids who now lives in LA.

We spend the next day we left Santa Monica and headed for the Fashion District. On the way, we stopped in Koreatown for lunch. On the recommendation of Anthony Bourdain we chose Ham Ji Park and ordered the pork rib BBQ special. Delish. Then it was on to fabric shopping where I picked up a few cool deadstock fabrics for Winslow.

That night we met up with Scott and he took us around his old neighborhood, Los Feliz. We loved getting the Scott tour, which consisted mostly of hilarious "this used to be a this" anecdotes and the best diners and old hangouts, not to mention kicking the night off right with some very fruity, very rum-y drinks at Tiki Ti. There was little time for frivolous picture taking, but I did manage to snap this photo of the infamous (to us via Scott) House of Pies, where we very fittingly had pie and coffee. Apple a la mode with a slice of cheddar for me and pecan for the fellas.


Oh! Scott also humored our touristy ways with a quick trip down the Hollywood walk of fame and this recreated-from-my-childhood pose at the Chinese Theatre. Love to you all!

The next day all three of us set out for the Hollywood sign via a hike through Griffith Park. It was super sunny and hot, but totally worth if for the views and bit of exercise. Urban hiking is the best.

Kevin and I stayed at two super-duper hotels (we like to hop around to stay in different parts of a city when we travel) which I'll list briefly as a recommendation in case anyone else is thinking of planning a trip. The Seaview Hotel in Santa Monica was just the best of all worlds in terms of location, decor, and price. Then there was the Sportsman's Lodge, which we booked through Groupon. Great updated-vintage vibe with a super cool pool area that we unfortunately didn't get to try out this time.

What else? We drove Mulholland Drive on our last night with the windows down, ate our fair share of breakfast burritos, and did some high quality people watching at the Universal CityWalk. Overall, a great sun-filled, friend-filled trip.

Snowshoeing Snoqualmie

Even though spring is in full bloom here now, a few weekends ago winter was till very much alive in the mountains - and probably still is. My Mom has been to visit us in Washington many times now, but she's rarely visited in the winter season and we've never done any snow-centered activities. Being a Wisconsinite, she gets plenty of that at home! Kevin and I have never actually done much in the way of winter sports here either, although we used to do quite a bit of skiing / snowboarding in Wisconsin. You've just got to do something in the winter there to keep from going stir crazy. This year, we really wanted to try to do something in Washington, too. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss the snow a little bit. Not the every day kind that you have to endlessly shovel for four months, but the kind that's pretty and refreshingly bright and crisp.

So, we decided to snowshoe! We rented snowshoes from Second Ascent, which is just a fantastic place. I'll happily give them all my money for any outdoor related gear anyway but they also happen to have a really great rate. Highly recommended.For our routes, we decided to choose something relatively flat and free of avalanche danger. This was our first time out after all. So, we set our sights on hiking the trails around the Lower Gold Creek Basin Sno-Park. You can read all about it from the Washington Trails Association website. 

We set out fairly early on Saturday after a customary stop for road-doughnuts at Top Pot. This trip required us to go through the Snoqualmie Pass and we knew the forecast was for snow. No one was too worried, though. We know how to drive in snow right? And it's a major highway so it has to be plowed and salted right? As we got further and further into the pass, the snow really started to come down. Everyone was driving much more slowly and visibility was low. But, the road was still plowed and salted and it seemed completely doable. Nevertheless, I started to freak out a bit and curse myself for not buying pair of snow chains. Wait, let me rephrase that. All of the other drivers started to freak out and pull over in large groups to attach their snow chains. Which in turn made me freak out. Was I missing something? Why were there cars in the ditch? It must be much worse than it looks right? And be getting even worse up ahead? Uhh...not so much. I have no idea why those cars ended up in the ditch or why people were attaching snow chains with so much fervor. Sure, it was slushy and you had to drive slow...but we made it to our destination (and back down later) with not even the slightest slip or slide. Maybe I'm still missing something and seasoned Washingtonians will scoff at my assessment and naiveté but I just don't understand what all the fuss was about. 

Anyway, back to the snowshoeing. We did arrive safely despite the snow and bundled up to hit the trails. It was quite windy where we parked, but as soon as we got into the woods the wind died down and we warmed right up. It was snowing the whole time we were out, which was both ideal and not ideal. It was beautiful in itself, but also meant we didn't get any mountain views as we hiked. The trail was a bit busy, but not too bad. A few of my favorite parts were seeing the cozy little snow-covered cabins that are tucked into the woods along the trail and seeing all of the happy dogs that people brought along with them on their hikes. Hiking always makes me want to get a dog! They just look like they love life so much while they're jumping around in the snow or trotting next to their owners as they cross country ski. 

After snowshoeing we made our way back to North Bend, where we'd booked a night at the Log Cabin Bed and Breakfast. It looked like a cute place online with decent Yelp reviews and fit the bill of sleeping three. I won't discuss it much, but instead be brief and just say DO NOT STAY THERE. It's weird and overpriced with a very misleading website. At least the room we stayed in. One of the many strange details was a vine of ivy that had forced it's way through the ceiling joist from the outside. So. Weird. 

Sunday we decided not to snowshoe, but rather to just do a hike. We headed to Twin Falls, a trail Kevin and I had hiked in the summertime once. It continued to snow and the trail was snow-covered almost the whole way, but we didn't need our snowshoes. We did about two-thirds of the trail then turned back and headed back home. Overall, it was a good first foray into Washington winter sport. Maybe next year we'll finally make it to a proper ski hill, without a stay at the Log Cabin Bed and Breakfast I might add. 

It's Christmas Sweater Time!

I know, I know. We've just finished with winter (if not quite yet in some parts of the country). This is not the time to start thinking about Christmas again. Or is it? Knitting time operates on a different space time continuum than regular time. Case in point: knitted socks. Sure, I could just pop down to the store and buy a ten pack of pre-made socks for a mere five buckaroos. Or, I could spend way more than that on pretty sock yarn plus hours and hours of knitting to come out with one pair. Option two please and thank you. And I shall not once think about the loss of time spent knitting them because it's not a loss it's an incredibly enjoyable experience.

So, if you're a knitter hoping to make a Christmas sweater for yourself, it turns out this is the perfect time. You see, my brilliant and talented friend Andi came up with the awesome idea of knitting a Christmas sweater as a long-term project. Brilliant. This sweater with not compete with my other holiday knitting, nor will it fall the way of past Christmas-targeted projects that historically have not been finished until January or February (said historical evidence can be found here and here).

In a mere nine months (whoa, it just hit me that this sweater has the same gestation period as a human baby) that heap of yarn pictured above will be transformed into a beautiful Meltwater Pullover by Kate Gagnon Osborn of Kelbourne Woolens, as it appeared in the Spring issue of Interweave Knits. As you can see, instead of the springtime yarn and color scheme presented in the original I'm going with a more holiday-esque palette. I'm using yarn from three different reclaimed sweaters in 100% wool. Now, all I have to do is stick to this list of simple bullet points:

• March - Knit 7" of body (half of 14")
• April - Finish last 7" of body to the armpits
• May - Make half of first sleeve
• June - Finish first sleeve
• July - Make half of second sleeve
• August - Finish second sleeve
• September - Join sleeves to body and start the yoke
• October - Finish the yoke
• November - Seaming, finishing, and blocking
• December - Wear it every friggin day. 

Signs of Spring

While my Mom was visiting from Wisconsin a week or so ago we had our first few days of real spring-like weather. All day long sun with no rain and temps in the high 50's. Hurray for Spring! On one such day, we decided to take a long walk in the sunshine at the Arboretum and spent most of that walk spotting early spring buds and blooms.

Unfortunately, I didn't think ahead enough to bring the proper camera so these phone pictures will have to do. Still, I think you get the idea. In the last week, everything has really started to pick up. The camellia tree outside our window is now in full force bloom and some of the early cherry and apple trees have started to bloom as well. My personal favorite - the magnolia trees - have not started quite yet. Hopefully there will be another Arboretum trip in the near future to catch a glimpse of those before they drop their blooms. Hurray for Spring!

Comfort Food Craving: Tater Tot Casserole

Sometimes, a girl gets a craving for a good 'ole casserole. Aka hot dish. There's just something extra comforting about a warm, layered, creamy bowl of mixed together food. My Mom's standby hot dish was tuna casserole, topped appropriately with crushed potato chips. While I have made her recipe a few times in my life, when I got the casserole craving last week I decided to try something new: tater tot casserole. What's not to love about anything topped with tater tots??

After browsing around the interwebs for a vegetarian recipe (there are soooo many variations of this) I settled on this one but modified it a bit. Here's how I made it.

Ingredients

• Olive Oil
• 1/2 small onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 8 oz package mixed veg (I used a peas, carrots, and corn mix)
• 8 oz package frozen corn (because I already had it)
• 1 1/2 cup cream of mushroom soup, not the condensed kind. 
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 cup aged cheddar, shredded
• package of frozen tater tots

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Pour a glug of olive oil into a 9x13 casserole dish and spread it around.

Heat another glug of olive oil over medium heat in a medium sized saucepan. Add onions and cook until almost translucent. Add garlic and cook for another minute or two. Add frozen veg mix, S&P, and cook until just heated through, tossing whenever you think of it.

Dump the veg mixture into casserole dish and spread it out. Pour in soup. I can't remember exactly how much soup I used. I had one of those fancy 32 oz cardboard box soups and I know I used less than half. Mostly you don't want the mixture to be too soupy, so add just enough soup to submerge the veg mixture by about two thirds. Give it a stir. Sprinkle evenly with cheese, then arrange tater tots in obsessively even rows over the whole shabang.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 10-15 or until the tater tots are browned and crispy to your liking. Let it sit and cool for a bit and enjoy. 

Finally, I'll add that this makes excellent leftovers, which is actually when I took the picture above. 

FO: Kevin's Smokin' Jacket

Hey, look at that! Kevin got a new sweater! Which means I made good on my promise to knit him a sweater that actually fits - and in record time. Bulky weight yarn, big needles, and a simple pattern help. Not to mention the exponential excitement that my dear husband expressed as it was coming together.

This yarn is absolutely a dream. I love everything about it. The color is called Quail and it's a wonderful subtle shade of dusty blue that Kevin really loves, too. Even though it's 100% sheep's wool it's incredibly soft and springy yet durable and warm at the same time. This is a credit to the Columbia breed wool it's spun from. I just learned this: Columbia was the first breed of sheep developed and certified in the United States. It was breed to be a two in one sheep: good for meat (and lots of it) and wool (and lots of it) that would thrive in the Western high dessert terrain. Furthermore, I learned that this breed of sheep was first conceived and developed by the original owner of the very same ranch that produced this yarn. The history and story of the Imperial Stock Ranch is just wonderful, all the way from its beginning right up to the present day. If you fancy a read (which I highly recommend) head on over to their website. I'll limit myself from waxing on about Imperial for the time being to stop this post from becoming a novel and to save a story for another time.

The pattern is one I've been meaning to knit for ages. This was seriously the first pattern I ever considered making for Kevin, which was way back during our college days. If you consider that to be the start of this sweater then we just went from the quickest garment knit to the absolute longest. Ah well. Tis the nature of the craft I suppose.

So, the pattern is the Smokin' Jacket by Jared Flood from the Son of a Stitch 'n Bitch book. This is classic Flood folks. I ended up making a few modifications to suit Kevin's taste. Instead of standard stockinette I did a 1x1 knit purl rib allover. Because of this, I had to go down significantly in needle size. It ended up being size US 7's for the 2x2 ribbing at the hemline and sleeve cuffs and size US 8's for the body. I did the garter stitch collar in 7's as well. The other major modification was to do set-in pockets instead of attached pockets. I followed another Ravelers directions for this bit and am very pleased with how they came out.

All in all, this sweater takes the cake as my most successful garment knit of all time. He loves it. My goal for this year is to knit more sweaters so that I can finally get over my off-sizing problems and fear of long term projects. So, hopefully the blog will be full of many more successful garment FO posts this year.

Raveled here.