I Love the Central Coast

Russ and I like adventures a lot, but we're also creatures of habit. This Saturday's activities centered on one of our old familiar routines. I couldn't sleep very well on Friday night, so Russ let me sleep in until nine o'clock, which meant we didn't leave home until nearly ten, we really could have just eaten lunch when we arrived at one of our favorite little towns, Arroyo Grande. We almost always have to stop for coffee at  Cafe Andreinini's, so we postponed lunch by sitting in the sun there before heading for the Arroyo Grande Farmer's Market, which opens at noon.

Then, we headed over to The Village Butcher Shoppe. Everything we've tried from them has been delicious, but we went there to buy Kai their buffalo hot dogs. They're incredible. Oh, and why we were at it, we bought some raspberry apple sausage, some French breakfast sausage, and some tri tip.

I've been going to the Central Coast since I was a baby, but we've never stopped at a park along Highway 101 called Dinosaur Caves Park, just outside of Pismo Beach. We did yesterday, and weren't disappointed. We walked through the neighborhood a little bit too, trying to imagine how nice it would be to live in one of the little million dollar bungalows along the way. We don't even bother considering what it would be like to live in the small mansions nearby.

We ended our day in San Luis. It was nearly 75 degrees, and we almost got tired of telling each other what a beautiful day it was. Russ offered to wait for me if I wanted to visit the Nordic Mart, but I have more yarn then I know what to do with, so I let him off the hook. We celebrated my frugality by having another cup of coffee at the Bello Mundo Cafe, which was well worth the $10 we paid for two pour overs and a pice of lemon rosemary cake.

Did I knit? Of course, I did, but not anything worth sharing just yet. 

Comfort Knitting

I didn't think I even wanted to blog about this at all, but I teach at Taft High School, which was in the news on Thursday because of an on-campus shooting. I tried writing about it yesterday but couldn't, and I don't want to say that much today either, other than to say that I'm working through it. I've had a lot of emotions in the last couple of days, mostly sadness for the kids in the classroom where the shooting took place, who have had their sense of security destroyed forever, relief that the boy who was shot is expected to recover, comfort that I live among many wonderful, brave, compassionate people, and just a general feeling of vulnerability and disbelief.

I came home late Thursday afternoon to a nice, clean living room and a very strong cup of coffee that Kai, who I didn't even know knew how to make coffee, had made for me. Russ said that he (Kai) had been planning to take it down to me if I didn't come home soon. I'm not sure how he had planned to get through all of the cop cars, media, and general chaos, but it was very nice of him. Since then, I've done the things that I usually do to make myself happy: knitting another pair of baby socks, using up leftovers in my stash, and going for a two-hour run with Russ in the foothills on Saturday, which wasn't actually that fun since it was near freezing and muddy and windy..and uphill. In fact, I had to have a little cry because Russ got ahead of me and I got to a fork in the road and didn't know which way he had gone. He came back for me before I got too stressed, but that was when I knew that I wasn't as OK as I had thought I was. Tomorrow, I'll return to work, and eventually things will get back to some kind of normalcy, but for now, life seems a little upside down.

Several years ago, Lornas Laces carried some yarn called "peppermint mocha." I loved the name, and I faithfully was reading a blog by a woman who also loved the name and the yarn. I had to buy some. Once I got the yarn though, I didn't really like the color combinations. I know I bought two skeins of it, and I seem to remember even knitting one sock with it, that I abandoned....because I just didn't like the color combinations. I'm on a quest this year to use up at least some of my sizable stash, and so my unloved peppermint mocha is now a cute, little pair of baby socks. I haven't decided for sure who they're going to. I'm thinking about giving them to our neighbors' new baby, but I think I need to include a little cap too, and I'm not sure I have enough yarn.

Extending Christmas

I took down our Christmas tree today. I have a fear of letting my reluctance to let go of Christmas get out of hand, something to do with me have a memory of our Christmas tree during childhood being up until February. (I'm not sure if this is an actual memory or just a childish remembrance of our tree being up long past my friends') Anyway, I'm pretty adamant about the tree being taken down by January 6, but I love to leave remnants of Christmas up around the house, our nativity scene, for example and a few other special decorations that can be considered "Epiphany-ish." As I was taking down ornaments today, I chuckled a couple times about how many knitting related ornaments I have. If there is even a semblance of "knitting" being a part of an ornament's theme, I'll buy it, which accounts for me having these two ornaments that I dutifully put away today.

I had company as I took down the tree today, but not of the human kind. Kitty (aka Josephine) sat curled up in my yarn basket. I'm not that excited about the fact that she enjoys my yarn basket because sometimes I will use a skein out of it and discover, to my dismay, that she has sharpened her claws on it. I'll be knitting along, and I'll keep coming to broken strands. It usually doesn't last for long, but it's pretty annoying.

Nameless Cowl

I was looking and looking for the pattern that I used for this cowl that I finished last week, and then I remembered that I didn't use one. I used some leftover yarn that Randi gave me several years ago. I have to admit that I didn't remember that she had done that until I went back and checked an old blog post.

The mitts that I originally knit with this yarn were very simple, but cute. I got the pattern from a blog called The Giving flower, but sad to say, it doesn't seem that there's been much activity there in like five years, and the link to the mitts doesn't appear to work.

Creek City Cowl

So, I'm pretty sure I need to get cowls out of my system because they're just about as useless as mittens to anyone in my family. I made this Creek City Cowl for Kai today, and I knew as soon as I tried it on that it would be too scratchy for him, besides the fact that it just doesn't get that cold here. It was 32 degrees this morning, but it's supposed to be in the 60s tomorrow. I used Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, which is a nice basic yarn, but it isn't meant to be right next to your skin. My pictures doesn't show a true representation of the color, which was a nice, dark cranberry, so Kai liked the color. I told Kai that it made me very sad that he didn't like it, and he wasn't even phases. He said, "No, it doesn't. You liked knitting it." He was right about that. I'm just happy to be getting my knitting mojo back.

Off To a Good Start!

The nice thing about not being a New Year's Eve partier is that New Year's Day is a nice, long, quiet day. I had one of my few nights that I couldn't sleep well, and ended up getting up at four o'clock. I worked on my latest cowl and read some blogs, and then after a little nap, I went for a seven-mile run. I'm so enjoying this vacation and having my main responsibilities be to exercise and knit, and occasionally cook.

I made kale pesto tonight. Russ loved it. Kai, not so much. I looked up a couple of recipes, but I basically just substituted kale for pesto in a basic pesto recipe. I sauteed some red onion and red bell pepper with some langoustine,  and added that to my pesto, and we had a pretty nice supper.

Happy New Year

Good-Bye, 2012. You were a pretty good year in many ways. Russ and I have lost over sixty pounds between the two of us since 2011, mainly through exercise and non-piggishness in the eating department. Our kids are happy and both seem to be enjoying college and more independence, and we're enjoying having more time together, just the two of us. In typical fashion, we don't plan any big celebration tonight, just a nice meal with some good wine.

Bakersfield has quite a few good ethnic restaurants, which have opened in the last four or five years, but ethnic restaurants are nothing new here. Luigi's Delicatessen has been at the same location in East Bakersfield for over a hundred years, and it has wonderful Italian food. We don't go there very often, but I thought it would be fun to go there today and buy some homemade ravioli to have for our little New Year's Eve dinner. I neglected to remember that they are closed on Mondays. My solution was to make some myself. I kind of improvised, but my initial recipe for lemon ricotta ravioli with brown butter sauce was from Bakerita's website.

I had a little helper much of the time. Paige brought her little kitty, Cosette home for Christmas, and she was very interested in sampling the ricotta in my filling.

They look a little greasy in this picture, but they were a hit with everyone. I had plans to freeze some of them for later, but this was all that was left. ..and that was the end of our New Year Year's celebration. Russ and I have settled down to a cozy evening of Doc Martin, and Paige is watching it with us before heading to whatever celebration she planning to attend and Kai is happily ensconced in his room playing online soccer with some friends. That's as exciting as I need.  Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

I love Christmas time, and I'm definitely not one of those people who throw the Christmas tree out the day after Christmas, particularly since we've had a "fake" tree for the last three or four years. Another reason that I'm not too quick to let go of Christmas decorations is that I usually don't get them up until the week before Christmas anyway. This year was no different. We had school until the 21st, so I was pretty busy until then. I was proud of some of my little displays this year though. I knit gobs of these little stockings several years ago and usually put them on the tree, but this year, I strung them across the fireplace, using some little clothespins I found in a tourist shop this fall.

I have no new knitting to show off after almost an entire week of vacation. I'm struggling still with finding a focus. I have tons of yarn but no vision for any of it. I know that Paige could use some mitts for riding her bike to classes early in the morning, and Kai says he'd like a "cowl," which kind of surprised but intrigued me. So, what am I doing? I'm messing around with making myself a cowl out of some random yarn that I found in my yarn basket, which has obviously been the victim of our kitty, sharpening her claws because it keeps fraying. Oh well, it will give me a good excuse if I decide once again to unravel and start something new, ha, ha.

Typical Karoline Dilemma

I've had this dilemma innumerable times. I'll start a project, even a sweater or something that takes a lot of time and effort without being sure that I have enough yarn to finish the project. At least this time, I'm only talking about a small project. I bought Kristen Kapur's Twizz Mitts pattern earlier this fall and have been anxious to start a pair.  I thought I might have enough of the cashmere yarn that my friend Diana brought back for me from Montana, but I'm feeling a little unsure now. It's an easy pattern, but I've managed to mess it up at least four times and have had to re-start. Luckily, I had lots of time because we have a week off for Thanksgiving and spent our first day at the beach, which meant some serious "car" time.

 We started the day with a stop at Gohper Glen for some apples...and some cider....and an apple pie. I justified the pie purchase because Paige is usually our Thanksgiving baker, but she was thinking that she wouldn't make it home for Thanksgiving this year. Of course, this evening, she called me and said that she thinks she wants to come home after all since the Tahoe trip she had planned with her friends had fallen through. We're happy she may be coming home, and I'm sure I can find lots of other baking duties for her to perform.

After making a stop in San Luis Obispo at the Phoenix Used Book Store to see if they had any copies of Les Miserables so that Russ could re-read it before we go to see it on Christmas Day, we headed to Morro Bay for a little hike. We've hiked Black Mountain more time than we could every count, but we've never hiked it from the very beginning of the trail at the State Campground, which is quite a climb. It's not an easy hike, but it's a beautiful one. My only problem with today was that it went by too quickly!

Davis Weekend

The other day, one of my students was trying to get me to do something...I can't remember what, probably extend a deadline. Anyway, he said, "I'm thinking about applying to U.C. Davis and going out for swimming in the spring." His classmates all thought it was a pretty funny joke about how to get on my good side. Maybe I do mention how awesome I think U.C. Davis is "occasionally," and I know I tell them how much "fun" they'd have going out for swimming quite often. Our latest visit to Davis proved to me again that I know what I'm talking about concerning Davis!

We left on Saturday at about 5:30 A.M., and arrived in Davis by 10:00, in plenty of time to pick up Paige and indulge in the Davis Farmer's Market. My first purchase was a reasonable $3.00 bag of tomatoes, cauliflower, and beautiful,  creamy white turnips. It was all downhill from there, fiscally speaking, at least We each had a $3.00 cup of coffee from a "fair trade" coffee booth, moved on to the Mediterranean food booths, which are always incredible. After spending about $15.00 on hummus and "hummus-like" products, I spied what I'd been waiting for since my last hurried visit in September...the fiber confections yarn booth.

Even though I recently claimed to be finished with bowls, I imagined the orange as a nice, chunky bowl for a Thanksgiving decoration. The teal and purple yarn will eventually make some nice, wintery socks.

Sunday morning, we got up at about 6:30 (because we're weird), and went to the "Arboretum Trail for a nice, little four-mile run. Along the way, we came upon a "yarn bomb." I made Paige walk back with us later, so we could enjoy it in all of its quirky greatness. It was a project for a design class at U.C. Davis, totally useless ostensibly, but "enjoyment inducing," so a totally worthwhile pursuit in my estimation.

This last one was my favorite, even though it didn't photograph very well. Besides the white on the trunk, it had little, tiny flowers and hearts hanging from the branches.

Enough Bowls

Ok, I think I'm finished with bowls for a while. This one needs to be felted a little more, but I think it will be pretty. I'm thinking that I'll give it to a friend around Valentine's Day with some soap or candy in it.

Mission Accomplished

Russ sent our daughter a little college gift box last week and included the bunny for her friend Melissa to give to her nephew. Melissa sent me this picture tonight. Her nephew actually lives in our town, which is five hours from them, but Melissa got to see him this weekend and deliver his bunny personally. What a darling little boy. I'm so happy he likes it.

Book Club

 

I've just been aching for an excuse to show off this M.A. Hadley platter on my bog, which is ostensibly about knitting, but sometimes about cooking and eating. I found my excuse today. First, let me brag about how I found it. I went to the Bakersfield Peddler's Fair a couple of weeks ago with a friend and saw this platter for $50. I haven't seen one just like it anywhere, so it's probably not even being manufactured anymore, but I'm sure I'd have to pay at least $100, maybe even $200 for it online if I could find it. I had to borrow $20 from my friend because I didn't even have $50 on me, and I didn't try to dither the sellers down at all because it was such a good deal.

Well, today was our monthly book club meeting, and we had read Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson, who was raised in Sweden. I made smørrebrød, which are Danish open-faced sandwiches, which I thought  close enough to be appropriate, and I used my...platter. Everyone loved the sandwiches, which was only a tiny bit surprising because my friends are adventurous. I've made quite a few smørrebrød before, but I found two different recipe on NPR to try this time. I made roast beef with arugula  and horseradish with creme fraiche and blue cheese and apple with bacon. I pretty much ignored the fact that I've been trying to be really healthy and ate a ton of them. I've had a cold all week and haven't exercised much, so, of course, it makes sense that I would also ruin my diet this week too, sigh!

 The roast beef smorrebrod were topped with a radish and a little grated carrot.

The blue cheese and apple ones were supposed to applewood smoked bacon, but I just used prosciutto, and it tasted wonderful. Food can be so much fun. I enjoy eating healthy, so I'm not dreading going back to being a little more disciplined, but it was fun to fall off the wagon for a day or two.

October Means Orange

I'm not a huge "orange" fan, but, of course, during October it seems like orange is de rigeur. I've usually knit some little felted pumpkins near Halloweeen-time, but this year all I had was a little bit of orange yarn, maybe enough to knit one pumpkin. So, I decided to knit a little knitted bowl instead. I don't remember what brand it was, but it was not very thick, maybe sport weight at the most, but it felted well. I ended up having enough for two bowls, and I think they look looks cute, holding my seed packets that are waiting to be opened, so I can start my winter garden.

I had my latest bunny packed to take on my trip up to my mom's, but I wanted to pack light, so I left him home and brought another pair of fingerless gloves to work on since they took less space. It didn't take much time for me to finish him up. Now, I just need to send him up to Melissa, so she can give him to her nephew. Very happy with him!

I took a little side-trip on m way home from seeing my mom to visit Paige. She biked over to the train station to meet me. Davis is a big bicycling town, and for now, Paige's only mode of transportation is her bike, which Russ "made" for her. He wanted it to be dependable and comfortable, but not too tempting to bicycle thieves, since there are a lot of bicycle thefts, along with all of those bikes. She loves it!

 She was very happy to see her mama, I'm sure, especially since we stopped by a local Asian grocery store, so she could load up on some of her favorite treats. I laughed when I saw her refrigerator because it was a mini version of ours, full of Trader Joe's spicy red pepper hummus, parmesan cheese, baby carrots, and spring mix lettuce. U.C. Davis has a good meal program, but Paige think it's cheaper to just feed herself.

I had to post these pictures because I thought they were so funny. U.C. Davis is about fifteen minutes from Sacramento and an hour from San Francisco. It's an agricultural school, so there are some wide open spaces nearby, but still it's urban....and Paige's apartments have a turkey problem. They're loud and wander through the walkways. Funny!

Home Again!

I took the train up to see my mom for a few days this week, and had a good visit. She's in a rehabilitation hospital for at least another week, but the nurses and doctors seem optimistic about her "recovery." My mom has been in poor health for years, so "recovery" is a relative term.. We have to just be grateful for small victories. She still enjoys life a lot of the time although she could do without the pain and inconvenience of having to always use a walker. I've posted part of the reason for her heart attack above...my spinning wheel. My dad was out in his shop working on it, and my mom thought she's just kneel down and pick up an earring she saw on the floor by her bed. She got lodged in the space between their bed and a wall and was stuck there for an hour. My dad checks on her constantly, except this one time, of course. That's kind of a sad legacy for my beautiful spinning wheel to take on, but my mom doesn't hold any ill will toward it, and I don't either!

Making It

Besides a very nice husband and two comparatively easy-to-raise kids, I've had two constants in my adult life: knitting and running. I don't exactly like running, but I like being finished each day with running, and I like how it makes me feel. Knitting is different because I like the actual knitting process. It's both fun and entertaining for me as I do it, and sometimes I'm even happy with my finished products. I was kind of sad for the nearly six months this year that I didn't really feel like knitting. I'd try to start projects over and over, and I just couldn't get into it. This past month I've been enthusiastic about knitting again, something that I've been especially grateful for this past week.

My mom had a heart attack a week ago. She's nearly eighty and has had innumerable health issues for basically the last thirty years. She has also been one of the most health conscious people I've ever known, so that makes her poor health suck all the more. Anyway, I've been worried about her this week. Even though she is doing amazingly well, I know that she has to be discouraged, and, well, she's eighty; there's no cure for that. We live about twelve hours away, and I couldn't just take off work to be with her right away. I've been distracted about how she's doing all week, and running and knitting have helped me from being too distressed. I'm going to go spend a couple of days with her and my dad later this week, which means a twelve hour train ride.  Once again, knitting (on the train) and running (once I get there) will come in handy. I won't mind the trip because I'll have lots of time to knit, andI love running in Northern California, where they live, because it's so cool up there.

 My main project this week has been to finish Paige's friend Melissa's bunny. I had a problem that I hadn't anticipated, but which I've had numerous time. I started running short on yarn! I was smart enough to make him have "pants," so that didn't take too much of the brown yarn, which I was running out of.

 This is a pic of his second "hand." That little, tiny blob is all I had left. I had to cheat, and make part of his arm blue, which won't matter once I get his sweater done.

Made it! Now, all I have to do is knit up a little sweater for him. I'm going to knit him an aran sweater out of some cream yarn I found in my stash, and I have enough blue left  to knit him a little cap.

I tried so hard when my daughter was young to get her interested in knitting, or sewing, or stitching, or anything remotely related to domesticity. She didn't bite. She does know how to knit, and she's even knit a couple of nice hats and half of a scarf, but she's never been that interested. Her best friend, Melissa however, show a little bit of interest, at least for a while. Melissa decided last year that she wanted to knit her new nephew a little blanket. I, of course, jumped at the chance to help choose the yarn at a LYS. We found some beautiful Venezia merino silk that was on sale, and Melissa spent close to $50 on what we hoped was enough for her to knit a blanket. After a year, the blanket hadn't materialized, and one day Melissa showed up in my classroom, hoping that I'd finished her project for her. I was happy to give it a shot but soon discovered that we hadn't bought nearly enough yarn. My solution was to unravel what Melissa had knit and start over, knitting a little pillow cover. Melissa is away at U.C. Davis with Paige, so I figure she'll enjoy a little decoration for her apartment, and I'm hoping that I have enough yarn to knit a little bunny for nephew. It's going to be a close call. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Completion

It's kind of sad that I'm so proud to finally finish a project, but I am. Now, I need to wait three months for it to be cool enough to feel like wearing this.