Wet towel.

 To get both my kayak and Lisa's to the water, I have to rig up a support system so one of them doesn't fall off while driving the mile to the arboretum. This involves lots of rope, some ratcheting straps, and lashing a couple towels to my cross bars. It works great, but now I'm driving around town in the rain with red duct tape holding soggy towels to the top of my car. About four people in Seattle will understand what it's for. The rest just think I'm the crazy towel lady.



Oscar Update: District 9, The Hurt Locker, and Bright Star crossed off the list. Going to Avatar tonight!

Sushi Fail.

I have been a part of several very successful sushi nights. Most notably, the night we made sushi at the Cabin on Camano Island and fed an army.

It was a feast of salmon, tuna, shrimp, crab (nothing like catching your own), lots of veggies, and tempura flat fish (caught two hours earlier in Saratoga Passage and filleted expertly by Alex). Even if you don't count all the jello Heather forced us (me) to eat, it was way too much food, but it was all well rolled and tasty.

The next time I made sushi at Amber's, we encountered some rice problems, from charred to undercooked, but all was well in the end and I got to eat a sushi stogie. Note: don't forget to decrease the heat to simmer before you let your rice sit for 20 minutes. Oops. 

The third time was uneventful except in its tastiness. Homemade cock sauce was a success.


So how, I ask, after all of these meals have I still not learned how to adequately roll sushi? I have all of the necessary hardware and software, but the skill just isn't there. I tried last Friday to do it on my own and the closest I got to decent was on roll number four. At least they still taste good when they're ugly.

 

Can someone teach me? Please?

President's Day Weekend

As promised, the onslaught of spring made me go hiking. Completed Mt. Zion and Lena Lake on the Olympic Peninsula over the weekend.
 

Discovered the snow level is 4,000 ft when we hit it just below the summit of Mt. Zion.

Great weather on Sunday, was hiking in a t-shirt! Lots of water on the trail, so I got to test my hiking boots for waterproof-ness. They passed with flying colors.






Bowling playoffs are next Tuesday. After a 4 point win last night, the Turkey Basters are going in to them tied for first place! Hope we can pull off a couple 160 games for first place trophy.


Oscar update: Crossed off Harry Potter on Monday and have District 9 at home!

Blooms?

Just because the daffodils across from my house are starting to plump up in anticipation of spring doesn't mean it's spring yet. The pseudo cold and RAIN are still here in Seattle. A couple nice days does not springtime make. Listen to Punxatawny Phil, people.

...what's that you say? Phil ALWAYS sees his shadow? Huh. Guess you're right. Maybe we shouldn't listen to him.

HURRAH! It's spring! Guess I'll go hiking.

Wait, what's the hobby of mine?

Oh yeah, that's right, I'm a knitter. I knit. I should start doing that again.

Once upon a time I ordered four hanks of pretty green yarn from Argentina on Ebay. I've decided it's time to get it out of the closet so I can store something else (more yarn?) there. Enter the Drops Bag Pattern.

Pattern: Drops Bag
Size needles: US8, 29" circular
Yarn: Argentina green

This should be a quicker project than some because it's a simple k/p/cable pattern. However, it will require a liner, buttons, and a strap. I've never used purse handles before (only sewn my own straps), so it could be an adventure. I hope to find a fun pattern that's a surprise when you open the bag. JoAnn's clearance section usually suits me fine. (Sarah's purse hides a cowboy!!)

And after that? It might be time to try something new and challenging. I have yet to make a sweater, so I think I'll do that. Anyone got a bun in the oven? I'm not ready to make something for myself, so I'll start with a baby sweater. One option:

Pattern: Trellis by Britta Stolfus Rueschhoff

Or similar. Come on, who's preggers?

Super Spicy Bowl.

Due to Super Bowl and Super Parents, this was not a terribly productive weekend. Definitely not in terms of knitting.  The only activities that could really be considered "being productive" were making 6 liters of salsa and checking one movie (Up) off my Oscar "To Watch" list. 

FYI:
By the transitive property of equality,
6 liters = 25.4 cups = 12.7 pints = 405.8 Tablespoons = 1.6 gallons = a crapload of salsa!



Lisa said she found a needle outside our house the other weekend. I think they got confused about the type of needles we use at our place. Scary.

Overwhelmed by Oscar

Nothing new to report. No time to knit. I keep telling myself if I just do one pattern repeat per day I'll be done in two weeks, but shoot, I can't even keep up with that! Maybe now that the Oscar list is out I'll be able to get in some good knitting time while boning up for the 4th Annual Oscarette Party.  The checklist is long, but I'm hoping to do a lot of movie watching in the next month:

Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air
Crazy Heart
A Single Man
The Last Station
The Messenger
The Last Station
The Lovely Bones
Nine
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The White Ribbon
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel

And that's not even counting Foreign Language Film, Documentaries, or Shorts!


Apparently I've only seen Star Trek, Transformers 2, Invictus and Julie & Julia. I've been slacking in the movie department this year. Assuming 2 hours per movie, that's at least 56 hours of movies in the next month, and plenty of those are not on Netflix. *sigh* Another year I don't bring home the Oscarette.