Best Friend Friday No. 29: Knitting Day

Friday, April 24th was in a nutshell, a knitting day. Basically this is a nice way of saying Lauren and I spent the majority of the day watching "Friends" while working on our respective knitting projects. However, that's not to say the entire day was spent sitting on my butt. I did manage to make it to the gym (weights anyone?) and whip up some dinner (pizza anyone?).

Lauren mainly worked on my Grandpa Cardigan this weekend; she finished the body and has a good start on the first sleeve! Once it's complete, this sweater will certainly become a quick autumn staple for me. I can't wait! When she needed breaks from cable knitting, Lauren also dove into some of her other works in progress. She finished up a pair of cute mittens and knit a few rows on a pair of socks. Lauren even started a completely new project and is now working her way through a shawl.

On Wednesday I cast on my new yarn to make a cowl. I got halfway through the first skein of yarn when I made the tough decision to frog it. I grossly overestimated the number of stitches I needed and quickly realized that I would run out of yarn if I kept knitting. In the past I've had a hard time accepting that I just need to start a project completely over. While it pains me to rip out my hard, time consuming work, deep down I know that I'll love my finished knit so much more if I just start over and learn from my previous mistakes. Lauren called me out on it this weekend, and so now I'm vowing to not let that bother me so much. Plus for me, I not only want to knit because I appreciate the finished product, but also to enjoy the process. It shouldn't matter how long it takes me to finish something as long as I'm having fun doing it. Knitting is a true hobby, not just a means to an end. Likewise, while certain yarns can be on the expensive side, I'm okay with indulging in special yarn every once in awhile because I'm not just paying for the finished piece, rather my money is also going toward the experience. Sure I spent over $60 on yarn for a recent cowl, but 1. I don't do that often, 2. I know that it will be loved and well taken care of, and 3. it took me hours, days to finish that cowl so when I calculate how much money I spent per hour doing something I actually enjoyed, it doesn't seem that bad at all. Some people enjoy going to concerts and whatnot on the weekends, I on the other hand choose to spend my money knitting. Find something you truly like to do, and do it.

Best Friend Friday was filled with knitting and more relaxing, but even more importantly, yarn epiphanies! 

Running: West v. East Coasts

When running first became a hobby almost two years ago, I was happily sweating through those miles in California. I never really thought that people living elsewhere have completely different running experiences until I moved across the country to Pennsylvania. Since I made this big move in September, I didn't realize how drastic running would change, but now that I've lived in a different part of the country for bits of each season, I have a better understanding of what to expect in various conditions and locations.

WEST COAST
Running in California, I never really had to think about what to wear. March-October I threw on a pair of shorts and a short sleeve tee; November-February I wore pants, some type of long sleeve shirt, and gloves. In the Winter I even sometimes wore a fleece lined ear warmer, but that was the extent of changing things up. As far as severe weather changes go, one of the first half marathons I ran was extremely hot, and it was only May! I don't remember the exact temperature, but towards the end of the race people were literally lying along the course, unable to get up and being hauled away via ambulance. While California can get extremely hot, this race is an anomaly. As long as you get your run out of the way in the morning and wear appropriate clothing, heat really isn't an issue. On the reverse side of the equation, the coldest I've ever been in California was running the CIM in the beginning of December. I'm pretty certain that the temperature stayed below freezing throughout the entire race. This was the only time on the West Coast that I needed to wear layers upon layers of clothing; I even added a heavy-weight fleece jacket to my race attire and wore it for a quarter of the marathon. Again, I'd consider this a rarity. Since seasons are pretty mild here, I never had to seek out special clothing to feel comfortable. However, I do run perpetually colder than most people.

EAST COAST
After a brief running hiatus, I took up the hobby again in Philadelphia in the beginning of October, basically the heart of fall. I ran mostly in the afternoons or evenings. Like in California, in the beginning of the month I didn't have to think about what to wear, I didn't even check the weather before getting dressed. Shorts and a short sleeve shirt were perfect. It wasn't until the middle of the month where I truly needed to consider my running attire. Capris were a usually a good choice around this time. Eventually towards the end of the month though, pants and long sleeve shirts were my go-to running uniform. It was a gradual shift, but still required a change in my running wardrobe. This is also the month I stopped wearing shorts as part of my non-running daily outfits; I wore pants from here on out. Side note: I wore shorts for the first time since October this past Saturday! November and December were no brainers- pants, long sleeves, and another long sleeve light sweater. I added ear warmers and gloves as well. I even asked for the warmest pair of running pants I could find for Christmas because I could start to feel the temperatures quickly dropping. Come January though, things got interesting. I just always assumed that I'd still run outside in the snow, I'd just wear multiple layers of warmer clothes, no biggie. I was evening planning on buying special gadgets to slip-on over my shoes for added traction. It's a good thing I didn't invest in those though. January-mid March were filled with only treadmill and indoor track runs. Even though I was running inside I still wore pants, but I was able to get by with short sleeve tees. I did see a few people running outside during these months. All the power to you if you're able to withstand these single digit temperatures. My only advice to you is to find the warmest running gear ever invented, buy several of each piece, and simultaneously wear all of them. Mid-March it warmed up enough that I was comfortable running outside. I still wore my warmest pants, two long sleeve layers, and gloves. I dressed this way until the beginning of April or so. I ditched the gloves and second long sleeve layer, and started mixing things up by occasionally wearing capris. Mid-April I started getting toasty and switched to short sleeves, keeping long pants but mostly capris in rotation. Lauren even started wearing primarily shorts. There have been a handful of days this monthly that have been grotesquely humid and I wish I would've worn shorts too. The humidity causes me to profusely sweat even more than I already do (which is a ridiculous amount to begin with), which I think has caused a little bit of bra/back chaffing as well. I suspect that within the next month or so, I'll be wearing shorts and short sleeve tees all the time. I know that the humidity is only going to get worse in the next few months, so I may have to look into different running bras to prevent the rubbing and chaffing. Other than that, I think I'm set and very ready for the summer.

Hopefully those two long cluttered paragraphs weren't too confusing. But if they were, I'll summarize. On the West Coast (specifically California), you don't really need to think about what to wear. Even if you wear shorts in the middle of winter (I know a few people who do without issue), you'd still be fine. However, on the East Coast besides remembering what the current season is, it's also equally important to consider the fluctuating temperatures and the humidity percentages. I'd also recommend a gym membership for those below-freezing winter months, but that's just me! There are pros and cons to living on both sides of the country. The West Coast provides the perfect climate to make feeling comfortable all year long easily achievable. On the other hand, the East Coast offers real, changing seasons. Different strokes for different folks!   

So now my greatest climate concern is what type of running clothing to wear during the San Francisco Marathon in July. Being a West Coast city, you'd think it would be a pretty warm run as it's set in the dead heat of summer. However, also being a Bay Area city set along the coast of the Pacific Ocean, I'd expect it to be pretty breezy and slightly chilly, especially in the morning. I think I have built up my tolerance for cold temperatures over the past few months, but I don't know that this is going to be enough to keep me warm in shorts. I'll probably get too warm in pants, especially over the course of over 26 miles. I could always go with the ever-pleasing capris, but on the other hand, I'm most comfortable running  in either shorts or pants. I haven't found the perfect pair of capris yet, all of mine slip down. Decisions, decisions. Yes, this is definitely a first world problem.

I hope I shed some light on the differences of running on opposite coasts. Perhaps it seems way too obvious and this post was just silly. But, I have my best, most enjoyable runs when I'm most comfortable. For me, this means wearing comfortable weather appropriate clothing and having well-rest muscles of course, but that's an entirely separate story!

Vegan Cookies 'n Cream Ice Cream

Recently I've been craving sweets all the time, like I've needed to eat dessert every day. Lately I've been munching on gummy candies, chocolate covered pretzels and almonds, and chocolate truffles. But, I've been missing a very important component to the dessert equation: ice cream! So, I decided to make my own. Not just any old ice cream though, cookies 'n cream!

Makes about 4 servings 
Ingredients:
- 1- 15 ounce can of coconut milk
- 3/4 cup of raw cashews (soaked overnight)
- 1/2 tsp. of salt
- 1 tsp. of vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup of sugar
- 3 tbsp. of maple syrup
- 2/3 cup of soy milk
- 15 Trader Joe's Joe-Joe's or Oreo cookies

Place ice cream bowl in the freezer for at least 24 hours. Also, soak the cashews in water in a covered bowl overnight.

When you're ready to make the ice cream, drain and rinse the cashews several times. Pour the cashews into the food processor.

Add coconut milk, salt, and vanilla extract to the food processor and blend until the cashews have become completely liquified.

Add sugar to the food processor and blend until combined. Add maple syrup and soy milk, blend until completely mixed. Taste the mixture; you may need to add additional maple syrup/sugar since this ice cream isn't super sweet.

Place cookies in a zip-loc bag and smash them.

Place the liquid mixture into your ice cream bowl and let the ice cream maker run for approximately 40 minutes. When it reaches your desired texture, let the machine continue running while you slowly add in the crushed cookies.

When the ice cream is thick and the cookies are mixed in well, stop the ice cream maker and scoop several scoops out for yourself and dig in! I apologize for only having one not-so-great photo. It was nighttime and the lighting was horrible. That, and I couldn't wait to eat it...which just shows how delicious this ice cream was!

Best Friend Friday No. 28: Long Weekend

Technically every weekend is a long weekend now since Lauren only has class Tuesday-Thursday, but I'm choosing to drag this past Best Friend Friday out to include Saturday, otherwise this post will pretty much be a repeat of last week's.

Like last week, Lauren and I spent this Friday, April 17 mainly watching "Friends" while doing crafty stuff. Lauren worked on my Grandpa Cardigan almost all weekend, and I finished Lauren's quilt Friday afternoon! We finished off the evening with our weekly Friday pizza tradition. Let me just tell you that Benevolent Bacon tastes amazing on pizza; the flavor complements pizza perfectly! Last Friday I jokingly told Lauren that I wanted a sheep-shaped pizza the following week, and she remembered! Amazing, right?

Saturday morning we woke up much earlier than we would normally to get a good head start on our long run so we wouldn't get stuck in the afternoon heat. Even though we started our 15 miles in the mid-morning, the humidity and rising temperatures were almost unbearable. After several miles I really had to stop to go to the bathroom. Usually I hate and refuse to stop, but this time I had to go. I stepped into the port-a-potty, closed the door, and without any ventilation massive amounts of sweat kept dripping down every inch of my body. I did my business and got out of there as fast as possible. The rest of the run wasn't so bad, although I did manage to get my first awkward tan lines and sunburn of the season. Those were bound to happen though.

We eagerly walked back to our apartment, grabbed a quick bite to eat, showered and cleaned up, and headed out the door to our next fun adventure. Loop was celebrating their 10th anniversary with raffles, a complimentary tote bag with purchase, and 10% off everything in store. Of course we needed to go; one can never have enough yarn. On our way to Loop, we decided to make a pit stop at Rita's for a cup of Italian ice. I tried blue raspberry, Lauren had island fusion. Despite walking around with a blue tongue and lips, Rita's was the perfect treat. Once at Loop, we easily spent over an hour meandering through the shop trying to narrow down our preferences and find the perfect yarn to take home. Initially I was going to get a skein of their Studio yarn because I love the colors so much, but I didn't have any project in mind for that particular yarn. Normally that's what I do; I buy a single skein that I like with the intention of knitting something with it in the future. I'm pretty certain that's exactly why I have a huge box of stashed yarn. I definitely don't need to hoard anymore yarn without an actual purpose for it, so I ditched the Studio yarn idea. I scrolled through my Ravelry queue and I kept coming back to this cowl. I stumbled upon the sale area of Loop and found the perfect yarn for this project. I wanted something pretty neutral, but still have some color to it. I picked up four skeins of Spud & Chloe Fine Sock in Orangutan and deemed them perfect. After looking the pattern over, I want to make a slight modification to it, but I really like the basic concept. It's a really easy knit and I should be able to finish it without any big issues.

My sewing plans didn't really pan out, but there's always next weekend. Me Made May will be happening!

Cross Stitched Knitting Pouch

A few months ago I sewed my first pouch as part of my swap for the Secret Valentine Exchange. Both Lauren and I loved the colors so much that Lauren requested a similar one as part of her Easter basket goodies. We both loved the mint colored linen, and I had just enough to make one more pouch. I bought several yards of this linen a few years ago, and as soon as I had it cut, I remember thinking, "Why am I getting so much of this? I can't think of anything to make out of it.". My how things have changed though. Now that I no longer have any linen left, I want to make everything with it- skirts, tops, more pouches/bags. I do have a dress already cut out in this linen, so hopefully that project works out.

Back to the pouch though. I didn't have any of the light pink cotton left, so I went through our tub of scraps and picked out several other contenders. Out of the various choices, Lauren selected this aqua and black dots fabric for the inside.

She also suggested a cross stitch patch be sewed to the outside of the pouch. Of course she loved the patterns related to knitting, so we picked this little design from the Autumn Sampler. I thought it would be cute to personalize it a tad. Lauren has been knitting a pair of socks on ChiaoGoo circular needles. So, I changed the colors of the cross stitch pattern, making the needle cable red and the socks blue/purple, just like her actual socks in progress.

The trickiest part for me when sewing a pouch is always the zipper ends. On my last pouch I mentioned that I would try this method next time. Well, I started using this tutorial and then I just assumed I knew how to do the rest and stopped following it. Bad idea. I didn't realize the pouch fabric needed to be longer than the zipper, which created multiple problems. I ended up having to unpick the top corner seams countless times. This was the only way I could get this pouch to look decently finished. This whole project took way longer than it needed to because of this problem. I've learned my lesson, and will now follow every single step in a tutorial for now on.

Despite the setbacks, I still love this pouch. The color, the style, and the little cross stitch detail make it so fun. I hope Lauren likes it just as much as I do, otherwise I guess I'll have a new pouch!

My Favorite Foods

Lauren says that I'm a creature of habit, but I prefer to say that I know exactly what I like. When we're walking back from the gym in the evening, we like to pass the time by talking about how I have an unwritten list of foods/meals that I always tend to crave over others. Well, I think it's time to make the list official, so here it is!

1. Almond butter. I'll eat almond butter on pretty much anything- bread, rice cakes, pancakes, oatmeal. You name it, almond butter belongs on it.

2. Pizza. I bet you already knew this one though since I beg Lauren to indulge in my Friday Night, Pizza nights weekly.

3. Trail mix. While there are tons of packaged trail mixes out there, nothing beats making your own. Whenever I eat trail mix (which is often), I always toss together some roasted cashews, raw almonds, raisins, pretzels, and chocolate chips. You can never have enough trail mix, seriously. It's the perfect, non-messy snack to munch on while watching TV. Trail mix also makes the perfect meal when your fridge is empty, just saying.

4. Pancakes. Like pizza, I make it a point to eat pancakes on the regular. More specifically, I like to have pancakes for breakfast every weekend day. I like my pancakes with chocolate chips, almond butter, and maple syrup.

5. Smoothies. My fifth favorite food was a tough one to come up with. I've always thought it would either be beans and rice, or oranges. But lately, we've been eating beans and rice for dinner at least once a week without chips or tortillas (trying to be a little healthy over here), so Mexican food isn't as exciting anymore. But don't worry, I still love this meal, it just doesn't make the top five list anymore. Oranges would have made the list if I were still living in California. The quality (and prices!) of produce in Philadelphia is so different from what I'm used to having on the West Coast. Don't get me wrong, oranges are still my favorite fruit, but they don't make the cut anymore either. I've had a smoothie as part of my lunch the last few days and I've really come to enjoy and anticipate them, so as of right now, they've earned a highly coveted spot on my favorite foods list. My usual smoothie consists of frozen fruit (strawberries, peaches, pineapple, apple, blueberries, banana), spinach/kale, and soy milk. Basically, deliciousness in a cup.

Just so you know, I do eat plenty of vegetables. In fact, I just finished a huge salad with a ton of veggies for dinner. These five foods are just my favorites, but I do supplement them with other basic nutrients ;)

This is probably way more than you'd ever like to know about me. But just think of it as a little insight into my weekly routine, because let's be real, I easily eat all of these foods/meals on a weekly basis. 

Sewing Plans

Lauren and I have dubbed this upcoming weekend, a sewing weekend! I really want to be able to participate in Me Made May this year, so I'm hoping to make a lot of progress on my handmade wardrobe this weekend.

In the past two years I've bought a ton of fabric with the idea to sew a lot of garments. Sadly, I've only made several pieces for myself since then. Being optimistic, at least I have seemingly infinite yards of fabric to work with which should be plenty to carry me through May. However, a lot of this hoarded fabric are knits and I've been terrified of using it. I know I just need to power through it and eventually I'll get used to it, but it's so daunting! I'm hoping to get tons of practice sewing with knits this weekend though. With both of our sewing machines running, I'm thinking we'll be having a mini sweat shop in our apartment.

My favorite patterns are definitely Grainline patterns. I have numerous Scout Tees, Tiny Pocket Tanks, Lindens, and Hemlock Tees already planned out in my head. Relatively speaking, these should be fairly quick sews. If I can get over my fear, I plan on living in these tops sewn from knits. Even though it definitely won't be happening this weekend, I also hope to eventually make a few Alder Dresses as well.

I already have a few garments cut out that just need to be sewed. So, my number one goal for this weekend is to sew up all of these projects and get them to the wearable stage. If all goes well, I'll also cut out several additional garments. This encourages me to keep sewing, and it makes sharing the cutting mat/rotary cutter with Lauren so much easier.

I've been reading lots of posts about other bloggers' wardrobes, many of whom are using a capsule wardrobe. While this concept is so interesting to me and I think it's a fantastic idea to live as minimally as possible, at my current stage in life (no storage space, way too many clothes, unpredictable weather patterns), it's not for me. But, this has made think a lot about my own wardrobe; what I own, what I always tend to grab from my closest first, what I need, what colors I wear most often. Because I have so many clothes that fit and I love, I've been trying really hard to not buy any new clothing items that I don't need or can't make. I'll purchase work out clothes (when needed) without hesitation because I don't want to challenge the chaffing issue. I also don't mind buying jeans (always from Gap) because they fit me so well, and basic tank tops/camis for layering under other tops. Because I enjoy sewing and it's one of my hobbies, I'm okay with making myself new garments and expanding my wardrobe even more in this way. In the not so distant future, I'm planning on doing a major closest clean out and only keeping the items that I truly enjoy wearing. If it makes me look or feel funny, it's got to go! Please hold me to this task; I have the hardest time parting ways with things. One of these days, I want to be able to open my closest and see a bunch of handmade items staring back at me. Tops are fairly easy to make so I'll start there, and I think it would be fun to also try sewing my own undergarments from scrap knits. Hopefully this all works out well and I get a good start on my Me Made May wardrobe!