May Day Projects

First of all, It's FINALLY Spring here!!!

Second, I pulled out the sewing machine and the box of scrap fabric the other day, mostly out of boredom.... I granted myself 2 days off after a huge paper & presentation before starting to cram for finals... Here's what I came up with: A cute little skirt made out of a turquoise t-shirt, and the belt to a jacket I bought at Savers. The jacket looks better without the belt, and I just cut the shirt off at the armpits and sewed it right up to the belt, with a few tucks in the back (it fits a little funny but for the most part worked well). Pretty cute, but I'm not quite sure it is my style.
Next, I also came up with an apron out of a bunch of scrap fabric that I had.
I am going to give it to my friend Sarah for her birthday at the end of the month-- she's quite the baker, and I don't think she has an apron. Not bad for one evening's work!

Happy First Day of Spring!

(and still snowing)

A little of this, a little of that

The mittens are done!

The mittens are pretty cute, after having ripped out the top of one of them three times. The cable isn't perfectly centered because I didn't account for it being tighter, but I still think they are cute. I think I will give them to my friend Nicole who lives in Indiana, because they wouldn't do a whole lot for the type of cold here.

This is a picture I took on my way to school the first day. It's the mighty Mississippi! I have to walk/bike over it every day to get to school. It was about -15 so the water was lots warmer and you can see all kinds of steam coming up. It was a gorgeous day if it weren't so cold!

And then I must show you all my handywork in the kitchen. I made biscotti this weekend, and of course burned the chocolate so only a fourth of them got coated, but they are delicious nonetheless.

Last weekend I made spring rolls and this delicious sauce that my friend gave me the recipe for. They were delicious! Here's the recipe, I'd highly suggest using it sometime. It's more of a summer type of meal, but perfect for the spring, which hopefully will be on its way in no time?

Spring Rolls

Ingredients:
red cabbage, carrots, bean sprouts, spinach, lettuce, cucumbers, and fresh cilantro & basil (and whatever else you might fancy), vinegar, sugar, lime juice, rice paper, rice

Cook some rice or rice noodles first. Chop up some cabbage, carrots, bean sprouts, spinach or lettuce, and cucumbers (chop up according to how many you want to make).
Cover the cabbage with a little vinegar and sugar. Squeeze some lime juice over the carrots, lettuce and cucumbers. Dip the rice paper in warm water for a minute or two to soften it up. Then lay it flat and put a little of each ingredient in the middle, fold the sides in, and wrap the roll like a burrito. Make a bunch of them.

Peanut Sauce:
Ingredients:
Sriracha sauce, soy sauce, tomatoes, peanut butter, peanuts, sprig of basil
Here's the recipe, straight out of the email my friend sent me.
"sauce, yes yes threw stuff together but it wasn't half bad you know? there's this stuff that you can get almost anywhere, and by almost anywhere, i can imagine that it's found in the asian section of most conventional grocers, don't know about the coops (wtf about north country by the by? i'm ever so pissed), but you can always try united noodle in seward or some place will have it on nicollet south of like
24th or so. it's a ubiquitous vietnamese red spicy garlicky delicious magic sauce (called Sriracha) that shouldn't be terribly difficult to find. then add some soy sauce, or better yet, some gomaicho (sp? it's the toasted sesame seeds with sea salt and sometimes, if you are sassy enough, wakame flakes) which you can use to salt in a less conventional manner. then, make sure you have enough tomatoes, at least 2 and enough peanut butter, at least 2 table spoons, but i don't know why i bother giving you these measurements because this is really where the subjectivity runs wild. just make sure that the balance is slightly harmonious and fits to the number of people you are going to have. i don't recommend skippy peanut butter or any of that processed stuff, but i am in the land of groundnuts right now. you may want to opt for crunchy to add some texture and if you already have smooth and don't just want some paste or what have you, then maybe try crushing peanuts and tossing them in. ooh, don't forget little sprigs of basil!!"

Maybe you have to know the guy, but his recipe cracks me up every time I read it. The sriracha is this stuff, but if you can't find it, you could also make your own, using chili paste or chili peppers and tomatoes, a little water, and some chopped fresh garlic. Happy knitting, or cooking, or "schroomin", or whatever you two are up to!

SNOW!!

Here is my end of the week update... First, 6 inches of snow! It makes things sooo difficult, especially getting places....I really hate winter, even if it is "pretty."


The street in front of my house


Then, a sweater update....so close...


Next, knit out of necessity: a neck warmer for biking that goes halfway up my head. Only problem, is it is a wee bit tight. When i take it off my head, I've always got a moment of panic (see photo) when I don't think it's going to come off at all. But it does, and it does the job.




Next is a black tank top that I had gotten bleach right on the boob and it turned red. I found some bleach in my house and decided to continue the pattern throughout... and here's how it turned out. Pretty cool, huh? Just like in the stores....

I've started running again in the mornings.....

.... And this is what I've discovered!

Fall Winding Down

So I went to Duluth today and took an excessive amount of photos...you might recognize Jay Cooke State park from my previous photos. A friend and I went back there to do a structural geology project. It was a gorgeous day, and I feel like when those come around these days it's best to take advantage since winter will be setting in before I know it. Also this weekend I rode in Critical Mass, which is just a bike ride that happens in cities the last Friday of the month and everyone just gets together and crowds out the streets to raise bicycle awareness. Its super fun to be riding around Minneapolis blocking out traffic with literally hundreds of bikers. Yesterday it went until after dark, which was sort of cool, but sort of depressing since it's getting darker too early!

Fall in Minnesota

I've been super busy the last week two weeks, but I finally get a chance to relax now! Here are some highlights of the last two weeks. As you can see-- not all bad.
The first pictures are from a field trip for Structural Geology class to Baraboo, Wisconsin to see some Baraboo Quartzite and a giant fold. The first one is Devils Lake.
This is the vertical bedding that shows you're on the inverted limb of the fold. The quartzite is on the right and on the left is a shale. There was also a sign that said that this rock is a "geologic mecca." Take that as you will.






The third picture is from another field trip, this time to Northeastern Minnesota for my Glacial Geology Class. This is Jay Cooke State Park (have you been there?) It is absolutely gorgeous, even though the weather was in the 40-50's and wet. Those rocks are greywacke, a sandstone that has been metamorphosed.




We also walked on a peat bog and saw some mudcrack formation in action. And we went to Lake Superior and did some Agate-searching. These are really unique rocks that form from water filling gas vesicles in cooling magma. There are a lot of them along Lake Superior and glaciers carried them all around Northeast Minnesota. I think I'm going to try and make some jewelery with them or something....
















And then this weekend was the Zombie Pub Crawl... My friends Dave & Chris went all out (Roman Zombies) and my friends Nick and Joelle and I were just pretty bloody. But a great time was had by all the undead. ..









And, back to knitting! I am working on a sweater! Wow, this is hard. I got this gorgeous green yarn and I have a pattern that is supposed to have cables down the front but I am not including those so it's just going to be plain. you knit it top down in the round, so it shouldn't be too bad, right?

So..... I'm a busy girl. Plus, I still need to finish that entrelac bag.... I think it'll be cute but I'll probably give it to someone for Christmas I think. I have so many little hand bags like that.
Hope all is well with you two!

Will I Have Enough?

So this is what I have been working on. One of the magazines you gave me, Jaime, had a step-by-step interloc pattern in it that I am following. It looks pretty nice, I think. The only problem is that I may run out of yarn. I think you gave me this yarn, too, Jaime. Do you remember where you got it or what kind it is? Maybe I could hunt down some more. I don't think it had a tag or anything with it because it was in the ball like that. If it's not long enough to be a scarf I could always just make it some sort of hanging tapestry or table runner, or maybe see what happens if I felt it.

Things are good for me now. I am so busy. My Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays I have class all day until 4:30 with no breaks, so by the time Wednesday night knitting club comes around I am ready to just turn my mind off. I am a Teaching Assistant for a class called Physical Geology, a basic lab science class for non-majors. I teach the labs, and I think it's going to be really fun and a good experience. This week we're talking about energy associated with sediment transport and how it depends on sediment size and environment. It's cool because on the bluffs of the Mississippi, you can see three layers which are all sedimentary rock that covers parts of SE Minnesota-- the St. Croix Sandstone, the Glenwood Shale, and the Platteville Limestone.

I'm also going to be learning a lot about Minnesota geology in one of my classes, Glacial Geology. I'm excited because we have a field trip every week during our lab period, which from 1:30-4:30 Friday afternoon. This time would suck a lot, if it weren't for the fact that we actually got to get outside and look at rocks, every single week! This week we went to look at the Glacial till that covers the St. Croix Sandstone throughout a lot of SE Minnesota.

Anyway, I'm also really excited about knitting. It is in Loring Park, which is a long 20 minute bike ride from where I live in Seward neighborhood. So, I'm a little worried about the haul over there this winter. But, I really like it. There are two girls there, Anna and Brooke, who are marvelous. Both grad students, (Brooke is actually a geology grad student, crazy...) and both really fun, down-to-earth, and easy to talk to. It's cool that I'm making some really good new friends through knitting! I think next week we're meeting at the Bad Waitress, a little cafe with a wine bar, and have some wine while knitting. A little more excitement than the Dunn Brothers we usually meet at. And, more relaxing than coffee.

And.... speaking of bicycles... I got a different one a couple weeks ago. I bought it secondhand and it's I think from the 80's, a Panasonic. It's shiny and red and matches my helmet, and it's soooo much nicer than my old, cheap, rusty mountain bike I was riding. If I would have fixed up my old bike, it probably would have cost more than this one cost. And, it flies....

Another new thing-- I moved! And I love it. I moved into a house (see photo!) that three of my best friends used to live in, but they all moved out (one to Kenya and one to Ecuador for a semester, oy....and one across campus) and I am living here with the two guys they lived with, and two new girls who are also just great. They are all really laid back, and everyone is a little older so we all already sort of have our friends, but also everyone is really friendly and wants to be friends... It's really great. Plus, the house is just really cute. The landlords, a family with a 3 year old boy and a first grader (Milo and Marta) live on the main level and we have the 2nd and 3rd floors. The only problem is its a bit drafty, and it's been colder in here lately than it has been outside. Other than that, it's hardwood floors and this nice dark woodwork, and we have this great little back balcony that makes me feel like I should smoke or something because it's perfect to go out there at night and just ponder for a bit. And, theres a sun room on the front with big windows and lots of plants. My room is little but it's painted this light citrus-y green that goes really well with all my decor (blue, green, and rust colored) So, I'm really happy. Plus, it's in a great neighborhood. It's quiet, with really pretty houses with really pretty huge gardens. Its really close to the river, about a 10 minute ride to campus, and close to the Greenway, this bike path that goes to from Southeast Mpls to southwest Mpls and to a lot of great places (like my friend Joelle's house). It's a LOT nicer than swerving through traffic.

Ok. That just about sums up everything going on in my life right now. Its' fall, its cool and crisp and gorgeous. I thought it was still supposed to be warm out, but it's cool and crisp. If this means we get Winter a month early, too, then I'm going to be upset, but for now I'm just enjoying it. My friend Joelle and I went to the farmers market yesterday and bought a bunch of vegetables including a spaghetti squash and made dinner last night. Yum. Next weekend a bunch of us are going camping about an hour south of the cities which will be cool because I haven't really been south of the cities a lot in Minnesota. And right now I'm going to go bike to a coffeeshop and focus on some good old calculus. One last semester. I can do it, I can do it, I can do it........ Maybe.