Sunday, June 19, 2016

Desert Knits Episode 12: A Video in Three Parts

I had a lot of issues with the video this week... for some reason I had to deal with the camera cutting or freezing and the audio not lining up with the video right. I have to say that I think round 1 of recording went a lot better than round 2 through 5, but I couldn't put up a video that would make everyone get a headache to watch! I did get a video put together for you guys, but I really hope that I don't have to do as much splicing again.



WIPs:
Tour de Sock stage 2 in SMAK Super Fibers, colorway River Bank
Princess Bride and Arwen SALs using Inglenook Fibers Princess Bride Sicklebatts

No FOs, no stash to share

I'll be going to Black Sheep Gathering next weekend!!! Taking a Color Tricks in Spinning class Friday and a Spinning Novelty Yarns class Saturday.

Black Sheep Gathering is going to throw my running schedule into chaos, but you'll be able to read what I decided to do on Thursday when I post my Running Review a day early!

Friday, June 17, 2016

Running Review 6/17/16

Saturday 6/11: I ran with Molly! We had a good run. We ran along the bypass highway, down by the Fred Meyer and plant nursery, and then down to the river. Molly got to go wading in the river for a few minutes while we were down there. She was really interested in that swan that wasn't too far out! (You can see a picture in the last podcast notes post I did.) I wore my Nathan running pack thing. It was wonderful! I didn't have any trouble carrying my camera. It held plenty of water for a hot morning run, my camera, my phone, my headphones (which died 1.25 miles into my run - it wasn't horrible but I was enjoying my Zombies, Run! mission), a roll of dog poop bags, a couple handfuls of almonds, and had plenty of room for more stuff. I think I may incorporate a little bit of grocery store runs into my running routine - pick up a couple bananas and whatever fruit I want for the week (or day if it's a morning before work!) while I'm out running. We did 8.5 miles in 1 hour 35 minutes. Turns out it gets really hot really quickly on hot days and I definitely didn't wake up early enough! Who knew?! haha Our average pace was 11:32 min/mile, best pace was 5:27 min/mile. That fast bit must have been on a steep downhill for maybe half a second...

Sunday 6/12: Off day.

Monday 6/13: I couldn't drag my lazy ass out of bed in the morning. I did take the dogs for a nice walk in the evening after work, but I couldn't tell you how far it was or anything.

Tuesday 6/14: I woke up when I would normally get up for running (5:45am), looked at the time on my phone, rolled over, cuddled up to Ty, and went back to sleep. Tuesday is cross training day and I knew that I would be going to the gym after work. Bodyjam was awesome that night!

Wednesday 6/15: I did 2 miles exactly. Did you know that Dream's barn is 1 mile from my house? Yup. I ran to take care of the horse, did the chores there, and ran home. I wasn't sure how long it would take to do that and wanted to get a good baseline for how much time it would take. It was actually really nice and cool out! It was perfect and I would have loved to get a few more miles in, but Ty was too exhausted to get out to Dream's barn. I did the responsible thing and made sure that his giant litter box was scooped (that's what picking up horse poop reminds me of) and that he was fed. Anyways, I did the 2 miles in 21 minutes. Average moving pace was 10:30 min/mile, best pace was 7:50 min/mile.

Thursday 6/16: I did the Dream thing again. This time I ran an extra mile after taking care of horse chores before getting home. It was another wonderfully cool morning! Very abnormal for this time of year. 3 miles in 35 minutes. Not speedy, but it felt wonderful. Average pace was 11:02 min/mile, best pace was 8:44 min/mile.

Friday 6/17: Off day! Though I did look at a lot of yoga things. And running things. And take a little video of Crouton hanging out with me while I was on the computer.

Monday, June 13, 2016

Tortilla Press VS Rolling Pin

I don't know about you guys, but it's a hard day when we run out of tortillas here. Tortillas are our plate, get-to-mouth food conveyance, and sandwich bread. We eat a lot of tortillas!

We ran out of tortillas once.

It was a bad day.

Until I googled a flour tortilla recipe.

Did you know that it's really, really, really easy to make tortillas? The hardest part is using a beer glass to roll out your tortilla dough because you don't have a rolling pin!


So, here's my quick and easy tortilla recipe.

What you need:


  • 2 cups flour
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 3 Tsp oil, plus a little extra for cooking
  • pinch of salt


Mix everything together in a bowl, kneading a few times once everything is well incorporated. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes before separating it into 8 equal-ish sections. Prepare a floured surface to roll out the tortillas. Try to roll them out as round as you can with whatever you have available to roll with (in my case, a beer glass). Heat a pan over medium heat and add a dash of oil for cooking. Once your pan is hot add a raw tortilla. Cook it until it's lightly browned on one side, then flip and repeat for the other side. This should take between 30 seconds and a minute, depending on your pan. The tortillas are served best warm, straight off the stove top.

This recipe makes some totally tasty tortillas! (Yup, I went there.) They're amazing stuffed with potato burrito stuff or rice and beans. They're really good with a little bit of butter and sugar. They're excellent (I hear) with a bit of Tapatio sprinkled in them and rolled up. I haven't tried that last though, so try it at your own risk.

This recipe makes tortillas so good that I now have a rolling pin and a tortilla press! They're something I'll be making a few times a week, I'm sure. I've just gotten the press, but it'll be put to good use tomorrow evening.

I'll have to try corn tortillas next.

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Desert Knits Episode 11: I got a new camera, guys!

I'm very excited to say that my new camera is here and set up and working like a charm! It took a couple trial and errors to get it working properly. The program would crash, the mic didn't work... it was kind of harder than just take it out of the box and plug it in. It's a Logitech c920. It is beautiful compared to the iPad camera that I was using before!



Show Notes:

Find me on Ravelry as loraclare, IG as lora.clare

Join me, Andrea, and Wren in Warrior Camp!

I'm playing along with the Tour de Sock 2016 on team Mad Cow (which is in Bothel, WA... I checked!).

FOs:

WIPs:
  • TDS Stage 2, though not cast on yet!
  • Princess Bride and Arwen SALs with The Grove and Mirkwood Arts groups on Ravelry
Won a braid of Quillin Fiber Arts Cheviot combed top in Carnival. 

49 miles run since 5/22 recording. It's been super hot and Molly hasn't been able to run with me, but it's cooled down a little bit & I tired her out really well with a long run this morning! She got distracted by a swan in the river when I let her go wading. 


Friday, June 10, 2016

Running Review 6/10/16


Saturday 6/4: Morning run, followed by wine tasting & dinner.


It was way freaking hot & I started my run late. 11:52 min/mile average, with 6:56 min/mile best pace. I did just over 7 miles.

Sunday 6/5: I took the day off & slept. A lot.

Monday 6/6: 3.25 slow miles. 12:05 min/mile average pace, 8:59 min/mile best pace. It was hot.

Tuesday 6/7: Took the night off cross training. Instead I came home from work, ate a little bit, and went straight to sleep. I felt like crap!

Wednesday 6/8: Decided to skip my run because, although I was feeling better, I thought the sleep might be more important. My throat still hurt in the morning but my headache was gone.

Thursday 6/9: 4.75 miles with Molly. We learned she is more interested in a rooster than in quail... I wore my new Nathan water pack! Loved it! Average pace 11:20 min/mile, best pace must be broken... 3:12 min/mile. Not in my lifetime! It was hot, but a bit cooler than Monday!

Friday 6/10: No running, but plenty of time doing chores around the house. Laundry, dog poop pickup, tomato tie up & pruning... And then the Warcraft movie because Ty loves the game & has played for eons! It was actually not bad. Better than I expected & easy enough to follow along without knowing anything about the story.

I'm feeling bummed about my running pace. I know that I've slowed down because it's getting so much hotter out, but it looks so bad on paper! I guess I'll be all set for speed once it starts cooling down again though. That's a plus.

Now, off to bed with plans for 8 miles in the morning!

Friday, June 3, 2016

Running Review 6/3/16

It's that time of the week again! It's my day off!

Saturday 5/28: I didn't wake up early to run so I had to run once it started cooling off & getting dark. It was still too hot for me to really be comfortable & enjoy myself to the utmost, but I did have a good run. I started the run with Molly, because she needed some excess energy release. I actually dropped her off at home after about 2.5 miles because it was too hot for her to run with me for too long. She, weird dog that she is, has decided that she won't drink water from a water bottle, a bowl, or my hand while we're out running. She will try to lick water off grass and sidewalks, but she refuses it when I offer it to her. I, on the other hand, suck down the water from my Camelbak at a good pace when I'm running longer than about 40 minutes in the heat. This was the first run I've done this year that I decided I would need the Camelbak. I didn't drink all of it, but I did sip quite often just to feel the cool water! I actually stopped at a gas station so I could add ice to my water supply. Anyways, on to the running stats. I ran 6.3 miles in 1 hour 11 minutes. Average pace of 11:20 min/mi, best pace of 8:14 min/mi. And I only came close to getting run over in a crosswalk once! ((yes, I have reflective stuff; yes, I was in the crosswalk; yes, I always look before crossing; yes, there were street lights there; the truck driver pulled up to his stop & decided not to stop & not to look for anything smaller than a car)).

Sunday 5/29: I didn't run & I don't feel like I did any real crosstraining... I was supposed to. I watered plants. Does that count? My parents actually came to visit & arrived Sunday evening. Ty & I made dinner for them - we picked a whole heck of a lot of kale from our garden & made a kale lasagna. We had a great evening with dinner, a little bit of beer, F1 racing, talking... It was wonderful!

Monday 5/30: I woke up somewhat early (7:30am) and got out for a run with Molly. It was already 65F or so. Not too hot for Molly to come with me for a few miles, but still warmer than ideal. I think it had heated up to 70F by the time I got home. We did 4.5 miles in 50 minutes. Average pace of 11:00 min/mi with a best pace of 7:59 min/mi. We did a new loop. One that I think I'll do again! There was a long slow downhill and a steeper uphill portion. That uphill part I may need to run a few times. I need to figure out how to run more hills; it's really too flat here for hill training!

We went out to lunch with my parents for my birthday. One of my favorite places - The Rock! It was so tasty. We had brown sugar mozz bread, and a couple small pizzas to share between the four of us. We definitely left full!

They also treated me to a new pair of running shoes. Yes, shoes. Real shoes made for running, shoes. I've been running in Vibrams since 2011 so this is a huge change for me! I got a pair of Altra Intuition 3.5 running shoes. I haven't worn real shoes in so long that I don't actually have socks to wear in them! I also got a couple pairs of socks so that I can use my shoes. I have to test them out on the dreadmill before I run any length of time outside, just in case they don't work for me. There's a 2 week return period where I get to test them out and make sure they're 100% perfect for me and my feet.



Tuesday 5/31: Bodyjam at the gym! And then 1 mile on the treadmill to test out my new shoes!! I just couldn't make myself do more than 1 mile. I hate treadmill running...

Wednesday 6/1: I dragged my butt out of bed at 5:45 am and it was already warm. I got out the door late because Molly wanted to play catch-me-if-you-can. I'm going to start leaving her behind if she does that... I can't play that game first thing in the morning. I laced up my new shoes after deciding that I would just avoid the puddles and dirty bits of the sidewalk. I still want to make sure that the shoes work for me but just can't bring myself to use the treadmill. First, the details. I ran 3.5 miles with Molly. Average pace was 12:17 min/mi, fastest pace was 8:36 min/mi.

The Altra shoes are definitely waywaywaywayway different. They feel heavy and awkward and clunky to run in. The laces bounce up and tickle my ankles. I had some issues with numb toes on my right foot, where I always have issues while wearing traditional shoes, but I'm not going to give up on them yet. I have a long run planned for Saturday morning. I'll really see how they and my feet get along. And hopefully bring my average pace back up once I get more time running in them and getting used to them!

Thursday 6/2: I skipped running... bad girl...

And that brings us up to today, my day off! That's another week down, with a long run in the schedule for tomorrow.