How Do People Stand All That Sun?

I've been back from Spring Training for almost a week, but it seems like a lot longer ago than that! We had great seats for most of the games we went to, and the weather was very pleasant (as long as I was mostly in the shade). We saw Milton Bradley get thrown out twice for arguing balls and strikes, and were close enough to hear the terrible name he called the umpire. Awesome. The baseball was bad at times, good at times, as is normal in Spring Training. This year, we visited two parks that we haven't been to before, which means that we've covered almost all the Phoenix parks. We haven't been to see the Cubs, but I think that's about it. The home opener is in a few weeks (sandwiched between two trips to Boston), and I can't wait! Although right now, I'm really spending my time thinking through the logistics of the first Boston trip, because I've got a tightish schedule on Friday (but can't leave on Thursday morning), and Frieda is travelling with me. Frieda has been to the east coast twice, and she should be fine on the plane, but there are still details to think through--health certificate from the vet, how to pack so that I can still carry everything on, how she cope with flying without rawhide (verboten now that she has pancreatitis).

Back to Spring Training, the non-baseball activities. I snuck in a little running, and we managed to hit a yarn store, a quilt store, and a bead store, in addition to trips to multiple Target stores in search of Liberty of London items. I didn't have the benefit of a whole Liberty of London Target Store, but picked up a shirt, a hat, and an XL child's maxi-dress that I'm going to turn into a skirt. I visited a local Target yesterday to make sure there wasn't anything I'd missed (there was more), and I may make a trip to another local one to check out their selection of lampshades.

In knitting news, I made a little progress on both Iris Waves, and Kernal, but not as much as I might have liked--there just wasn't a lot of downtime on this trip, and our seats were too close to the action to facilitate knitting. Also, at the last minute I snuck an "opposite of Spring" project into my bag, and worked on that on the plane instead of the bright, springy projects. More details to come--I may finish it this week, and if not it will almost certainly come with me to Boston (along with Iris Waves and Kernal, I would bet).

Spring Has Sprung (Baseball-Wise, anyway)

I'm leaving for Spring Training tomorrow, and have a couple of new projects on the needles to take with me. It just didn't feel right to take the subdued, blue-grey Carrieline, or the wintry grey Peak's Island Hood to a place where it's supposed to be 75 - 85 degrees & sunny all week. Plus, I'm trying to keep room in my bags for running shoes & clothes, so a sweater and a bulky scarf are not the best choices. A little simple lace in a bright aqua, and a pair of summer-striped socks? Those seem just right for knitting at the ballpark, don't they?

The blue scarf pattern is Kernel from the Fall 2009 issue of Knitty. I picked the yarn (Spud & Chloë Fine, purchased @ Renaissance Yarns) solely for it's color, and frankly I think it's a little scratchy. The stitch definition is great, though. I soaked and blocked it after the edging and first repeat to see if it would soften up and hold the pattern, which is why it lays so nicely now. The yarn didn't soften up very much, but it was too pretty to start looking for new yarn. I really wanted that color, because I was thinking of making Anne Hanson's Coral Gables scarf, and because it screams "Spring is HERE!". I was worried I'd end up glued to the chart, though, which doesn't make it a great pattern for the baseball park. Kernel may end up having the same problem, which is why I also started a new pair of socks.

Even though I just ripped out six different socks, and have at least that many more socks started, I really wanted a new, bright pair to take to Peoria. The pattern is Waves and Piers (Rav Link) from The Little Box of Socks by Charlene Schurch and Beth Parrott. I'm using Yarntini Striped Sock in Iris from the Yarntini club I joined last summer, with a coordinating Dale Baby Ull for the cuff, heel, and toe. The pattern is just two rows (one plain, one patterned), and should be easy to follow along. If not, I know a couple of places not too far from the ballpark with yarn on offer . . . and I still have time to cast on one more thing!

Only 5 1/2 Months Until Spring Training

Last Sunday was closing day for the Mariner's 2009 season, and although the M's ended up in third place in the West (12 games behind the Angels, two games behind the Rangers) it was a great season to watch. The return of Griffey, the return of a winning season, Ichiro's 9th consecutive 200 hit season--these were all important achievements. But the best part was consistently watching a team that had a chance to win (even if they didn't overwhelmingly win), and that seemed to have fun on & off the field. We saw this change during Spring Training, even though several of the best players were representing their countries in the World Baseball Classic. Let's hope that Griffey comes back, and that the record improves almost as much next year (it would be greedy, let alone impossible, to expect another 40 wins, wouldn't it). And that I eventually finish all five pair of socks I hauled to baseball games this year:

Cabana Boy: Finished July 13, 2009
Strawberry Van Dyke: Finished July 27, 2009
Yarrow: in progress (1st sock done, 2nd almost at heel)
Yellow Mystery: in progress (1st sock close to toe)
Spey Valley: in progress (1st sock midway through foot)

And yes, I am already thinking about Spring Training 2010!

Espresso is Good

There hasn't been a lot of knitting this weekend, or at least not a lot of interesting knitting. Mom and I went to the Mariner's game on Friday (Ichiro Bobblehead night!), and the game was too exciting to knit at. Yesterday I had a few other things going on, and although I started a new project that I'm sort of excited about, there's not enough of it yet to bother photographing. Maybe later today, since the weather is nice! The most exciting thing this weekend, though, is that I bought an espresso machine. Not a super fancy, price-of-a-used-car machine, just an entry level home model. I'm still figuring out how to make the best coffee ever, but the results have been pretty delicious so far. I've tried Illy grounds, and Starbucks pods. The pods are 100% reliable and super convenient. The grounds are a little more difficult, but I think will be worth the extra effort so that I can brew two shots at a time. If anyone has some coffee brand suggestions, leave it in the comments!

In other food news, I would like to present . . . .

A Tale of Two Sandwiches

Given my poor dietary habits and my sheer laziness when it comes to cooking, I really don't feel like I have a leg to stand on regarding the blogging of food topics. However, this weekend I've experienced two sandwiches that stand on the polar ends of acceptable restaurant food.

Sandwich #1: The first sandwich was the biggest culinary disappointment I've had at Safeco Field ever. Worse than paying $8.75 for a beer, worse than a day-old reheated corndog, worse than ice-cold fries. The name of this disappointment? The BBQ Pork sandwich.

A little background: at Safeco Field, you can download software for your Nintendo DS that lets you look up stats, follow other games, see video replay, and order food to your seat. Ordering food to your seat is a great feature if you're stuck in the middle of the row, or if the lines are really super long. The main reason I've ordered from the Nintendo in the past, though, is because it offered a pork sandwich that is only available in the Bullpen Pub, which is three full levels and half-way around the park from our seats. This sandwich is terrific--it's got slices of bbq pork with chipotle mayo topped with coleslaw on an onion Kaiser roll. It's a huge sandwich, so Mom and I can split it and still feel like we had a meal. It's arguably the best food item in the ballpark, and it's the sandwich pictured on the Nintendo DS menu.

On Friday, when I ordered the pork sandwich from the DS, what arrived was a small, microwave heated roll with a few slices of overcooked pork drowning in a really boring bbq sauce. Really bad--completely not delicious, totally not worth even 1/3 of the cost. And although this disappointment was assuaged by the M's 5th inning comeback, I have a creeping fear that the most delicious sandwich at the ballpark may not even be available at the Bullpen Pub anymore, and that I'll have to spend all season trying to find foods to carry into the park instead of eating the same (delicious) hot dog all the time.

Sandwich #2: On Saturday, I went to the Fiber Gallery's Anniversary Sale, and I had planned to stop by Red Mill Burgers for lunch. When I drove by, though, the place was crammed full and there were maybe 15 people out on the sidewalk, so I decided to try a place across the street from the Fiber Gallery called Picnic. The menu was small and simple, and I ordered a ham and cheese sandwich to go. This is a $9 sandwich, and when they handed it over to me I thought that I might have made another sandwich mistake because it had no heft to it. It felt like maybe there was no filling to this sandwich. I was totally wrong--this sandwich was perfect. The bread was crusty and flaky without being chewy, the ham and cheese were perfectly proportioned, the only condiment that I could detect was dijon mustard, which is the only condiment that this sandwich needed. There was no flavor-diluting lettuce, anemic winter tomatoes or other unnecessary ingredients. If Picnic was on my way to Safeco Field, I would take this sandwich with me to the games, and never even miss the pork sandwich. Next time I might not eat it in my black-upholstered car while wearing a black shirt, but maybe I still would.

Just to bring this non-food blog back to yarn, I did pick up new yarn yesterday although my plan was to not buy any more until I'd paid for Sock Summit. There are only so many things I can resist, though--I've passed by the Webs sale, and the Jimmy Bean's Wool sale, and a couple of sock clubs that I really think I'd enjoy. Anyway, in the spirit of full disclosure, I bought a sweater's worth of Classy at the Fiber Gallery's sale (20% off!) because the more I knit with it, the more I like it. Then on the way home, I stopped at Renaissance Yarns and picked up yarn for the new project I started last night (which I'll likely blog about tomorrow). Let's hope that I can straighten out all of my knitting problems sooner rather than later, so I can make some stuff (rather than just knit the same thing over and over, fixing mistakes).

I Can't Believe They're 6 and 2

The M's home opener was great--really good game, great crowd, sunny (but freezing cold) weather. The only downside? I'm exhausted and will have a looooooooooooong day at work tomorrow to make up for taking the afternoon off. Totally worth it. But I need to go to sleep now.

What's in the photos? All L to Right (though I'm sure you could have figured that out yourself). I've shuffled them up, they aren't in chronological order.

Top Row: Ichiro is introduced, Sunny Safeco Sign on the third level, Griffey is introduced
Middle Row: Grounds crew dance, the only knitting I can be trusted with these days (3 x 3 rib, the second Northern Lights cuff), Opening day painted on the field
Bottom Row: Victory!!!!, Felix is introduced, Griffey's first at bat (this was a strike--I didn't get a good photo of the hit).

My favorite photo was from my iPhone, which was otherwise totally useless at the game:

I don't know what the problem was (other than a large crowd), but for most of the game I didn't have phone service or internet connectivity. I'm sure that my Facebook friends were disappointed not to receive updates on my status every five minutes (i.e. "Griffey got a hit!" and "What a corndog!") while they were at work. Plus, the constant search for service meant that my battery drained in only a few hours. Booooooooo, AT&T wireless.

The next game for us on Friday, it's Ichiro bobblehead night. Free toy = Maximum Value!

With the Sky Blue Sky

Left: A Blue Sock at batting practice, Right: Manny Ramirez in blue shoes

Another hot day today in the greater Phoenix area! We spent the morning at the M's training camp watching the team practice, and I worked a little on a new sock. It's from a sock club, and as you know the first rule about sock clubs is do not talk about sock clubs. I think that it's pretty safe to discuss, but there may be people who don't have their package yet, so I'll hold off on naming the club / pattern / yarn. But isn't it pretty? And close to the M's colors, too.

The main M's squad played in Tucson today, so we went to the new Dodger's training facility instead. It's really nice, and our seats were terrific, but we sat in full sun all day which is a little much for me. One of the highlights was seeing Manny Ramirez get his first hit of Spring Training (this was his first game)--I didn't photograph the actual hit, but the photo above may be from the same at bat. I was eating ice cream during that at bat, so I wasn't paying quite as much attention as I should have.

Tomorrow we head back to Seattle, where it's going to be at least 30 degrees colder than here. Brrrr. . . . it's hard to even imagine that after sitting in the sun all day!

Here Comes the Sun

clockwise from top left: Ryan Rowland-Smith signing autographs, proof that Summer Sky Socks are done, Griffey takes a look, Goth Socks

Having a great time in AZ, the weather has been perfect (and our seats have been mostly in the shade), the beer has been cold and the food delicious. The baseball? Well, so far we've been to three Mariners blowouts (the M's on the losing end), and one World Baseball Classic exhibition game in which the Korean team was soundly defeated by the Padres. Tomorrow, we're going to see the Dodgers play the Rangers--two teams that I have no real opinion of, so maybe it will be closer?

In knitting news, I did manage to finish the Summer Sky Socks (which have been lingering since last summer) the night before we left. I didn't have a chance to get a good photo at home, so I wore them on the plane and took a photo today at the ball park. They were knit from Vesper sock yarn in Summer Sky, and they were knit toe-up using the beaded rib pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. They were meant to be finished by the end of August, but when they weren't done they moved into the car-knitting rotation which meant that they were worked on a few stitches at a time. They fit nicely, and I'm glad they are done--I didn't really like using a 5-stitch repeat, for some reason it was hard to get into rhythm with.

I brought the Goth Socks that I started on Oscar night, and have worked a little past the heel. I used the Lucy Neatby garter row heel, and am a little concerned that I didn't write down how many stitches I left unwrapped at the bottom. I want to say it was around 10, but that may not be precise enough to end up with two roughly matching heels. I really like the even stripes that this yarn produces, and I like the solid toe & heel really well. There are other socks that I brought with me to work on, but these are by far the easiest to work on while waiting for the action on the field to start, or while drinking beer in sports bars.

We have a couple more days in AZ, and then it's back to cold Seattle. I wish that I hadn't left my everyday coat in the overhead on the plane, I think I'm going to need it when we get back! That being said, at first I thought that my Spincycle Mitts were in the pocket, and I found them in my bag, so it isn't a big deal that I may not get the 8 year old raggedy jacket back.

Happy 70th Birthday, Mom!

The big sign reads: Happy Birthday Janice WOW, 70!!! Love Frieda & Gretel

Question #1: How did Frieda and Gretel get my credit card information to the Mariners?

Question #2: Seriously--this is the worst photo ever, and it wasn't taken by the dogs. What's my problem???

So It's Root, Root, Root for the Mariners . . .

Opening Day at Safeco Field. 50 degrees at gametime. The announcement about the roof being rolled open was great . . . until we felt the raindrops. The roof rolled shut as soon as it was all the way open, and it got very cold--it was snowing for a few innings! But the Mariners won, and it was a pretty good game, and we had a delicious pork sandwich at the Bullpen pub.

Before the roof was closed, I managed to take a quick photo of the sock I cast on while we waited to get in the stadium:

The ladies below my sock make better doors than windows--they got up maybe five times, mostly for beer. Never between innings or at bats, either. Poor form!

The yarn is Duet Sock Yarn, which was part of Renaissance Yarn's Stitch 'N' Pitch package last year, and I really meant to get this pair going before Spring Training. I brought yarn and needles with me today, and got the first couple of rows done before we got into the park. The pattern is the 56 stitch 56 row sock from Chic Knits. I didn't have much time to knit on the inside of the park, though, what with the lunch in the Bullpen Market, and checking in with our season ticket partners, and walking all around. It's hard for me to knit during a game if I'm in the park, there's usually too much going on and/or too much food around. Today there was a LOT going on, and I was wearing mittens, so I'm still working on the ribbing!

Walking Out in Confetti and Sunshine

I'm back from AZ and CA, and am trying to get back into the normal routine, both blogging and otherwise. Above are some shots from the trip--fireworks and sock photos from the Texas Rangers stadium, all the rest from Peoria. The M's didn't play that well, and there was a major screw-up with our game tickets (as in the travel agent "lost" them, but all of her seats were occupied), but being out at the park felt really good. Only one more week until Opening Day!

Clackin' That Bat, Gone With the Wind

Greetings from Peoria, AZ! This photo is from the our first Spring Training game, it's my first official 2008 Baseball beer. It was incredibly delicious. Here's the view from the outfield during warm-ups:

I love going to the park in the evening. Gorgeous sunsets, temperate weather, no big deal if you forget the sunscreen, and, of course, beer.

I forgot my camera battery charger and the cable that links my camera to the computer, but via a complicated camera to phone to e-mail upload to e-mail download process I was able to get these two photos out. They may be the last before I get home on Monday, but I think that the beer photo was totally worth the trouble.

Knitting + Baseball = Socklove

Dear Sockpal,

Last night was Stitch N Pitch at Safeco Field, and although the Mariners lost, one of your socks had a good time. The other sock stayed at home. There were a bunch of great vendors at the game, including shops that are too far away from me to be convenient--Great Yarns and Churchmouse in particular. I picked up some free hometown swag for you there, giveaway items from this year's and last year's event. Although they are slightly crappy, they are also potentially useful and knitting related. I'm not going to lie to you, Sockpal, I did buy some new yarns, including some from a shop that I can go to any time I want, except on Mondays when they are closed. Anyhow, I kept away from the garlic fries, and kept your sock as clean as possible, and prevented a socknapping by E_____, who went to the game too. This weekend, I'll get your package ready, and on Thursday I will put it in the mail. And then I may have to start a pair of Bavarian Rockstars for myself.

Best,
Your Sockpal

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

It was amazing to see Ken Griffey Jr's return to Safeco Field. It was equally amazing, in the exact opposite way, to see the worst beating the Mariners have ever received at Safeco Field.

I feel very behind on knitting, blogging, and sleep. I've been to three baseball games in the last four days, and went to seven quilt shops yesterday. I had no time to map out yarn stores that are near the shop hop, and we're leaving in a few minutes to hit more stores today. Our modest goal is to visit enough stores to enter the drawing, which will put us at about half the number of stores we visited last year. I'm fine with it, but next year maybe I'll take a weekday off so we can cover more ground.

And we danced!

O.K., I didn't dance, but the grounds crew sure did. I took mom to the Ms vs. Yankees game this afternoon for Mother's Day, where she was given a super giant Mariner's Mom shirt and had the satisfaction of seeing the Mariner's stick it to the Bronx bombers. Nothing says "Mother's Day" like booing A-Rod! The next game that we're hitting is Felix Hernandez bobblehead night--we try to maximize the baseball experience by going to all of the hot collectible nights. I think of it as my retirement plan, since Megamillions once again failed me this week.

Way to Go, Felix!

Today was Opening Day at Safeco Field, and it was completely worth taking PTO this afternoon. Felix Hernandez pitched incredibly well (12 strikeouts in 8 innings) and the M's won 4-0. It was J____'s first baseball game (not counting before she was born), and she had a good time and didn't drive the adults crazy. You can see her above, drinking, posing with her mom, and generally being cute. I didn't take any knitting related baseball photos, there was too much going on to sit still and focus. I'm sure I'll make up for it watching televised baseball now that the season has started!

Baseball Involves Standing Around

At least the baseball that I photographed on our last day in Phoenix makes it look that way! Photos, clockwise from top left: Yarn purchased on the trip, Ichiro waiting for batting practice, Mike Hargrove & Bob Melvin chat (or exchange line-ups, it's hard to say), Randy Johnson stands around after a throwing session on the practice fields.

The multicolored yarn is Jitterbug, purchased at Arizona Knitting and Needlepoint. Love this yarn, and the store was great, too! Actually, the people at all three yarn stores we visited were very helpful (without hovering) and friendly--I'm sure that next year I'll visit them again. The green and blue yarn cakes are by Artyarns, I think, but I haven't unpacked the bands yet. I picked them up at the Needler's Nest in Surprise, which was so close to our hotel that I couldn't believe I didn't see it last year!

It's nice to be back in the cool Seattle weather, but it was a great trip (if a little too hot for me) and it's gotten me excited for the start of the baseball season in a few weeks. We're still in first place, right?

Roll Out the Barrel!

At the Milwaukee Brewer's games they sing "Roll Out the Barrel" after "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch. Also, they ran the sausage races (the Polish was the winner), and Felix Hernandez had to hit because it's a National League park. Awesome.

The M's won today, which made this a pretty fun game to watch, although it was clearly a spring training game with some mistakes / moves that we're unlikely to see in the regular season. We started out three rows above the dugout--our seats were a few rows back, but getting to them would have been tough so we sat in some open seats instead. After the owners of those seats came along, we basically bounced around from seat to seat in order to keep in the shade--the temperature was perfect in the shade!

Guide to photos:
Row 1, L to R: Maryvale Park scoreboard, Jeremy Reed, Yuniesky Betancourt
Row 2, L to R: Ichiro, M's warming up, Leprechaun sock checks out the park
Row 3, L to R: Sausage races, Kenji Johjima, Felix Hernadez bats

I'm not loving the Leprechaun sock, I might end up ripping it out when I get back home. I've made some mistakes (nothing critical), and I think I might rather use this yarn for a plainer pattern. The Jaywalker leg isn't super elastic, and it's kind of tight to get over my heel although then the leg fits fine. I don't want to spend a ton of time on a sock I'm never going to wear . . . although since this is most appropriate only one day a year it isn't as if it needs to be in heavy rotation!

Tomorrow's our last day in AZ, and then in a few days I leave for Boston. It will be about a 70 degree temperature swing, and I'm looking forward to it. I've avoided sunburn so far (giant ugly hat, lots of sunscreen), but have still managed to get some sort of heat rash. Stupid Norwegian skin!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Another scorcher in AZ today! Our seats were right on the field, very close to the action but in blazing hot sun all afternoon. Today's photos, from top left corner: Ichiro waiting to take bunt practice (he didn't play), Seattle's St. Patrick's Day hat (notice the shamrock), Jeremy Reed makes it to third base, and Rene Rivera and the starting pitcher make their way to the dugout.

Let's hope that it cools off a little tomorrow!

Valley of the Sun

No photos from yesterday, but here are a few from today. Clockwise from upper left: Scottsdale mission, High Temperature reading by car, Leprechaun sock at the Rangers/Padres game, our view from the lawn at the Rangers / Padres game