Finally!

Crystal Mountain
Originally uploaded by Emily E.M.

I got to go skiing!!! It finally snowed again this week, so I headed up to Crystal Mountain today. I went by myself since Dave is out of town, but it was fun regardless. I took the express bus from Seattle, which is definitely the way to go. It's super easy (it leaves from Green Lake, about 10 minutes from my house) and saves a lot of time. They give you your lift ticket on the bus, and if the lines are long, as they were today, that's really great - I figure it saved me at least 20 minutes of waiting in line. Plus, no driving hassles and better for the environment. The snow from Wednesday and Thursday was pretty packed down already, but the groomers were really nice. Not much sun, but a very high overcast and really great visibility, both afar and of the snow, which is key. I hate skiing when the light is really flat - today was pretty ideal!

A lovely weekend

Yesterday saw us off skiing again, this time at Mt. Baker for the Eighth Annual Golden Egg Hunt. They hid 4,000+ eggs around the ski area and (supposedly) gave away $15,000 worth of prizes. I only found two eggs (and I was the only one of us who found any), and they had (unlucky) raffle tickets inside. The weather was lovely and there was a lot of snow, although it was pretty heavy and a bit tough to deal with in spots. Anne-Marie took this photo of my trying to work out how I was going to get a turn started: It was, by the way, steeper than it looks. You can see above and behind me below how much new snow there was - I think almost two feet last week. This is probably the last time we'll get out skiing this year, although they got 15 more inches of snow today, so there is always hope for next weekend. But I'm okay with being done for the season - we've been out six times and that's pretty good considering we didn't go at all until after New Years, I was sick a couple of times, and I was out of town for a weekend. Anne-Marie has more photos on her blog - the one of Dave and I standing at the top of the run I'm struggling with in the photo above is a really nice shot you should check out. We took a break to watch the egg toss: They got really far apart by the end, and the prize was a pair of snowboards and several lift tickets, so I suspect people practive! And, as you can see, all the cool kids drink diet pepsi (sorry Mom)! Well, Anne-Marie is behind me drinking hot cocoa, but...

The Easter Bunny (aka my parents) sent me a nice surprise! Lots of chocolate (but not too much) and some other goodies, in a really pretty bowl with sunflowers on the inside. Dave and I tried the game (top right) this afternoon and it's really hard! Thanks Mom and Dad! Oh, the Peeps? I'm embarrassed to say that they're long gone...

More skiing, and a peek of some knitting

Sorry for the delay, but I had a friend visiting this weekend, which both slowed down my knitting and kept me from blogging! Brent, one of my roommates from college, came to Seattle for a few days, and it was great to get to hang out with him. It's been quite awhile, although we did see each other at Andrea's wedding back in September.

Sunday we went skiing at Stevens Pass, which was great. Lovely sunny day, pretty good snow, no major incidents and everyone made it home in one piece. Brent did have a slight issue when he fell and his binding twisted when his ski came off (Which I really don't think is normal. The binding, not the ski. The ski is meant to come off if you fall with enough zeal.), and he walked down quite a bit of the hill before a ski patroller stopped and fixed the binding. I had been ahead of him so I didn't witness this, but it made for a good story...I wish I would have been skiing with the camera as it was a really spectacular day. These photos were taken around 4:00 so the light was already not ideal, but you can see the blue sky at least, which is always appreciated around these parts.
Since I waxed poetic about Mt. Baker last week, I feel I should give my 30-second review of Stevens Pass. This was only my second trip there, and it was much better than the first. We went there three years ago (Really? Wow. Time flies.) and that day the visibility was awful because it was snowing like the dickens (What does that even mean? Why do people say that? Do other people say that? And should it be Dickens?), and really crowded. As I've mentioned the weather was beautiful on Sunday. But, it was still really crowded, and the lift lines were totally chaotic and completely unorganized. However, aside from that it didn't really seem that busy since the ski area is pretty big and everyone was spaced out around the mountain. So, although I wasn't keen on the waiting, overall the skiing was pretty good. They have a nice variety of terrain and good grooming, and Dave reports that the double black diamonds were to his satisfaction. The drive is about an hour less each way than to Mt. Baker and much less frightening. Plus, leaving home at 6:30 instead of 6:00 felt downright luxurious - I even took a shower! I suspect we'll go back.
I'm sorry that this appears to be turning into Emily's Musings on Skiing (Maybe I should grab that and save you all the boredom of reading this? And why aren't there more knitters who ski? Do they just not talk about it, or are they mutually exclusive activities?), but most of my knitting has been secret gift knitting that I can't talk about yet. However, here is a snippet of something I can post about soon, and after Sunday I can show off another secret project.
Them some bright colors! Sorry about all the parentheses this evening - apparently my mind is wandering...

In its element...

Yesterday Dave, Kristen and I had an epic day of powder skiing at Mt. Baker. I didn't carry the camera around with me because it was snowing and thus the views were pretty much non-existent, but I did get a nice photo of my Jeep in its element: Note that we even broke out the chains for the drive down from the mountain. Although not many people seemed to be using them, I think they were a wise decision as the roads were pretty bad. Better safe than sorry! A lack of foresight (and living in Seattle, where it really never snows and where I park inside) led us to the old-fashioned coat sleeve snow removal technique - thankfully there wasn't much ice on the windshield or we'd have been there all night...

We had a grand time. I really have no experience skiing powder so it was a day of experimentation for me. Kristen does a fair bit of backcountry skiing so she had some useful advice for me, but mostly I just made it up as I went along. There were a lot of ungroomed intermediate runs for us to deal with before moving on to the really tough stuff, which I should do. I'm in a "I'm a blue run skier" rut, when really I'm certainly competent enough to ski harder runs, I just lack the confidence to get on with it. Kristen and I did go down 1 (2?) of the black runs yesterday because there was so much snow that it was hard to get too much momentum going. It's not the steepness so much as the potential moguls that freak me out, to be honest. And it was fine, and fun, because the snow was nice and fluffy. They have SO much snow at Mt. Baker - the base is up to 140" (That's 11.5' - the most in the country.), with 20" more forecasted by Wednesday. Baker is interesting because they're not particularly interested in providing a pampered skiing experience. No high-speed lifts, lifties who may or may not notice you're there, etc. But, they have the best snow and the cheapest rates around, which makes it well-worth the drive for us, even though it's the furthest ski area from Seattle (within a reasonable drive). The remoteness and the "lack of amenities" result in fewer crowds, which is great, and I think it's part of their strategy to not upgrade the lifts and such in order to keep the mountain less commercial and more for the locals and purists (I'm not really either of those, but after having fun with the powder yesterday I could see how it could be addicting). Some of the closer ski areas get really crowded on weekends, but even on great powder days like yesterday the lift lines were really pretty short, especially in the afternoon when all the people who are only there for fresh tracks have gone home. Plus, when it's not cloudy, you get views like this:

Hope you all had a good weekend!

Peekaboo Mittens

I've finished them! They were actually completed early in the evening on Friday, but I didn't get around to taking a photo until this morning.Project Stats: Peekaboo Mittens

Pattern: By Megan at Pensive Frog, from Magknits.

Yarn: Lamb's Pride Worsted, black. I used about 2/3 of a skein. Yarn was purchased at Weaving Works back in the fall, pre-yarn fast.

Needles: Size 7 bamboo DPNs. I *gasp* didn't check my gauge but it came out perfectly!

Time to knit: About 2.5 days, but I knit one whole one aside from the thumb in one night, so they were a really fast knit!

Impressions: This is a great pattern, and a really cool project when completed. I think these will be quite useful to their recipient, and I can't wait to make some for myself. The pattern is clearly written and I didn't make any changes. It's handily written for two gauges, these being the larger-gauge version. I love Lamb's Pride Worsted, which I am reminded of every time I use it. It's a little bit thick-and-thin, so it keeps your interest, and the mohair gives it a small halo. I find it nicer to knit with than Cascade 220, which I tend to lump together with it since they both come in loads of colors and are often together at the yarn store.

I am ALMOST done with my Step socks - I'm on the toe decreases, and had I not gotten up at 5:30 yesterday morning to do skiing I would have finished them last night. Photos tomorrow, I promise, assuming that buying Dave a suit for Rembrandt's upcoming nuptials doesn't turn into an all-night project (fingers crossed).

I should show off skiing photos, shouldn't I, just as evidence I was there? Yesterday I drove to Mt. Baker BY MYSELF and tried out my new skis. The skis are fine, but I had a rough time of it. Most of the day the visibility was really bad (In that I was skiing in a cloud. Not in fog. In a cloud. And it was snowing, hard, in that cloud.), and I was feeling the repercussions of the severe bruise I got on my left shin from the rental boots last weekend, which I thought was healed or I never would have gone. SO, I had leg pain and almost blindness to contend with, and no one there with me for sympathy. But, when the clouds cleared a bit it was quite pretty. Once again I didn't take the camera with me while I was skiing, which this time was a good thing since I kept falling when I ran off the groomed trails into feet of powder, which pretty much stops you dead in your tracks. That and the snow snakes - they were out in abundance yesterday. I took these photos from the parking lot as I was leaving, hence the rooftops.

I don't mean to complain, it was a nice day out overall. The drive was nice, and for once I made it there before the lifts opened (we always try and never succeed). I borrowed The Kite Runner from the library and listened to almost half of it in the 6 hours I was in the car. I've been enjoying it but I'm not sure when I'll get to listen to the rest because it's rare for me to spend that much time in the car or with the home stereo without Dave around, and I doubt he'll want to come into the story in the middle. I think the new skis will work out really nicely for me, I just had a tough time yesterday because of I couldn't see where I was going and my shin really hurt. It's fairly difficult to be confident in your skiing when you can't tell up from down! My friend Kristen went up to Whistler, BC this weekend and had similar visibility issues, so I feel a bit better...

Tomorrow - the Step socks will be finished object #9 of 2007!

Skis!

I picked up my skis last night, and I understand that the thing to do is put on ski clothing and the skis and take photos in the living room, so I did just that. Please pardon the mess on the tables.And from the side, so you can appreciate the twin-tips:The skis have wild bottoms:

Aside: The Frye box on the Poang chair contains the yellow shoes I was SO excited about last week. They arrived yesterday, and I think I'm going to send them back. They're a bit tight on the side of the toes, and they were pretty expensive, so I was always intending to send them back if they were anything less than perfect. The heel is a bit shorter than I'd have preferred as well, so back they will likely go.

Aside over: Oliver was totally traumatized by the skis. He did a very sneaky and thorough investigation of the boots when I wasn't wearing them, and hissed at the skis when I skied down the hall. Well, slid down the hall. It's hard to see the trauma here though, isn't it? He recovers quickly.

All of the Fiberphiles were in town the last couple of days. We've scattered a bit lately, but Pam was up from Portland for a conference, and Daisy was back in town for the closing on her old house, so most of us got together for dinner last night at an excellent Thai restaurant in my neighborhood. No knitting was accomplished, but we did get our waiter to take a photo:

From the left: Rachel, Jennifer, Pam (great new haircut!), Daisy, and me.

I am almost finished with the Peekaboo mittens - just one thumb to go, and all the other ends already woven in. I knit the whole second one in just a few hours last night - they're an ideal quick gift project. I was going to post another photo of them but figured I'd wait for the FO shot, since it won't be long in coming!

Lucky girl!

Look what I've got!

These babies are cupcakes from The Magnolia Bakery, brought to me all the way from NYC by my friend Tracie, who was visiting a friend there for spring break. I developed a taste for them a couple of years ago whilst in a long-distance relationship with a guy who was in medical school at NYU. They are SO good. Words really can't describe the frosting, it's just SO sweet and creamy. I've tried to replicate it, but no luck. Pardon their appearance - they came all the way across the country in a suitcase! It was SO nice of her to bring them for me - thanks Tracie!!!

Yes, I do intend to eat them all. The blue one was the first to go. I might give one to Dave, if he's really nice...

Oh, I also now have these, which really is more exciting than the cupcakes, but I was going to wait until I had them in hand to show them off. But, I am super excited about them and I can't wait, so here you go. Never again will I rent skis!

I also bought boots, but you don't need to see them. I didn't bring the skis home because they have to mount the bindings, but I will get them on Thursday. Probably won't get to use them this season, but maybe. We'll see. I got them at Evo, which is a great store just up the road from our apartment. Generally their stuff is really pricey but the end of the season sale was phenomenal. Let's just say I got the skis and the boots for almost $200 less than the retail price of the skis alone...

Silver Star

Dave and I spent last weekend skiing at Silver Star, in middle-of-nowhere British Columbia. We had a lovely time, although the snow wasn't quite as powdery as advertised, seeing as it was at or above freezing the whole time we were there. The sticky snow was actually good for me, because there was some steep terrain encountered, and the sticky snow, well, it keeps you in control. I didn't take the camera skiing like I usually do because I wasn't wearing my big jacket (As I said, it was warm. So warm that I was taking my gloves off every lift ride to cool off my hands. Apparently I had a bit of a death grip on my poles.), so there aren't any candid skiing shots. However, I did take some photos. This is a groomer (Snowcat), getting ready to do its thing on Sunday afternoon: There is also a ski lift and some background scenery. And some orange fencing to stop the out of control beginners from crashing into the lift. Always a risk...
Here's a slightly better scenery shot. I didn't take any from the summit (obviously, since I didn't take the camera), but you can get the general idea.
This is a nice shot of Silver Star village:
Most of these buildings are hotels, shops, and restaurants. We stayed at the Bulldog Hotel (below)our first two nights, and had a lovely dinner there Friday night after the $5 night skiing we arrived just in time to take advantage of. I know I shouldn't end a sentence with of, let's not talk about it. The first time it was ending with 'for,' which really isn't much better. C'est la vie.
Here is another mountain shot, taken from the tubing park: I skied most of what you can see there. The mountain was much bigger, this is only a tiny portion. Tubing was SO fun! We only took two runs because it was expensive, and something that you don't really need to do many times to appreciate. Here I am going up the tow rope in my tube - sorry it's blurry, Dave took it while we were both moving. Our last night we stayed in a hostel to save money. This was my first time staying in a hostel, and it wasn't that bad, although the word from those who know is that this is quite a nice hostel compared to most. It was fine. I'm not so into the whole communal aspect of hostels, but we had a private room (no bathroom), and it was only one night so it worked out just fine. Here's our room:Lovely bedspread, no?
Don't we look like we had a nice time? I will say that skiing three days in a row is hard on the legs, and I was glad I've been spending so much time at the gym. Strong leg muscles really come in handy skiing, both for controlling the skis and for recovering from little bobbles caused by the ubiquitous snow snakes. And for skating around, which we did a lot of because there were so many flat traverses. I think I encountered the steepest terrain I've skiied this weekend, and dealt with it quite well. They groom some of their black diamond (difficult) runs at Silver Star, which was great for me. I usually stick to the blue runs (intermediate) because I like to avoid moguls when possible, which crop up on ungroomed black runs (and ungroomed blues I suppose, although ungroomed blue runs are less commonly encountered). So, I enjoyed the groomed black runs, which are groomed with a Snowcat on a winch (I'd LOVE to see that in action). I also had fun skiing through some relatively open glades, which was a new thing for me since none of the ski areas I've been to around Seattle have any gladed areas that aren't crazy steep. I don't do crazy steep + trees. One difficulty is enough!
Silver Star was phenomenally uncrowded. There were no lift lines, and half the time I was the only person on a given run, which was really nice. AND, there weren't very many snowboarders, probably due to the frequent flat traverses, which are hell on a snowboard (so I hear). I would definitely go back to Silver Star, although if we do this next year we're thinking of going to Red Mountain. Also in BC, but a bit closer to home...