Fiber Fool

We had a party to attend on Saturday night and have another this coming weekend so I get to get all trussed again! I’m kind of proud that the only thing I really needed to acquire for the costume was the waist cincher (okay, and I used it as an excuse to get a really showy bra but it was ~60% off). So not too bad.

Today I’m in black and wearing my spectacular witch hat and my tooth necklace just to be a little festive.

Did you dress up this year? As what?

1. CatEye Loop Rear Light ($11.77, Amazon); it has an adjsutable bungee attchment system so I can attach it to my cargo on my bike as needed or in this case to the back side of my headlamp for added running safety. DH attaches it to his backpack for when he is walking to/from the bus stop in the dark now that the nights are getting longer.

2. Black Diamond Gizmo Headlamp ($19.95, REI); a relatively simple, low-end headlamp that increases my visability while filling in the shadows of my running route where trees block the streetlights.

3. Tek Gear Raglan Performance Tee ($30, currently on sale for $18, Kohl’s); just your basic long sleeve running tee with moisture wicking and flatlock seams.

4. Active by Old Navy Compression Pants ($30 regular price, sadly no longer available); for affordable running tights, these are awesome with good reflective detailing, zippered bottoms for a nice snug fit but easy on and off, back waist zippered key pocket and while still available were not too hard to get for $15 a pair which is a steal for compression. They do have breathable mesh at the back knees which is making them a tad on the cool side now that running time temps are around freezing.

5. Brooks Ghost 5 Running Shoes ($110); a gel cushioned neutral running shoe that got top reviews from various running publications this year. Weird insole issues with my first pair aside, these felt like a natural extension of my foot, I knew they were it as soon as I put them on.

6. REI Winterflyte Jacket ($99.50, but used my member coupon); I tried to go cheaper, but I wanted thumbholes and a phone/headphone compatible pocket and reflective details in addition to warmth and some protection from the elements and this fit that bill.

7. Manzella Sprint Tech Tip Running Gloves ($20, REI); light weight gloves so they don’t get too hot once I get going, with tech-friendly fingertips so I can run my iPhone and fleece on the thumbs for controling the cold morning nose run!

8. Tuneband ($21.99, Amazon); I don’t always use this now that I have the jacket with a media pocket, but this band takes my phone without having to remove it’s hard case which is nice. I do suspect there may be a better option out there, but I not a fan of the plastic sheets over the screen - especially when combined with tech gloves.

Now that we’re into mid-October and I get up to run around 5am my runs are chilly and to some extent dangerous since it is well before the 7:15 am sunrise. So warmth and visibility are top concerns in choosing my running gear. I also still need to be careful about skin management so compression where possible, moisture wicking and flat-lock seams are key features too. But I try to be as thrifty as I can get away with without compromising on these concerns.

This is my current typical uniform, plus an old commercial hat I don’t much care about so sweat on it doesn’t concern me. I do on the colder mornings also add my Faux-Pidge (aka Fidge) around my neck/shoulders to keep their angriness at bay (warm is key to keeping those muscles more relaxed for me). It works great! I could use an earband or low-profile hat to add, but they aren’t essential purchases right now (that doesn’t stop me from looking whenever I’m somewhere that carries such things though, LOL).

What are your outdoor exercise essentials for colder weather? I’d love to hear what you wear for cold weather running, walking, biking, snowshoeing or cross country skiing!

Oooo, Carole, you’ve chosen a topic right up my alley for this week! Although lately I’ve been tending more in the American West romance genre (which I’d prefer to be historical, but am having a hard time finding ones that aren’t overly preachy). But I was on a several year mystery bender and still sprinkle them in here and there. My list is in no particular order, but I will confess to using LibraryThing and GoodReads to remind me of my favorites :-)

1. I have a soft spot for Minnesota authors and books in general set in locations that I am familiar with. A fav Northern Minnesota mystery series of mine is the Cork O’Conner series by William Kent Krueger. Cork is half white and half native American and is well respected by both groups and often finds himself helping with investigations due to his acceptence both on and off the reservation. These mysteries are often packed with action and outdoor adventure in addition to the mystery.
2. I also enjoy cozies a lot and mixing that with historical settings in a quality book seems somewhat rare in my experience so I really enjoyed the Freemont Jones cozy mystery series by Diane Day. Freemont Jones is a woman ahead of her time, setting out to make a life for her single self in San Francisco with no intentions of seeking a mate. She is a spitfire with a lot of intelligence and stubborness. It is a rare that I want to own mystery books since once you’ve read it the mystery is solved, but this series was one of those exceptions. I haven’t yet re-read any, but the writing was so rich with atmosphere and setting that I’m sure it will be a fun re-read on some rainy or snowy weekend.
3. As a former woman in science I appreciate protaganists with a scientific education, which I find to be another rarity in mysteries. The Em Hanson series by Sarah Andrews is one of those series. Em Hanson is an amateur slueth but a professional forensic geologist in Wyoming often dealing with shady goings on in oil fields and the like. I think I’ve read the first three and I’m reminded I should revisit this series again if the library has continued to pick them up.
4. A more hard-boiled mystery series I enjoyed was recommended to me by my mom. It is what I call the Orchid series by Stuart Woods. It is a spin off of the Stone Barrington books featuring Holly Barker, a former MP forced into early retirement who moves to Orchid Beach, FL. The books in this series were fast-paced, hard to put down reads. If memory serves several of them I read in three sittings or less. I just couldn’t get enough. They had a lot of action and danger in them along with the mystery and a light dusting of romantic tension now and again.
5. The Night Villa by Carole Goodman is catalogued as literary fiction I believe, but like many of her books there is a mystery running throughout. This one was crazily high-tension and thrilling. All the action revolved around an archeological hunt in the Mediterranean. The setting was wonderful, the archeology added to the sense of mystery and the pacing and tension was superb! But I’ve loved every single one of her books I’ve read. She first hooked me with The Lake of Dead Languages.
6. Another favorite cozy series I have been collecting (mostly used as I find them) is the China Bayles series by Susan Wittig Albert. I was first turned onto this series by Chris back in 2006 I think. China Bayles is a retired lawyer who keeps up her creditials but runs an herbal shop in the fictitious Hill Country town of Pecan Springs, Texas. I’ve read the first dozen or so titles in the series and I still find it fresh and interesting, which can be pretty rare for cozy series. I do try to space out the reading of a series so a particular author’s quirks and tendencies aren’t too fresh in my mind. I find it helps me enjoy a series more.
7. A recent find that I need to dig into further combines my newer interest in western American fiction with the romance and mystery - A New Deputy in Town by B.J. Daniels. It is actually the second in a contemporary series set in Whitehorse, Montana. But I picked up free on Kindle at some point and just recently got around to reading it. I felt that Daniels really nailed the nature of small towns, though this one was really twisted. I am looking forward to some return visits to Whitehorse though!
8. For more suspenseful mysteries, sometimes with some romance I really enjoy reading Tami Hoag. I think I got hooked by Ashes to Ashes back in late high school or early college. But I really enjoyed the Deer Lake books and the Doucet Trilogy as well.
9. The Claire Watkins mysteries by Mary Beth Logue are another Minnesota/Wisconsin-set mystery series - mostly procedural that I enjoy. Claire Watkins is a widowed single-mother and former Twin Cities detective who takes a position as Sherrif of a county just over the Wisconsin border, southeast of Minneapolis/St. Paul. I enjoy small town/rural settings and I think the author really nailed the personalities of people from the region. Claire’s circumstances kind of tug at your heartstrings and there is room for a little bit of romantic tension because of that which I always enjoy.
10. It is relatively rare that a cozy mystery really grabs me from the first book. I often have to give it at least two books if not three to make up my mind whether I will continue reading the series or not. That wasn’t the case with the Aunt Dimity series by Colorado author, Nancy Atherton. Aunt Dimity’s Death grabbed me from the get go. Now that I’m up to book 14 I’m finding myself needing to take more time between the books because they just aren’t as fresh and compelling as before. Though now that she returned back to the England village of Finch rather than traveling around the world I enjoyed the last one I read a bit more. Lori Shepherd grew up in Chicago, the daughter of a single mother who had served in England during WWII and made a lifetime friend of Dimity who wrote regularly. Lori’s mother told her bedtime stories about Aunt Dimity, who she thought were a product of her mother’s imagination until she loses her mother and discovers she is Aunt Dimity’s heir. She then discovers she can correspond with Dimity from beyond the grave through a special blue journal and together they solve mysteries in the small England village of Finch where Dimity’s cottage is. In later books Lori and her family also travel to other parts of the world and solve mysteries on their vacations.

I have many other cozy series in particular that I read regularly. Most of them with niche interests - coffee, tea, crafts etc. but I woud have far exceeded ten if I listed all of them. If you’re wondering more about them leave a comment. I’d love to have a conversation about more cozy series. What kind of mysteries do you enjoy reading? What is your most memorable mystery read?

• Saturday morning I baked homemade whole wheat pumpkin cake doughnuts. The recipe needs a bit more tweaking, but they were not a hardship to eat!
• I also went shopping to outfit myself a bit better for the freezing temps of a 5am run in October. It included long overdue new shoes, a jacket and some tech-friendly gloves.
• I went grocery shopping - on Saturday. At Whole Foods. How I survived I’m still not quite certain, but I did.
• Both Saturday and Sunday afternoon DH and I enjoyed some scary movies. He is a huge fan of Halloween so we have a Halloween movie watching season just as we do a holiday movie season. Let’s see, we watched The Brother’s Grimm, The Others, and I think one other scary one. Then we lightened things up with 10 Things I Hate About You.
• While we took in movies and DH programmed, I visited sleeve island, though in moderation. I opted for full length sleeves and have done 40% of the increases on the first sleeve. But Saturday’s knitting did aggravate my shoulder/neck a bit so I had to dial it back and only knit for about 15 minutes at a time.
• We enjoyed a lovely early Sunday morning breakfast at a local hot spot, but were early enough to seat ourselves! No waiting! Squee!
• We went to our fav Old Town coffeeship, The Bean Cycle. I splurged on a juice rather than coffee. I couldn’t not get coffee with breakfast.
• Yesterday I made a yummy white bean and vegetable stew for dinner and lunches this week. DH added a veg sausage and I added some shredded rotiserrie chicken to boost the calories and protein a bit.

All in all, probably a pretty balanced weekend. Some errands and work was done, but there was plenty of relaxation and together time too.

I do have a question for any runners out there - is it normal to have a different feeling between your shoes? When I bought my shoes on Saturday it was raining so I couldn’t take them out and around the block. When I did my first run in them the right shoe felt like the insole was bulging upward near the inside ball of my foot and I swear I could feel the gel they use as the shock absorber sloshing around. I did not feel this on the left foot. When I took them off and compared I think I feel a very slight raised section in the right shoe, but it is very subtle. Do you think it is just a matter of breaking it in, or do I take them back to the store? The fit otherwise is fantastic. The arch hits at just the right location (something that has been troublesome in the past) and I can get the heel snugged up so I don’t slip. But that sloshing and slight bump was super distracting during the walking sections of my training. I don’t particularly notice it while running though.

Earlier this spring, Amanda went to a sale of a local sewing guild and picked me up a few sewing patterns she thought I might like. There was one in particular, Butterick 4304 from the 70’s that I was excited about. I found some knit I had stashed and dove right in. I still haven’t done the finishing yet - apparently I can procrastinate on sewing finishing as bad as I can with knitting. But wearing that loud geometric print all over is a bit over the top for me. So, when I remembered I had 8 skeins of Sedona Red Cotton Fleece from Brown Sheep’s Factory Store in my stash I checked and it was a great match.

Because the vast majority of my knitting takes place over my lunch hour at work and occassionally down at the end of the day if things are particularly slow I need knitting that is quick to pick up and put down, which in general doesn’t mean something I’m designing. Not to mention, I learn a little something from almost every pattern I knit so it is good to knit other people’s patterns. I eventually settled on DROPS’ Mirabell, a little lace yoked short sleeve top.

Now, I had planned all along to lengthen the sleeves a bit. With my weightloss and skin needing to catch up, the nearly cap-sleeve length is not a good choice. Plus I knew we’d be headed towards cooler temps when I finished. So I had been thinking sleeves to just above the elbow. But, throw in 3 weeks of no knitting due to shoulder/neck issues and I find myself using the heater under my desk almost daily, drinking nearly a full box of Bengal Spice tea a week, and thinking a longer sleeve might not be a bad idea.

The knit of the skirt is double knit so it is thick enough to be worn this fall and winter with tights and boots. I’m also thinking the sweater might look really cute with my skinny jeans and my button down navy shirt and boots. But layering in my mind puts a bit of a monkey wrench in the sleeve length debate. I’m at a point where I can’t quite decide. But I kind of need to make a decision as I’ve completed the lower body now. I’ve seen a lot of layering shorter sleeved sweaters over long sleeve tees and even shirts or blouses but I’m certain how I feel about the look. How do you feel about layering an above the elbow sleeve over a full length tee? Shirt? Or 3/4 length sleeves over the same? Or are you strictly a long-sleeve for layering all the way type of person?

I am starting to lean a bit towards binding off the underarm and then using a provisional cast-on for the yoke stitches so I don’t have to make a decision yet but can continue to move forward. Since there is no stitch pattern to the sleeves that should work okay. That has the advantage that I could in theory try it on at different sleeve lengths with the shirts I plan to layer it with. What would you do?