Anyway, I’ve found farm country! I’ve got a solid 550 or so miles behind me and I’m nestled in the warm embrace of a highway hotel in Youngstown, OH, after a successful day 1 of driving. Make that the freeeeeezing cold embrace. It’s like a refrigerator in my room, but nothing that can’t be solved with a little thermostat adjustment. For now, I feel kind of like I’m at work so it’s all good, (except this room is without the gentle whirring of my space heater in the background).

From my window I can see a Taco Bell, a Perkins, a half dozen gas stations, and a Mexican restaurant called Salsitas. Yelp just confirmed its outward sketchiness by giving it a mere 2 stars. Thank goodness for Yelp!

On the other hand, my VegOut app tells me hat there are two vegan options within a 20 mile radius. Score! Except that one doesn’t appear to have food (?) and the other doesn’t have a website and that makes me rethink driving far to go there. In light of this, I may try to patronize a non-chain sandwich shop that gets some serious Yelp love. (If you haven’t guessed by now, I will admit that I am a total ratings lemming. Attach 5 stars to anything and I’m there!)

Day 2 will start early and if all goes well will land me in Iowa City, which is an adorable town where we’d drive to in college to get a bookstore and coffeehouse and Indian food fix. Excited to see what it’s like now!

Here’s a pic of my packed car. Bike, big nag of gear, little bag of gear, if you can see it at all. Hope it works!

I’m all packed for RAGBRAI!  This is all my stuff, packed into plastic bags. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from reading about this ride is that water is your Mortal Enemy and plastic shall defeat all evil.  In case you were wondering, I prefer Ziploc (double zip! big writing area!) to Hefty (snap system that breaks.  A lot.)  My greatest packing victory so far?  I’m just bringing ONE pair of pants!

I’m going to try to blog my trip and upload a pic or two here and there from my iPhone while on the road.  Not sure how well that will work.   Either way, tomorrow starts my drive west!  Iowa, watch out.  I’m coming with my army of plastic soldiers.

So, this summer I’ll be riding my bike across the great state of Iowa.  The one with all the corn, pigs, and farms, smooshed between Nebraska and Illinois, Minnesota and Missouri.  You know… the state you’d ride your bike across if you were into stuff like that.  Like, apparently, I am.

It’s my first time participating in this thing called RAGBRAI, which stands for the (Des Moines) Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa.  About 10,000 cyclists gather at one end of Iowa, ride through all sorts of little towns, and eventually find themselves on the other end, tired as all get-out.  This year, the route is about 460 miles to cover in 7 days on a bike, with camping at night.  It’s one of the shortest in RAGBRAI history.  Each day I’ll ride between 50 and 85 miles or so. Since I’m a RAGBRAI rookie, I’ve been reading up a lot on how to train and get in shape for riding that much in a row.  My research tells me that there are really two ways to train for such an event:  1) ride your bike an awful lot, or  2) practice your pie-eating and beer-drinking skills until you feel ready to face the week (and its endless supply of pie and beer) head-on.  The event is the last week of July – arguably the hottest, muggiest week of the year!  Double Yay!

In addition to ample pie and beer, there appears to be no lack of 90s rock band entertainment to keep us pedaling in style.  So far, the Spin Doctors and Smashmouth are booked along the way.  Woo!

If you’re like other people I’ve been foolish enough to mention this little adventure to, you probably want to know why.  Why I’m doing this, why Iowa, why wouldn’t I spend my 2 weeks off in July in a more sane place, like the beach or by a lake?  First off, let’s clarify about the beach and the lake.  I dislike the beach.  Sand and grit get everywhere and I can’t sit still and don’t really enjoy swimming or boats or the ocean or really lakes, either. (Although today and yesterday were excruciatingly hot days here in MA, and I did find myself daydreaming about swimming in a lake.  Don’t tell.)

Anyway, I went to college in Iowa, in a lovely little town called Grinnell, and I’m riding with my alumni association.  It’s their second time gathering folks to do this.  It should be fun!

Things I’m a little nervous about:  I don’t know anyone else.  Not another soul.  Also?  I’m driving from Massachusetts to Iowa and back, alone.  And I’m not sure how I’m not going to overpack.  (There are people that will drive my stuff from one town to another, so I don’t have to ride with it on my bike, but there’s still a limit to what’s reasonable to take with me.)

Things I’m not so nervous about:  I think I’m in shape (cross fingers), including in the ways of pie-eating (for sure that).  Grinnell folk are friendly.  Not knowing anyone shouldn’t last too long.  I’ll probably get to see the lovely Melinda and her brand new baby on the way there or back.  Yay!  And also – two weeks off of work!

So anyway, if you’ve been wondering why my blog’s been a little on the quiet side, I’ve been riding my bike a lot.  This makes me tired and sleepy and a lot less crafty than I’d like… I hope to have a craft resurgence soon and am now scheming about interesting bike accessories I should make for the trip!

Ideas?

I just bought this full-of-awesomeness new chair for just $20 bucks at a yard sale.  It was totally meant to be that I and this chair would come together in holy craft-room-accessorizing matrimony – I’m sure of it!  I was on a bike ride and passed this yard sale in a posh part of town.  I think that if there’s one rule of yard sales, it’s that you have to stop at the posh ones for the big bargains to be found at rich peoples’ homes, right?  I mean, the nicest houses seem to have the nicest stuff.

But I didn’t stop. I violated my own rule, even though I spotted this cute little pink chair staring right at me, and despite the fact that I’ve been looking all over for a small, comfy chair for this corner forever.  I went on to my destination (a 40-some-mile ride in total, with a lovely stop to visit my dear friends’ new baby in between!).  On the way home, a few hours later, I re-passed the posh yard sale, and it was STILL THERE.

I sat on it, and it was comfy!  And then the guy came out and told me the magical price of $20 – serendipitously the exact amount I carry with me on bike rides – and I forked it over and told him I’d be back later to get it.  And now the chair lives in the craft room, together with me, and the little scooter-covered footstool.  We’re still in the honeymoon period.  The chair doesn’t know yet that it will be piled high with fabric from time to time, and we might fight about that, but I hope we don’t.  Aside from these (hopefully) brief messy periods, I think we will live happily ever after here in the craft room together.  Sigh.  Love!

Fabric ideas for the perfect throw pillow?

Hi everyone!  Wow, it’s been a while. I’ve been busy, busy, and each time I let some time pass between blog posts, I get first post syndrome all over again.  But I’ve gotten over it in time to say hello before next Christmas.  Phew!  And I brought some elephants with me to help break the silence.

I won’t bore you with details of what’s kept me away from Blogland, but just know that I’ve missed you all!  Want to see some more PodPillows?

Several PodPillows have just arrived in my Etsy store!  Take a look!

Recently we got a great book from friends with impeccable taste in food and cookbooks:  Lorna Sass’s Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way.  It’s a book with loads of recipes using grains you’ve (or at least I’ve) never heard of (amaranth, triticale, teff, kamut) and new ways to think about using those grains you already know and love (rice, corn, barley).  It also contains words that I seldom see in many cookbooks not aimed directly at vegetarians:   “Vegetarians will enjoy this as an entree.”  Thus, it earns a prime spot on our cookbook shelf.

Also why I like this book?  Ryan dislikes quinoa, which is my favorite Supergrain around, and I’m looking for a suitable replacement that doesn’t bring about the grimaces that that innocent, delicious, unthinkably healthy quinoa garners.  Let’s just say that grains as an entree has never sat well with him, so this is going to be a tricky task.  I think it’s best summed up that he’s a fan of whole grain vegetarian entrees, as long they’re just for the vegetarians.  Add broccoli to that and we’re in deep trouble!

Now bear with me as I abruptly change subjects to the orange item in the above picture.

It’s an iPod stand!  It gently cushions your iPod in an upright position on your desk, sits on your knees during that long car trip, or perhaps adorns your airline tray on that cross-continental flight as you take in the latest movie downloaded from iTunes.  It may also accompany you to Panera, as you grab a bowl of soup after Target and before HomeGoods.  They have free WiFi, and I know you like to do a quick check of the email and the NYTimes headlines before going in search of the perfect discount 400 thread count sheets, right?

So what does this have to do with the price of buckwheat in China?  Well, it appears that Lorna left out a chapter in her book, somewhere between “The Rice Family” and “Green Spelt.”  I believe this chapter should be entitled “Alternate uses for grains your husband won’t eat” and it should have one of these iPod stands as its cover shot.  I believe the PodPillow has just become Ryan’s most favorite craft ever to come out of the Dog Named Banjo workshop, because I’m emptying our pantry of dry grains to fill them with.  Today alone I depleted our supply of dry lentils, split peas, and barley.  (These actually almost earned the name of “The Lentil Lounger”).  Much to his delight, I’ve even threatened to sacrifice my brand new bag of buckwheat for this little project.  And anyway, I bought the buckwheat at a Russian market, and can’t read the label so I really have no idea if it’s even buckwheat.  I need a translator!

These will be arriving in my Etsy shop in the coming days.  I’ll make sure to post here when they’re up!

In case you all haven’t heard about Craft Hope for Haiti, it’s an Etsy store that is taking handmade donated items from crafters everywhere and selling them to raise money for the relief effort in Haiti. All money received will go straight to Doctors Without Borders for Haiti.

This is the item I’ve donated.

Update:  The pencil case has been sold, and in short order!  Thanks to all for your interest!

It’s a great cause.  Please donate something, or if you’re not a crafter or cannot donate, please browse the Etsy store and find a little something to take home for the cause.

]]> http://www.dognamedbanjo.com/2010/01/19/craft-hope-for-haiti/feed/ 0 http://www.dognamedbanjo.com/2010/01/03/resolutions-crafts-of-a-different-kind-and-a-new-bike-stand/ http://www.dognamedbanjo.com/2010/01/03/resolutions-crafts-of-a-different-kind-and-a-new-bike-stand/#comments Sun, 03 Jan 2010 23:38:57 +0000 robyn http://www.dognamedbanjo.com/?p=605

Yesterday was dedicated to crafts, but much different than the quilting, sewing, and baking that I’ve been so fond of the last couple of weeks.  I made strides towards fulfilling my first New Year’s resolution, which is to become a better bike mechanic.  I spent most of Saturday building this DIY bike stand for repairs to make it happen.  (Better bike mechanic is all relative, by the way.  Heck, I’d settle for “learn to fix the easy things and stop throwing my money away at the Local Bike Store.”  I think that’s obtainable in 2010, don’t you?)

So far so good.

(First order of business?  Turn that pesky reflector around.)

Anyway, this thing is about 5 feet tall for easy access to all the moving parts without getting on your hands and knees.

Pictures aren’t great, because it was blustery, windy and snowing today when I took these, so everything is relegated to my over-cluttered disorganized garage with bad light.  Goodness knows I wasn’t leaving the house.  Above is Ryan’s bike on the stand.

This is the clamp that makes it all work.  It involved a drill press, some table sawing, and drilling through metal to make this little doohickey.  It was a fun little project that I’m proud of, and made me feel like I was in 8th grade woodworking class again.  Even though the thing is on the clunky side (and definitely in the “inelegant” category…), it should get the job done!

What are your resolutions this year?  Anything crafty (or otherwise)?  I’d like to hear about them!  In the meantime, I hope your 2010 is going along swimmingly so far.

It snowed last night.  The first real snow of the winter here. How much?

The Banjo Snowmeter says:  Belly high and still snowing.

Perfect day to build a fire in the wood stove, hole up in the craft room, and try my hand at the Oh, Fransson’s Map of the States block tutorial with my new Hope Valley fabric.

Wherever you are – snow or not – I hope you are having a lovely, cozy day.