The Hiker Beans: A little goes a long way...

H:
Even with procrastination that statement is true! To some degree.

Our research into cookware led us down many paths and I kept thinking about the one that we took on our bicycle trip, but when I checked with my dad he said it was somewhere in Ohio in storage. That's okay, I'll just get one for us to have.

But the search was tough! We tried to find the right size pot (about 2 liters) that wasn't insanely heavy (stainless steel) or incredibly expensive (titanium) or just down right not what we wanted (no fitted lid). I was never able to find one like the one my dad let us borrow. I really liked that pot. I really wanted one. But wants were for naught. Then in the wee hours of the morning I put the right words into a search engine and found one... ONE pot that fit the criteria. Yay! Big enough, light enough, cheap enough, and even with a fitted lid.

Open Country makes a 2-quart (1.89 liters) aluminum pot with bale (wire handle) and even a fitted lid. Available for about ten bucks on their website (plus shipping) or on other websites for $15 and no shipping if you ordered enough stuff. Score! But we didn't order it. Nah, we'll just wait a little bit and check out some other gear we might need and place one big final order of "stuff".

Yesterday was my dad's birthday. I told myself three times to call him. I told someone else that I needed to do it, but I would wait until he got home from work. Then I forgot. I only remembered this morning when Dave and I left to go on an errand! AH! I should have just called him at work but I procrastinated.

I called him this evening after dinner and wished him a "happy belated birthday". We talked a minute or two but it seemed like the conversation was just about to end. So I started to ramble about our trip and how we were about to do this and that and we only had a few things left to buy, such as a cook pot. "Dad, what was that? You have one there with you? Yes Dad, it sounds like the one we had on our bicycle trip. Yes, I know which one you're talking about. Okay, send us a picture!" Just to confirm he sent us the picture below and they are indeed the set that we took with us on our bike trip.

My dad included measurements over the phone but also laid the ruler out for reference.
The one in the back left is the pot that I have been searching for!

Yay! Another item scratched off the "needed gear list" and we didn't have to buy it! So, I bought yarn today instead. It was a fair trade I thought, but I did spend more than $10. Ah well.

2 skeins of single ply Malabrigo yarn. Very nice!

This mini little skein is my preliminary testing of fiber that I would like to spin while hiking. I might not spin while we're hiking but on an afternoon break or in the evening while dinner is cooking I can take out my drop spindle and spin up a few yards.

This is .5 ounces of fiber which when finished gave me 25 yards of yarn.
My next step is to read over a few patterns for headbands to find out how much yardage they require.

I have a .9 ounce drop spindle that I tested this with. I then practiced winding what is known as a "center pull ball" which means you can pull he yarn from the middle of a ball of yarn which keeps the ball from rolling all over the floor. Next I "plied" the yarn in what is known as the "Navajo Ply" style which takes the 1 piece of yarn, folds it over on itself 3 times and creates a stronger yarn. Confused? That's okay. Here are three videos to watch:
Spinning a single
Making a center pull ball
Navajo Ply (but I will do this on a drop spindle, this video is long so skip to about 5 minutes and watch for a little bit if you only want a general understanding.)

Another option would be to spin 2 times the fiber and ply them together. More on that later. The aim with this yarn is to spin it while hiking, knit it up while hiking, then pass the finished headband on to the next hiker who wants it. Who knows... maybe I'll get a story from them in exchange.

Another package arrived for us today. Therm-A-Rest sleeping pads.

The last time we were at REI I checked out their sleeping pads. The first Therm-A-Rest pads we bought several years ago were Base Camp models but at 3 feet by about 6 feet mats they're a bit too large to haul around backpacking (though some do!). Maybe we'd just have to use the $10 closed cell foam mat like on the bike trip. Small, pretty light weight but not all that comfortable.

Then a few days ago I was browsing online and REI had this model marked down. Score, again! Why clearance? I think they are "last year's" model or style or maybe just color. Never the less we will have a luxurious 1 inch of airy cushion between us and the ground. The pad is 8 ounces, rolls up very small and is 36 x 20 inches laid out. It fits under your torso down to your rear end for upper body padding along pressure points. Good enough!