Latitude 61...Land of the Midnight Sun

It's Not the Solstice!

I had planned to do a post on the Solstice because that was my blogiversary and our 40th wedding anniversary, so it seemed like a very meaningful day.  Unfortunately, our internet provider didn't cooperate and we were offline most of the time from last Thursday, June 18 until yesterday, June 24.

We went through "rolling" outages last summer too, so now we're going to be changing providers.  We had only procrastinated changing this long because connectivity improved for awhile and because it's a pain to change all our email addresses and log-ins. So, if you haven't heard from me, or can't get in touch with me via email, you can always find me through the Ravelry message system.

I have been knitting on Inishmaan and making sporadic progress.  (Lots of frogging due to an over absorption with the movies we were watching!)  I have since discovered that not only is it important to track horizontal patterns every row, it's important to check for vertical mistakes!  It's finally looking pretty good. After trying to fix multiple mis-crossed cables that caused really loose spots in the tension,  I just decided to frog it back.

It's a chameleon-like color that is really hard to describe. Sometimes it looks like a blueish grey; sometimes it looks like a brownish blue. So here are two pictures taken in the same lighting and same position and it looks like two different pieces of knitting.

Now onto another more troublesome subject...

I modeled my new Seaforth and then looked at the pictures... what a disappointment.  Not with the sweater, which turned out great, but with how I look in it.

I have been trying to lose weight now for over a year with only limited success.  I've been careful to exercise and diet but I've only lost a little weight, which is discouraging.  Last summer when I trained for the Mayor's Midnight Sun Marathon, I thought for sure that I would lose... after all, I was walking around 20+ miles a week.  Then I added biking to the mix... I'm still over-weight.    Most of the time I feel OK with the inability to lose... except when I see a picture of myself.  I never quite realize how heavy I look until I see a picture.  Having the camera add about another 20 pounds is not very helpful either.

So my goal is that I'll model this sweater next summer and look slimmer in it!

(I'm holding my arms straight out to show off the "exotic" gansey sleeves... patterned on the top and plain on the bottom!)

 

 

Seaforth is finally finished!

I'm so pleased. My oldest ongoing, or rather long time hibernating project is finally finished.  This project has been sitting in it's little basket since 1997 where I could see it all the time. (The better to "remember" to pick it up and knit on it again.)  Instead, seeing it all the time just made me feel guilty for not working on it.
Since it was on my first projects ever other than scarves or hats, I reached the point in the directions that I couldn't readily figure out what to do.  So, I avoided knitting it because it was "too hard".  Then, because it was on tiny needles with extremely tight tension, I avoided knitting it because it made my hands hurt. Now since I've retired, I have spent so much time knitting that my experience level is enough to take on this challenge; in fact it seemed easy!  Also, my hands/fingers have become much stronger so it didn't hurt anymore.

Presto... my first gansey style sweater!  It's knit so tightly that when I put it in water to wash all the dust out of it, it took almost 15 minutes to "get wet"!  It should be really weather proof.

Of course, yesterday was a pretty sunny day which would have given me an excellent photograph, but it was still wet.  Now that it's all dry and photo-ready, it's dark, gloomy and heavily overcast.  I couldn't wait though... I snapped the photo indoors, and if I take another better one later, I'll post that one instead.

This is my 4th NaKnitSweMoDo project so now I'm only 2 months behind.  Unfortunately, this is the last of the "easily finished" WIPs sitting around so progress will be slowing down substantially!

Something new... something wooly

I just couldn't stand it anymore.  Ever since January, I've been trying to only knit WIPs in progress and I've  done really well.  However... knitting a 12 cm. turtleneck with size 0 needles did me in.  Progress has been both boring and microscopic.  I will finish Seaforth, but in the meantime, I needed something different.  Just had to start a new Aran.  I have had the yarn and been wanting to knit this one since February, so here goes...

After knitting everything since January on small (3 mm) or tiny (2 mm) needles, this is refreshing to knit.  The needles feel like row-boat oars, although 4.5 mm aren't actually that large.  Right now, new is fascinating... I love new patterns!!!!   I'll get back to those unfinished WIPs soon.

(Of course, I always say that.  That's why I have so many.)   I just can't resist the allure of something new.

Something else new and wooly... my Mother's Day present arrived a few days ago.  I kit from Virtual Yarns that I have wanted for a long time... Oregon in Spring!  It isn't quite the colorway I would have chosen, but am I going to send it back?  I don't think so.

After several weeks of warm sunny weather, there are many wild flowers blooming. Many of our local flowers bloom on the tundra and I haven't been up there yet, but here are some of the wild roses in our yard.  They smell so fragrant...

I can't believe it's June already!

Mentally, I still feel like it's May... which was such a busy month filled with yard clean-up and knitting, biking and knitting, gardening and knitting, and walking/training and knitting, and entertaining guests for a week and knitting.  Even with all the knitting I've done, it hasn't been enough... too many other fun things to do too.

I joined the NaKniSweMoDo group on Ravelry (National Knit a Sweater a Month Dodecathlon) ... this being the only year that with all the WIPs I have stored up to finish, that I almost could finish a sweater a month.

I didn't join until May and I am already behind... just having finished my third one.  Then, I "wasted" February knitting a baby sweater, which doesn't count!  Still, I only finished 3 sweaters all last year, so to have already finished 4 is an achievement of sorts.

Here is a picture of Luskentyre... my third sweater... YAY!  It had been hibernating since April of last year so I'm glad to have it finished at last.

Apologies to everyone kind enough to comment on my last post... who I then didn't answer.  It's hard to find time to be on the computer when your house is full of company.

It's The Season of New Leaves

Things are finally turning really green around here after two solid weeks of warm sunshine to melt the last of the snow, and lots of rain today.  The grass is still brown, but at least all the new tiny leaves are coming out.

I already experienced Spring when we were in Oregon two weeks ago, so now I get to have another Spring... what good luck!  We can't compete with all of Oregon's beautiful Rhododendrons, but all the tiny, shiny new baby birch leaves look pretty good after our long winter.  The pictures would have looked even better if I hadn't tried to take them at 10:30 at night.  The lighting is a bit dim. That gives you an idea of just how much day light we're getting right now...

Sunrise: 5:09 AM... Sunset:  10:45 PM... and twilight... 4:00 AM to 12:00 PM.

This is truly my favorite time of year!

 

So, in spite of all the spring diversions, I have been knitting quite a lot.

I have finished a pair of socks... my "travel to Oregon" knitting project, and since our return have been alternating between knitting the last sleeve of Luskentyre, and finishing both sleeves of Seaforth. 

Only the collar is left to knit on Seaforth and I'll be so relieved when it's finished.  I began knitting it in 1997 and it's been put away so long that I was really beginning to feel quite guilty about its neglect.  I missed two weeks of sunny days to get a really good picture, and today was very dark and gloomy, but since it's a light color, the photo turned out OK.

A Break from Bunnies!

I still have the bunny hat to knit to accompany the bunny sweater, but I'm taking a break from Dale of Norway Baby Ull yarn and returning to my favorite selfish projects... sweaters for me!

This will be the month of sleeves.  I have both sleeves well begun on Seaforth, although the sleeve in the picture is "ahead" of the other sleeve. After that, I just have to finish the sleeve on Luskentyre and that will make five sweaters finished so far this year! 

Of course, that's really because I started so many sweaters last year that  I wasn't able to finish many, and one of those is extra small!

So here is the picture of the sleeve on Seaforth. The sleeve looks kind of odd unblocked because the stockinette part appears to flare out from the patterned part which pulls in.  Blocking will fix that though. )

I had trouble deciding whether to change the original pattern, or just leave it alone.  The original pattern design for the sleeves was traditional Fishermen's gansey style... that is, the sleeves from the elbows to wrist are plain knit.  Traditionally, this was to accommodate rough wear by fishermen who would tend to wear holes through the elbow.  The lower sleeve could then be removed an a new one re-knit without too much trouble. 

While I like the idea of knitting one really authentic style Guernsey, (Gansey), this idea is contradicted by the fact that Seaforth is a tunic with a loose hem... a most nontraditional Gansey style. Traditional Ganseys always had ribbing at the lower edge, and frequently a plain knitted body as well, to facilitate tucking them into waterproof rain type pants or coveralls. 

Oh well,  I decided to knit a nontraditional Gansey with traditional sleeves based on the fact that I am tired of this pattern and plain-knitting would be a nice, if boring change!

Bunnies... and more Bunnies

It would have been so appropriate if I had made this post on Easter but I didn't receive the special bunny buttons I found online until Monday.  But this sure does look like an Easter sweater!  I finished the Dale of Norway Bondegard cardigan which somewhat matches the Bondegard pullover.  I just knit a matched set because I loved the patterns and the colors... I don't expect this cardigan to be worn over the pullover... it would be way too hot.

It was fast work to knit the body and the sleeves, but then I had to knit the front bands and on size 0 needles, and that went much slower.  All finished now, and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

At least the recipient expressed her approval!

Finally a Finished Object!

Actually, it's only been 5 weeks since I finished Stillwater, which considering how long it takes me to finish a Starmore sweater is not that long, but considering how much has happened in my life lately, it seems like years ago.

I am so relieved to have finished knitting Kittatinny.  I think this sweater is practical and attractive, but it was NOT fun to knit... at least not for me.  Acres and acres of Trinity stitch made this a dull and fiddly knit.  Before this project, I was considering knitting Erisort, another Starmore cardigan pattern I had really admired and tentatively planned to knit to wear as a coat!  Not any more... it's all Trinity stitch too!  (At least, not for about 100 years until I forget what a painful experience that pattern was.)

I don't have many pictures of Kittatinny to post because I found photographing that color, Moorit/Black marl incredibly difficult.  Taken In full sunlight, the color looks right, but no details whatsoever show up.  Taken indoors, the color is off, but the details show up a little.  Taken with no flash, the details show up well, but the color looks greyed out. 

Well, that is probably more information than anyone but me want to know! You can see my silly photographic experiments on my Ravelry projects page.

So, here is the finished object without me in it!  (I might pose in this at a future date, but I'm not sure.  With all the texture on this sweater, it makes me look like a large over-stuffed armadillo!)

My word from Save the Words! Quibbleism: the act of beating around the bush.

Mount Doom

One of our local volcanoes, Mt. Redoubt has been erupting now for several days off and on, and the pictures posted by our local newspaper, the Anchorage Daily News are really spectacular.  (I'm crediting them because I am using their pictures)

I especially liked these two night photos because they remind me of Mt. Doom, in Return of the King.

Any one who wants more photos of Mt. Redoubt can see them here.

For more scientific information about Mt. Redoubt, you can view archival photos and text here.

Until yesterday, we had been really lucky because even though Redoubt is only about 100 miles away, we hadn't had any ash fall.  That changed yesterday though.  It rained down dust all night, and although we only received a light coating, things look really grey and depressing. Today my eyes and throat are burning and it really smells strongly of sulfur.

Here is a picture of the ash accumulation on our deck with the "clean snow" visible underneath.

They had to close the airport yesterday afternoon because of the hazard to aircraft engines and it's been closed all day today too.  I'm really glad I was able to fly out to Portland and back before all this began. 

Volcanoes are really interesting, until they become an uncomfortable inconvenience.

 

All this time spent indoors was good for my knitting schedule though.  I finished all the pieces and parts for the baby cardigan, so I'm ready to begin the finishing process. I don't really like weaving in the ends and sewing the pieces together but at least it's almost finished.  Once again, my knitting is keeping me sane, because this week has been a very sad time for my family.

Having the airport closed kept me here when otherwise I would have probably been traveling back to Oregon to visit my mother again.  She had a massive stroke March 12, and at least I did get to fly there to visit her then. It's very sad to me, because as it happened, she didn't survive that stroke and passed away yesterday. 

As it turned out, I should have just stayed there after my first trip, because she became much worse early this week when all the flights were cancelled because of Redoubt.  But who can predict what will happen?

Flying Far Away...

 It's hard to believe that I haven't left Alaska since January 2007 and although a lot of people stay in their home state for much longer periods of time than that, most people here routinely leave.  That's because with only a few highways, a few cities, (read that as towns), most people get to a point that they need to see something else.  However, this trip was very depressing.

My mother had a very major stroke a week ago Thursday.  My brother and I were hoping we could wait a bit to go visit, but she sent rapidly downhill and by Saturday she couldn't speak. Not a good sign...

Saturday night at 1:00 AM I flew to Portland and arrived at 5:30 AM  (flights from Alaska are always at such convenient times and involve such convenient logistics!)  I hung around the airport until 11:30 so I could ride with my brother to the coast.  At least we could have the comfort of visiting since I hadn't seen him for about 12 years.  We drove straight through to the hospital and discovered that she was far worse since Thursday, when she could speak a little.  By the time we arrived, she could only say "yes, no, and OK".  Then by Tuesday, she could no longer speak at all nor look very alert.

We both left on Wednesday with the news that all we could do was wait and see. 

We're still waiting... no improvement though.  Add to that, I have a horrible, miserable, sinus infection or bronchitis... or maybe both.  I guess I'm lucky my ears didn't "blow up" on the plane.  They felt like blowing up just driving home up the hill to our house, and it's only at 650 feet!

Now for the happy news... knitting was waiting for me.  I did take a want to be sock to knit while I was there, but I didn't get much knit.  However, no matter how awful knitting that sock was... it was a de-stressor and kept me sane!  Thanks goodness for knitting!

The sock yarn is called "Cherry Blossom" which I thought would be all kinds of delicate pinks and reds.  However, the name is a misnomer.  The dark red is really a brownish, muddy red and the colors are pooling quite unattractively.  Maybe I'll wear them to mow the lawn or shovel the driveway...

So here is "Cherry Mud"... socks of sanity.

It was nice to return home to the Dale of Norway baby sweater I've been working on for my grand daughter's birthday.  It's lots more fun to knit, but so many colors that I didn't even attempt to take it with me.  This is the matching cardigan to the "Bondegard" pullover with the baby chicks parading across the lower border.

I have a lot more finished than the picture, but didn't have a chance to take a new photo.  I'm knitting the second sleeve, although I'm not going to finish by her birthday.  I probably wouldn't have finished it on time even without taking a week off to fly to Oregon.

Best of all though, this sweater is so cheerful and keeps me focused on the trivial. I can't control the world around me, but I can control my knitting, and that has to be comfort enough.