Latitude 61...Land of the Midnight Sun

January projects

Now that we're well into February, I thought I better update what was on, then off the needles in January.

First of all, I finished the Abalone cardigan for a friend, an Alice Starmore design knit with the original Campion colors in Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift.  It took almost an entire calendar year to finish but I am not at all good about sticking to one project, so it had to wait it's turn.

Here she is wearing it, although we still need to get the closures which are on order.  She wanted small Nordic clasps rather than buttons.  That was great news for me since I really dislike knitting buttonholes!

If it did take slightly over a year, at least she is very happy with it.

 

I'm also in the process of knitting another Alice Starmore stranded sweater for another friend.

 

Although this photo, just shows the beginnings of it, it is actually all finished but for one sleeve.

 

It's been lots of fun to knit two such very different patterns, one being quite floral and the other precisely geometric... both exquisite in their own way.

 

 

 

To break up the repetitiveness of knitting only stranded items, I'm also working on an Alice Starmore Aran design for my husband.  It was supposed to be a Christmas present... then a Valentine's present... maybe I'll be able to make it by Easter! Although this shows the front being worked on, all the pieces except the upper back are finished now.

Sometimes the length of time it takes to finish such large projects as sweaters is a little discouraging, so I took a break for a week to knit a cowl from some luxurious qiviut (musk ox fiber) which my son purchased for me while a student at University of Alaska, Fairbanks, from their large animal projects.

Hard to see clearly blocking on this bolster, but this is the most amazingly soft yarn; so warm it made my hands perspire while knitting.

 

It must sound like all I do is knit, but actually, while I do a lot of other activities, knitting lends itself to photo blogs the best of all my activities.

A Month of Hats

    When it was August, I decided to knit hats instead of sweaters since it's always a bit hot to hold a large sweater on my lap.  I thought that hats would be nice and small and wouldn't contribute to making me overheated.

I decided to knit the 3 hats which were included in the kit Hat Trick, by Alice Starmore.

Since one of my favorite colors is purple, I chose to knit Dahlia first.  It's the most intensly puple of all of them. I've always loved the way Fair Isle hats look from the top view... almost kaleidoscopic.

Here is the photo of the top, although, unfortunately, it's rather dark.

I much prefer the colors photographed in sunlight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next two hats, Hebe and Snowdrop were very similar, both in size and shape and colors.

Here is Hebe:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now snowdrop...

 

 

 

 

Altogether August was a very enjoyable month of hat knitting, and now that it's December, I've been getting a lot of wear from them.

4 days until winter solstice

Since I haven't written a blog since March, there is a lot of knitting news to catch up on.

 

After finishing Rheingold, I wanted to focus on Angels, a cardigan design by Jade Starmore which I purchased from Virtual Yarns. The knitting of this took me a lot longer than I expected, probably since I was working on a lot of other projects at the same time.  Begun November 20, 2011, I finally finished it July 21, although I didn't get the buttons for completion until August.

When I saw the design on Virtual Yarns, I fell in love with the graphics and colors, although I'm not sure I can really "see" the Angels.  I actually prefer my personal name for it... ptarmigan wings.  That's what it reminds me of anyway, and that choice certainly shows my Alaskan bias.

Here is the finished cardigan, followed by my little knitting muse.

 

 

 

 

I am getting very excited about our winter solstice arriving.  We have been reduced to 5 hours and 30 hours of daylight, and that is way too minimal for me.

WIPs Gone Mad... or, a Massive Case of Startitis

During this local winter of massive snowfalls... about 130+ inches here so far, I have been getting a lot of knitting done.  Not a lot of blogging done though.  I find with Ravelry fulfilling my needs of a go-to knitting website, I have less desire to post knitting blogs, and not as much leisure time. Shamefully, I haven't written since we returned from our bike trip to France in October.

So, what have I been working on and finishing? Not too many finished items, since I have seem to be easily bored. My remedy for knitting boredom is to start a new project!

One exception, I did finish Rheingold December 31.  Since that was only 10 days past the winter solstice here in the far north, the lighting causes this sweater to look green, although it is truly a warm and glowing gold.  This close-up shows the true colors.  Of course, I didn't actually wait to finish this to begin something new.  Thanksgiving seemed like the perfect time to start Angels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I received the kit for Angels in October and I couldn't wait to get it on the needles!

 

 

 

It has been exciting to knit, since I have never seen any examples of it anywhere and it's completely new. 

I made good progress until I knit up to the shoulders, then with the prospect of having to cut the steeks open, I stalled out set it aside to begin something else new.

 

I have a friend who doesn't knit Fair Isle, and she said that she would really like to have a sweater.  She chose Abalone, and I just happened to have the yarn for that all ready to go.  Another Fair Isle in the works!

 Content with two Fair Isles to work on, since I do like to alternate to avoid boredom, I hadn't considered beginning a news one until another friend asked if I would be willing to knit Flora with her.  Hard to resist and excuse to start a new one, I organized the yarn and began Flora.

All of these are so much fun to knit that the only problem is deciding which one to work on.

 

All of these projects would probably be quite manageable except I have a couple of others that are "hibernating" and also need work... like Katherine of Aragon and Grosvenor.

Well, I certainly won't run out of things to work on and it looks like it's going to take a long time for all of our snow to melt this Spring!

This photo of our oh-so-scenic-trash can, is not to highlight the trash can, but rather to show the piles of snow around our yard, making our two story house look small.  This photo shows that we just finished shoveling the roof clear, since it was at critical mass with 9-10 feet of snow on it.  I'm sure glad we decided to pay to have that done, since we have had another 4 feet of snow since then.

Other than lots of knitting, this is how I've been spending my winter days.

My Personal Tour de France

I planned this bike tour of Provence last September, so it seemed to take "forever" to wait for this September to have the time arrive.  Ususally, I try to plan my bike tours for the fall so I have all summer to ride my bike to be prepared for "real" riding, instead of the tour following hours spent indoors in winter spin classes.  No matter how fit I am for the first outdoor ride, climbing real hills feel like a shock to the legs.  Becoming fit for biking this summer was complicated by knee bursitis that began plaguing me in late June, requiring me to completely lay off the bike until September 1!  I crossed my fingers and traveled anyway... hoping I didn't have to ride around in the sag van each day.

I did some "weather homework" for the area and decided that it would be a good idea to knit a light weight sweater to have something warmer to wear in case of cool evenings.  Began knitting it July 4 while watching the Tour de France, which seemed particularly fortuitous.  The pattern is Sprossling, by Anne Hanson, and if you want more details, those are posted on Ravelry here.

Ironically, this sweater would have been perfect for their "normal" weather, but the weather was so unseasonably hot for Fall that I only wore it once.

I had a wonderful time biking 12-40 miles most days, and walking 2-9 miles the other days.  The French can be rightfully proud of their cuisine... I have never had so many consistently delicious meals!

My trip began with 2 days to explore Aix on foot, 4 days to explore the St. Remy area biking to Arles, Les Baux, and the surrounding farmslands and countryside of Les Alpilles.  Then on to 2 days near Avignon with a ride to Pont du Gard one day and Avignon itself the next.  My biggest regret was not being able to see everything!

Fast forward, literally, to Paris by train, a very fast trip for 3 days and nights to explore the city.  For me, it was really a trip of a lifetime.

If you are interested in seeing more about where and how I traveled, you can see the details at Vermont Bicycle Tours.  If you're considering a more active travel vacation, I would highly recommend this tour group.

 

Here are a few photos of Aix.

 

 

 

 

Summer Solstice

Today is one of my favorite days of the year.  Summer Solstice will arrive in about an hour and the sun hasn't even set yet.  I love those long days and midnight sun of summer.  We are now receiving 19 hours and 20 minutes of daylight.  Also, it's our anniversary today, so that is another wonderful reason to love this date.

 

I wanted to write my next blog about my finished Rheingold, but progress on that has been slow.  Then, I was "distracted" from Rheingold by a new project, so since it might be a long time until I have a finished project to write about, I thought that I should post an interim blog.

Here is my progress on Rheingold so far

I didn't intend to begin a new project just when I was making great progress on this one, but I ran out of one of the colors; Pebble Beach.  One of the skeins must have been left out of this kit since there was only enough Pebble Beach to knit up to the sleeve steeks.  That isn't even close to enough, since I still have the shoulders, collar, and two sleeves to knit.  Anyway, until I order some more, this project will just have to wait.

I began Katherine of Aragon about a week ago, so when I have a little more knit, I'll post a photo of that.

Finally It's Spring Here...

This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago at the end of April.  At that point, it seemed like the snow would never leave, but then every April I seem to think that.

Of particular interest was our "two visitors" who didn't seem shy about resting for cud chewing only 3-4 feet from our back door.  No matter how many times I see the local moose, I never tire of the sight.

 This view sure does look a lot more like spring now.  Hard to believe that all the snow was less than a month ago, but thank goodness it's gone.

While I look forward to and love fresh snow in the fall, my March I am ready for it to be melted.

 

 

 

 

The real point of this posting, since this is almost always a knitting blog, is to share my finished Keava.  The spring colors seem perfect for this time of year, and luckily, it's still plenty cool enough to wear... especially in the mornings.

 

 

 

 

I still have several things I should be working on so they could be finished, but instead,  I skipped right onto a new project... Rheingold.

 

So far, I have only one pattern repeat complete, but I am sure loving the colors.

 

 

Glenesk is finished~

I can't believe that's it's been so long since I composed a blog entry, and this will be a short one too.  It's been long enough that the sweater that I began March 4, is already finished and ready to have it's photo posted.

It was another wonderful design with the pattern and yarn purchased from Virtual Yarns.  I knit this for a friend who was in the process of moving back to Canada; hoping to finish it before she left.  At least she got to try it on though, so I know it's a perfect fit.  I missed her departure date by about a week, and then took an additional week to sew on the buttons.  Had to wait for a sunny day to get a photo in good light, but now it's all finished and the picture turned out well.

Here's a close up of the details.  I think the detail looks a little like a lotus, although reading the description of the design on Virtual Yarns, that is not what was intended.

 

Out with the Old.... In with the New!

 
I was able to finish 3 projects in December.  My Henry VIII tunic, and my Pistazie socks, which I already blogged about, and then I tackled one of my longest on-going projects which was begun in 2007.  Finally... I finished Fulmar.  It's such a beautiful sweater!  I can't say that it was a really enjoyable knit, but I am sure looking forward to having it and wearing it.  I don't have a very good photo of it yet.  Our sunlight at this time of year is so limited that I had to stand on our 2nd story deck at precisely 2:00 PM to even get a photo with sunlight on it. 5 minutes later and the sun is "gone".  As it is, the angle of the sun is so low on the horizon that it almost appears to be sunset for the entire 5 hours and 30 minutes.  My hair isn't that red, I only wish, but at "sunset", that's how it photographs.

Starting or re-starting new projects with the new year gave me a nice feeling of "tidiness".  I hadn't worked on Keava for a long time, so I picked that back up and even planned to be monogamous so I could actually finish it fairly soon, but then I received a new kit, Grosvenor, from Virtual Yarns for Christmas that I couldn't wait to start!  I ended up knitting on both of them and that has turned out to be a good thing. Keava has a fairly easy pattern to follow so I can actually knit it while I watch movies, although I do have to be careful.  My new kit, Grosvenor, has a much more difficult pattern to follow and after a couple of mistakes, I discovered that I better not knit it while watching movies, unless I want to discover lots of errors after the fact!  Here is my progress on Keava and Grosvenor so far...

Here again the colors aren't very true since the photos are taken in that "sunset" type light, but at least I can share something visual.

Now if I can just work on only these two things, it won't take long to finish them.  However, I already hear the Siren call of new projects~

 

I also received another new kit for Christmas; Amphora.  Then there are all those pairs of socks I really need (want) to knit. Hmmmm.... monogamy is just so difficult!

The Lunar and Solar Event of My Lifetime...

    Actually, it was the event of 5 centuries since the last time a total lunar eclipse coincided with the winter solsice was 1538.  The eclipse began here at 9:30 Alaska time and I watched the entire thing by 15 minute increments.  It was too cold to stand outdoors to watch it... 0 degrees F.  I waited and waited to see the "red" phase, but somehow I missed that.  I was probably looking in the wrong place... sounds silly I know, but the moon completely disappeared from view for quite a while, and there are many tall spruce trees around our house.  That made it really hard to predict its path ... it must have been behind some trees.  I did see it begin to reappear, at least.  Here is a link to our local news video shot...  

I had one "close call" while walking in and out our door with all the yard lights turned off.  Our house had an unexpected visitor. If I had opened the door at precisely the right moment, I would have had a big surprise as would the small moose that was standing almost on our welcome mat! Only one hoof print shows in this photo, near the left corner of the welcome mat, but you can get the idea.

Tonight in our time zone is the actual winter solstice and I'm sure looking forward to gaining daylight again! Since the sun is at such a low angle, and my house is located at the bottom of a hill, that means no sunlight is "touching" our house anymore... only the tops of our trees.  We have been reduced to 5 hours and 28 minutes with the sun rising at 10:15 and setting at 3:43.  This is sure not my favorite time of year, even with Christmas coming.

The short days and the very long nights does mean that I am getting lot of knitting done.  I thought I would have Fulmar finished by now, but the stitches in the collar are so small and tight, that I had to take a break to let my sore fingers heal.  I picked up my hibernating Keava and have been having so much fun with that, that I ended up ignoring my Fulmar and my Cauchy socks.  Not much to show for a weeks worth of knitting, (from the bottom of the pink stripe up), but it's been so much fun working on stranded knitting again, since it's my favorite type of knitting.

Happy winter Solstice everyone!