I get it…you want me to post!  Fine.  Its not like I havent been busy with very important life skills like trying to remember how to make toast under a broiler, avoiding moose attacks and planning for student staff training and the opening of residence halls for UAA!!!  Let me tell you, making that toast can be darn tricky.  Even just now I let some get darker than I prefer!  That whole thing about ‘a watched pot never boils’ doesnt apply to toast under a broiler; you have to watch lest it burn to a mighty crisp.  Everything else has been fairly stress-free.

Moose-watch has been eventful.  Sisu is way more curious about the moose than she is wary and she managed to flush a Mom and babies (Cow and calves if you are being particular) out from their settled spot behind West hall the other night.  Right in front of MB who is the RC of West, who, to her credit, ran straight for the bridge and called UPD while Sisu and I backed quickly off and stood across the street.  They weren’t upset for being startled and jsut started grazing again…mainly on the rosebushes at the corner. Such delicate little mouths.  S/He managed to get all the leaves and none of the thorns off that branch.  I know because I looked later on   MB was maybe 15′ away when she took this picture.  S/He is about 4.5′ at the shoulder and has such skinny, wobbly looking legs.  They really are funny looking creatures and you just want to stop and watch them.  Sisu kept pulling and wanting to get closer but every time she barked at them I got nervous and the moose DIDNT CARE.  There were 3 of them and none paid any attention to the barking black and white little predator in their area.  I guess she doesnt smell enough like a wolf to cause alarm and enough like people to cause apathy.  Still glad I had her on the leash though!!

MB and I went to the store not long after that to buy her some boots and, as you can see, she had a bit of trouble getting them off again.  I was laughing so hard I almost couldnt help her.  It was a good evening.

Lately, my apartment has been the scene of an invasion of sorts. And she brought with her all sorts of disruptive friends:

From L to R: The Felted Sheep SWMerino/Tencel and Merino/Silk 50/50 blends, Corridale Natural and Lt. Brown-2 oz each, Merino Top-2oz and Super Angora 2 oz.

I’ve already dove into my survival plan for dealing with these, these…these…oh hell, these lushious, beautiful, perfect fibres and I am loving every moment of them.  I stared with the SW Merino Tencel from my friend, K who is The Felted Sheep and who I met at my first day that I went to the Saturday Market in downtown Anchorage.  I originally planned to have J send me my drop spindle after I saw and bought those rovings but then fate stepped in and threw Ladybugs at me.

For those of you who are still wondering what the heck I am talking about and why ladybugs have anything to do with yarn and roving:  Here:

Meet the Ladybug. Its a spinning wheel by Schacht Spindle Co and is fantastic.  You can read all about her HERE. I was torn about buying her, really, I was.  I didnt know if I really wanted to get into spinning as a ‘real’ hobby and really didnt know if I wanted to shell out the money for her.  I was borrowing my friend SYs’ Louet s10 in Pelican and while I really liked spinning, I wasnt sure if I wanted to continue doing it all the time.  Would it replace knitting?  What about dyeing?  When could I do it?  Its expensive!   All these questions and more and in the end, I was lead by the fantastic community over at Ravelry to a Ladybug.  I knew that I liked spinning on the Louet s10 but I didnt like the single treadle part because of the dead time on the wheel.  I needed a double! (and I’ve never said that before!)  I considered a Babe wheel because I really liked the inexpensiveness of the wheel and, really, how cool would it be to have a spinning wheel made of PVC?  But, after reading more reviews and advice from Ravelers, I went with a wheel that I could spend more time on, instead of  spending less but needing to upgrade in the nearer future.  I already knew that I could spin well on a Louet but then, I couldnt find anyone nearby who stocked them or had them in a price range that I was willing to get into!

Long story short, I found  a wonderful woman here in Anchorage who is a Schacht dealer (kind of like a crack dealer but with lots more fibre floating around).  She is the owner of Far North Fibers and runs a shop out of her home.  She also does natural dyeing and, wow, let me tell you how beautiful her yarns are.  Those colours are amazing and I can only admire and drool.  She was having a dyeing session in her driveway yesterday (when I bought the Corridale, Merino and Angora) and the ladies involved looked so happy and were having fun despite the drizzle coming down.  Anyway, last Saturday, she came over with my ‘bug and I took her for a test spin.  I was pretty nervous about spinning double treadle since I never had and really scared that I wouldnt remember what to do.  It was like coming home again.  My feet fell right into the rhythm of treadling and as I held the fiber, my fingers knew exactly what to do.  I drafted and spun, all the while talking to PG about what I was liking and what a comparison to the s10, my only other experience with wheel spinning.  After a bit, she stopped me and came over to see what I had been spinning and said something to the effect of, ‘you already know what you are doing, dont you!’.  I looked down at the product of less than 10 minuets work and saw beautiful, even,VERY thin singles.  I was, honestly, amazed.  I was never able to spin less than fingering weight singles before .  There was just something about this weel.  I was spun and I used my first paycheck to buy her.

So now my life is Sisu, knitting, spinning and Residence Life.  Yes, I have found the time to balance all 4.

And I have even found time to enable my own stalker, AlaskanMama.  She is buying a Ladybug now too.  Now that is the real meaning of a fibre-y life.  To be enabled and enable other.  My life is good, especially since now I will have a spinning buddy   Thanks A.

Sisu in the new apartment

This is a pretty picture heavy post so I will apologise in advance if it takes you a while to load. This is our new place in Anchorage, complete with a final picture of a new neighbor who came over while I was washing dishes. Sisu just stared out the window.

Little, homey touches...ignore the clutter.

The hallway leads back to 2 doors on the right and 2 on the left. The one you can see there on the L is a storage closet which is pretty darn big. It could have been a 3rd room if someone was thinking clearly…see the next photo for more of an explaination.

1/2 the bathroom. I am standing about 8' away from counter and there is about 5' to my left! This is a HUGE, freakishly and needlessly so, bathroom

Yes, it is HUGE. You could honestly fit another tub/shower in there with ease. Possibly the argument could be made for handicap accessibility but there are no fittings anywhere and the toilet doesnt have the clearance. Even a new underling who stopped by today made the comment that it was huge. They could have brought the wall shared with the storage room forward about 6′ and created a room, granted, it wouldnt have windows but still. Or they could give me a hot-tub. Just sayin’

This is the room right across from the bathroom and its the perfect size. And it has a big girl bed!

There is a closet without doors off to the left too. Another bedroom, the same size or a bit smaller is off to the right. No need to see a bare mattress and empty dressers!

The perfect place to sit and knit on...

Can someone PLEASE tell me how to rotate these darn pictures in WordPress? They are right-side up in my iPhoto and this is driving me crazy! Either way, I have this beautiful set-up here and I am 1.75″ into the ribbing on my Vail sweater.

...my Vail sweater Swatch. Hooray that I will be knitting on 4's not 1's!! I also get to...

...watch the wildlife go by. Really.

He came by the other evening and I was washing dishes and saw something out of the corner of my eye and I almost dropped my plate. He was RIGHTTHERE next my window eating the tall grass you can see close to the front of the frame. By the time I dried my hands and came around the bar, he was already moving off and this was the best shot that I got of him. Where was Sisu? Looking out the window, not making a sound. She was as baffled as I was. My first moose!

Hopefully soon I will have some more pictures of our new life here in Anchorage. I want to get some shots of Sisu playing at the dog park. She has such fun there and then always sleeps well that night. Hopefully too I can have some pictures of more progress with my Vail sweater as well as something else that I swatched for.

I made a new stalker friend and went over to her house for a knitting group on Wednesday and I had so much FUN! Thank you so much for inviting me and I cant wait for the next one. As much as I miss my knitting group friends back in Pelican, I know that this is going to be a great group of friends too. I cant wait to get to know them all better.

Off the knitting notes…Thanks to not having a car, having a bike is great for my legs and waistline! I can already feel my legs being and getting stronger. It also helps that the dog park is right across the street and Sisu wants to spend every spare moment there. I am challenging myself to 8 miles a day on the bike (has been more every day since I got it…more like 10-12) and 2 miles at the dog park (simple because 1 lap is about 1.25 miles). Add to that the fresh fruit and veggies that I can get at the farm stands and natural market about 3 miles away and I should have to buy some new clothes again in about a month or so.

Darn.

It.

All.

I have always loved spring time.  The new grasses, flowers poking up from the cold ground, trees budding, all that fun spring-y type of stuff.  Not to mention that its warmer, there is less snow and, would you look at that!, there is SUNSHINE!  We only got Spring for 3 days here before we reverted to winter but I did see some very happy eagles basking in the sun.  Like this one While in Sitka, J found something that is fantastic and that I had been talking about wanting for a little while now.  Before I really got into the hat knitting she just seemed like a frivolity but seems more and more necessary as the hats go on.  Without further adiu, Meet Marsali!  She is an adventuress who often is looking for a way to warm her very cold ears but always wants to look stylish too!  So she wears Stranded Hats!  This season KFD has come out with some new designs and she is modeling the first two of the season:  A08-182 and

B08-188 Both are fantastic and I will be hard pressed to sell either.  Especially B08-188 because I just LOVE that white on the purple.  I chose the white (over my normal black contrasting colour) after BrightonWoman suggested it to me and chose 188 because it was looking so very dark in the ball.  It was the right choice and the hat is perfect to wear with just about everything and is long enough to wear with a pony-tail up and STILL be covering your ears.  I hate the creeping-hat syndrome and swear that none of my hats will have that problem!

Sisu has been so patient with all this hat knitting and picture taking but every once in a while she chimes in with a very expressive whine that says, “Can you drop the knitting?  I wanna play now, Mum!”  So we do and that red ball you can see is a favorite plaything just lately.  Play sessions and 3 miles of walkies a day keep my Sisu happy…me too, because I dont think that I could be happier.  I hope you are happy too.

For a little break from the world of the boardwalk, I decided to take a trip into Juneau.  Well, that and I wanted to take Sisu to the vet, get her up to date on her shots and get spayed.  Please, if you have comments about the cruelty about a spay, ie removing organs and the necessity of all animals to be able to reproduce, keep them to yourself.  I would rather not lose her during whelping because of lack of a vet if something went wrong.  Anyway, here I am and here I may be staying for a bit longer.  There are plenty of crazy people who want to get from Juneau to Pelican and because I fly for free, I get bumped for paying customers (Of course!).  Its just fine by me because it gives me more time to enjoy the view from R and C’s living room, Sisu more time to recover before getting on the plane and, naturally, I can enjoy more time knitting…while watching the Food Network!!  I love the Food Network and I could watch all day long because of the mad varitey of shows that they play.  Its not all recipies but also entertaining, history and challenges with the added tang of different presenters personality.  I swear, if I had cable at home, I would be stuck between Discovery and Food all the time.  My only downside to cable is that they dont have PBS and if I could have those and NBC, ABC, FOX and CBS, TV would be perfect.  I dont need all those other channels.  Heck, if I could have PBS only all the time TV life would be perfect.

I’ve been working on my second sock of the Cherry Blossom socks that you can see in a previous post and they really do go up fast.  I like working in DK/sport because of that and the fact that its just so nice to have thick squishy socks.  I know that some people dont like wearing thick socks because their shoes arnt fit for them.  Me?  I wear welly-like boots nearly all the time and they need all the comfort help that I can give them.  The extra cushion is perfect and, to me, cute socks are like cute panties; only certain people see you in them but you feel special and good all day wearing them!

 Speaking of yarn (and when do I not?), I found some Malibrigo Chunky on sale at the LYS here in Juneau and just fell in love.  It is so pretty and as soon as I get home and can take pictures of it, you can see it too.  I bought 12 skeins of handpain in all different colours and plan on making a blanket.  My plan is to make squares with garter stitch edging and then plain stockingette centres.  I want to alternate K, P, K sides “out” on the first row, then P, K, P on the second, repeating for the 3rd and 4th, so that there is no “wrong” side of the blanket, just alternated.  Pretty smart if you ask me   I cant wait to show you all so you can drool too!!!

Its been a flying leap,   Sisu Snow swimmin’,    enjoying every moment of it   sock knittin’

past few days.

OK, so that was the post that I WAS going to post a few days ago.  Then the tide came in high and washed away a lot of the snow and then the warmer weather came and with it rain and then that has washed away the majority of the snow.  This is not such a bad thing.  I was feeling very dried out from all the 0 and below weather and my hair was super frizzy too.  The major downside to this break in the weather was the fact that since it finally came above freezing, J turned off the by-pass that had been keeping the water flowing all this time.  And then we froze.  So I have no water.  And no heat, because we ran out of fuel and then in an attempt to un freeze the pipe, J cut into the house line and all the existing water in the house, including that in the heater lines flowed out.  The good thing about that is that we know for sure that the frozen spot isnt at the house!  We knew that though.  The reason that the line froze is that, despite being above freezing in the air, the ground isnt and the cold only goes deeper for a bit when it warms up slightly and J, in an attempt to conserve water, turned it off too soon.  Its really not his fault but it is a bit annoying.  Its a repeat of a year ago for me but as long as the drains dont freeze, I am completely OK with bucket flushing and getting showers at someone elses house.  I got one last night at Brighton Womans house and I am grateful that I did!

On a good-er note, we got a ferry yesterday, got a whole month of mail and boxes and I got a stack of boxes from Full Circle Farms, my organic grocers.  I get a box from them once a week and going without it for these past 3 weeks has been really difficult.  I never knew how much J and I liked to have the fresh veggies until we weren’t getting them.  We are now well stocked and there are even tomatoes that taste like tomatoes!  I’m really excited about mail too because there are my biological samples for my A&P class, colouring book and a few other A&P supplies too, not to mention Netflix movies, regular mail and any catalogs too.  Good thing that I never have to worry about bills cause those come online

Knitting Wise:  Yes, those are my Waterfall socks in the picture above and I love them dearly.  I wish that I could buy a whole bunch more of that colourway in lots of different weights, its just that nice.  I have also been working on my Ribby Cardi and I almost have one sleeve done.  I will have to get on Knit Picks soon and order more of the front and back colourway…because its being discontinued!  Of all the silly things because its so pretty and if they take it off, WotA will only have dark blue colours because they will have gotten rid of the lighter ones!  I know that some new ones will come out but really, this is crazy.

More later, I promise

So I have been promising pictures for a while and finally, finally, I can post them!  First off:

Ever wonder what you can do with all your excess deer fat after butchering?  Only me?  Thats OK cause I made candles!  No, they dont smell like deer, roasts or bacon, in fact, they dont smell to people at all.  They do smell to dogs and cats though so the candles have to live on the top shelf.  When they burn they burn long and strong and still dont smell.  I will be making more of these next year, they were easy and just so darn cool.

I have pictures of the elusive Sisu Deer  and I swear that that picture is too cute to skip and watching deer  that were enthralled with J on a very snowy day when he went deer counting (None were hunted, just counted) and he and S counted 35 deer on the beach!

I  have the traditional Christmas posed picture that I still cant figure out how to flip even though in iPhoto its the right way up…Grrrr.   But that other dog is Koira, my friend who blogs at Brightonwoman’s dog, who J and I were dog sitting while they had a Christmas down south.  Sisu is getting so big and that beautiful sweater was a gift from J who really hit it out of the park with that one!  Its so soft and warm and the colour is perfect.

Of course I will show you the Rogue!  All in all, I do love it.  I dont notice the 3/4sleeves after 5 mins because I normally push my sleeves to that point anyway!  Yarn is Lisa Souza Superwash in the Black-purple colourway and wow, I do love, love it.  More will be made using her yarns.  I wish that it had worked out right but once again I have been thwarted by my swimmers shoulders and longer arms.  My measurements are right on the sweater for the size that I made but sadly, I didnt think that there would be a difference between ME and the pattern.  Considering that its my 2nd sweater, I am still a newbie as far as sweaters go but I have big and better plans for sweaters this year!!

More on my knitting goals on the next post…with pictures, I promise!!

This was Sisus’ title to the post because in a random fit of loviness, she jumped up on my lap with no hesitations and paws went up on the laptop to practice her typing skills.  Not too bad for a 6 month old!

While I am swimming in hats and the yarn I have to knit more hats and I have one sweater on the needles here I am looking at another sweater to start knitting on.  Its Vail by Dale of Norway this one, not the one you can find on Amazon.com…that one is completely different for some reason.  This sweater has appealed to me in ways that I cannot understand and I really, really want to make it.  Honestly, I would make just about any sweater that is shown on the Allegro yarns kits pages so dont tempt me further please.  The only possible downside to making one or all of these sweaters is that they are knit on 3’s.  Yes, 3’s.

Now, I know that The Yarn Harlot did the Hardangervidda for the knitting Olympics back in 2006 (her exploits with the sweater are here), but I have no intention on making this sweater a race or on a deadline.  For me, that is the surest way to quitting anything.   But on 3’s?  I want to knit an adult sized sweater on little 3’s?  There has to be some crazy seeping into the water or else the rain has sent me mad.  Or maybe I just love knitting and cant imagine a better sweater to have and take great pride in.  That or I just break down at the idea of making then steeking a cardigan   Though Tinde and Sirdal  just make me quiver is a very good way.  Maybe Sirdal instead of Vail….oh gosh, what choices I have!  Or both….

I am thinking about investing in Hauk to make the sweater (either Sirdal or Vail)  and have considered Swish and Telemark too but something is really pulling me towards Hauk.  I think its teh Teflon but, more honestly, I think that I like the idea of knitting with a yarn that has proven itself over time (the pre-Teflon yarn is Helio, DoN’s oldest running yarn) and is known to be long wearing is really the pull.  Swish has pilled on me and, though I have never used Telemark, I just want Hauk!  Mum gifted me with Birthday knitting money back in August so I think that I may have finally found the use for it.

I’ll keep you posted

Does anyone else have frost on their deck today? I did and I nearly fell on my butt taking Sisu out for morning potties. The upside of this is that it means that it is clear and sunny this morning to match the stars we had last night. And that means it wont rain today but blow like crazy starting about 11am.

Does anyone else know how hard it is to rip out a hem facing? I must have spent 2 hours picking and pulling and then ended up with so many little “U”s of yarn that I had to pull out the shop-vac! But I must say that it will be worth it in the end because I will have a Rogue that I can wear and enjoy. Yes, its going to be a bit on the snug side but there are a few ladies in town who will be happy to hear it and offered already to take it off my hands. It might get sold for the cost of new yarn and shipping but it also may be the #1 sweater I wear to layer with my snug long-sleeve T’s that I have from Old Navy. I dont mind snug as long as it looks good

Its a darn good thing that I like the rain because it sure has been coming down these past few days.  Yesterday was a reprieve for a few hours, some sun but very chilly, but the precip is back again and in full force today.  I am so glad that I had my busy day with the planes on a nice sunny one because now I can look forward to only having to stand in the rain for less than 1 hour instead of more!  The great thing about this job is that I get to see everyone that flies into and out of town and that, after only 3 weeks of hauling that huge cart and 1200 loads, the muscles in my arms and upper back are getting to be quite well defined.  The computer system is pretty easy to navigate though the program itself is slow because we have dial-up in the office.  It would be well worth it, IMHO, to get a satellite connection, both for the customers who have to wait as the system thinks and talk to the main computer and for the guests who rent in the little side apartment next-door from the airline because we use their phone line!  Now what kind of customer service is that?

Can you tell that I am big on CS?  I guess thats what happens when you start working, albeit only just started but completely, in a CS driven job.

Knitting wise, well, the job does give me time to knit, especially when we have all this rain and icky weather.  The good thing is that my boss is a knitter too so we are quite friendly over our needles while we wait for clouds to clear and passengers to come in.  I am well into my Rogue and I am so in love with the yarn that I am using from Lisa Souza.  I bought her Black-purple colourway in the Superwash 100% Merino and it is amazing.  It holds up well to frogging, doesnt split, shows stitch definition excellently and the colour!  I honestly wasnt sure that I truly liked the variegated parts while I was winding it from the skein and when I knit the swatch there was no huge change.  But I could see it looming coming and when I got there, I still didnt like it completely.  But once I moved past it…wow.  I love it.  It is so pretty and the lighter flecks catch the eye in a good way, just like the darker flecks do and even the non-knitters in the house (everyone else!) say its so pretty and looks great.

My sisters socks are coming along slowly…SSS has kind-of taken over but its more of a Rogue takeover more than anything!  I work on them when I want something lighter on the eyes and Scouts yarn is so beautiful and soft.  I cant wait to post pictures of them…Soon, Jinny, soon!  I started another pair  that I will call Work Socks, more because they are only being worked on AT work   I havent decided on a stitch pattern yet but I am making it from Austermann Step that I bought from Sheri at the Loopy Ewe  (The colour that I bought is the one shown on the ‘Yarn’ page with all the other skeins…Sheri calls it ‘Ocean’ so you can understand why I had to get it, right?)  I love the hand already but it is a bit splitty but that might just be me remembering how to knit with 0’s and fingering weight yarn again!  I almost remember why I didnt like using such thin yarn but the fabric is so pretty and I do like it.  I think my best socks are the ones done with fingering weight yarn.  They look so perfectly done, even and I am always pleased with the fabric.  I should try to knit the sportweight with smaller needles and see if I like the fabric better.

Sisu becomes more and more of a fantastic companion day after day and I love her so much.  She comes to work with me and sits calmly by the desk or sleeps under it.   Everyone who meets her tells me how good and pretty she is…I think that parents who hear this about their children must always be proud.

I decided to become a dog mummy a long time ago.  I researched breeds, searched the shelters, scanned the sale/freebie ads and finally sent emails to people with the breed I wanted asking them about prides and pitfalls of their dogs breed.  Then I contacted breeders.  Lots of breeders.  Some I liked, some I didn’t, some liked me, most didn’t.  I now see the downside to living in a town that is built 9′ off the ground…no yard to appease some breeders.  The fact that the surrounding land is National Forest and it is 17 MILLION acres and all for the hiking and walking and camping didn’t seem to get much kudos. But then I found them and they had this little girl dog that she thought would be perfect for my lifestyle of boat, home, hiking and bears.  And she is.  I had the best service in the world from the breeder and I am so happy with Sisu and the joy that she has brought to my like already is immeasurable.  While I was waiting for her arrival, I set out to make the house puppy friendly and safe.  I wanted to buy some toys and the jingle and commercials rang in my head until Petsmart came thru.  I jumped on the computer and ordered a collar, leash, deodorizer and 4 different dog toys.  They shipped almost immediatly and I had my confirmation number and tracking and all was good with the world on Aug. 23.

Its 9/15.  I have no Petsmart box to share with Sisu.

I called and at first, their CS number didnt work from Alaska.  So I called the headquarters phone number which I had to hunt down online.  So then I got transferred in circles.  Then I got to speak to 3 different people in the span of 24 hours who all told me that they couldnt transfer my call to the WEB CS which is different from the STORE CS but they would send a message right away.  Then, 18 hours later I talked to someone who said “Of Course I can do that for you!”  I thanked her profusely.

But then I talked to web CS who said they cant do anything and wont do anything until 10 full business days had passed.  Because of Labor Day (which I worked) and the weekends, I was speaking to him on the 10th day and that didnt count and considering that it was Friday, I would have to wait until Monday to phone in again.  That is, if your box isnt there Ma’am.  I’ll call on Monday.

Which I did.  And got an equally unhelpful guy who said that he would send my complaint to IT and to Tracking who would get on it right away.  But that means 2-3 business days.

So I called again on Thursday and got someone who said he would get started my paperwork to claim that I never received my box, which, BTW, the PO says doesnt exist.  But they still have to try to track it and someone will call you TONIGHT with that information Ma’am.  Tonight?  Yes Ma’am, I am taking it to the head of the line right now. Ok, great.

No call came for 28 hours.  So I called them.  I was so tired of the run around crap that I was given that I told the girl that I wanted a refund NOW and no, I was not going to wait for tech support nor tracking to get back to me.  I actually said”screw waiting for tracking because no one has gotten back to me from supervisors to tracking and I am sick of it”  I wasnt mad anymore, just resigned.  My items were charged to my card back in August and I wanted either money or the items and since I wasnt getting the items, I wanted my money back.

So she went to talk to her supervisor.  Who said that she had authorization to create a whole new order, not charge me for it and send it out speedy delivery.  She was bright, apologetic, so very helpful and we even chatted a but about Alaska while waiting for the system to let her work.  Together we worked to get the items from the old list/old system onto the new list/new system because none of the old numbers matched the new ones and the website was reorganized so nothing was where I left it.  We got everything though, thru teamwork and my new box is on its way.

This is the difference between good customer service and bad.  The first guy, who didnt take any notice of my worry and brushed it off as an overeager customer made the 1st mistake and sadly this was passed on and repeated to the next and the next people until I was at the end of my rope and demanding my money back.  And then this fantastic person did all in her power to make me happy and a repeat customer.  Thank you Amber.  You made my day and increased the possibility from zero to if-it-was-the-last-place-open-on-earth-and-Sisu-was-starving that I would ever shop there again.