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.

There is a baby harbor seal swimming around in our harbor and I actually stood outside in the rain for over half an hour watching the seal catch baby herring and salmon and the gulls enjoying the fact that the seal scares the fishies from below so they can nab them from the top!  The seal is quite round and grey and super cute.  He likes skimming the surface when the rain falls and the water has been so clear and calm, J and I stood and watched him for 10 mins the other night just rolling and diving in the harbor.  He lifts my heart and I can forgive him for eating the baby salmons…they’re just humpies anyway

Well, I am done with my EMT class and have taken my written test.  I know that I did well on the test and there were only 5 that I didnt like and know right off the bat and those were just a bit trickier.  The hard part will come with the National EMT test that I will take on the 20th.  I am the only one from my class who a)wants to take it and b) was advised to take it by the instructor.  She also encouraged me to further my training and, Oh Yes, I will be.  I loved the class and want to know more.  J took the class with me too (we needed him to be our 6th person) and it was great to have him in the class and have him at home too so we could study together.  We talked a lot after class and discussed techniques and styles and it was fantastic to have someone one at home to talk to after classes and to practice on.  Our practical (hands-on) test is on 11/20 and we are practicing with the other people in the class a few times a week until then.

My knitting has been my time of brain relaxation during the past two weeks.  Actually, I should say that its my spinning that has been the best relaxation time!  My friends spinning wheel has been, well, spinning quite regularly and my hand-spun is getting better and better and I even plied some together on two different occasions!  I plied two hanks of my drop-spindle spun wool and they look beautiful.  I used one section of dyed roving and one of natural in one plying session and one of natural and one of my own beet-dyed spinnings in ply session number 2 and finally, 2 bobbins worth of wheel spun yarn that made a lovely hank of bulky 2 ply that will be potholders once knitted and felted.  Since that takes care of all the fiber spun to date, that means I can begin again tonight while watching the first DVD of P&P (the good BBC version with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle)

Actually knitting time has been focused on socks, hats and my Rogue sweater.  I am almost to the shoulders on the Rogue and I LOVE it still.  Though it has taken me over 3 times longer to get to this point AGAIN, I still can profess my love.  The yarn (by Lisa Souza) has held up beautifully and I couldnt be happier with the yarn, pattern or how everything is coming together.

Somehow, for some reason, the most searched term that brought people to my blog was the phrase “Frosted Window” Since I dont remember typing those words together or posting about a frosted window, I will now and satisfy all those searchers! The picture above is one that I took I think in 2005 or 06 and was the main window in my dorm flat. While the entire thing was frosted over, this section here was the part where Jack Frost did all his detailed work. Though I have seen other frosted windows since then, I have never seen one so pretty again.

Why has it been over a week since my last post? Well friends, its because of travelling and shopping and seeing and moving and settling. I went to Sitka with J and Sisu on Thursday, got there Friday morning, 1 am and then went about our days gathering my things from storage to move them to Pelican because there were few things that I held dear in that unit and there was no way I was going to pay $80 a month to keep them there when I have plenty of room here at the house. Sadly, because of the mass departures from Sitka because of the closing of Sheldon Jackson College (my almost place of employment), the second-hand shops there are over whelmed with supply and without new college students to demand, they are not accepting donations. Anywhere. So I had to trash a lot of things that were perfectly good but had no place in an already full home or things that I just didnt need or want anymore. I am very good about sorting and trashing when I move…lots of practice you know. Have no fear though, I donated a good deal to my old place of employ and the students there will like having dishes and tools to make their Ramen with!

J and I shopped for groceries and you would think that we were the only people who ever went to SeaMart and bought a winters worth of groceries. Yes, I know there are 4 full huge carts. Yes, there are only two of us but it needs to last until Christmas at the very least. Oh, its just over $1,000 and we get a tax break for spending that much all at once? Fantastic! I also got to visit with P and talking with him really helped with various things on my mind…it always does and thats the best part of having friends.

Part of my visit too was seeing the opthomologist and hearing that I needed only a slight change in my contacts but holy cow, how do you see out of these glasses? Sisu got a hold of my already 4 years out of date glasses her first night on the boat and chewed on them quite thoroughly. They are scratched on one lens really badly and have 4 definitive bite marks on the other, not to mention that she loved the give on the plastic ear pieces and I had to boil and file one to make it even wearable for the plastic poking into my ear and head! I have very poor uncorrected vision, an understatement really, because without glasses or contacts anything that isnt 6″ in from of my eyes is quite out of focus. Because of this, my glasses, which I have had since I was 5, have always had to be rather thick and heavy and reasonably, so have my frames. Over the years they have gotten much thinner and lighter but I was never able to get the thin wire frames that I have always coveted. Until now. Imagine my surprise when I was talking to the office manager and she said that they could fit any lens into any frame, no matter the prescription. I made her check because it seemed too good to be true and lo! and behold…it was! I have some fantastic glasses on their way, just made a new order of contacts online and gosh am I glad to have a steady job to be able to pay for all this.

The past 2 days have been all about moving stuff and settling back in so I wont bore you with details but gosh does it feel good to have a freezer full and a well stocked pantry shelf.

Knitting wise? Though I took socks with me, I really didnt knit on them at all. We really didnt spend too much time just sitting or waiting anywhere though so I dont feel bad about wasting any time. I do feel badly that my sisters socks are still 2″ away from being done but those are getting worked on just as soon as I stop typing!

I’ve frogged my Waterfall socks that were part of the Woolgirl Sock Club first shipment because the pattern was just not doing it for me. I like me some tall socks and dont mind buying more yarn (ha!) but when a pattern is written for a specific skein and then leaves a good bit of leftover (some people have like tennis ball sized leftovers!)…well, lets just say that I dont like waste or leftover when I do my socks.  I even have no problem making a mis-matched toe but have only had to do that once because I am a very good judge (knock on wood).  Either way, I love, love, love the Miss Babs yarn and the colours make me happy and the yarn is so soft and lovely to work with.

I am lucky enough to have spinner friends and there is a couple who lives off the grid just outside of town who raise sheep!  They have for years and have more roving than they know what to do with and I cant tell you how happy it makes me and how lucky that I feel to know them and them wanting to give me/get rid of some roving.  There will be cookies involved in the exchange…maybe even a pie!  I want to spin enough to make felted slippers and because my spinning right now is at the level of thinner singles, most of the time, I would welcome something to felt away my mistakes!  It will take a while but with all the other projects on the needles and in my head, this is a good thing.

As of today, this is my WIP list:

Re-Knitting Rogue (still frogging and re-knitting)

Hat #1 (Noro and Swish in a stranded pattern of my own)

Hat #2 (LS Fat Bunny, just started because I love the hand to this)

Sisters Socks (2″ from end)

Waterfall somethings (I left the cuff…maybe I’ll make true fingerless gloves or maybe socks again)

PNW Shawl (yes, still.  And I still might give it to someone else to finish!  But I still love it and want to work on it)

Work Socks (in the desk at work, only worked on during slow times at work, gen while waiting for a plane)

Walk in the garden socks (own design, last of 3 for Mum)

What I need to start and finish before December 8th?  At least 5 more Stranded hats, 2 Fat Bunny ones and my Rogue.  There is a craft fair here in town that people come out from Juneau for and I would love to sell my work there, in addition to sending some hats to Mum and Jinny so they can sell them to friends/co-workers for me!  I just need to buckle down and give myself a schedule and all will be good.

That, in fact, is my chore for today; to create a schedule for myself that will let me be the domestic goddess that I want to be, not make me a house elf, have guilt-free knitting time and spin to my hearts desire and still get out and up the mountains with J every chance we get.  Wish me Luck and I promise to post more often, much easier now that I will have a routine for day to day!

The past 4 days have just been glorious beyond measure. Seriously, I cant remember better days all in a row of sun, less wind and no clouds to sully the view. This has been the best weather that anyone can remember for a closure in years. We have been camping, hunting and, of course, worked on the boat. Again this year it got a new paint of coat…that makes 3 in this summer alone

I have spun the Cider Moon and wow, is it pretty. I need to take another picture of it all spun up. Much more even than my first few attempts and bulky weight. I am spinning again with the original fiber and am making it very, very fine so I can ply it instead of making singles. Though I like spinning, I dont think that I am SO into it as I am knitting. I like dyeing but there is so much involved in making spinning perfect, I dont think that I can be that really focused to make it perfect or to do more with my handspun. I like knitting my skein that I have now. I’m making a simple hat because I realised that though I make them to sell to others, I havent one of my own!!!

No, this post isnt about finally ending something in my life, rather, the salmon closure that affects me. Starting tonight at 11:59pm, no salmon fishing will be allowed for the next 6 days. That means that now is the time to fix the little leaks on the boat, re-tie the tag lines that broke, clean and re-tufflex the deck where the stuff bubbled up because it was poorly lain (done before our time) and go hiking, hunting and just relax in general because next Thursday will be the nest King salmon opener and all relaxation time will be lost. Seriously. 3:30am wake-up, fish ’till 7 or 8 if its slow or until the bite stops if its pumping, which would be dark, aka 11:30. Anchor up and finally get to bed only to do it over and over again. The upside to all this is that the price for Kings is roughly $50 each or $3.75 per pound. That is good money and with cohos still biting and them being $9 fish, we are more than happy to bust our butts for however long we can catch the kings. Cohos will be open until the end of September so we have plenty of time to keep going on those. For now though, I am going to enjoy my next few days off the boat and get ready to go hunting tomorrow in the beautiful weather that we should have!

Knitting front: I am still waiting to get my yarn from Lisa Souza, but thats because she had to get in and dye my yarn for me and I will have to make another order from KnitPicks for some black yarn and my birthday present from J…he is getting me the Options Needle set! I asked, he said OK and since I need a bit extra for free shipping, I will place my next order on the 15th. There are 2 16″ needles that arnt in stock until then so I will have to wait to make the order.
First Aquisition (not books) Take a look! I didnt buy the books, they are from the library and I will use a Baa Baa Black Sheep sweater pattern from the Slip-Stitch knitting book. The #3 fixed circs, the Essential in Green and Black and the Bare fingering are for that sweater. Again, no, I’m not pregnant, I just really like that sweater and want to try a new skill of slip-stitch knitting. I am hoping that I wont go crazy knitting with the fingering yarn because when I look at it, wow. I am so glad that I didnt choose to knit Thermal next because I think that I would have gone mad. I would like to use the KP’s Gloss to do a baby onesie so if anyone has a pattern, please let me know!

The next pattern for me and what I have decided to use the Lisa Souza yarn (still to be dyed and sent) is the Rogue sweater. This is a pattern from Girl from Auntie and I have been drooling over this one for about 3 years now. I actually had to decide between Rogue and Samus from Brynne Sutton on Knitty. I love cardies and might do that to Rogue but I think that I will probably leave it as is and make it a bit big so I can wear a few layers underneath for fishing.

A quick comment on wool versus acrylic. I am an unashamed fiber snob when it comes to wool versus acrylic. When I was growing up, I think that 90% of my sweaters were acrylic because wool was “itchy” and washable was #1. I’m not sure really, but this is what I assume…My mum will probably chime in and correct this if I’m wrong. Anyway, that worked for kids who wanted bright colours, were not out only in a sweater and didnt really have to deal with cold and rainy. We had snow in Michigan, where I spent the majority of my childhood, not the rain like I have here in SE Alaska. Wool is the best insulator there is and I swear, every time I wear a wool sweater and a more fashion consious girl wears her acrylic machine made ones, I am the warm one and she needs to get a coat. When you get wet, wool will keep you warm, despite being sodden. Acrylic is generally machine washable but since the creation of superwash, this is great for wool. Wool keeps its shape better and is more resistant to pilling. Granted, you never have to worry about a moth infestation with acrylic but where I live, A)its too cold for moths and B) what better excuse could I look for for buying more yarn on a regular basis than that I use it all up? Where did this commentary come from? Some smartarse was complaining that he would have to handwash and air dry one of my hats that he bought because I didnt make it from acrylic and then he went off about not liking wool because it was itchy and acrylic was warmer and all kinds of nonsense. I set him straight and though I thanked him for buying the hat, reminded him that he bought it because his fancy acrylic ones were just not cutting it when he was out in the mist and the rain on the ocean and would stay wet and cold for hours. Um…fishermen off the coast of Great Britan have been wearing wool for years. Shetland islands, anyone? I guess in this age of technology and “modern science” something that has been used for years must need improvement. I think superwash is the best improvement I could ever have asked for!

BTW, there is a picture of 2-just finished hats up on my flicker…go see!

Survey Alert: You NEED to go over to Damknits blog and take the survey: Here. This was created because Erin, the mastermind behind the blog and podcast was being teased about her grandma skills by some particularly heinous “friends”…one of whom is to be a recipiant of a baby sweater that is for her own soon to be born baby girl! Um, no. She podcasted and understandably ranted about it in episode #5 and created this survey. She wants to gather info about the average age of knitters to prove that knitters arnt always grandmas or pregnent ladies and she wants to share this with her mean friends (who I would never knit for again, BTW). Go take it and help her out! She plans to keep it up for the rest of the month and will share the info gathered with us then. According to Episode #6, so far the mean age is 37.

I’m going to save a review of the Viking Patterns for Knitting for next post, as well as talking about the Cider Moon roving and Glacier yarn that I got. I do have a pair of socks on the needles, a plain version done in Opal 6 ply in which I am getting my very first ever case of Second Sock Syndrome. I am 30 rnds into the leg and just dont want to touch them and this is after the first one went up in less than 2 days! Instead, I am leaving off the socks and will put in at LEAST 4 more scallops on my PNW shawl because really, it is time that I finished the darn thing…and I want to see how it looks blocked and wear it too Maybe I will save for one of those pretty shawl pins from the Loopy Ewe.

Speaking of the Loopy Ewe…did you know that Sheri had her first anniversery on the 1st of the month? I was one of her first orders and, according to her, made the first big order she took on the 3rd. Something like $150 in sock yarn. Dont look at me like that…I was brand-new to socks and still love them and will order from her in a heartbeat. Did I mention I would love to have a gift cert to her site for my birthday? Hint, Hint, Family members!!

I know that every single one of the knitters that read have had the feeling of wanting to pounce on the postman. I am no different but I may be seen as a bit excessive as I want to go check now and have just finished sending the PayPal info.

No, I am not crazy but I am on that well-worn road as I just ordered this. Its not like I don’t already have a fiber addiction but I am thinking that its going to get worse from here on out. I’m just getting ready to go fishing and J tells me that my ‘whiskey line’ (a traditional, single line set from the back of the boat to catch fish that would be used to buy alcohol. No catch, no money for booze. In my case, I supply a wholly other addiction ) had netted about $40. I knew that I didnt want more yarn but had been drooling over a drop spindle kit…so I caved. Forgive me.