Ah.... Weekend

So I think by this point, if you've been reading for awhile, you'll know that J and I don't take many days off. Before work started to get so insane and we were in the field 8-10 months a year, we were really active and used to actually take mini-trips on weekends quite frequently. Shooting up into the mountains for a quick hike/camping trip, up to a lake for some fishing, or into the woods for some mountain biking. Two years ago we came out of the field and we've never really gotten back into that. We work most weekends and any time we take off normally is spent on a huge landscaping project we have going on at the house.

This spring as we were regaining some sanity at the coast, we were discussing why we won't make time to do that sort of stuff anymore...realizing how much we needed it for sanity purposes. And we both decided that we would make it happen. Now...this summer isn't the greatest to do it considering how much I have been and am going to be gone. But happily it looks like we aren't letting that stop us.

Saturday we did end up working all day at the house on gardening and the landscaping...getting a huge amount of work done (one day I plan to post some pictures of the process...and transformation). But then on Sunday we took off for the mountains to accomplish 3 things:
1. Get into the woods and breathe fresh mountain air.

2. Get some serious exercise in.

3. See something beautiful (I put this last because where I live--this is pretty easy no matter where you go!).

The river we crossed to get to the trailhead--taken from the truck sitting in the water.

All things accomplished. We had only intended on going about 6 total miles because we wanted to get back in time to visit and check on 'the girls'. But due to road closures, roads where maps had them as trails, and other issues, we ended up on a longer trail than we intended (and one not maintained hardly at all...the first mile or so there was a lot of bush-whacking and climbing over crap). But about 4 miles up, the trail switched to north facing and all of a sudden 75% of the trail was under snow.

Stopped by the snow. By the way? Snowmelt...best water ever.

We kept going for about a quarter of a mile before it got to the point we had no idea where the trail was under the snow. So we didn't make the climb we wanted but it was okay! We knew it was early in the season to get much elevation.

The peak that wasn't to be -- China Cap in the Eagle Cap Wilderness

On the way back down, we hit a sign and a fork that we hadn't noticed going up. The trail number was one that didn't exist on the map and so we took a left following the number that we were supposed to be on...hiking another mile before we finally realized we went the wrong way. Hiked that mile back up, figured out where to go and ended our hike. A pre-planned 6 turned into just over 10 miles. Tiring but felt really good.

We still managed to get up to see 'the girls'...and also saw these ladies in a field on the way up. And then we went out to eat at the local place that we love but rarely go...the food is incredible. Came home, had some wine, and relaxed to some episodes of MI-5.

It was a good weekend. Okay, okay...EXCEPT...my camera broke. I obviously can still access the pictures I took before it broke, but no more taking pictures. Luckily I have a very generous brother who is fed-exing his camera to me today to take back to Alaska so I didn't have to make a rush purchase. Thank you brother dearest!
_ _ _ _ _
Now playing: Again Today by Brandi Carlile

State of Recovery

So I'm back. Actually got back earlier in the week but have been wandering around in a sleep-deprived fog for days. I went to knit night on Thursday thinking I could at least do some stockinette stitches on Heroine because I missed knitting so much. I couldn't even manage that. My friend found that amusing as she had to fix a mistake in straight stockinette pattern that I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was wrong. I quit knitting shortly after that.

A few bullets about the month:

• No I didn't end up getting more than 4 hours a sleep a night. Some nights less. 32 days straight of that insanity.
• I am a person who really enjoys darkness so that whole 24 hour light business doesn't fit well with me. However, the 24 hour light is the only reason I was able to maintain the 4 hour a night sleep schedule. When it's very light at 1am when you are at 20 straight hours of work, despite what your body feels like, the light tricks it into thinking it shouldn't be tired. The first night home, even though I was bone tired and wanting to go to bed immediately, I simply had to stay up until it got dark. Just so I knew it still happened.
• I got to see some amazing country...I was close to Denali, and we crossed the Arctic Circle into the Yukon for a few days as well. We won't discuss why I don't have much in the way of photographic evidence.
• I've never really had that 'Alaskan bug' a lot of folks have...maybe because I'd never really experienced the Alaskan Wilderness so didn't know firsthand what I was missing. I do now, and I sort of have the bug now.
  
• Though rewarding this has to be one of the most stressful, emotionally draining, and physically challenging things I've done. Which is saying a lot considering some of the projects I've been involved with over the last decade.
  
• Absolutely no knitting for the duration. No time and even if there was, no ability to do it on that sleep schedule.
  
• Absolutely no reading for the duration. No time and even if there was, no ability to do it on that sleep schedule.

I did have access to the internet on and off but there was no time for doing anything beyond responding to the most urgent work emails. So I'm slowly catching up on blogs...it's taking me awhile. Hopefully sometime in the near future I'll have a finished object to share in this space...but don't hold your breath. I'm heading back to Alaska in a few weeks (a trip that wasn't actually planned), then my folks are coming for a bit, and then I am in the field most of August and early September. Add work and gardening in there and I'm left with very little time to knit or craft. But we'll see--I'm sure I'll sneak some time in there!

It's good to be back with everyone.
_ _ _ _ _

Now Playing: Suitcase by Joe Purdy

Off

Ran out of time to do more than a very quick post to say I'm off to Alaska! If I haven't responded to an email or comment lately, I apologize. It's been crazy hectic and I've gotten behind on more things than not! It sounds like there will be internet connection available on and off so as much as I have time for I'll try and keep up with everyone while I'm gone. And there is a possibility I'll post from there with some pictures...considering sleep time has been scheduled for 1am to 5am each night, it will be interesting to see how coherent such a post will be though! Happy spring everyone!

More Than You Wanted to Know

Nothing new to report. I've been working a lot lately trying to get quite a bit done before I leave for Alaska (work, not play unfortunately) for a month very soon. So no new FO's, haven't gotten pictures developed, and pretty much have led a very boring existence the past few weeks. Great time for a meme I figured. This is one of two that I've been meaning to do...this one came from Kate (and don't worry Carrie, I'm still doing your 'D' assignment sometime). So here is more than you ever wanted to know about me. I'll post again before I go.

Eight Things About Me
1. I am very anti-social and getting worse the older I get (which is why I'm constantly surprised I continue to have a blog).
2. I worked on Thoroughbred farms through undergraduate school.
3. At one of these, for free board, I worked nights feeding/watering and foaling out mares. My free board was a tiny trailer I shared with 3 guys from Czech Republic. Interesting winter that one was.
4. I was once offered a job training 2-year-old horses in Puerto Rico. Since I like my bones intact, I turned it down.
5. Towns more than about 15,000 people make me feel very claustrophobic and I can't leave fast enough.
6. I love to read and can be obsessive about it...but have been in a rut the past 12 months or so with it.
7. I find my peace and sanity outdoors. Not enough of it makes me a little bit crazy and hard to live with.
8. I have no interest in clothes (except what I knit) or shoes and will wear the same thing over and over again until it falls apart and even duck tape won't hold it together anymore. I think I'm missing that gene. Lucky for me, I have a job that allows me to do this!

Eight TV shows I watch
So I don't actually watch TV (except for #1 which I'm sort of ashamed to admit I watch)...most of this list are shows I've gotten off Netflix (some of which aren't even running any more) or caught an episode or two in hotels and liked what I saw.
1. Grey's Anatomy (I seriously don't like this show anymore yet I can't seem to not watch it)
2. Prime Suspect (Helen Mirren is wonderful in this series)
3. Friends (shut up, it makes me happy)
4. Weeds (I think it's taking a turn for the worse, but the first 2 seasons that I've seen I found hilarious).
5. MI-5 (working through season 4 now)
6. Veronica Mars
7. NCIS
8. Dexter (oh this show is so morbidly addictive)

Eight Restaurants I Love
I don't have a clue the names of restaurants since I mostly only eat in them on the road...but I'll be as specific as I can.
1. Almost any Thai restaurant (I've found amazing ones in Boise, Roseberg, Walla Walla, Yakima...)
2. The Japanese restaurant I go to in Hagerstown, MD with my parents.
3. Sangria in Moscow, ID
4. Mongolian Grills
5. A dive of an Indian place in Spokane, WA.
6. A pizza grill in Pullman, WA (best pizza in a restaurant I've ever eaten)
7. This Italian place my brother took us to in Seattle
8. Foley Station (my only local choice)

Eight Things that Happened Today
1. I entered some data.
2. I entered some more data.
3. And more data (see a pattern yet?).
4. I answered some backlogged emails.
5. It rained and hailed most of the day.
6. I received some very satisfying news about a colleague that has made my life hell the past 18 months with unethical behavior.
7. Had fresh asparagus for dinner.
8. Got in 45 minutes of strenuous exercise which I desperately needed.
(yes, I realize that knitting or crafting was not included on this list...should have been, but no time today).

Eight Things I Look Forward To
1. The smell of spring.
2. Backpacking season.
3. Downtime to read, knit, or craft.
4. Seeing family or friends.
5. Getting my PhD done.
6. Working with or just hanging out with 'the girls'.
7. The first sentence of a really good book.
8. The very first heavy snow of the year...the one where the world is completely silent.

Eight Things I Wish For
1. Good health to my friends, my family, and 'the girls'.
2. Job security for more than 12 month intervals.
3. A dog and/or cat. My job/schedule doesn't allow it and probably won't for another decade.
4. Finding balance between personal and professional goals.
5. That I get to Africa to see the mountain gorillas before they become extinct.
6. That conservation wasn't often a game of politics and power.
7. Global Tolerance
8. My reading rut to be over :)

Eight Songs I Just Listened To

1. New Slang by The Shins
2. No Time to Sleep by Tina Dico
3. The Littlest Birds by Be Good Tanyas
4. Rainmaker from Power of One soundtrack
5. Never Leave Harlan Alive by Patty Loveless
6. Alice by Cheryl Wheeler
7. Skinny Love by Bon Iver
8. The Christians and the Pagans by Dar Williams

Eight Favorite Movies

1. Leon The Professional
2. Amelie
3. The Lives of Others
4. The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Dessert
5. No Country for Old Men (I think this finally edged out Fargo and Big Lebowski as my top Coen brother film).
6. Heat
7. High Fidelity
8. The Girl in the Cafe

Feel free to join in the fun...let me know if you do and I'll check it out!

Thoughts on sanity...and an FO

I've hinted a couple times recently that I've been struggling since returning from the last Canada caribou trip. I've been dealing with quite a bit in both the professional and personal arena. One result of some of these things has been a general disillusionment of my profession which turned into complete lack of motivation to want to work on anything despite many deadlines staring me in the face...and me being pretty much a mental train wreck the past few weeks. In addition, I was stress eating and I just couldn't come up with the energy to exercise so physically felt just as poorly as I did emotionally. All this culminated in a pretty severe meltdown about a week and half ago that was tipped off by an emotional confrontation with my adviser. After some alcohol was consumed to calm the nerves a bit, I talked to J about taking a couple days off away from here. We had a meeting in Portland mid-week and so decided to drive another couple hours, find a place on the coast, and just go and completely relax. Catch up on sleep, knit and read, walk the beach, drink some wine, and eat some good food...anything that just helped both of us relax, regain some focus, and organize our thoughts again.

I can't say that everything is better and that life will return to normal after a couple days off. But I can say that I feel a bit better and somewhat ready to face what's on my desk and in my inbox. I realized that I have to stop focusing on all those negative things that I simply can't control. Instead I just need to focus all my energies on my own work, my own research (which I love) and making it as good as I can. Simply sentence to write--difficult for me to accomplish because I tend to let everything get to me. But I've got to figure out how to do it because frankly, living a life with these constant high levels of stress and emotion is not a healthy way to live. Taking those days off and really understanding what the last 4 weeks has done to me physically and mentally really was needed.

Okay, how about something a little more upbeat? First, I brought my film camera out of retirement and had a blast burning a couple roles of film at the coast. Once that's developed, I'll share some more coast pictures (if any turned out!). Second, before I left, I did manage to finally make Marc a finished object.
I'll let you head to Ravelry for the specs on this if interested, but just some notes about this knit for me. I started this sweater almost 2 years ago. I started it more for the process and the learning experience than for the desire to actually knit this particular sweater. The yarn choice I made went with this line of reasoning--simply affordable. I just wanted to start a sweater...one that wasn't expensive, wasn't complicated, but would teach me the basics of sweater knitting. I actually knit everything but the sleeves fairly quickly and then stalled. Not because of the sleeves, but because 1) in the meantime I worked on some projects that gave me enough confidence to start other, more complicated patterns that I liked more and 2) I could see that there were some problems in the construction and in my size choice and gauge. Enthusiasm went out of the project.

But finally I decided that I needed to either make the decision to finish it or rip it out and move on. So I finished it up. A friend in town helped me work through the shoulder seams and I finished up the rest of the seaming last weekend. I'm pleased with it in the sense that it served it's purpose. It taught me some do's and do not's about sweater construction, and about sizing and gauge and it was part of the confidence building process to move to more complicated, stylish garments.

The only modification I made was that the sweater is supposed to be cropped. Now I did knit it as if it would be cropped, but in the end, my body image issues resulted in knitting at least one size too big if not two. Which in turn made my version too wide for that to look even remotely decent. While I could have ripped the whole thing out and knit the correct size, I knew I wouldn't ever put it back on the needles again. So instead I blocked the crap out of it lengthwise to bring the width in and add length overall. I also blocked the sleeves to be longer than wrist-length because I was turning the whole thing into what it really wanted to be...an oversized, wear around the house all day comfy sweater.

In the end, I do like the sweater. It's not perfect but I really like the colors and it's comfortable and warm. And honestly, it is sort of my style. :)

_ _ _ _ _
Now playing: No Time to Sleep by Tina Dico

FO: Elijah

Otherwise known as the cutest freakin' thing ever in my opinion. But also one of the fiddliest things ever as well. I tell you, knitting this was a bloodbath. Poor little guy was getting stabbed right and left with double pointed needles.

Pattern: Elijah by Ysolda
Recipient: My cousin's baby girl born last December.
Yarn: Sirdar Snuggly DK; about 3/4 of one skein; color green
Needles: US 3 dpns
Duration: October something, 2008 through April 7, 2009
This really only took about a half day of knitting all told. The cast on was troublesome for me and that took time to figure out but the head/trunk/body only took a couple hours of knitting. From there, the appendages got a bit 'harder' and I'd say each one was 45-60 minutes each to complete. I struggled with the first couple rows after picking up the stitches...needles going everywhere, heads and trunks and legs in the way...just took a bit of time to get far enough away from the body that it was smooth knitting. The six month duration was mostly due to gift knitting for Xmas and then just procrastination picking it back up again.
Modifications: None needed.
Size: I got stitch gauge with this yarn, but my row gauge was pretty off. So my Elijah ended up slightly smaller than the original. But in the end, everything is proportional so I'm fine with the slight size difference.
Ravelry link: Here
Verdict: I seriously don't want to give it away I'm so smitten with this little elephant (don't worry, I will!). The original plan was to make three of these...but that simply isn't going to happen anytime soon no matter how much I like it. The pattern is genius in my opinion and the result is incredible. But this type of knitting is so fiddly that I think I can only do it once in awhile.

So why choose fiddly little toy in the first place? While I see beautiful little baby clothes items pop up all the time and want to make them, I have two problems with baby clothes. First is that I have a hard time putting that much effort into something that will be useful for a couple months. Second is deadline knitting. Normally an okay, if not stressful, part of gift giving. But if you miss Xmas by a few weeks for an adult, really it doesn't matter. Missing a date with baby knitting may mean the child can never wear the clothing in it's lifetime...and with my work schedule, I really have no idea when I start something whether it will be weeks or months before I find time to finish it. Toys (and I'd add blankets, bibs, etc on this list) on the other hand are totally cute and are more flexible in terms of timing. So Elijah it was.

Here Elijah is playing Vanna and showing off the beautiful flowers that are just starting to cautiously peek through--testing to see if spring really is here and it's safe to come out and play.
_ _ _ _ _
Now Playing: Bonny Swans by Loreena McKennitt

FO's: Winter Accessories in April?

Thanks for the comments on the last post (I will be replying to them soon I promise). I'm pleased to report that though we did get another 6 days straight of snow or rain or hail or a combination of all three, this weekend has been gorgeous...the sun is shining, the temperatures are above freezing, and there are some signs of spring peeking through! I've been having a really hard couple of weeks for a lot of reasons...and the sunshine and warm weather have gone a long way this weekend to calming me which allows me better perspective...and just really helps my mood.

Also pleased to report that I did, in fact, finally finish the scarf that my brother requested. It was actually completed a couple weeks ago but I've been too busy to takes some pictures to document it. Since he lives in Seattle, he obviously won't be using it this year, but at least it will be ready for him as soon as winter hits next year. And this marks my first tangible contribution to Project Spectrum!
Pattern: Kinetic by Norah Gaughan from Knitty Fall 2008
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca; 2 full skeins in green;
Needles: US 7
Project Duration: Feb 12 - Mar 27 (I actually knit this in only a few sittings but my travel spread these apart)
Modifications: The original pattern was a rather wide 'stole'. I only knit one width of the chart to get a scarf that was about 8 inches wide and 6.25 feet long after blocking.
Ravelry link: Here Verdict: When I wrote a WIP post on this scarf, I made a point that the crazy 48 row repeat chart that really was not intuitive would keep me interested and thus this scarf wouldn't be as painful as others. I'm sure you all snickered. You should have. For the first half of the project this was actually true. But by the end, I was going a little bit crazy and am very glad to see it off the needles! But crazy or not, I think that pattern and that yarn made a gorgeous scarf...he chose a beautiful color and a super soft yarn and it all just came together so nicely. I'm really pleased and I hope that he is too!

Next up is a winter accessory that will still be used this winter...and possibly for several months. A while ago, a good friend of mine that works at Alta ski resorts requested fingerless gloves...something that would keep her warm but be stylish. When I showed her my laced-up fingerless gloves, the decision was made.


Pattern: Lace-up Fingerless Gloves from Alterknits
Yarn: Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed; 1.25 skeins; colorway licorice
Needles: US 8
Project Duration: Mar 26 - Mar 28
Modifications: None
Ravelry link: Here Verdict: I love these gloves...this is my fourth pair and most likely not my last. Most of my friends who see me wear them end up requesting a pair for themselves. And since Alta is farther from spring than we are...she'll get some wear out of them this winter!
_ _ _ _ _
Now playing: Bouncing Around The Room by Phish

Is It Spring Yet?

I'm finally back from the bitter cold of Ontario...planning to post some more pictures from the second trip as well as some pictures of the elk captures I've long been promising over the next couple of weeks. I also actually have some finished knitting objects that will need a post soon as well.

In the meantime...all you folks who are lucky enough to be experiencing warm weather, flower blooms, and all that color that accompanies spring...please keep posting pictures so I can live vicariously! Of course, one good thing about being in Northern Ontario for several weeks? Even temperatures in the 20's and 30's with snow falling seems 'warm' to me! :)

This was yesterday...

We took a quick trip up to see 'the girls' and went before the snow plows. Driving in anywhere from 8-12 inches of snow. And 'the girls'? They didn't much care for this kind of weather either (those are 'this is not amusing' faces you see there)!_ _ _ _ _
Now playing: A Place Called Home by Kim Richey

The Road Less Traveled

Warning--long picture-heavy post ahead with no knitting or crafts...just work-related stuff. So if this doesn't interest you, stop now. :)

Gone a little longer than expected and about to leave again. The elk captures went very well...outside of some down days for weather in Wyoming due to crazy winds (at one point we had a fairly typical one-skid landing on a steep slope and we literally had to run and jump into the helicopter because the wind was blowing it around so much--we quit for the day shortly after that!), everything went better than expected. I haven't gotten a chance to get anything done with the pictures outside of just a quick download...I'll do another post with some of those later in the month.

In the meantime...while we were gone, we got the message that a capture that we weren't sure was going to happen finally fell into place...catching caribou in Northern Ontario. So we left pretty much immediately once Wyoming was done to catch 20 caribou in western Northern Ontario. Home for a bit right now and then leaving again soon to go back for another 40 caribou in the eastern portion of the province. While this work will benefit the 10-year research project we are starting this spring with woodland caribou, for this particular capture we were collaborating with the 0ntario Ministry of Natural Res0urces. They are collaring 140 animals with GPS collars to get an idea of home range, movements, habitat uses, effects of a climatic gradient on these animals etc. We were asked to collect body condition and pregnancy information for them that we'll also have access to for our own research.
This capture was so different than anything I've ever done, mostly due to the location and the logistics. We flew up to Winnepeg and then caught a small flight to Red Lake which is literally the end of the road in that country. From there we had to get a little 4-seater cargo charter flight (what I call a drug-runner plane) to a small First Nations community called Keewaywin.Pretty much in the middle of nowhere--power and water supplies are from generators. During the summer, this community gets all their supplies flown in via plane, during the winter, there is access by the ice roads which they build over the lakes. If you aren't familiar with this process, it's pretty fascinating and I'd urge you to check out the link. Also, apparently there is a History channel series on the truckers that use these roads that is fascinating itself. I actually saw one of the shows while we were up there (everything is run on generators, but they have satellite TV...crazy). Below is a picture of the ice road that goes into Keewaywin. So we had to fly all our supplies up there...food of course, but also all the fuel for the helicopters. In this instance, the fuel was just delivered to a central location that we worked from since the caribou weren't that far from the 'town'. But where we are going next, they had to fly fuel out to lakes and deposit it in various locations or cache's so that the flights back in for fuel weren't restrictive. Outside of all that, just the expanse of the country is incredible. Very flat and the forests are on a natural fire regime so there are some areas of less dense trees from previous fires, and some areas of swamps. But this is what you see from the helicopter...lakes and trees as far as the eyes can see!

And when they did surveys a couple weeks before, an area of the size you see in that picture (about), the guys only found anywhere from 6 to 18 caribou. It's like finding a needle in a haystack. The first day of flying, we didn't see a single caribou (though lots of moose). Then it snowed a bit to cover up some of the older tracks and using tracks and evidence of cratering (caribou dig for ground lichen in the winter and this is called cratering), we finally were able to find and catch some animals the second day. In this country, you push the animals out to the lakes or wider rivers for capture. Then we land on the frozen lakes and process the animals.

caribou cratering

Add in some extreme temperatures (we got lucky...one day was actually above freezing and the other days were 'only' -12 (F) without wind chill added in. Considering just a few days prior to us going up there, it was -20 to -25 (F), we got 'warmth' (although -12 really doesn't feel too much different than -20--freakin' cold either way you look at it!). Add in crotch level snow that have layers upon layers where the snow melted a bit and refroze so you are getting hit in the knees and thighs (above the boot level) with these little slivers of what feels like glass. And add in a blown generator leaving us with no power, heat or water for 24 hours (amazingly that was all it was--there was talk of evacuating the town because they didn't know when they would get the power back online) and you can see how very different life is up there.

This is only the third time I've been around caribou at all...the other two times were in different captive facilities in Alaska. They are very unique animals and it was really cool and interesting to be able to work with them.
One thing so neat to watch is how they move over that snow. When we were in shallower snow on the lakes (probably 1.5 feet), they trot and sort of do a paddle using their wide hooves to move across. This picture shows that movement of the hind legs some (I really should get a video of it the next trip).When we were off the lakes and catching on some swampy areas where the snow was literally 3 feet deep--almost up to our waists and well over the 'belly' level of the caribou, they have an incredible ability to leap through the snow. So funny watching our slow, painful progress trudging through it (not really feasible to have snowshoes getting in and out of the helicopter constantly) and then releasing a caribou and seeing their effortless progress.Otherwise...I'll say that I was concerned about this capture in 2 aspects that in the end turned out okay. First was the pilot doing the capturing had been very difficult to work with in terms of organizing and us being allowed to participate. There was huge tension between the pilot and the biologist prior to us going up there--several shouting matches on the phone. Not ideal for this kind of setting where not only do we work together all day but we are all jammed together in a very small building eating/sleeping/cooking etc together. And arrogant, pissy pilots really don't make me feel safe. But he ended up being very polite to us and we all got along pretty well during the duration. And his two muggers were great, interesting guys. Both retired from a career in wildlife research, doing this in retirement. Nice, nice guys and very easy to talk to. The crew was from Quebec City but the pilot and one mugger spoke English very well...the other mugger just barely (and while I'm about to start learning it, none of the rest of us spoke French), but we managed.

Second is that normally when we fly, if something should happen, we are working in areas that roads/populations are 'close'. Rescue etc would be fairly quick. For that reason, we don't normally do any sort of flight following like government operations are required to do. But when you consider this huge expanse of country with basically no access except from the air, and extreme temperatures and conditions, I was worried about if something should happen...and we were stranded. But flight following is to the extreme...not only do pilots have to call in to a regional post either via a satellite phone or radio if available every half hour, we are required to have a GPS system on board that literally tracks every move and sends it to dispatch. If we miss a call, they immediately send help to our last location.

Interesting experience to say the least.

I unfortunately didn't get near as much knitting done as I wanted on this traveling. Exhaustion (imagine sleeping in a small area with 6 men, almost all of whom snore!) and traveling at night mostly prevented it. I only took books to Canada and will do the same on this next trip...so not much to report on that front. But while I was traveling I thought about Project Spectrum and decided to make a concerted effort to participate this year. The flexibility of using color or direction or the elements for this year will make it easier for me to participate I think. And as I was sitting here typing away, I realized that this post is actually my first contribution...This trip and experience is literally a 'northern', winter experience for me!

Back in a bit!
_ _ _ _ _
Now playing: So Says I by The Shins

WIP for the Road

I've mentioned a few times on this blog that my brother is supportive of my knitting. Part of this support comes from being very appreciative concerning knitted gifts (apparently the Hemlock Ring Blanket has been put to good use this winter!) and part of this support is that he likes to buy me yarn as a Xmas gift...Bellatrix grew from one of these skeins. This Xmas was no exception and I got two more gorgeous skeins of sock yarn from him.

But I think that the fiber bug is starting to bite him a little bit. It would appear that he is not just going into a yarn store with the intent of purchasing some yarn for me...it would appear that he is actually browsing now. This has some drawbacks. Shortly after Xmas, a package appeared on my doorstop containing two skeins of really pretty green yarn...with a note requesting for me to make him a scarf with the enclosed yarn. A 'simple' pattern. 10 inches wide, 5-6 feet long. Yeah.

Not a big deal except it's a scarf. Knitters, you know what I mean by that statement. And of course, after the holidays, I'm sort of in a want to knit only for me me me sort of phase. But I went on a pattern hunt once I got it...looking for simple designs but something that would give it some structure and not roll. Last week was his birthday so he was presented with 8 of the patterns I came up with to choose for his scarf. He, of course, chose the pattern that was a 48 row chart that is not intuitive in the least so attention must be paid to every single row.


Good news is that this, for me, is one way to actually enjoy knitting a scarf--having to keep track of every single row keeps my attention and interest (and honestly, this was the one I secretly liked the best). I'm really loving how it is turning out.

I'm about to spend upwards of 40 hours in a car the next two weeks as we drive to Mt. St. Helens for an elk capture and then turn around and head for Cody, WY for another elk capture. And of course time in the evening in hotel rooms on my hands. This actually seemed like a perfect project to do on the road. Of course I hope that I'll finish it during the drive to and from the Washington capture...and then it's selfish knitting all the way to and from Wyoming!

See you in a couple weeks.
_ _ _ _ _
Now playing: Can't Get it Right Today by Joe Purdy