Iditarod & SKIKU! It must be Spring!

One of the great joys of living in Unalakleet is that we live on the Iditarod Dog Sled Trail.  Unalakleet is a major checkpoint, as the mushers hit the coast here and have all new elements to deal with as they head north to Nome.

A little bit about UNK only we have about 725 people living here.

Thursday night in the Community Center, longtime musher Junie Towarak was talking about his days on the Iditarod Trail and life with his dogs.  In his time once he got to Nome he would then turn around and run his team back home as he didn't have the funds to fly the team home.

I was heading out to ski practice and the berms have been set in place for the dog teams. Unalakleet is known/named for "When the East Wind Meets the Sea." The berms give protection to the teams from the winds and also quiet time to rest.
  

Last night, I went out for an evening ski and stopped by the checkpoint to see if any dog sleds had arrived.  These sleds are here waiting for their mushers.  The mushers may switch out sleds for the coast run.  These sleds may be lighter for less dogs online to pull, or their other sleds may have been damage and they have a backup waiting for them at the UNK checkpoint.

I love this time of the year here as it is still winter!  The ground is covered in snow, the sea is covered in ice, the sky is blue as can be, the stars are as bright as can be, northern lights are often dancing around for us all to be forever grateful for and LIFE IS PRETTY AMAZING!  In fact, I am constantly thinking nothing can be better than this and need to remind myself this is my LIFE!  I am so grateful for all that I do have and for Mother Nature opening up this great strecth of endless beauty no matter what direction I look.

Recent Northern Lights here in Unalakleet. Taken by a friend, about 2 weeks ago

No matter how many times I see the lights I am truly amazed by their magic.  Grateful beyond words to be able to say I see the lights often!

Yesterday at 3:30:01 Spring Break started!!!!!!!!!!!!  As a teacher, HOLIDAYS are always a treat!  As a ski coach . . . more ski time is a treasure!  On the 8th our first ski coach from SKIKU arrived to work with our skiers.  This is a wonderful organization that reaches out to the rural Alaskan communities to promote nordic skiing.  Yesterday, four more coaches arrived and they will be here until Thursday skiing with our skiers, and offering adult ski lessons. The first thing I do is toss them into the wax room to help wax about 30 pairs of skis for our Community ski race on Monday.  They are all top skiers that have a passion for the sport and can not wait to instill that love of skiing with others.

Yesterday, my Kate Davies Buachaille yarn arrived for a Fair Isle Vest I will be casting-on soon!

Spring break is looking pretty darn perfect, skiing with kids and learning from visiting coaches, watching the Iditarod, oh some Northern Lights tossed into the mix, and a new knitting project!

Knitting Away: WIPS OFF my Needles!

WIPs, WHAT?  In knitting we have a lot of little acronyms for our art form. WIPs are "Work(s) In Progress" and as knittersall at once they must be done! This August and early September was a forced knit in getting things DONE!  It worked!
or I should say many of us knitters have far too many of these works in progress floating or hidden around.  I for one am classic for starting all kinds of projects and

Central Ave. Hats were well received and are now being enjoyed by this very knit worthy group.

The Kokkeluri Mittens are now done and waiting to be worn in our first snow! I really enjoyed knitting these even though I got off to several very rough starts. Kate's yarn is a treat with an amazing hand and rich Scottish colors.

They were not worn during our 1st snow but yesterday we had ice on puddles, frozen ground, northern lights dancing around  . . . they went on the morning Tank Farm walk.

This project has been on my needles far too LONG!  I finally worked my short rows over my butt and have a pair of tights.  The design is from Elizabeth Zimmermann one of my all time very favorite knitters ever.   The yarn I used is a DK superwash from Knit 'N Needle in Whitefish, Montana. These will be used as a layer on our very cold sub-zero days this winter skiing or for hang out in after a bitter ski.

I wanted something colorful to look as my world becomes a bit monochrome during the winter months.

They still need elastic for the waist and a nice warm bath and time on the blocking board.