Meet Sweater Girl!

Ever wanted a book to share your love of knitting with a future younger knitter?  A book that is creative, full of knitting coziness, inspiring artwork, well-crafted words, that explores the wonderful world of wool through traditional folk knitting designs all for the younger reader.

Meet Sweater Girl who can be found on PATREON or watch this little video to find out more about Sweater Girl.

Patreon is a membership platform that provides business tools for creators to run a subscription content service as well as ways for artists to build relationships and provide exclusive experiences to their subscribers, or "patrons."

The author of Sweater Girl is a dear friend of mine who is writing a book about Sonja and her Aunt Vivie. Aunt Vivie is a colorful creative character who will help Sonja explore wool through the rich world of traditional folk knitting.

2,454.7 MILES DONE! World's Longest Driveway!

Reverse Migration part I is done and we are now in Montana for part of our summer.  We had a great trip south.  Each day the world turned greener with brighter colors as we slowly drove south.  The Yukon was as magnificent as ever with its huge vast valleys, broad mountains, and long ridges.  The fires from last summer have left its scars on the landscape.  British Columbia to suffered with fires last August as we headed north and now one can see the vast areas these fires burned.
The trip was a bit wet in BC.  Overall an excellent drive south on the Cassiar Highway.  Home is home no matter what!  We are so fortunate to be able to call two wonderful places home!  Each place is vastly different from each other but both are home for us in unique ways.

I always look forward to the drive south as the nights finally turn dark again!  I can see the stars which I just love.  I find it a bit unsettling to not see the night sky up north.  Going to bed in full daylight and waking up during the night and morning to full daylight is uncomfortable for me.  It took me years of living in Alaska to pinpoint this aspect of life south of the arctic circle.  I use the Star Walk 2 App and I also have Star Walk the original App for viewing the night sky.

Morning yoga on Kinaskan Lake Provincial Park.

Kinaskan Lake Provincial Park and a closure look at the view.

A much-needed knitting break at Meziadin Lake Provincial Park. That Snow Ghost hat is off the needles too!

One of my claims to fame is Jiffy Pop PopCorn---the secret is a leather glove and vice grips.

Miss Tally LOVES tent time!  No bugs inside the tent chewing up her thin skin!

Miss Sadie is a tent fan as well and loves her key position between us!

Bear Glacier on the way to Stewart, AK.  A nice short side trip as we headed south.

Stewart, AK a fun rig I am sure was once used for mining.

The following photos are from Fraser Lake campground.  I loved the outdoor fitness equipment. I would love to have them in a park where I live for a nice outdoor workout!

Fraser Lake Community Campground

Miss Sadie enjoying a good morning hug.

Ancient Forest outside of McBride BC.  We often stop here for a nice walk and a break from driving.  

Cedar tree ring/circle I sent a message of peace and good health out to all from the middle of this circle.  I was surrounded by several 1,000s of years of tree growth in the middle of this circle.

Mount Robson blanketed in a nice fresh layer of snow at Mount Robson Provincial Park.

Dog swim time with Mount Robson in the background.

Dinner by chef Christian!

Jasper Park has a no open fires this year in early May!  Yikes!  They have so much beetle kill they had to instate the no open fire law. While there were open sites at our favorite Ice Fields campground we had to move on to Rampart Creek Campground in Banff which one can have a fire.  This is a great site right on the river!

Chef Christian in action!

Closing in on the top of my hat!

Continuing our driving south closing in on home!

On & Off The Knitting Needles (old post that needed photos 4/27/18)

This post was started April 27, 2018, and I am updating it NOW!

I bought an iPad and I am trying to see how to make blogger and iPad be friends and communicate with each other one word: CHALLENGING! Ok, let’s see if this will work!

Knitting! Let's talk about knitting for a bit.  Although I have been the crazy ski coach of rural Alaska, I have been knitting while traveling Back and forth to ski races.  I am working on a pair of socks that I should have gone down a needle size for, but of course, I  didn't.  I am not in love with the floppy feel of the gauge or the yarn as I know it will pill up.  I am hoping once I toss the finished socks into the dryer the yarn will blossom and snug up a bit.

Socks in Malabrigo sock yarn.

The next knitted item off the needles is another hat for my sister.  I had some superwash German yarn in a bright pink.  I know she will enjoy the color and hat style.  I knitted a favorite hat design of mine the Coming Home Hat.  I have knitted a few of these hats and enjoy the texture and design elements.  The Coming Home Hat is designed by Aimee Alexander of PDS Sheep.  Her patterns are tested knitted, have a nice layout that allows for easy reading and space for notes if you like to jot down ideas/notes as you work.

Flying to ski races on our school district plane!

The finished hat which came out great and my sister loves it as well!

I am test knitting another of Aimee's designs.  I will update this once the pattern is published.  Let me say it would be a great design/pattern for a beginner cable knitter.

Loch Lomond Hat

Next but not last is Solstice which has been tucked away once the Iditarod and Spring Break rolled into my life, followed by ski racing.  This is my major work for the winter.  I am working on the neck area. I really need to get this figured out pronto! Then, I can finish the colorwork on the upper sleeves.

This is Eleanor. All JAZZED UP!

This is Eleanor my next sweater which is now off the needles.

The sweater is done! 
This is what I call a barn sweater: functional, durable, wearable in many conditions, useful, a workhorse sweater that will be used for hiking and outdoor activities.
Knitted in Jamieson's of Shetland Chunky Weight.

Provisional cast-on, as I am not sure if I will have enough yarn for the sleeve and body ribbing. I did have enough yarn but opted for a hem on sleeves and body. I will use a crochet cast-on for this technique as it can be pulled easier.  Think grain bag of feed and this will make sense to those of you who know about grain bags.

Eleanor is a story in the making and yet Eleanor's story has been lived, is still being lived, and drawing towards a close.  Eleanor is my mother who always went as Betty and NOT Eleanor all my life.  As I was knitting the first sleeve and looking at the colors of the yarn a story started to form.  The name of the sweater, the colors, the mystic of a person's life all came together.

                         

I am not sure others knit like this or in this fashion.  I must have some connection to either place, yarn, design there is something that pulls me to knit an item with a certain yarn that will eventually become a story. This sweater, yarn, and location will meld itself together into Eleanor my mother and her story through my eyes, fingers, needles, and yarn.

I leave tomorrow for a rather long air flight to New Jersey.  For the amount of time, it will take me to travel I could be going to Scotland to walk in the Lake district or the Shetland Isles.  I will fly from the village I live in on the Bering Sea to Anchorage about 400 miles away if the weather allows a plane to land and take off.  Once in Anchorage, I will meet up with some ski friends and head to a dinner.  I will come back to the airport and wait for my 12:33 a.m. departure to Seattle.  I believe I arrive in Seattle close to 5:00 a.m.  I will be off for some good coffee and a nice walk around the airport to get the blood flowing.  I will board another plane and take off for Philadelphia about 8:00 a.m.  Fly non-stop to Philly and land around 4:30 p.m.  My sister will pick me up and hustle me to my mother's home.  

There I will find an aging Eleanor who is struggling with growing old and its limitations.  For me it will be a look into the future will I age like this, will I have the same ailments, the same struggles, will I be alone, will I what?  What will I find? What will I see? What will Mom be like?  Shorter, almost deaf, aging . . . we all age and we all will struggle some more than others. 

                                 

The sweater is coming with me for several reasons!  I need to knit on such a long flight, I need to have something to do once I am at my mom's house.  She can talk and tell her stories I can knit and listen. Those stories will be knitted into my Eleanor that I will wear for years to come.  Like Eleanor the yarn is strong and sturdy it is Shetland chunky weight yarn with depth. Three strands spun together a dark grey, a light grey, and a slate blue-grey.

The soccer champ and his coach/dad.

This is the Jazz part of Eleanor as well this yarn needed a burst of life!  A nice Briggs and Little Regal 100% wool yarn to give this sweater a bit of JAZZ!

Briggs and Little Yarn Regal from Schoolhouse Press.

Eleanor doing one of the things she loves which is working in her yard and garden.  This is one of the things aging is causing issues with for her. 

Eleanor all Jazzed up!

Knit & Ski or Ski & Knit

A traditional Norwegian drop shoulder sweater using Bartlett sport weight yarn, EZ's percentage system, and motifs from a variety of sources.

2/16/18 Time for a blog post.  Our ski race for this weekend was postponed until next weekend due to our charming weather out here on the edge of the Bering Sea.  It never fails . . . when I felt the most organized for a ski race ever!  Bering Air said, "We haven't flown into Koyuk since last Friday, we are not flying in now due to weather: snow, blowing snow, and the death of airlines: Freezing Rain!  Now I will be honest, the last place I want to be stuck with 16 middle school kids is Koyuk!

2/17/18 Staying home and weathering out the storm in my HOUSE sounds like a grand idea.  Only the storm hasn't been bad other than a lot of wind today which is Saturday.  Our first ski practice of the day was with the elementary ski crew grades 1st through 4th. A competent group of young skiers had the great joy of tackling winds over 20 mph.  UGH!  No matter what this is one of the hardest places to try to be skiers.  Between, winds, overflow, storms, cold, and lack of new snow for long stretches . . . we keep the village kids skiing.

Groomed and skiers skiing up Picnic Hill a long climb that is really fun to blast down!

The girls sitting and listening to the kids who are way down at the bottom that came out to ski on their own.  As you can see we groom and ski the drifts as the tundra doesn't hold much snow in winds over 30mph.

My husband who grooms for us.  We use an Arctic Cat BearCat and a YTS groomer.

This is Round About that we ski out to most days. I have started to call this "Candy Land." It looks like the game board when we get all the colorful cones and hoops set up for the skiers to use for games which build skills.

This would be "overflow" usually we ski across this area but on Wednesday we had a water obstacle to add more fun or is that challenges to our skiing.

Our older skiers which we call race Team.  This is part of the crew we travel to ski races with.

Knitting . . . I am loving my sweater which I named Winter Solstice.  The motifs are coming together nicely and I enjoy planning as I knit.  The overall theme of this piece is winter, snow, mountains, and cross-country skiing.  Each motif has a meaning that relates to the theme.  I have tried it on a few times and I can not say enough why this is so important!  I place the body on two long circular needles and slip it on.  I have been able to correct most sizing errors using this method. Trying on your knitting and measuring it all the time is really important I think to have a successful and wearable knitted item.

Village Happenings:  We have clean running water again.  Some major leaks have been found and work will be done on those in the spring or summer.  There is still a huge hole out by our place and that will be there for some time I know!  We have the Iron Dog Race about to arrive early this week.  The largest event the Iditarod Dog Sled Race will be arriving in March.

Our daylight is lengthening to over 9 hours of daylight and increasing daily.  Our daylight even seems longer as sunrise and sunset are rather exaggerated this far north.  The daily colors that greet us in the sky are just stunning!  We are lucky to have these stunning northern colors close our days, too.