A Late Check In

At 10:00 I thought there was no way I was going to be able to get that first repeat done. I almost gave up and went to bed (probably what I should have done ;-).  In the spirit of the Iditarod I pushed on...and I did it!

As The Sun Sets In The Yukon

"Could you stop knitting and feed us?"

I am not going to reach my goal of 20 rows today.  I'm not even getting close.  Another rookie mistake.  The number of stitches increases on every row.  Each two row pair adds six stitches to the count.  They are adding up fast and I didn't take that into consideration this morning.  

I still should be able to get through the first repeat of the lace body tonight.  That's two days for the first repeat and maybe two and a half days for the second?  I think two repeats should balance out well.  Then, the third section, which is less rows, but they are really long rows...maybe two days?  That puts me at the bind off on Monday, maybe Tuesday...if all goes well.  Hopefully the Red Lantern will still be burning. 

Hazards On The Trail. Big Hazards.

Chilly morning, but the snow had melted from the stone steps - a perfect spot to knit a couple rows.    I could watch the sheep finish up breakfast, listen to the birds, try to figure out what the chickens are up to  all day... 

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, those are real sheeps!!!"

Our awesome farm sitter rescued these tiny Serta sheep from a yard sale thinking 20 might like some cousins.  They fit perfectly in my knitting basket and have been keeping me company on the Iknitarod trail. 

"And that's the sheep your yarn came from?  That is SO COOL!  Hey, Keebler!  Can you come over here?"

Um, that would be a no.  Remember, he's "complicated" ;-).

It was a beautiful morning.  Sheeps all around, horses out grazing in the sun...

Blossom picking at some winter grass through the snow.

My goal is 20 rows today.  I got 10 yesterday and surely I'm getting a little faster and I have had a little more free time today.  I should be knitting right now, but what transpired next was so funny I thought I'd come in for another cup of coffee share with the (delusional) Graham Lamb fan club. 

Uh oh.

And my trusty guard dog is taking a nap!

Nope, he's right on it.  He knows to always keep an eye on Graham.  I do too and was just getting ready to go grab my bag...but he was so cute sniffing the little sheep.  Maybe I'll take a quick picture.  Maybe it will be okay. 

So, let's think back over the years.  Has there ever been a time when Graham got involved in something that ended well?

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Yeah, um, that'd be a no. 

"You s'posed to be doing that?"

"Yeah, she said it was okay."  

For the record, I did not.  Ever.  And the next 2 seconds were like a slow motion scene in an action movie.  He makes a grab for the bag while I'm yelling "Nooooooooooh!"

And then it was over.

Oh, the carnage.

Somehow the shawl stayed safely on the mounting block, the attached yarn flying freely from the center pull ball as it hurdled through the air.  The snow cushioned the yarn bowl and Hank quickly attended to the Serta Sheep.  

Whew.

As I picked up everything I felt a tiny bit like the video of/by Jeff King on the Iditarod Insider yesterday.  He's wearing a GoPro camera, filming as his dogs carry him down the trail whether he's upright...or not.  At one point you can see him scrambling to stop the dogs and his upside down sled.  They do finally stop, he picks everything up, rights his sled and continues on.  

Continuing on!

In An Out At The Margarita Check Point

Uh oh.  That doesn't seem like a sound race strategy.

;-)

Day Five - Quick Update

Still a little snow here, but it's melting fast. I know everyone else is happy about that, but I love snow.  I'm trying to enjoy it while it lasts.

The sun was plenty warm so I sat outside to knit after lunch.  Figured out the self-timer setting ;-).

Moved over to the bench when my back started getting tired.

Poor Weaslie and her rock pillow.  The dogs, cats, horses and sheep slept most of the afternoon.  The chickens stayed busy.  Of course.

Slow but steady and all forward progress today, so we took a break and had another pine tree party :-D.  This is about the end of the ice storm damage.

The lace is just starting to show.

Stopping for evening chores and dinner and then hoping to hit it hard this evening.

"My" musher, like so many others this year, has had to withdraw after a serious injury.  The trail conditions are horrible and it's really taken it's toll.  It sounds like she's given her sled to another musher whose sled was badly damaged.  That does not surprise me.

In And Out At The Start Of Chart B

I made up my lost ground from Chart A and have completed two rows from Chart B.

Going to fix a cup of cocoa and check in on the Iditarod. Brutal day on the trail up there, too. 

A Tough Day On The Iknitarod Trail

The day started with so much promise. It was in the teens, but the snow was pretty and the sun reflecting off it so warm I was able to sit out on the back porch and double check my stitches from late last night, put in a life line, stitch markers for each section and start knitting.

The first pattern row called for quite a few yarn overs, a stitch combo that creates a "hole" (on purpose) in your knitting.  The directions called for a different style yarn over than I was accustomed to, but I thought I understood what she was saying.  I didn't.

I could tell my next row wasn't working right.  I quickly identified that the yarn overs were incorrect, but thought I could fix them.  My hands were starting to get cold though, but it was too pretty to go inside.  I remembered sitting out in the snow with Maisie last year and decided I could still use my car as a solar heated knitting shelter :-).

I pulled up to the barn so I could watch some "farm tv" while I knitted and wished Maisie was still by my side.  She was a lot of work, but worth every bit of it.  Look!  There she is, headed down the hill.  The only sheep interested in venturing out in the snow.

Yep, she's my girl :-D.

I kept tinkering with the wrong stitches, stopped for a lunch break and when I came back out, peeked around the corner at the boys.  You'd have to be having a really bad day for this not to make you smile :-).

Maisie made another trip out while I kept working and the horses dosed.  It really was a lovely afternoon...except for the knitting.  Or I should say the NOT knitting.

To make a long story short, I worked and worked on fixing my mistakes.  I think I did fix them, but the "fixed" stitches still looked suspicious to me even though I couldn't prove they were still wrong.  I finally decided the only way I was truly going to be happy was to rip it back to the life line (see the thread run through my last known correct row of knitting?) and start fresh.

To soften the blow the sheeps and I had a pine tree party.

Miss Maisie, our little Iknitarod mascot.  Who'd have ever thought she'd grow up so big and strong :-).

Woolliam in the middle.

While they finished up, I headed back to the car, picked up the life line stitches and knit the first row to make sure I was safely back on the trail.

This is actually the Dragging Pine Branch Trail ;-). 

On the way back to the house after evening chores.  A little taste of Alaska...except we have snow and they don't :-/.

Okay, I've got my lantern blazing and I'm going to go try to regain some of my lost ground tonight!

In At [First Checkpoint]

If you have any interest in the Iditarod, I encourage you to explore iditarod.com.  The Insider packages give you even more info and videos, but even the free stuff is fantastic.  As the mushers check into each checkpoint, they post "so and so in at Rainy Pass"...  I'm in at the first major check point and heading on to the first lace section in the morning.

Racing To Catch Up - Part Two

I put Daniel back in with the rest of the boys on Saturday afternoon.  He hadn't been horrible to Burrnie, but just bossy and butty enough that I didn't feel comfortable leaving them together unsupervised.  A few days off seemed to do the trick. Just to be safe though, when I put everyone together, I stayed out with them for awhile.

We hung around the barn for a bit and then I decided to walk out to the front and sit under one of the pine trees.  Chocula saw me heading out on an adventure and took off after me.  I trained my camera on him as he ran and didn't notice Comby until I got back in the house.  I think these are hysterical.

"Hey, wait up for me."

"Uh oh!"

"Yikes!!!"

"Glad that fence is close by!"

And here comes Burrnie and Daniel. 

Can you hear the Bill Cosby baby buggy wheels soapbox car music?

Okay, now that's really hysterical!

Hershey finally lumbers down and Burrnie wonders why he's eating an old tree stump.

"Ooh, cool.  I see what you mean!"

Hanging out with Chocula...and a chicken.  Those crazy Adventure Chickens.

The band of brothers.