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!