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Tuesday, March 4, 2014

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!


10 comments:

Alice said...

Gosh! You kinda made lemonade out of a lemony day.... Aren't those memories of days past just great to get you through challenges like today? Still so much blessings and reasons to be happy. Stay warm inside and outside :-)

Andee said...

I hope you get it all worked out!

Stephen Andrew said...

That last photo is stunning!! I don't speak knitting so I have no idea what happened but it sounds like you had a nice afternoon :)

Lori Skoog said...

I love what Stephen said about not speaking knitting. Ditto. Ripping out again? You can do it Sara! There is nothing that comes close to watching sheep tv. Great shots. That is some sunset.

Het Wolbeest said...

Clever that lifeline! Must figure out how that works myself. Friend of mine mentioned it too some while ago; frustrating having to rip back... Love to read your stories! Have a nice day! Love, Alexandra

I need orange said...

Loving the snow/knitting pics, and the sheeps. Thank you for bringing us along!

karen said...

so glad you found your mistake and you know I give myself about 30 minutes to unknit a problem, any more time then I rip back. I find that it's the best to just rip. Lovely bright photos!!

thecrazysheeplady said...

Um, so why didn't you leave this comment BEFORE I spent/wasted hours working on it??? ;-) That was my rookie mistake. I could have ripped back and fixed three times in the amount of time and stress I wasted try to repair it. I hate being defeated on something like that, but yeesh. As fast as the front runners are running and with as many mushers who've dropped out do to injuries, those hours might actually defeat me in the end.

amyfibre said...

Seems like your knitting troubles are somehow appropriate given the mushers' troubles on the trail. Sounds like the trail into Nikolai was about as problematic as your lace. Although I hope there's potential lace injuries lurking. (Can you believe Burmeister trying to finish the race with a torn ACL. That's an unimaginable level of toughness.)

Anyway...rooting you on! And yes, it's amazing to see little Maisie all grown up. You worked a miracle there!

Anonymous said...

Oh, goodness. It sounds like you chose the right project for Iknitarod..."The toughest knit on earth." Sending bug hugs and cheering you on over here! :)

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