Australia Zoo

Australia Zoo
Originally uploaded by ak2outside

We went on 15 Nov, which coincidentally happened to be Steve Irwin Day, with a ton of festivities and activities, and shows, and t-shirts, and all that kinda stuff. I enjoyed it tremendously.

Working on blogging through flickr, as I recommended to a friend of mine. Anyone have suggestions on posting multiple photos through flickr? I might have to go back the old blogger entries. Thought I would try this one out. Let's see how it works...

From Dream to Experience

To expand on the title of this post, in August I was dreaming of an October Afternoon and now I am experiencing an October Afternoon. And soon to be experiencing an "outside in the cold of our October Afternoon." I have been so busy that I have not even had enough time to even think of posting. September was a blur. We closed the Dredge for the season, maintenance petered on me and I now have a couple weeks of unaccomplished tasks on my plate. The house is sucking up every available second of my time. We now have a 180 foot well in development. Today they are installing the water line to the house. We have to bring the line inside to the boiler/water heater/ reverse osmosis futuristic machine/ etc and then insulate the whole damned thing, then bury it. Tonight I get to start installing the baffles so we can start in on insulation. The lines for the radiant floor heating have started to be installed (outside contractor) that we have to clean up around. The island was installed, the electric was installed, the windows were installed, the doors were installed, the fuel tank was installed. Some of the work was contracted out, most of it was not. We still need plumbing thoughout the house, gypsum poured, insulation installed and then we can start the drywalling, painting, floor installation. I was under the gross-misunderstading that as soon as winter came, there would be hiatus in the work and winter would just settle and we would be done with the house until early spring. This is not the case. We will be working every day until we move in, with the exception of vacations. Every day, until an average of 9/10 pm, and all day on the weekends. We are going to Australia at the end of this month, and Mexico for Christmas (not yet confirmed through corporate travel) and then Hawaii in the spring. My only saving grace has been the lovely Fairbanks Fiberistas knitting group when I get a chance to get away from this frickin' house to have a couple hours to myself to knit and socialize. I don't know which I like more: the knitting or the socializing. Dredge is lonely being here all by myself. Well before the "all work and no play, makes my sanity go away" here is a glimpse at the projects I have completed since my Dreaming of an October Afternoon: Pattern: Shifting Sands Yarn: Malabrigo "Oscuro Marron" cast on: July21 bind off: Aug24 As you can tell from the background, this was knit quite a while ago. Now we have snow. I love this scarf, it is so soft and thick and wide and WARM! The yarn is a dream and I wear it as often as I possibly can.

Pattern: Halema'uma'u Socks designed by Debbie O'Neill for The Loopy Ewe

Yarn: Handmaiden Casbah (80% merino, 10% cashmere, 10%nylon) in the "Loopified" colorway

These went home with Mom. I am not a lover of the red/black combo, but the Loopy Ewe was having a 2nd Anniversary kit with my true love: Casbah, a mug, a pin, great pattern, a couple wet-on tatoos and best of all a Loopy Ewe coffee mug. Just as I finished weaving in the ends, I rose to make some hot chocolate with Kahlua and damned if I didnt drop the mug and scream as the ceramics shattered on the wood floor of the office.

A whole pair of socks and I got nothin'. I made Parker wear one of the tatoos (to his extreme horror when I told him "Yes it is removable, it comes off in a couple weeks" {ha ha, comes off with alcohol}), the pins are not my thing, the socks went to Mom, the pattern still exists, but the mug was going to be my prize for being so giving with the Casbah. Oops!

Pattern: k2, p2 rib with purl row, knit row, purl row break for the cuff.

Yarn: Earthly Hues "Brick Road"

Christmas socks for Parker. He loves orange, so these were some simple no-brainers. Not a whole lot to talk about with these babies. Sweet and simple.

Pattern: Felted Moebius

Yarn: Brown Sheep Bulky

Since I cannot get the little bottles off the kitchen table, at least I can make a nice looking basket to house them in. Now, I tried to do this all by my big-girl self, but had to bow to the Moebius Goddess to assist with the cast on. This last weekend I bought some Manos and by damn, I will do these baskets without assistance. We will see.

Dreaming of an October Afternoon

Pattern: Terradance Socks by Lori Law of Ocean Wind Knits

Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug in "October Afternoon"

Needle: addiTurbo size 2 then 1 40"circ; magic loop

Cast on: July22 Bind off: Aug28

Really, these socks are merely plain vanilla socks. k2p2 rib, stockinette stitch leg, heel, turn, decrease, foot, toe, done. I paid for the pattern because of the heel. The picture on the pattern was this awesome looking linen stitch and I am a sucker for my desire to learn something new. The kicker for me was the linen stitch didn't work for me. I emailed the designer to see if I was doing something wrong; she replied promptly to inform me my stitches were correct. Maybe my colors might have been too varigated for the stitch, or my tension too tight, or a million different reasons; all giving me the result I did not intend. Oh, well. The colorway is fabulous so I will have to live with that.

The yarn is Colinette Jitterbug. I bought it on the Loopy Ewe merely because of the name, "October Afternoon". October is by far one of my favorite months for several reasons: 1) I got married on the 4th (ten-four good buddy), 2) tourist season has officially ended and I can relax/vacation/de-stress/clean my house, and 3) cooler knit-friendly weather.

I started with a size2 and decreased to size1 for the foot. The change is visible. The leg is size2 with deep pooling, while the foot is more of a swirling stripe. Cool none-the-less.

And speaking of cool: I now have windows! It amazes me the transformation that occurs when the windows are installed. My plywood box is starting to resemble a house! Doors come in later next week with the garage doors coming by the end of September. Electricity was brought down from the pole Wednesday. Today is/was Saturday and we installed all the electric boxes on the 2nd floor and in the laundry room, guest bathroom and guest bedroom. Tomorrow the rest of the house is scheduled for electric boxes and the start of the plumbing. We still need to schedule the well and get the radiant floor hoses installed, gypsum poured. Then we can insulate and seal her up until Spring. Whoo hoo! Home building is a lot of work, just as I expected. The thing that surprises me the most: HiOhSilver and I haven't fought like I have heard rumors that spouses do during home builds. I am so relieved. I would hate to have to bury him in the back yard or throw him into the Tanana. He is useful. Damned useful. And fun. And charming. And caring. Hon? are you reading this? I know my birthday is coming up. I love you! Know what else I love? Macro lens. and yarnie gift certificates. and Coach purses. and french bulldogs. and more yarn certificates. Inua is right down from your office. Hon? Hon? Oh well, guess he left. He is great though.

Sock Club Slacker

Pattern: Cleopatra's Stockings by Yarnissima for Blue Moon Fiber Art's Socks that Rock May shipment. Yarn: str "The Incredible Shrinking Violet" in lightweight Needle: size1 addi Turbos cast on: July17 bind off: July30 Yes, it was MAY's shipment. I have been so preoccupied with my own knitting, that I have let the Rockin' Sock Club shipment rock the stash bag(s). I hear that the next shipment is starting to ship internationally, so that gives me one week plus standard US shipping until a whole new package come. There is some pressure to cast on! This sock took some patience, some time to think the direction over, and a lot of deep breathing. I am not the type of knitter to get upset when every step of the pattern is not given to me spoonful by spoonful, but I did feel like there were "a couple planks missing on this girls dock". I made the smallest size for my size 8 1/2 foot because the Leafling (March's shipment) was overly generous on the size. After I tried the sock on before the heel increase (interrupt: these are made toe up) I came to the brilliant awareness that each sock pattern comes from a different designer so one design's generous proportions are another's snug-lovin'. I added two sts on each side for the heel increase and moved to a size2 circ for the leg. My socks were almost a full repeat shorter than the design. I followed the directions, but should have used my intuition instead and did an additional repeat. Overall, I give this pattern a solid A. Genuine construction, original thought on pattern, a challenge for me and a gorgeous rewarding sock for sticking it out and finishing the task. I read a lot gave up and made Monkeys. I am greatful I had the fortitude to stick it out. Ravelry helped! Oh, and I learned how to conceal wrapped stitches. If you dont know, check it out: Cat Bordhi rocks! And the house is going well. We have a certified septic system that my DH installed himself! Hubbie rules! There is now a roof. Both decks are installed. The windows arrived at the supplier last week and as soon as the framer gets back from vacation, we will have those installed as well. Doors are ordered. Garage door still needs to be ordered. Dirt work is done. We still need to install the well and put up the insulation sheet on the outside. Then it is considered "dried in" for winter. We hope to run plumbing and electric ourselves and install the piping for the radiant floor and have the contractor come and pour the gypsum. Siding goes up this spring and the lawn will not be installed until mid-next-summer. Whew, we have been working like dogs!

The Quick Sock

Pattern: "H" Sock Yarn: Dream in Color Classy in Deep Seaflower Needles: KnitPicks size4 40"circ Cast on: July 10 Bind off: July 16 These socks were so quick that the author decided to give it only one letter! Yes, these socks only took me six days, and I wasn't knitting from morning to night. I hold a demanding job, a full family and I managed to knit these socks in the evenings and one weekend away from the construction on the house. I have made many things from Dream in Color and I have yet to be disappointed. I LOVE this yarn. The pattern is a series of knits and purls, easy memorization, and just a plain "quick knit". The pattern is in the book 2-at-a-time SOCKS which I bought for the patterns and not for the technique.

Socks are for Moms birthday later this month. She loves the color because it is so close to the colorings of the Northern Lights. As soon as Inua has more, I will buy a few more skeins. Both in the Deep Seaflower and Happy Forest.

What is a "Kaibashira"?

Pattern: Kaibashira Yarn: Spunky Eclectic Needle: Size2 40"circ cast on: June 24 cast off: July 9 So, what IS a "Kaibashira"? As Chrissy Gardiner, the creator of the Kaibashira says, "Named after the sushi term for the eye of the scallop (i.e. the yummy part), this sock was conceived on a recent trip to Tokyo after I scored a pair of Japanese stitch dictionaries from the yarn section in the large department store Matsuyo. Made from a single ball of SWTC Tofutsies sock yarn, which contains antibacterial chitin (made from ground-up bits of shell from various sea creatures), this is the perfect summer sock - airy, lightweight and guaranteed not to make you sweat.” Okay, well now we know what a Kaibashira is, lets here more about the sock. Designed by Chrissy Gardiner, who is... uhm is... well... is incredibly frickin' amazing and has been published in More Big Girl Knits, Knitscene, Interweave, BMFA, Woolgirl, numberous other sock clubs all while hosting her own pattern store: Gardiner Yarn Works. True to the description given above, the sock is airy, lightweight, but "guaranteed not to make you sweat"? Not in the wool I choose: soft, subtle 5ply Merino/Nylon Sport is heaven for your feet, just not at the height of July! I selected this pattern when looking for a suitable usage for my Spunky Eclectic Super Nova in Chocolate Covered Cherries from my favorite LYS Inua Wool. The pattern was posted by another member of the Sock-A-Month knitalong blog (I haven't contacted the poster, so I won't mention her name without permission). Within five minutes of viewing her sock, I had the pattern printed and was set to cast on. The scallops at the top had me hooked at first glance! The knit-poster called them the Best Socks in the World and after knitting them, I whole-heartedly agree. The technique was a joy to learn and the pattern is gorgeous. Actual casting of the sock was a SHOCK. I had never in my life casted on 187 sts for a sock! Yep, read that right... 187 stitches to cast on. After the scallops, the stitch count went down to a much more reasonable 66 sts on the round. The leg pattern has a lovely fan & feather motif and is flawless in its authoring. I found no problems with knitting these babies up. They are soft and gorgeous. Unfortunately, they are not quite my style. I will use the scalloping technique again on baby items, but these puppies are going in the gift basket (since it is now empty from all of the birthdays that came this summer). Overall, this sock is amazing. I recommend it highly to sock knitter with a lust for ruffles and a couple socks under their belt. I plan to make this pattern again with the only alteration being a three purl curled cuff, similar to the edge of my Chevron scarf. Hopefully in a blueberry or sage colorway. I just might have some yarn in my stash. I'm off to look...

Quick photo updates

I have walls! Whoo hoo! And stairs... and closets... and a second floor... and bathroom layouts... and windows... but no roof. The trusses are going in as I type. The framer is progressing at a massive speed. I cannot fathom how much work he has been able to achieve in such a short amount of time. I wish I could be that effective. It is so nice to drive up the road and see the house sitting there. So many details HiOhSilver and I have worked out, argued on, discussed including, discussed excluding, walls moved, walls moved again, and wall moved yet again; and now we can finally see the proof of all of our planning. In six working days, we went from foundation to 2nd floor. Tired from working on the house every weekend and after work every workday, HiOh and I decided to take the kids camping. And did we take just the kids? No, we took the kids and four of their friends. Where in my blind eye did the thought of taking nine teenagers camping strike me as a "good idea"? Whereever that cell in my brain is located, my the vodka tonight kill it. Kill it, dead! I love my kids, but never again will I take them camping with their friends. Pack mentality took over. If my son ever acts that stupid, I will take him out into the woods and shoot him myself. Now, dont turn me into the cops just yet, it was just a figure of speech, but damn. Teenagers DO NOT have a grip on reality. Yet I totally ran off topic. Sorry the knit on the sock is a bit tight. I was stressed. I started the Kaibashira sock in the Spunky Eclectic's Chocolate Covered Cherries colorway for Mom's birthday, only to decide that the pattern isn't quite for her. I will soon have a very frilly pair of lace red socks. Hum, anyone requesting ruffly red socks for Christmas?