Author: Kelly

Here we go, Again!

~ another 1,000 mile dog race – another late week-night music concert

Yarn pile
Pile of handspun yarn for colorwork hats

The Yukon Quest sled dog race, which happened a couple weeks back, was a huge distraction from life as usual.   I followed the race, I posted about the race, I spun up some yarn for a special project and daydreamed about knitting that special project while following the race – and in the middle of the race, musicians showed up at my house and a Live Recording took place, and I got distracted from my distraction.

tuner
Tuner – among the fun oddities brought by musician friends

Now, believe it or not, every bit of that is happening all over again.  The Iditarod, which is taking place right now, is another 1,000 mile sled dog race which is held in Alaska over the course of 8-15 days.  In the midst of that race, musicians are once again about to descend upon my (very uncleaned, somewhat cluttered, very old kinda-falling-apart) house – this time, for a concert.  I would be extremely alarmed about the latter, if I wasn’t so distracted by the former!

I know – sled dog racing is a very, very small niche in the world; but, this is the end of it’s prime season, so bear with me for a moment!  This year’s Iditarod race is being covered in more ways than ever before, and in more ways than any other sled dog race.  In part, this extensive coverage has to do with the invention and acquisition of amazing technology; mainly, video cameras that are able to shoot HD images in minus-zero degree temperatures, then broadcast those images to the world from the middle of an un-networked wilderness, via satellite uplink.  I find these technological advances fascinating – but that’s a story for another time.  The fact is, that when you take place as vast as Alaska, and zero in on a very small part of it, most of the time: nothing happens.  But when you’re watching that small part of it and something does happen, it’s really, really exciting!!

Whatever the reason you’re drawn to the Iditarod, the fact is that more and more of the fan base lives outside of the race’s home state of Alaska.  What the extensive media coverage really means is a whole lot of screen time for race fans.  The official race site offers videos, fan forums, and frequent race updates; there are also many forums on unofficial fan sites, multiple pages on Facebook to follow, as well as regional and international news coverage of the event.  I also treat myself to the “Iditarod Insider” package deal (my birthday gift to me, and also a way to help support the race).  As an “Insider”, I get access to Live GPS race tracking, special video interviews, and Insider race coverage.  Also this year, for the first time ever, there is Live coverage at all the checkpoints along the race course.  Again, keep in mind the sub-zero temperatures and remote locations.  The official GPS tracker for the race automatically updates every 4 minutes.  This gizmo basically gives you an at-the-moment rundown of the race standings, and shows you when something exciting might be about to happen at a checkpoint.   Combine that with the Live coverage at a checkpoint, which shows you the exciting things that are happening right now!, and add in all the other updates out there on the www (all open simultaneously in separate tabs, of course), and you’ve got a sure-fire way to keep yourself glued to a chair in front of your computer for a very, very long time!

Iknitahat2016
Snow dog hat #1 – casting on

Here’s where having a really good reason to tear your eyes away from the computer screen, is essential.  For my Iknitarod project during this year’s race, I spun up a pile of yarn, enough for two colorwork hats.  If I finish these during the race, they’ll be my first ever colorwork items.  I’m well on my way on hat #1, but as fast as the teams are traveling down the trail this year, it looks like I’m going to have to up the ante to get these done before the last team crosses the finish line.  That is another unknown; since any team can scratch from the race, or be officially withdrawn at any time, the deadline for my projects (the end of the race) is an undefined and ever-moving target.  The truly ambitious and fleet-fingered members of my Iknitarod group are knitting sweaters, afghans, and skirts.  I am trying just to get through a hat or two!  Combined with the hosting of house guests, assisting with late-night concerts, and – oh yes – St. Patrick’s Day is next week: I’m hoping for the best, but I know I’m not going to have a whole lot of extra time for fiber play.  But, in case you couldn’t tell: I’m having a ton of fun with it, anyway!

Remember the dog fur from the freezer?  Here it is, in all its newly blended glory:

BlendedCorgino
Cardigan Corgi fur and fine Australian merino = “Corgino”! Spinning batt.

“Do you know there’s dog fur in your freezer?”

~ and other examples of living with a fiber addict

This was the question asked by a concerned house guest last week.

Freezing Fiber
Cold storage – Ice cubes, Ice cream, spinning fiber

By now, My Guy is more than accustomed to my strange ways with wool.  Yarn hanging from the shower curtain or draped over radiators? A metal mixing bowl filled with fleece and suds sitting on the floor of the bathtub?  Bits of fleece scattered on the rocker on the front porch, plastic wrapped roving in the top rack of the dish washer with the cups and bowls?  He doesn’t even blink anymore; and, more importantly, he knows not to move anything resembling wool unless it’s cold.

Last week, while our musician friends were visiting, and in between rehearsals for our live recording, I managed to get a good amount of work done on some fiber projects.  Part of what I did was go through my stash – and I found several ziplock bags of saved Chien fiber (i.e. dog hair) that I wanted to spin during the Iditarod coming up in a couple weeks.  We’ve never remotely had any bug issues (knock on wood); but it’s dog fur, and I’m squitchy about anything potentially crawly in my yarn – even just stink bugs (ew).    So even though I’d already washed it, dried it, and sealed it in plastic over a year ago: into the freezer it went, for good measure.  Later this week, our cuddly fur-baby’s shed coat will be scoured again, dried, and blended with wool.  All of this, I was more than happy to explain to our house guests when they found baggies of dog fur next to the ice cubes.  They took it pretty well, really, all the while looking like they expected me to get to a punchline at any minute.

To those not part of the fiber world, spinning is probably strange enough.  While dog hair yarn is becoming more and more commonplace inside the spinning circle – and is now even available to knitters in small commercially produced batches, although I can’t remember the name of the vendor I found at Rhinebeck – I doubt Chiengora clothing is going to hit the mainstream anytime soon.  Still, I’m happy for the chance to get people wondering about what their clothes are made from, and where that material comes from.  Even if I am cutting a record with those people, and they’re staying in my fiber festooned house.  Even if they do stop using the frosted beer mugs from the freezer.

This week’s flowers are musicians

Crafting dance steps, meals, and friendship

Instead of flowers, friends arrived on Tuesday.  We immediately set about making merry with our house guests, who most recently hail from California via Boston, and Virginia via New Orleans.  There was dancing, there was drinking, there was cooking, there was chatting.  After two long, intense, all-hours days of practice and playing, on Thursday evening we recorded a live album in the upstairs venue of a local pub.

Next week, we’ll get back to our regularly scheduled flower photos.  Right now, I’m going to go catch up on a lot of missed sleep!

Little Big Dog String Band
Recording Live, upstairs at Bertha’s