We speak the language "Woolish"

Although she didn't speak English and I didn't speak Quechua, only a tiny bit of Spanish, we communicated in "Woolish" and I learned to spin wool the Peruvian highland's way. She showed me how she does it while I waited for my husband and our friend, Liz to check out a nearby waterfall. She made it look so easy. I was intrigued by this woman's skills, her layers and layers of colorful skirts and her adorable lamb as well as her spinning method. When she saw I was excited about wool, she hopped up and scrambled to a nearby tree under which she had a blanket. She returned with a bag of her spun wool. Of course I bought 5 balls of yarn since it was 100% Peruvian wool (sheep), spun by her, and a great price. What else could I do? Peru was magical to me for the beauty of the Andes, the mystical Inca ruins, and especially for the people, like this woman.

Yarn in Old Town Quito

Ecuador folks prefer to knit and crochet with acrylic blends because wool is too itchy, I am told. They like bright colors too. We happened upon this excellent craft shop with thread, ribbon, fabric, beads and best of all, a wall of yarn.

Balancing the Egg

At the equator, about 45 minutes outside of Quito, Ecuador, at latitude 00'00'00, I balanced an egg faster than anyone else. It was beginner's luck, no doubt. It's one of the fun experiments they show people who come to see which way the water will flow and nerdy things like that.

There are two places that claim to be the middle of the world. One is "Mitad del Mundo" which is very touristy but still worth the trip up the tower. (Take the stairs down for the fun displays after going up in the elevator, but skip the rest of the park and go to the other place instead). The REAL equator is 240 meters away from Mitad del Mundo, the EXACT middle of the world (now that we have GPS). Those French dudes (the French Geodesic Mission) did a darn good job, with what they had to work with when they calculated the particular place of the equator way back in 1745.

Yarn in the Sacred Valley

A wall of yarn dries after it is dyed (natural dyes) in a village in the Sacred Valley near Cusco, Peru.

Machu Picchu

Liz and I experiencing the ancient ruins early in the morning.

Otavalo Market

A woman in Otavalo, Ecuador spins and knits in the afternoon Andes sun on the plaza.

Ashford Loom Factory

Tom and I visited Ashburton, Canterbury, New Zealand and stopped by the Ashford Loom Factory for lunch (they have a cafe and restaurant with seating inside and out). Afterward, we had a look around the the museum and shops. My fave was the loom shop where there was plenty of yarn for sale. I'm on a yarn diet so I didn't buy very much...only enough to make a sweater and a few other colors for making baby booties and such. : ) I need to open my own shop to get some of the stash out of every nook and cranny in my house. I mean, really. It's getting to be an obsession. I might need an intervention...

and then...

McMurdo, travel, USA, New Zealand, McMurdo, New Zealand. There was family stuff, sad stuff, and there was parting, death, hurt, and getting to know more family. And through it all there was always knitting. Sprialing on through the tick tock and the miles. But now it's all about being together on the same continent again and I'm so ready. Thank you for the good and thank you for getting me through the bad to the other side. Life goes on. Everything has a season. Everything Ends. There are always new beginnings.

Sir Ed (1919-2008)

Sir Edmund Hillary, a great adventurer, died today. From New Zealand, the Kiwi was the first known person to reach the summit of Mt. Everest on May 29, 1953 along with sherpa, Tenzing Norgay.

He will be missed.

Hat, sweater, Belinda and Joshua

Since I finished the sweater and had yarn leftover, I made a hat too. It will fit Joshua for about another minute. Yep, too small. But I'm really proud of the sweater. It was fun to deliver it in person and see Belinda and Josh one more time before heading back to the Ice.

Socks for Tom

Tom and I need more socks so I started a pair for him instead of finishing my own Polar Plunge second sock. Besides second sock syndrome, I am also put off by the mess left (my own fault) from one needle gone AWOL and several stitches unraveled at least four rows. But I'll think about that later.

Ni

Who is this man? This is the boss man. He has a t-shirt. The t-shirt has a picture of a knight on a horse saying "Ni". I like it.

Everybody Knit!

No subject

Lynn as she's walking by Tom on the Internet: "What are you looking at?"

Tom: "Donald Duck's Family Tree."

Lynn: ???


Go ahead. Google it.

Sweater finished

The sweater is complete and will be on it's way to Joshua tomorrow. YAY!

Sandwich Christmas

Our Ice friend Sandwich. Our little glob trotter is back in the States last I heard. I hope she's home in San Francisco now. Santawich Girl...You Rock!

Thinking of Kristan

Merry Christmas to my friends on the Ice. Saw this in Fruita, Colorado last week.

Dani's Scarf

I love to use different types of yarn and make my scarves lengthwise. Here, I cast on about 150 stitches on a big needle, say 10.5 US size, and simply knit a couple of rows in each yarn. I stop when the scarf tells me too, bind off and add fringe. This is a scarf I sent to Dani (on the right) to thank her for showing us around Transylvania during our stay in Romania. She shared her home with us too.

Marti's Place

A Hamann family tradition is to head to the river to see the lights and have dinner at Christmas time. There, on the Kankakee shines Marti's Place as hundreds of friends, neighbors and strangers file through the eatery to dine under dozens of sparkling country Christmas decorations.

Deadlines

Deadline, schmedline. I must face the fact that the Joshua sweater is not going to be under his tree in time for Christmas. I will have it finished by Christmas but the mail date is 4 days past. I could borrow the car and drive it there, but there's a big storm coming. In fact, it's been dusky grey all day in the Chicago area where I enjoy domesticity on the farm of my in-laws. I did knit for a couple of hours this morning. Then I read. I cooked. I botched the fudge. Again. I computed. I SHOULD'VE been knitting ALL day. But what good would that do at this late date? Now, as I prepare to travel to "the river" to eat dinner under, beside, around and across from every type of Christmas decoration ever created at this fabulous restaurant (a joyful tradition at this time of year) I look at the sweater and try to figure out how to break the news to my youngest friend in the world, 15 month old Josh. Sorry Joshy. I am a victim of my own short attention span and made 2 pairs of socks, 3 scarves, 2 mittens, one hat, and some other stuff while I was also knitting your sweater. My bad. I hate it when that happens.

Wawel Castle

This lid was made of a cashmere blend and is my current favorite. I used a pattern from a Swedish mitten book that is now out of print. Some of the yarn is Noro and some is Classic Elite. I wore this hat all winter on the Ice and have it on here at Wawel Castle in Krakow during our travels through Eastern Europe. It's a little too big now that it's been worn so much...stretched out.

Homecoming Queen

My niece. Isn't she beautiful?

2007 wrap up

I am blessed. 2007. Check. Another year passed and I am still here. I have big plans for the next year and I can't wait to get started. What do I see in the future?

Mittens

The mittens for charity are done. Now I have this big plan for Christmas prezzys and of course, there's that TIME thing. Time, shmime. I must plan accordingly. AAAGGKKK!

stash mittens

stash leftovers made into charity mittens is the next thing started. Yes, I'm avoiding the sweater. My bad.

Bresee memories

I heart the Bresees'. For as long as I can remember, the biggest and most fun family gatherings happened at their home. I remember swimming in the blow-up pool with Donna and Bob while the grown-ups visited on the patio. I remember backyard BBQ's with mind boggling amounts of food. I remember Christmas gatherings that sparkled. I remember the kitchen filled with generations of women. I remember the ready-for-anything pantry downstairs. I even remember setting up the projector and screen and watching home movies of family members playing actors in their own slapstick films. I remember piling in the big car and riding up to the mountains to go sledding and ice skating at Hidden Valley. I remember being a child there as well as being a grown-up watching the children. Thank you God for the Bresee family. They care about people and know how to show it. I am blessed.

WUA Squares

...from the most Southern place on Earth where Warm Up America Blankets are created.
Erika, Wonder Knitter

2007 blanket

2006 blanket


2005 blanket

During the winter I handed off a project to Erika, the wonder knitter. She finished putting together the WUA blanket for Winter 2006. I showed her how I did it for the first charity blanket in 2005. Knowing Erika, she came up with an even better way to make squares into blankets. This is the young woman who knitted gloves as one of her first projects. I think she came out of the womb with knitting needles in her hands. She says she just learned how to knit this winter season.

Motivated by Erika, I started crocheting the first 49 of this winter season's squares, putting them together in strips of 7 squares each. Then I crocheted the 7 strips together and finished off by crocheting a border around all four edges.

There's one more batch of squares for the second 2007 blanket. I left them in the care of Amy on the Ice.

Penguin Sunday

One Sunday in January of 2007, Adelie penguins came to visit at McMurdo Station. It was the most fun I'd had so far that Austral summer. Here's a little video I got of one little guy heading back to the water.


If you know a penguin that needs a sweater (aka jumper) go to the link below where you'll find free directions for knitting penguin sweaters.

penguin sweater

Back in the USA!

I've been surfing the web for the last hour. There's all this cool new stuff...well, new to me. I'm probably the last one to know. 15 months away and I can see I have heaps of catching up to do. It's been over a month since I left Mactown. Thailand and Eastern Europe were great (more about that later). I'm at the farm of my in-laws, still going through mail (ugh) except for all the knitting magazine subscriptions (yay). The bags are unpacked. The laundry is done. Mom's Apple Pie. Check. A "real lettuce" salad. Check. Free water. Check. With ice! Check. The toilet paper is soft and public bathrooms are free. I'm still waking up at 3:00 AM and falling asleep in my chair at 6:30 PM. What is this thing called jet lag? And why am I suddenly afflicted? I look forward...'puter, Internet, knit, read, catch up with email and phone calls, knit. Holidays! And did I mention knitting. My mother-in-law is also a knitter. This afternoon there's still more to do but I'm parked here in the country with family and I feel content as a baby wrapped up in a blanket, rocking in her mother's arms. I wish everyone could feel this special.

ECW Doll

I knit for so many reasons. Useful stuff. Okay, so the ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) doll isn't useful but it was fun. My attempt at ECW-Gear-Doll turned out to look more like a voodoo doll. Nevertheless, there it is along with some of the other stuff I made while on the Ice last season. Notice the Shackleton sweater appears again. It only took me 2 years. However, thanks to Erika N, I made most of it in one month during June of 2005 after watching Erika knit a whole sweater in a little over a week. I was impressed and motivated by her amazing energy while working one of the coldest, hardest jobs of the winter. She spent most days outside while on the construction crew of the LDB (Long Duration Balloon) building.

Of Packing and People

I find myself anxious to get off this rock and at the same time not wanting to leave fellow Ice companions. I have learned to say goodbye and know that I will see these people again some year. However, it still stings and I hold my tears back as they board Ivan the Terrabus to leave for the runway where a C-17 waits (but not for long) to take them to the "real world" in Christchurch, NZ.

Once some of my fellow winterovers are gone, I turn my thoughts to the Ice knitter's big dilemma: how much stash to pack and how much to leave out for the month of September. How much knitting am I truthfully going to get done with all the new faces and fun on station? How much knitting am I going to get done while I travel? How much knitting should I send "home" for after our travels. I suffer from stashosis - fear of separating from one's yarn, even for a few days and even if not currently using it. I need it with me IN CASE.

I'll think about that later.

New faces and returning knitters from last season are in the second floor lounge of Dorm 208 for Tuesday night Stitch n' Bitch (aka Stitch and Sip). I love knitting on the Ice.

August is for W

W is for Winfly, as in Winter Fly-in and also for Winter-over, as in a person who stays in Antarctica for the Austral Winter season.
W is also for Warm, as in Warm Up America Yup! Even in Antarctica, women and men craft 7"x 9" squares into blankets for charity.

People will come, daylight will be here, and blankets will be completed. Light is already eliminating night. Highway One will soon be crowded again.

It's time to finish up the Warm Up America blanket. There's enough squares and interest and a plethora of closet knitters and crocheters (come out, come out wherever you are) so we decided to collect a few more squares for a second WUA blanket. We pin them to the bulletin board on Highway One. This winter rules! Half the staff and twice the needlework. We can do dishes too.

McMurdo Station

Here's Bill Henriksen's fab photo of McMurdo. It's darker now but the stars are amazing and Jupiter is so bright. Even though it's dark at noon, there's the promise of light. We've passed the solstice and the light will be headed our way in a couple of months.