More about the trip

First, a sunrise picture from home:

 Second, someone was asking for more on the science of flying over the Arctic. We flew to Pt Lay, then turned north, dropping radiosondes as we went (turn off your Bluetooth!) The second one got stuck, so someone had to take apart the launch tube.

 Back together! The next six went without a hitch. We flew to 73 N, then turned around. The chief scientist said that if anything, we should have gone farther north. He was looking for how the atmospheric boundary layer changes as the air comes from the south and hits the sea ice. With 50 miles of pancake ice in the marginal ice zone (MIZ), the air was still seeing the water underneath. So we didn't get far enough into the solid ice. They'll get another chance this coming week.

 Once we turned south, that's when we alternately flew above the boundary layer (roughly 5000 ft) and just above the surface (200 ft), with slow transitions between for measuring the turbulence through the boundary layer. Once we got back south of the ice, they let out a few AXBT's for measuring ocean temperature profiles:

The plane has a lot of sensors and each science station has a Linux computer with access to the incoming data. The chief scientist set me up with a display with a few of his favorite inputs, including altitude, wind speed, and a radar sensor which was designed to measure surface wind speeds based on the wave state. The latter turns out to be a good way to see the ice edge even through clouds.

Sea Ice at Last

Over twenty years ago I was sucked into a sea ice modeling project. We didn't do a great job then, but nevertheless we're still in the business. I've thought maybe I should go out and see some sea ice, but it just never happened - until today. Today I got to go on a NOAA P3 flight over the Chukchi Sea, all as a day trip from Eielson Airforce base.

I took a lot of photos, most of them terrible. Here are a few that almost might pass for tolerable:

Over the Brooks Range, running away from the sunrise.

At the northern extent of the flight the ice was thin first-year ice, mostly solid with some openings and thin spots.

Fresh ice.

Flying South into more broken ice.

Farther South the ice is pancake ice with swells from the South.

Winds are strong and it shows over open water.

Swells casting shadows.

Back over land, North of the Brooks range.

Science is done so I got to sit up front for a few minutes.

An interesting river.

View of fog

We got up this morning for our last Adopt-A-Highway pick up of the season. From our house, it was a lovely morning:

Above the fog

As you might guess, by the time we got to town, we were in the thick of it. It even started drizzling by the time we cleaned up our mile.

This afternoon I went by the dye garden to cut off the rest of the tansy. It goes to seed, dies, and becomes stiff stalks cluttering the bed if left alone. So I cut them all down today and left them on the grass for the botanical garden people to deal with.

On the Fiber Factor front, I'm resting this round out, but challenge five will be announced next week. Meanwhile, people have been asking me about notes for the challenge three sweater. I finally got them rounded up (with a few new photos) and you can download them from http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/unexpected-angles.

Dye harvest 2013

This past Saturday we had our dye harvest party. I didn't get pictures or emails of any participants, but we had a good number - not too few, not too many. On the Wednesday before, I dug up some madder and started soaking the roots:

Madder roots

 One thing that's fun to knit is space dyed yarn, made into a giant loop (10 m or more):

Wet Tofutsies tangle

Dry Tofutsies giant loop

Fleece, roving, Kenzie yarn

 The lovely purple stayed in the pot, while the yarn turned dull blue:

Purple basil pot

Dye garden today, flax in foreground

My prize Kenzie yarn with dyed leftover Kenzie

 What prize, you ask? My prize from Skacel for playing along in challenge 3 of the Fiber Factor.

Tofutsies: basil and tamed giant loop

Tai Chi camp

Last week we were in Orangeville, near Toronto, camping out for CIT week. It was so crazy this is the only picture I took there:

Chanting stations

I took this picture because it was so odd - this is usually our big empty practice  hall. They had us kneel here for a few photos, but we didn't actually chant here - it was all theater for the Canadian tax people doing an audit of the Society.

Anyway, there were 700 in attendance, more than can practice in this hall. There was overflow on the back deck (except during rain) and in the old practice hall. The food service was excellent, but our numbers put a strain on the plumbing, especially when someone flushed something they shouldn't have down a toilet. We were told not to flush after every use, but that's hard for some and I had to show the way. The Alaska saying is "If it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down."

We had our tasks to do: washing dishes, restocking porta-potties, etc. During other breaks I made some progress on the sleeves of my sweater, but they sure went slowly. I finally finished the sweater just now, two days after the deadline. Oh well, the pattern is too crazy to write down, much less expected to sell the yarn (which was the theme this round - sell the yarn). Nevertheless, I made what I wanted to and the thing is soft, warm and will fuzz up with washing. Here it is:

My "blank slate" sweater

Blank Slate

I've been working on my next item for the Fiber Factor challenges. Ten days to go and I don't think I'll make it in time, what with the sleeves not even started. It's a crazy sweater - so crazy I'm not writing it up, other than some notes on Ravelry. I like the yarn, but I'm thinking I'd like the sweater better in a Noro yarn. You're not surprised, are you? Anyway, this is where I'm at:

Start of Blank Slate

The fair starts tomorrow, which means the hard part for us is already done: entry day, judging day, and booth set-up. My fish sweater took class champ, but not grand champ - and I didn't lose to the thing I thought I'd lose to. I got a theme ribbon for a knit salmon - the theme is Salmonchanted Evening - and another for the fish sweater.

Overdue post

Geez, my last post has icicles? Since then we've cruised the inside passage, had two weeks of crazy-hot weather, and I went to Colorado for a week.

So, I have to post this picture from a week or two ago:

Double rainbow

Also, I've been sucked into the knitting design contests at the Fiber Factor. Here is what I submitted for the second challenge:

 

 

 

Fish sweater

You can see it here too. It earned me a trophy knitting needle! It's an Addi Art in size 10 mm with crystals inside the tips. Crazy. I've got my yarn and a swatch and parts of an idea for the third challenge. The swatch is telling odd stories with the washing - I'm not sure how the gauge can match and yet the angle of the stitches changed. More on that later I guess.