npm registry set without https is not working

npm config list returns:

registry = "http://registry.npmjs.org/"
strict-ssl = false

npm config ls -l global returns:

; registry = "https://registry.npmjs.org/" (overridden)
; strict-ssl = true (overridden)

so I think my env is setup ok - I am trying to install node/npm in my own space so I can do everything w/o admin. With the setup above, I still get:

> npm install -g sql-cli
npm ERR! Windows_NT 6.1.7601
npm ERR! argv "C:\\Users\\me\\Projects\\localfs\\nodejs\\node.exe" "C:\\Users\\me\\Projects\\localfs\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js" "install" "-g" "sql-cli"
npm ERR! node v6.10.3
npm ERR! npm  v3.10.10
npm ERR! code UNABLE_TO_GET_ISSUER_CERT_LOCALLY

adding --without-ssl to the command line has no effect. What am I missing? Where are all the global variables that ls -l global returns actually set?

No, I can't setup ssl here (these problems do not exist at home in win10/linux/osx)...

via Omortis