26 September 2011

August Trip Report

I'd better write this up before October arrives!

In August we went up to Massachusetts so Isobel could spend some time with her father and a bunch of his relatives. We stayed in Cambridge while they went up to Burlington. Conveniently, this was the same weekend as the Fiber Revival in Newburyport (yay! if you know me even a little, you know that the combination of knitting supplies, old friends, and an antique farm in the summer in New England is pretty close to perfect). Inconveniently, the traffic out of Boston was ridiculously awful (and Penelope gets carsick in stop-and-go traffic), so we almost bailed. I am so glad that we didn't! In addition to seeing my Yarns in the Farms ladies (hi, Carolyn, Jill, Joanne, and Suzanne!), I got to meet Amy King, Ms. Spunky Eclectic herself. I also had a chance to catch up with Leslie Wind who made the beautiful C-pin on Turn of the Glass and who lives on Cape Ann.

Dugout
Outfield of corn
Stephen watching; beards, beer, and baseball

But the best part was that Nick, Stephen, and Penelope came with me, and they had fun! There was a triple-header of antique rules baseball (1861 - no gloves, balls caught on one bounce are an out, underhand pitching, sideburns and charming uniforms) played in a grass paddock with a field of corn for an outfield. Nick had seemed ... not terribly enthusiastic when I mentioned this beforehand. But once we got there, it turned out to be really neat for all of us to watch. And there was a beer truck from Ipswich Ale (yum!) with hot dogs and whatnot. Penelope discovered the popcorn popper (and an adorable cast iron toy stove in the gift shop). Stephen found some other kids to play soccer and baseball with. And I came away with a bag of The Woolen Rabbit's Sporty that is destined for greatness (well, that's the vague plan, anyway) in Storm and Midas. I haven't even tried to take a picture because I'm not sure I can do these colors justice. I'll try at some point, but today is not picture day.

The rest of the weekend was nice, too. It was as if New England was on its best behavior (except for the traffic Saturday morning and the lack of a Red Sox game in town). The weather was lovely - sunny and warm during the day, cooling off at night. New England in the summer can be so delightful. We had dinner at Farnham's in Essex where I realized that I have a painting of this house:
Essex marsh house
Essex marsh house painting
Painting of the Essex marsh house
Why, yes, dinner at Farnham's was good. Thanks for asking!

After a long weekend in Massachusetts, we high-tailed it back to New York for lots of laundry, showering the cats with affection, and repacking before we headed to Chicago. Nick's parents live within walking distance of Loopy Yarns, so I got to visit there (with Nick - his first time), though I couldn't find yarn I wanted to buy (that Woolen Rabbit yarn was still on my mind, and I kicked myself for not bringing it along, even though I was working on another sweater, which I finished). I have some gorgeous yarn in my stash that I need to knit up before I invest in something new.

And then we made the great migration North to Door County, Wisconsin. My sister came from Berlin (via Paris and Detroit), and my brother and his family came up, too. It's tons of fun for the kids, and the grown-ups have a good time, though with six kids things get a little crazy. We even made it up to Washington Island, where I got to visit the famous Sievers School shop. Again (is something wrong with me?), I didn't buy any yarn, but my sister came away with some lovely, dark grey alpaca. Of course, the stop caused us to miss the ferry, but we caught the next one. My sister and I also checked out Whitefish Bay Farm and Spin in Sturgeon Bay. I was tempted by the hand-dyed yarns at Whitefish Bay Farm but couldn't decide what I wanted, especially as I still have a sweater in various shades of their undyed yarns OTN (I think I have a gauge issue - it's biiiig - and can't really face how much work I've put into it already).

Of course, the end of our week saw Miss Hurricane Irene pop up on everyone's radar, and we started to panic that we wouldn't get back to the East Coast. A phone call to the airlines had some nice lady in India talking about flying back in September, which would not do at all. We even reserved a car and started gearing up for driving the kids back from Chicago to New York. Luckily, our flight was one of the first to land at La Guardia on Monday. Whew!

Somewhere in there I also finished a shawlette (pattern TK) and a sweater I can't wait to wear and show you. I also reviewed the edited pattern for Jane Austen Knits and saw photographs of the sweater on a model. So cool! Publication date is 8 November, so you've got a little time to wrap up your current projects ;)

1 comment:

  1. Busy month!! I love that you own that painting. Farnhams is one of our fave spots. Glad you had a good August and hope to see you soon....

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