Sunday, July 24, 2011

Cherries Ripe

It's cherry season! My favorite are Rainier Cherries that were developed by Washington State University in 1952 - Thank you WU!

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So in honour of this sweet season, I'll thought I'd highlight some of my favorite Cherry-coloured things...

Lexi Barnes Flo, a great find at a LYS going out of business...

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Fleece Artist Kid Silk in Ruby, a gift to myself when I was going through a difficult time...

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Dainty Work for Pleasure and Profit, 1894, not my oldest book by any means but so characteristic of its day with the fancy silver and gold filigree with the classical woman on the cover...

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And from this book, a little=known stitch pattern for you! The Porcupine Stitch. Now, I have to tell you, in all fairness, that I tried this pattern and it came out not so much like a porcupine nor a knitting stitch, but more like a tangled triangle of confusion. There is an assumption somewhere in this direction, as there almost always is when things end up in a tangled mess not only in knitting but in life. Perhaps you can decipher it!

Porcupine Stitch

Cast on in twelves. 1st row plain.
2nd row, *over, k 2 together, repeat from *
3d row, purl; 4th row, plain; 5th row, purl.
6th row, sl 1. k 2 together, pass the slipped stitch over, k 4, over, k 1, over, k 4; repeat.
7th row, p 3 together, p 4, over, p 1, over, p 4; repeat.
8th row, like 7th; 9th row, like 6th; 10th row, like 7th.
Repeat from second row. Very pretty.

Good luck!

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Cty Mouse Country Mouse

I live my life in two worlds: a big beautiful thriving city alive with creativity and art and possibility and a small bookish college country town with history deep enough to thrill any archaeologist.

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Both of these worlds inspire a possessive love in me - a love of place, and I also love moving freely between them. Last week I spent time with a friend of mine at the local Shaker Community, now an historical site but within my lifetime a dwelling place for the remaining community of Shakers - not preserved, but actual. I noticed that something had been lost in this change from real life to preserved life, but it was hard to put my finger on it. It was something about the translation and the assumptions made. Something about the difference between Eldress Bertha saying "Oh yes, I've made raspberry jelly just the way your Great Aunt did every year!" and a note over a jelly cupboard that reads "Sister's Kitchen Stores".

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(Eldress Bertha at 90 yrs in 1987; she died in 1990)

The day we visited was Lavender Day and several people had gathered to enjoy the sun and the flowers in this beautiful setting.

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We didn't take a formal tour, having done that several times in the past, but wandered on our own. Dwelling houses were open and re-enactors shared the details of that particular house while dressed in Shaker garb.

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We visited the Sister's Shop, the home of Henry Clay Binn who was the village beekeeper, map maker, Elder, and school teacher, and the Infirmary.

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This volunteer was a 1923 doctor who definitely stayed in character throughout the whole time. The infirmary included his office with all its medical stores such as Extract of Ginger, Alum, and other botanicals in tall glass jars as well as the beginnings of chemical medicines. In his office was a dental chair with the implements common to the first quarter of the last century. The next room had surgical equipment - a regular iron bed, three metal bowls on a stand, and a wooden table for the surgery equipment, as well as a fireplace. He explained that surgery was performed in the patient's room, so they didn't have to be moved afterward, and they recovered in the same room. There were two surgery/bedrooms downstairs, the office, and a large kitchen and pantry. Presumably the doctor lived upstairs.

Next, we visit the house labeled the "Sisters' Shop". In this building, all the needlework items that the Shakers sold and used themselves were created.

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This was the place that was most interesting to me! Each room was set up as a workroom for knitting, sewing, weaving, spinning, and basket-making. The Sisters even made doll clothes! In one airy, light room, two octagonal tables were placed, each with two or three ladder-back chairs around it. On the tables were sewing and mending baskets and hanging from the walls, wool capes that had been mended. A cabinet held a vast quantity of wire double-point needles and bone crochet hooks. In one corner near the cast iron woodstove heater, a small floor-standing skein winder stood near a small stool - perhaps a child's job to wind the spun wool into skeins?

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In the next room a long shelf the length of the wall was used for cutting cloth. Chairs without arms and with very short backs were placed near the large spinning wheel, the loom, and the old cast iron sewing machine. The woman at this house explained that these chairs were especially designed for movement back and forth in the chair when doing these three activities and no arms meant that you didn't bump your elbows! I think it must have been very hard on the back though!

We also visited the Henry Binn's house. It would be unusual for him to have a whole house to himself, but it's more likely that he lived with other Brothers, and he was so interesting historically, that the historical society just used this building to highlight him. I did ask the man who was presenting this building (who was very enthusiastic and dresses like an early 18th century Shaker brother, suspenders and all) about one of the displays and he said that is was indeed Henry Binn's own bedroom with furniture he had made, all except the bed (which was about 5 feet long). Henry Binn was an interesting character. He must have had a brain too big for his circumstances because he was always inventing and always learning something new. He had many many professions within the Shaker community. He wasn't just the Beekeeper, he invented a new type of bee skype that circulated air to cool the honey, thereby freeing up the worker bees who were formerly kept busy fanning their wings all day every day to cool the honey comb, to go out and gather more pollen to make more honey! His bees were the most productive in New England! He taught botany and other subjects at the school, and was a map maker, creating beautiful wall-size maps drawn, illustrated, and water-coloured by himself. They are works of art...

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After all this history, we were ready for lunch! In the past, the restaurant was characterized by its delicious presentation of real seasonal Shaker recipes using produce from the gardens but a new chef has renamed it and made it more modern, though the food was still decorated with edible flowers.

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In the shop, lavender cookies were for sale in honor of Lavender Day. The recipe wasn't available, but here is Eldress Bertha's own recipe for Lemon Verbena Cookies:

Lemon Verbena Cookies

Sift together in a bowl
2 cups and 2 Tbs flour
1 cup sugar
1 tbs soda
¼ tsp salt
Add
¾ cup milk
1 tsp lemon juice
1/3 cup cooking oil
1 egg beaten
2 tbs lemon verbena – pulverized

Bake at 325 for 8 mins

Our next adventure was to visit the extensive gardens in the back.

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The gardens are set in between the community buildings and the upper pond which is a popular home for beavers and swans.

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We sat in green Adirondack chairs for a while and just relaxed in this peaceful setting until several people saw us and thought this was a great idea, so a crowd gathered. Then we moved on to tour the gardens. This used to be a produce and herb garden with a few flowers that had culinary or medical use, but this day it was mainly ornamental.

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In one of the workrooms, stations were set up for visitors to make bouquets using the language of flowers. That was a very popular activity!

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From the gardens you can see the whole village against the sky:

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On the way out, we admired the farm stand garden and my friend bought some lavender plants...

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Of course, we visited the gift shop too. But I can't comment on that (ahem) because I bought too many things for future gifts!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

On Thieves, Thievery, and Letting Go

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A couple of weeks ago, as you've read below, I went on a trip to New York City. I told you about the city and about the schools, and about the yarn, but I didn't tell you about... the not so happy times...

I stayed at the Bentley, a small but tall place just across the highway from the water...

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The day before we left to return home, I got food poisoning in a most dramatic way. I was so ill that my co-workers were checking on me every hour to see if it was time for me to go to the Emergency Room. I couldn't walk due to the vertigo and nausea - not that you need the details but I want to give a picture of how very unable I was to tend to anything during those two days.

On the second day of sickness when it was time to leave, a coworker came to my room and helped me pack up by tossing my things into my suitcase. I was so grateful. I wasn't able to even move my head to look around the room. Two coworkers walked me to the car to keep me upright.

Once we were about 100 miles out of town, I realized that I didn't have my raincoat. My raincoat, that had - in the pockets - my handknitted cashmere Veyla gloves - the ones with the antique jet and silver buttons...

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The buttons were given to me by a dear elderly friend at work when she retired. They had been her grandmother's. I made the gloves especially to showcase the buttons and I wore them all the time. The yarn was from Mackintosh Yarns - a beautiful cashmere in a deep oceany teal and black...

Of course my first step was to call the Bentley as soon as I was able. Yes, they had my coat and yes they had secured it in the housekeeping lost-and-found area. Yes they would mail it to me - for $75(!!). I chose an alternative solution and a friend of mine stopped by the hotel to pick it up and bring it here, where she was visiting her parents.

Guess what? You guessed it! The coat was there, but the pockets were empty. No gloves. Furious is too mild a word for my mood when my friend told me about this.

I am heartbroken. My bf snickered when I told him how upset I was. He doesn't understand that things like this are irreplaceable. Sure, I can make another pair of gloves. But I can never make that pair of gloves, nor an I ever find that particular hand-dyed yarn in that particular colour, nor will I ever have those very precious jet mourning buttons from my friend's grandmother - ever again.

But he did his best to console me tonight:

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And my friend did her best to get the hotel to actively try to retrieve these gloves from the only person who might have had access to them on their trip from my room to the housekeeping locker, but to no avail. They couldn't be bothered to even inquire of the staff involved.

I wanted to rage. I wanted to lodge a police report or call the press or both. I wanted that manager to realize that these gloves had involved a considerable amount my heart and soul, not to mention time, expense, and precious antique mementos. But I had to let go.

The fact is, that someone at the Bentley has stolen something from someone else. They will carry that dark cloud every time they wear those gloves, or when they sell those gloves on eBay, or when they give them as a gift that is not theirs to give. It is actually their loss. Because they will never be same, though they may not realize it at first. Their heart will be a little darker, their prospects a little less bright, and their hopes and dreams a little further away from being realized.

And me.... I need to learn to let the world relieve me of some of the beautiful things I carry with me. If I open my fingers, they can drift away to a new owner. They can be a gift, not a theft.

As Valerie said to Miracle Max in The Princess Bride,
Let them steal what they want; what do we have worth fighting over?