a 'there and back again' birthday

This weekend, the bf and I went away to a northern state to stay on the ocean, visit yarn stores, and continue the search for the elusive vintage earrings that we didn't find on Valentine's day. This was a birthday trip, and I had a funny birthday surprise. I found out that I was one year younger than I thought I was! I'm hopeless with years and don't pay much attention to age, so when I was telling people "hey, I'm going to be such-and-such this year!" I didn't even bother to count the years since my birth. But the last time I said it, my bf said, "uh, no you're not." Ha! Usually people are older than they think they are. I'm younger. Just like me. I always wanted to grow up too fast!

Portland is a wonderful old city, full of beautiful, historic buildings and artistic touches, like this beautiful verdigris clock tower:



We stayed at a wonderful old hotel, right in the center of town... but it was set off in it's own little cobblestone street in a circle cul-de-sac, so it was quiet and private, and very vintage-y feeling and super cute.







After we settled into our room...



...we ventured out for the first stop on our Yarn Shop crawl... The Portland Fiber Gallery and Weaving Studio.



What a friendly store! We loved the shop dog, and she got lots of ear scritches from us and we perused the looms and weaving.



Then, I spent a lot of time looking at every single skein and fiber braid and cone of yarn in the room! They even carry a local dyer's beautiful creations. Some of this came home with me, but I can't show all of it because (ahem) some of my blog readers have spring birthdays themselves!



I found these cute little buttons, made from old typewrite keys - oddly only several "I"s and several "U"s were left, but I got one o each. I plan to use them on a sweater for the little guy and in between the I and the U, I'll place a heart shaped button! I Heart U.



As we left (with a nicely squishy bag of yarns and things), we noticed some really cool felted fish suspended in the windows. This Goldfish was my Piscean favorite:



and if you look closely, you can see two more, swimming in the watery reflection of the glass:



The lovely owner, Melodi, had recommended a new place to lunch: Otto's Pizzeria and Bar, right next door. and she was right - it was unbelievable!



We had a simple pie, but there were many more exotic choices: Mashed Potato, Bacon, and Scallion; or Mushroom and Cauliflower; or Butternut Squash, Ricotta, and Cranberry; or Pulled Pork and Mango... The tables and benches were made from old pianos, and the ornate piano-maker labels were left on, with their beautiful gold flake... original old paintings graced the walls, all in quirky vintage frames. The light from the huge front picture windows suffused the room and made the oak and mahogany glow. It was a lovely experience - a feast of both food and style.



After lunch, we wandered down the street (past some incredibly intriguing but sadly closed antique and book stores:



and found ourselves at one of our yarny destinations, KnitWit (Yarn on the Brain):



You may remember that KnitWit is the LYS of Quince & Co yarns, and that was the reason for my visit. I wanted to know if they carried the patterns, and get another look at all the colourways of the yarns in person.



I have to admit, that once I got inside, I found it all a bit overwhelming, and didn't get half of what I had come for. The shop owner seemed very harried - I think there had been a class that was finishing when I first went in, or perhaps a visiting Knitting Celebrity, and she may just have been exhausted from a busy Saturday! I quickly grabbed some colours I thought I might use, and asked about the patterns. But, although the sample book had shown the patterns in colour - just as they are on the Quince website, she was selling the paper copies in black and white. When I asked her about this, she said that printing them out on her printer in colour would just be too expensive - it would use up her ink cartridges too quickly. I told her I'd buy them directly from Quince.

I found some of my favorite needles: Bryspun - with their tapered pointy ends and flexible ivory material. I really wanted the longer DPNs for hat making, and was able to find 4 pairs! And they are very inexpensive! There were also some pretty handmade stitchmarkers on the counter, and I'm very susceptible to impulse buys, so....


Here is some of what came home with me from both stores:

From top to bottom, Quince Tern (silk and wool) in Back Bay, Barnacle, and Stonington; Hand Dyed yarn in merino and sea cell from the Weaving Studio, called Diving Deep.



The Bryspun needles in US 6, 7, 9, and 10; and KA stitch-holders in a cute teal green:



This seems like a exhausting trip to me as I write it, but it was only the beginning! Our afternoon included a leisurely stroll around town, in search of the mythic earrings - which we found at a local shop. I loved the hilly walks and the architecture - aren't these cute blue buildings?.



The sun was going down, the huge full moon was rising, the sea breeze was getting cool, and the hotel had a Spa... so we went back to the hotel for a while, before dinner. For dinner, we chose a place called The Grill, and sat under a vintage (1930's I think) print that read:

EAT MEAT: Meatless Diets Are Often Dangerous!

It went on to say that 97% of pharmacists recommended meat-eating. Ha ha!



We had the Scallops, grilled, over risotto, with grilled asparagus. And that was enough for that day!

The next morning - not too early - we made our way down the hotel restaurant for tea and poached eggs and marmalade on wheat toast:





So that was the whirlwind birthday trip! It felt like a week instead of a weekend and we really were so refreshed and relaxed afterward. Every moment was so cool! And of course, there was yarn. Lots of yarn.

Denver

I escaped another series of snow storms this past week by fleeing to Denver, Colorado for a work conference. No one believed me that it was warmer in Denver, so they wore big, long down coats and layers of down vests, wool jackets, fleecy gloves, and knitted scarves and beanies. But when we arrived, it was 61 degrees and people were walking around in T-shirts.



What relief! I lifted my face to sun and just... breathed.This was the view from my hotel window:



I felt like I hadn't seen the sun all winter!

It was such a freeing feeling that, the first evening, we went out to walk around and look at the city lights.



We ate at the Panzano Restaurant and lucked into an incredible Denver restaurant festival: Denver Restaurant Week! Several restaurants around the city were offering full course dinners for an unbelievably small fixed price and we were happy that we happened into this one. There was a little bit of a wait - about half an hour - but we had drinks in the bar while we waited and didn't even notice the time go by.



I had a mushroom crepe with truffle oil for starters, then salad, handmade stuffed ravioli with basil sauce, and three types of homemade sorbet: mango, pomegranate, and raspberry/blueberry.

After such a long and luxurious dinner, we wanted to walk a bit before going back and saw this beautiful huge brass door on a bank:



Artwork was everywhere.

Although my conference was excellent, I did use up my quota of extroversion after a couple of days of enforced group work from 7 am to 8 pm. I was able to slip out one afternoon for a short break, and like a homing pigeon, found a wonderful local yarn shop: The Lamb Shoppe.



It was everything you hope a LYS to be, and more. Even the view from the sidewalk was intriguing and drew me in with stacks of soft-looking yarns and unusual accessories and patterns.



Inside it was bright and comfortable, casual and yet upscale and infinitely friendly and warm. There were at least four places around the large room set up for knitters to sit, and knit, and peruse the books and throughout my time there, people were constantly coming in and sitting down in groups of 2 to 4 to knit with their purchases and talk.



Knitted and crocheted examples were draped and hung everywhere and on more than one occasion I noticed knitters pulling these examples out of baskets or from shelves to demonstrate or explain something to their knitting companion or even to show off the item that they had knitted for the shop! It seemed to be a LYS where the patrons considered it "their own" and were a part of the whole thing - not just customers but involved in the culture-building of the place.

In my usual way, I wandered around clockwise, looking at every single skein and item. Whenever I found something I knew I wanted to bring home, I would return to my home base at one of the tables and add it to my "pile". Two ladies who were knitting together on the other side of the table took me under their wing and asked "what are you making?", "do you have the right amount?", "what is your colour combination?", and we had a great conversation about New England. They asked about my own local yarn stores and when I mentioned one, everyone in the shop raised their heads and started asking me questions! Everyone was so friendly! I loved my time there.



As usual I got distracted in my search for yarns to bring home and wish I had picked up more. There was basket of beautiful Shibui Luxury yarns, including a sock weight yarn with natural silk in it. There was only one colour though, a persimmon orange and I kept looking at it and then putting it back in its basket, nestled next to vibrant orange and purple mohair/silks. I should have pushed past my green/blue obsessions and branched into these warmer colours, but I couldn't make it happen. There was also one skein of a so-soft cashmere in baby pink that I meant to buy but forgot. And I left the Marmalade and Jelly and Grace and Blood Kidsilk Haze behind because I couldn't think of what I might make with it and would have only been able to get one ball of each colour. But I wish I had - I would have found a project for it, right?

What I did buy was Elizabet Lavold Baby Alpaca in a bright collection of colours coupled with muted natural tones for a Lazy Daisy Jacket for the little guy.





I picket out the cutest buttons but since there were only two, I'm not sure if I'll use those or more of the hand-carved wooden ones that my friend from Australia gave me.



They are cute though, aren't they?

I started my project right away - after a few struggles with gauge since I'm sizing up - while catching up on past Masterpiece Theatre episodes. The colours are blending beautifully and I think I'll make another of these jackets for a friend's new baby when I'm done.



You'd think I did nothing but play while I was in Colorado, but I can assure you that I worked very, very hard at my conference and came home exhausted and so happy to see the lights of Boston from the plane's window, even though I was coming back to huge snow banks and ice-covered roads.

Sherlock Sighs... SPOILERS below

This post contains SPOILERS for the Victorian Writers Knitting Club. Don't scroll down if you don't want your surprise spoiled!

In a few short weeks I am going to be here:



(Excited, excited!)

This is a city I've never visited before, so it holds a special interest for me. I love travel. And I most love exploring new cities. The purpose of my visit is to present on work stuff and to hear others' presentations, but I've arranged some free time and I was so, so happy to find out that this shop, The Lamb Shoppe, was open until 9 PM on the nights I'll be there!

Oh, Lamb Shoppe, please be full of beautiful local yarns and don't be too alarmed if I bring them all home with me!

In other news, I am a member of the Victorian Writer's Knitting Club. This month, our focus is Sherlock Holmes and our kit contained a beautiful yarn called Hound of the Baskervilles from Zen Yarn Garden. This is Serenity Sock, and contains 10% cashmere. It is a distinct pleasure to hold and to knit, and the result is a super soft pair of socks that would make even the discriminating Holmes sigh with delight.



The pattern by Anne Hanson is a tweedy sock with a subtle diamond design, called The Sign of the Four. I'm enjoying this knit so, so much. The pattern sequence is only 8 rows but the embossed diamonds are just so subtle and pretty!

The kit also contained several other special gifts, including a little box which I have filled with my happy colourful stitch-markers:



A very satisfying package all around.

Next month, our kit will be themed around Little Women - one of my favorite vintage books! All movie versions of this story included such intriguing period knits, too. This is a very fun club! I listen to the free LibriVox versions of the books while knitting, after reading the free download copies on my Kindle. :) So many books! So much knitting! I need at least 3 lifetimes for this.

bluebirds, and elephants, and dinosaurs - Oh My!

It's

A

BOY!!!

Yes, that's right. A baby boy is coming into our family. We're so excited and happy! Little Jule is going to have a little jewel of her own! That's why all my knitting has been preempted by baby-knitting. Yesterday, at a work meeting I just made a list of all the things I'm going to make while others were talking. I have a list for now and a list for later!

NOW:

1 silk bonnet (done)
3 vintage undershirts
2 sleeping buntings
1 buster brown booties
1 Baby Surprise jacket
3 diaper covers (done)
1 soft cotton blanket

LATER:

2 bear head blankets
1 hooded sweater
1 navy blue Navy coat
1 navy blue sailor pants
1 Dokumon pants
3 pairs socks (1 done)
2 cardigans (1 BSJ done)
2 hats (1 done)


In other news, my local yarn store had a sale last weekend and I had great fun browsing the shelves and chatting with the friendly staff. Here is a picture of the lovely Lori and Kelly showing their new shop aprons!



I was quite taken with the aprons and mentioned that they would be great for knitting - a place to put all the little tools you need for your project, as well as your center-pull ball of yarn. When I got home and opened by bag I found one nestled slyly under my sale yarn!! How nice is that!?!? I love my LYS - the Elegant Ewe.

Malabrigo...

Those of you who are on Ravelry will have heard that on May 29 one of our favorite companies, Malabrigo, suffered the loss of their mill in a big fire. The good news is that because it happened at night, no one was hurt. The bad news is that they lost the entire stock that they had in the mill at the time, as well as their entire record-keeping system.

You can read more about this HERE and then some details on the Malabrigo Blog.

When I heard this, I felt powerless to help. This is company that, from the beginning, has been very responsive to us, their customers, and treated us like valued friends. Their product is high quality and just gets better and better. The only thing I could think of was that buying their yarn would ensure that when they are able to begin producing again, the demand will be there. Its win-win. At least, it couldn't hurt, right?

A local yarn store, Knit New London, had written in thier recent newsletter that they had just gotten a new shipment of Malabrigo. My closest store had only a couple of skeins. So I headed out to New London for my stash enhancement.

Here is the floor to ceiling stash of Malabrigo that Knit New London carries (the center row of bins right in the middle of the photo):



I chose a new colour, Pearl Ten, which is a brown mauve, and Tuareg, which is a marine-tourqoise blue with shades of light blue. You can see them in the store's stack as the very first top bin on the right and the first blue-ish bin on the top left.



It was a rainy afternoon here in the Northeast, so I spent a nice long cosy time at the store, investigating everything including some new blown-glass buttons and clasps from a local company called Moving Mud, and one somehow ended up in my purchases...



Knit New London likes to carry a lot of locally produced stock and had several bins of a wide variety of fabulous Farmhouse Yarns, including their beautiful sock yarns and gorgeous 100% bamboo. In the end though, I used my yarn budget on Malabrigo. I was there to support them after all. I won't reget it when Fall sweater season comes around.