I'm always a little bit sad when I have to pack up my bags and leave not only what was a lovely getaway at a stellar location, but leave friends. They are so generous sharing their time and home...I know we'll be back sometime, but it's still hard to leave.
The leave-taking was made just a smidge harder this year because it was raining. I love rainy days. Especially, rainy days at the beach. You know, those days when you don't have to go anywhere, do anything, are responsible for no one. A perfect day to cozy up with a good book and some knitting and go.no.where! (sigh)
But, off we went....with a Plan A, a Plan B, and a firm Plan C. We needed them all.
Plan A: Sandwich Glass Museum was one of the featured venues on Free Heritage Friday, so we thought we'd stop there on our way off the Cape. (We had visited the Heritage Gardens in Sandwich a couple years ago and it was wonderful. If you've never been, you really must go!!!) We didn't think we would stay there too terribly long, so we had time to check out....(drum roll, please!) a yarn shop on the way.
A Great Yarn really IS not only a great yarn store, but a very nice little used book shop. (I'm definitely dragging my non-knitting-but-book-reading friends there the next time we do our bookshop crawl!) The yarn selection couldn't be nicer. They carried just about all my very favorite yarns, but this was vacation still and I concentrated on 'souvenir' yarns. (They had an abundance!!!)
Meet Chatham by hauteknityarn, an indie dyer who takes colour inspiration from nature. This merino/nylon/cashmere yarn is as luscious to fondle as it is to look at. They featured it using the Siren Song shawl pattern, which I most likely will copycat. It was lovely!!! (Yes...that IS blue. Tempered nicely by the grey,though, and knit up--the grey really shines through!!!!... and this IS souvenir yarn, remember, and the Cape is surrounded by water...and those Provincetown skies were a cloudless perfect blue...and would you like me to rationalize this any more???)
Maybe I should, because I also bought this same colourway in sock yarn...
(See how all that grey is already popping out?) Love it.
A couple more purchases there, including a cool knitting gizmo I'd never seen before and a membership in their yarn of the month club from the same indie dyer and we were off to Sandwich....
Where we got a sandwich, ate under an umbrella outside in the rain, ditched Plan A and fought the bumper-to-bumper traffic back to the highway. (Those free Heritage Days are CRAZY!!--we would have been hours in line just to get IN the museum. No time for that.)
Plan B: Lexington and Concord if the rains stops by the time we get there.
The rain stopped. The sun came out. And the bumper to bumper traffic continued. It never let up. We were supposed to meet someone interested in knowing more about Living Waters for the World. He was going to pick us up at our hotel at 3. At 2:30 we waved to Lexington and Concord as we drove by. At 2:45 he called and said he was stuck in traffic, too, so would be delayed.
Plan C: We'd meet up at 4:00. Which we did. Little did we know that we'd be thrown back into the traffic for another 2 hours (I'm not kidding, I've never seen traffic like this!!!) as he drove us to his home (one of the coolest, loft condos in an old refurbished wire factory....I'd move there in a heartbeat!) for dinner and a meet-up with some members of his congregation from Cameroon. Delicious meal, delightful new friends, and the beginning of what will eventually result in clean water flowing in a school serving 500 students in Cameroon.
The return trip to our hotel was a mere 40 minutes.
Just enough time to finish the last of the vacation knitting.
It was a very good day.
So glad you had a great trip. I believe day you described would be an all-time high of making lemonade out of lemons! The yarn is lovely. Happy day, k
Posted by: Katrine | 07/31/2016 at 09:20 AM
Yarn looks yummy! Glad you had a great trip!
Posted by: valerie | 07/31/2016 at 09:54 AM
Wow! Lots of adventures for you. We may be traveling that area soon so it is great to read about the places you visited.
Posted by: Jane | 07/31/2016 at 08:26 PM
Sounds so delightful. I love your new yarn! I don't like rain as much as you do, but I am happy it all worked out for you.
Posted by: Andrea @ This Knitted Life | 07/31/2016 at 11:28 PM
What a fun trip, but traffic gets a double ugh! The only benefit is knitting time, however, I am not sure that is an adequate trade off!
Posted by: AsKatKnits | 08/01/2016 at 09:12 AM
Sounds like a great trip! I haven't been to the Cape in decades.
Both my husband and I hate traffic, and we tend to pick travel destinations accordingly.
Good for you for being able to handle it!
Posted by: Caffeine Girl | 08/01/2016 at 09:18 AM
Sounds like you had a wonderful trip! I absolutely love the souvenir yarn you picked out, and I look forward to seeing what you get in your yarn club subscription :) The baby blanket looks delightful-it's always a wonderful feeling when a big project like that is finished :)
Posted by: Kat | 08/01/2016 at 09:48 AM
I really dislike traffic, but you seem to do traffic snarls with grace!! I have knitting with me at all times but it doesn't help when I'm upset....Lovely yarn you bought and yarn of the month sounds like fun!
Posted by: karen | 08/01/2016 at 11:17 AM
Miss knitting...such a schedule and issues with wrists and hands this year, even typing is not good some days...this too shall pass...i hope...so I'll enjoy your knitting..thanks...going back to the cape in the next year or so..to chill
Posted by: karen sue | 08/01/2016 at 03:05 PM
You came back with great souvenirs! Love the yarn! Love rainy days! Love the rain/beach combination also! I don't love that much the traffic/knitting combo but I can bare traffic that way.
Posted by: Zeta | 08/01/2016 at 05:31 PM
Sounded like a fabulous trip despite the traffic woes. Love the blues & greys of the souvenir yarn. Can't wait to see this knitting gizmo!
Posted by: Tien | 08/01/2016 at 07:43 PM