woolythyme

yarnalong...

Two of the (too many) books I bought on my recent bookshop crawl around Cape Cod....and both are winners.  I read Dinner with Edward in a single sitting.  The subtitle: A Story of an Unexpected Friendship...pretty much sums up this memoir that leaves you hoping that such a friendship someday comes your way.  Edward is a ninety year old who has just lost his wife; Isabel is in her middle years, facing the demise of her marriage.  Thinking she is helping Edward's daughter, who lives far from her dad--Isabel agrees to check in on the aging, grieving gentleman.  

The food descriptions are inspiring, but the friendship that develops between these two is energizing.  

on the book jacket: 'a book about love and nourishment, and about how dinner with a friend can, in the words of M. F. K. Fisher, sustain us against the hungers of the world.'  I can't recommend this one enough!!

The next book:  Counting by 7s is a YA book about an adopted 12 year old 'genius' who is suddenly orphaned again when her parents die in a car crash.  Another story of unlikely friendships (so far...this one I haven't finished yet); well written.  I'm liking this one, too!

 

One Skyp sock is finished, using some of the Chatham souvenir yarn.  

The yarn is a bit busy, but if you look closely at the flap heel you can see that the flap begins and ends with three garter stitches.  This results in garter bumps to pick up along the edges for the gusset instead of the usual slipped stitches. I really, really like the neat, slightly decorative look and will be using this one again.  (Saw this on Nicole's the gentle knitter podcast).

I'm in no rush to finish a pair, so this one is going in the single sock pile---and it is now a pile, because three makes a pile, right?  I've wanted to try 'the vanilla is the new black' heel, too.  I guess that mean the pile will continue to grow...into a heap? 

 

 Freddy and I decided it was time for another shawl when I came across Meridian.  A lovely, simple garter shawl that would make a perfect travel project (where were you two weeks ago?) and an even better knit-while-you-read project. I even had some yarn in the stash, although someone (not mentioning any names) ate the ball bands. I'm pretty sure the larger skein is Lydia sock and the smaller one Koigu.

We're both anxious to start this one!

(Note:  the pattern has no teeth marks yet or crinkled edges.  It's way too early in the game!!)

Plan A, B, C...

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. 

 

 

 

 

a walk through Provincetown....

We've visited here many times before, and love the lively, eclectic feel to the town (as well as the yummies from the Portuguese Bakery).  

But yesterday we took a private architectural, arts, history, and garden tour of the central and western parts of the town and saw a whole different Provincetown.  Walk with us....

We started at the harbor with a little historical and geological background...the Cape is growing by a half inch annually; oh, look---out there (way, way, way out there...I would have zoomed a bit if I knew I was going to use this!) is Ft. Useless and Ft. Ridiculous, with poison ivy growing on the hills between them.  

We'll save the Mayflower saga for later...

 

Next up was a stroll through City Hall, and not your run of the mill City Hall at that.

The  inner office  of the City Clerk held a collection of Chaffee's work, the outer space had this Charles Hawthorne; another administrative room had the Ross Moffett.  There is so much art owned by the city, that they are rather desperate to find spaces to display it.  The City Hall halls were filled...offices doubled as display space...it was a mid-century working museum.  A real treat.

From there we moseyed to the bas-reliefs of Cyrus Dallin commemorating the first landing of the Mayflower.  (Bet YOU thought they first landed at Plimouth, right?)

 

From there we strolled by..

the Atlantic House Bar, most likely the oldest continuously operating gay bar in the country, and the hang-out of a slew of writers from the 20's, including Tennessee Williams (a nude picture of him walking the Provincetown beaches hangs in the bar, but we didn't go in) and Eugene O'Neill.  

Remember O'Neill's Desire Under the Elms, and the evil Abbie Putnam who murdered her daughter early in the play?  She just happened to be named for the Provincetown librarian who refused the drunken O'Neill entrance to her library...even after he won the Pulitzer Prize.  (We librarians have standards!)

We saw the last Georgian house in the town...after the revolution, we called the style Federal.  

Here an early architect combined some Egyptian revival and Greek revival.

  There were 1/2 Capes.  And 3/4 Capes. And full Cape Cod cottages.

This house supposedly rests on top of remains of a Viking long house.  At least, that's the story.  

 

When you see this little plaque...

it indicates the home is one of 38 floating houses...those houses once part of the Long Point community on the tip of the peninsula that were put on rafts, 'floated' across the bay, and relocated when the community closed in the 1850s.  

Our tour continued to Land's End Inn, undoubtedly the premiere place to rest your head...

the views were stunning...

 

We strolled passed tiny year-round homes...

(the City Clerk used to live here)

 

and tiny seasonal places...

(Ernest Hemingway stayed and wrote in a one of these little gems)

 

We passed Alice Brock's home...

an accomplished artist, but probably more well known as the Alice of Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant (1966) fame.

Hans Hoffmann lived and created in the same house and studio owned by Frederick Waugh.

(by this point in the tour, this former art history major is totally salivating....and not just because of the heat and humidity, which surely must be setting records today)

 

We snuck around secret garden paths...

We saw modern structures....the Murchison House designed by Walter Gropius; a home designed by the Hariri sisters. 

 

It was a lovely day.

 

annual meeting of the Cape Cod bookclub....

It's time again for the annual meeting of the 'Cape Cod book club'.  We're three members strong.  Membership is closed. (I know this because our spouses have tried to contribute and have been shut out.) Sorry.

We informally met last night and I now have close to 50 new titles to think about.  These women know me so well that when we 'review' our books of the past year...I'll get comments, such as: 'sorry, Steph--you'll hate this one'; or 'this one is right down your alley....you have to download it immediately'. (And of course, I do.)  

This afternoon was our annual bookshop crawl, which only could have been made better by combining it with a yarn crawl, but neither of my friends knit.  Believe me, I've tried.  My one failure as a knitting instructor.  Sigh.   I still hang out with them and they don't even knit. See what good friends they are?

The 'crawl' was a success...because, of course, it was aided and abetted by two of the best enablers I know.  (hee hee....you should see the other two piles that came home!!!)

But, before I dive into the impulse buying (not a single one of these titles was on 'the list')---and before I start stockpiling new titles from the 2016 'list', I'll continue reading Bill Bryson's In a Sunburned Country.  His travelogue about Australia, done with the humor only Bryson can do, is entertaining, although if he doesn't stop referring to all the venomous, dangerous, deadly critters, a trip DownUnder is moving further 'down under' on my wish list.

As to my travel knitting dilemma....  I ended up bringing along the Scandinavian Hat using some mystery alpaca and a ball of Plymouth Select DK Merino Superwash.  The hat was nearly finished before our plane landed.  Plan A was to use the leftovers for mitts, possibly another hat in reverse colours. The hat took more yarn than I thought. There's enough left for a fat braided tassel. Good thing there is a Plan B for the rest of the week.

Plan B:  The baby blanket.  It should keep me busy.

 

* * * * * * * 

A special thank you to everyone who shared their travel knitting favorites.  I've madly made lists and 'faved' things on Ravelry; I'm going to be ready for my next knitting travel adventure.

Counting the days to Rhinebeck!

detour home....

 

Heritage Gardens in Sandwich, Mass is a must stop.  A picture perfect day certainly didn't hurt the visit, although it wasn't quite as serene as it looks....

an outdoor kiddie concert drew hundreds of preschoolers.

Luckily, they had no interest in...

The gardens were more than worth the price of admission, but this special exhibit simply put the whole day over the top.  I'm sort of a Wyeth...Andrew, that is...groupie.  (Can't really warm up to N.C. or Jamie so much.)  We saw a similar exhibit of the three generations of Wyeths in Rockland, ME a few years ago.  This one was smaller, but loved it just the same. And the best part was that we had no idea until we rounded the special exhibit hall that it was even here.  Happy day.

 

The permanent collection museum even had...

sheep (weathervane)...

and

a knitter.  

 

We were then off to Plimoth Plantation and the Mayflower II, where we spent half the time but twice the admission price.

 

 and the best for last....

look at his hand knit stockings (which he insisted were NOT hot, but protected him from the scorching sun) and the garter-stitch garters that are holding them up.  Garter stitch...extremely elastic and perfect for garters!  Is this where the name came from?  Never gave it a lick of thought before, and on a quick flip through a couple knitting history books I have, couldn't find reference to it.  Anyone know?

This rated a souvenir.

 

 

you asked for it.....the 'book list'

The list does NOT include my contributions to the list....the books I've read this year are usually mentioned somewhere on my blog.

 

In no particular order other than who could shout out titles the loudest...

 

A Man Called Ove *

Hold Still

Wonderstruck

Toast

Baseball Haiku

A Person of Interest

City of Light

Someone

A Fierce radiance

Art of Fielding *

Most Famous Man in America

My Own Medicine

Calebs Crossing

Say You Aren't One of Them

Brookland

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry *

What She Left Behind *

Shape of Mercy

Secrets of a Charmed Life

Children's Crusade

The Dive from Claussen's Pier

The Nightingale **

The Nazi Officer's Wife

The Gilly Salt Sisters

The Quaker Cafe

Maude

Everything I Never Told You *

The Pecan Man

Boston Girl

When I Found You

Assembler of Parts

War Brides

American Elegy

Got Set a Watchman *

Book of Speculation

Fever 1793

* indicates a really good read (or possibly a newly read book that is still resonating)  There were actually a few others that I immediately cut as not appealing to me.  Sorry.

 

I'm still working through a 2013 and 2014 list.  I've rarely been disappointed with any book on 'the list'.    Hope you enjoy some of these titles, too.  Many, I've never heard of, but anxiously look forward to reading.

 

It's been a very good day!

beach finds (those are 'heart' stones at the top, in case you can't tell)

and

lobster rolls

oops

lobster roll

(I didn't waste calories on the roll and fries)

because....

oh, yes.

Good night.

yarnalong....

Loving this book.

Hoping this yarn holds out the rest of the week.

 

 

Lighthouses...

Lobsters rolls....

 

and the unofficial meeting of 'The Book Club'....where my college friends and I spent an afternoon sharing our 'best reads' of the past year.  Two pages of tried and true 'winners'!!  

I'm in piggy heaven.