Field Trip, Yarn Store
Alrighty, last of the trip yarn. I promised we were just about done, and this should wrap it up. So, I told you we visited String Theory, and I told you we visited Swans Island. Those were the two big, intentional yarn stops. But sometimes it happens that, while you're going about your business on non-yarn related excursions, you come across a yarn store on the way. That happened twice. Once was Over the Rainbow Yarn in Rockland Maine. (Rockland is also home of Primo, our very favorite restaurant ever. If you're ever anywhere near there you simply must go. [...]
Briny Deeps
When we weren't off sampling the local spirits and cuisine, we spent an awful lot of time clambering over rocks, collecting treasures, and seeing just how far up various conveniently-located precipitous crags we could shimmy (answer: alarmingly...question of the week: 'how in the name of self preservation did I get up here, and more importantly, how exactly do I get down'). All that exploration works up an appetite -- an appetite that can only be sated by briny marshmallows. Briny, ocean-dipped marshmallows. I mentioned this after last year's trip, and there were many questions. I felt an obligation to you [...]
Field Trip, String Theory
Ok, I really should wrap this up. I'm sure it's tacky to talk about a trip for longer than the trip lasted. But man, it was a long trip with lots of yarn-y bits, and I don't want to leave any of them out. Especially not String Theory, that would be a dreadful mistake. You (you, the collective blog reading/rav forum chatting folks) are actually to blame for my String Theory obsession. I kept seeing beautiful socks, going 'what is that yarn,' investigating, and finding String Theory. So naturally I went and used them for piles and piles and piles [...]
Impromptu
Have you ever found yourself in need of a hair elastic? I'm guessing many of you have. Have you ever found yourself in need of a hair elastic and been far away from either your personal stash or a convenient place to get more? This doesn't happen to me often (I tend to go for the long, loose, and lazy approach to hair styling), but it did on this trip. For you see, I needed to use a handy power tool, and it was windy. Very very windy. And everyone knows long hair and power tools and wind don't mix. [...]
Field Trip, Fisherman’s Museum
I warned you accounts of the trip would not be chronological. Nor would they be terribly, um, edited. I'm going with a more free-form approach. You remember how I mentioned Maine seemed to be a particularly fiber friendly sort of place? My first thought was that this had something to do with the winters (a bit brisk I've been told). Upon second thought, it seems it might also have something to do with the proximity to water. Water and string-like things seem to go together. This was driven home when we visited the Fisherman's Museum at the lighthouse on Pemaquid [...]
Now With Knitting
What's that? You want some knitting in your knitting blog? How unreasonable of you. I did just show you yarn yesterday. But I'm nothing if not accommodating, so let's see what I can do. Look, a sock! Now yes, it is just one sock, but maybe if I show you two pictures of it we can pretend it's a whole pair. Hmm? No. Darn. Well, I'll just have to knit the second then. Yarn is Tanis Fiber Arts (their yellow label, which is a freaking perfect weight for thick socks if you ask me) in the color Olive. Lovely stuff, [...]
Field Trip, Swans Island
So Wednesday morning's stop had unexpected yarny goodness. The afternoon stop though, that had totally expected and planned for yarny goodness. For you see, Wednesday afternoon we went to Swans Island. This was another repeat visit (we went there last year too), and one well worth making if you find yourself in Maine. Swans Island (I swear I'm not leaving out the apostrophe, that's really how it's spelled) makes beautiful blankets. Beautiful, hand-made, heirloom-quality blankets. Blankets I cannot afford, though I do enjoy waving at them when we stop by. Luckily, they also make yarn. Their yarn is all spun [...]
Field Trip, Sweetgrass
Now part of the fun of vacation is field trips. Grown up vacation field trips are much more fun than the third grade kind. You are not required to take a buddy to the bathroom with you, and you do not have to ride a bus. You also get to visit distilleries, which don't tend to feature prominently on the school field trip list. On the Wednesday after Rhinebeck, we headed out to Sweetgrass Farm Winery & Distillery. We'd visited them on our first trip to Maine way back in 2009 (when I was a very bad blogger and didn't [...]
Rhinebeck, Commerce Style
Now part of the fun of Rhinebeck is the critters (see the previous post), and part of it is the snacks, and part of it is the completely shameless knitterly abandon with which everyone curates their wardrobes. But I would not be being honest if I didn't admit that part of the fun is the shopping opportunities. I confess I indulged. Though technically I brought home less yarn than last year. What I lacked in yardage I made up for in volume. Yarnwise, I was very restrained. A mere two skeins of Green Mountain Spinnery's Simply Fine followed me home. [...]
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