This amazing handwoven panel made entirely from the Golden Orb spider’s silk has moved to Chicago, and they have done a more thorough video of what went into this stunning textile. I saw it last fall at the Museum of Natural History in NY. I can’t tell you how badly I wanted to reach out and touch it! ….not possible since it was covered by a plexi panel!
Here is the 10 minute video:
Pairs of Pears….
Archie enjoys looking at pears and drawing pears. He says they have such personality. A pair of pears appears to be in conversation… some of us began calling the project ‘Talking Pears.’
For a workshop quite some time ago we all brought in pears and drew them for the morning. In the afternoon we took colored paper and began tearing and cutting to make very simplified pear arrangements. I wrote about it way back then….
Yesterday I cut my long finished pears off the loom! I need that loom for our next group project. They have languished on the loom for about a year, so I no longer remember how we are supposed to mount them in order to hang them together. Some of the group did a dozen pairs of pears! I did only two. Here they are:
Now I can warp up for the next group project….and perhaps for one of several small ideas I’ve had over the summer….
My last few days in Maine will be spent riding out what remains of hurricane Irene when she hits these shores. Hopefully she will be spent by the time she arrives, but everyone has to be prepared for the worst!
We are in a small island harbor called Pulpit Rock in Penobscot Bay. 
There is a big rock formation at the mouth of this natural harbor that does look a bit like a pulpit. More than looking like a podium this rock is famous for having a 200+ year old osprey nest at the pinnacle of the pulpit.
Our preparations for the storm are almost complete. We have two anchors out to keep us from swinging when the winds increase, all the sails are furled and lashed down, loose items have all been stored below. The larder is well stocked so I intend to cook some comfort food today, perhaps an egg/veggie/cheese timbale, onion soup, and warm homemade chocolate pudding!
Thank heave there is a good internet signal because I got the chocolate pudding recipe from this month’s Cook’s Illustrated!
Also on my agenda after we have finished our storm preparations, is watching a couple of good spinning DVDs I have on board while doing some spinning! I have Margaret Stove’s “Spinning for Lace” and Judith McKenzie’s “A Spinner’s Toolbox,” both from Interweave Press!
And in my large bin of toys I have some handpainted cotton roving from Girl Meets Spindle in a colorway called “Phoenix Garden.” Now doesn’t this sound like a good plan for riding out a tropical storm?
It’s August 21 and for several days now I’ve been wearing sweaters as well as knitted wool socks. This aint Kansas! (or NJ!)….this is Maine. The fog has rolled in and out for days; when it rolls in the temperature drops quickly.We’re in Southwest Harbor, and sadly I have discovered that Lilac Lily is no longer in business.
The Debbie Bliss sailor sweater is finished! I just haven’t been able to post it since we’ve been out of internet service for almost a week! My own concocted sweater made with Tess Designer ribbon yarn is waiting to be sewn together….not my favorite part of sweater making! So instead of tackling that I cast one for another sweater. This is a top down design by”Knitting Pure and Simple.” I’m holding two strands together, a 16/2 linen in a muted purple and a linen/cotton/rayon mix, also in purple. I left a good portion of this yarn in the car, thinking I’d never get started on this sweater. I knitted down to the underarms just beyond the point where the sleeves get put on holders, and now I’m out of yarn. I have several projects that I brought from home (the Interweave Knits “Beach House pullover,” Sally Melville’s Einstein coat, Marianne Kinzel’s lace curtains, and the Manos del Uruguay “Serena” that will become a shawl) so I’m not wanting for more knitting!
Some photos from the past week…
I found some treasures during a walk on Holdbrook Island Sanctuary: two kinds of lichen that I have not gathered before. I only take lichen that has fallen on the ground. I’m looking for the species that contains orchil and therefore will make a purple dye. Until I find it I’m only taking a small bit to test for color. Once I find the purple producing lichen I hope to gather more on future forages! …not tons as lichen grows so slowly….just enough to dye an ounce of precious handspun or so…. Also, I had to have the little green urchin….so pretty!
This is an unbelievable garden! In August there are still some flowers on the rhodies, and there are foxglove blooming along with the later summer flowers of rudbeckia, fall anemones and monk’s hood! It’s quite a steep walk up to this hidden gem from the dock, but those who visit Mt. Desert by car can drive up!
Fog banks roll in without warning and lift just as quickly!
Look how much moss and lichen is growing on this building built on a dock at Islesford on Cranberry Island! This is the entrance to a lovely restaurant that draws people from Mt. Desert to visit by ferry just to enjoy a meal here! There is a gallery and a potter’s shop on this dock, and the owners told us that every winter the storms throw up all kinds of weather that raises the floor boards and sending seaweed and debris into their shops! Every spring they clean up and nail the floor boards down again!
Truly wonderful wares in this shop! Lucky for me that Kaitlyn Duggan has a website and Etsy shop so I can consider getting some of her whimsical, lovely dishes without coming all the way back here!
I couldn’t resist this fun bracelet from the pottery studio….
Bob has just returned from visiting a boat on the docks that is a floating veterinary clinic. Dr. Barbara Shively visits various islands throughout the midcoast to take care of dogs and cats, horses, cows, sheep. While she examines dogs right out on deck at the back of her trawler, she always examines the kitties down below in a closed room! What an interesting life!
Several of our usual ports have surprised me with wonderful knitting and fabric shops! Our ‘guest room’ is quickly filling up with my treasures!
Bath: Halcyon (the photo on their homepage is that Ecobaby sailor pattern! Ha!) I have to admit that I’ve never been to Halcyon by
boat, but I have been going by car for 15 years. You could get there by boat if you wanted to go that far up the Kennebec River and brave its challenging currents. In all the years I’ve driven over that bridge I’ve never actually seen a sailboat moored in the river near Bath. That’s not to say no sailboats ever go, just that I haven’t seen them on my yearly visit. And what can I say about Halcyon, other than it is a weaver’s and knitter’s Mecca, not to mention spinners, rug hookers, crocheters, braiders, felters, etc…etc… If you do anything related to fiber, this is a great resource! Halcyon is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. I had a wonderful shopping spree there!
Boothbay Harbor: You need a car to get to Onboard Fabrics, but it is really worth it! It’s a barn on Rte 127 (and their address is Edgecomb but my point of view is the harbor where a sailing seamstress might disembark), not far off Rte. 1 on the way to
Boothbay Harbor. They have lots of nautical fabrics, inweights from upholstery to cotton lawn. This year I bought fabrics to make aprons for gifts. No sewing machine on board Pandora, so these projects will have to wait ’til I get home (meanwhile, my husband does have his sailrite sewing machine on board…but it will only sew heavy canvas and sail materials!).
Rockland: Quilt Divas. They have fabric and yarn! And the selections for both are great! It is walking distance from the harbor
for us sailors! I bought the Debbie Bliss “Ecobaby” book here as well as the yarn for the sailor sweater that is currently challenging me to re-design the collar! I also bought more fabric for aprons here. Now I’m going to make a lot of aprons for gifts!
Camden: The Cashmere Goat is new this year, in a good location right in the center of town (what used to be a shoe store). The shop
is not yet full, but they do have some wonderful yarns. I bought Manos del Uruguay’s “Serena” (kettle dyed, 60% baby alpaca, 40% pima cotton) in a handpainted colorway (#9796) of watery blues and greens. I’m going to knit a lace shawl from one of the free patterns at Interweave Knits
Belfast: Sock Heaven. This yarn store has been in business for about 10 years now, but I haven’t been to Belfast in about 15 years,
so it is new to me! There is an entire wall of yarns produced in Maine, including Hope Spinnery and Done Roving. My big score here was Louet “KidLin”(49% linen, 35% kid mohair, 16% nylon) which I’ve been hoping to find during all my yarn store hunting. It was hard to choose a color for Louet’s “Cia” Pattern, but I finally settled on “Mexican Orange,” a fun blend of gold and warm pink.
There is also a beautiful fabric store on High St. in Belfast. I did not note the name yesterday, but I hope to go back today to spend more time there. I will take a photo and get the name!
Other places. I’ve been to the guild shop in the center of Blue Hill, as well as the yarn shop slightly out of town that has since gone out of busines (sigh…), and I’ve been to Shirley’s Yarns in Hancock (where I bought Dale microfiber years ago for a tank top I never finished because it was so unflattering on me!). Now I understand there are two shops in Blue Hill that I may not know: Blue Hill Yarn shop on Ellsworth Rd. and String Theory on Beach Hill Rd. I don’t know if we’ll get to Blue Hill this year, but now I hope so! And a google search shows two promising shops on Mt. Desert, one in Southwest Harbor (Lilac Lily Yarn Shop) and one in Bar Harbor (Bee’s, Inc.), so I hope to visit both of these since we are on our way there for the weekend.
I am putting aside the Debbie Bliss sailor sweater for the moment. This is quite a disappointment to me, but I do want to give some thought to that collar. The knitters on Ravelry did not have any solutions that appealed to me, so I will take a look in my library of knitting design books when I return home in September.
Here is my next knitting project, Louet’s “Cia.”
First I will finish my own design that uses Tess Designer Yarns’ micofiber ribbon. I’ll be writing up that pattern to share here and on Ravelry. It’s a very simple pattern, and I’m almost finished!
