Category Archives: Fine Craft

What a lovely town Chestertown, Maryland is!  Fall sure does bring extreme weather with it.  To me the oddest days are beautifully brilliant days with high winds.  Everything looks so lovely and gay even, like the trees are prancing in the wind….but being out in these conditions puts me in quite a state of anxiety.  So when we left Rock Hall until we entered the Chester River was far too adventurous for me!  Yet it made a pretty sight….white caps on the water, trees bending in the ‘gale’ (okay…honestly, about 25 mph), bright sun….

When we turned into the Chester River the wind was then behind us, so we were able to put out our smallest sail.  In the river there were no waves and with the wind behind us the day suddenly became truly wonderful!

Doesn’t this look peaceful?  And it was….you’d never know the wind was blowing over 25mph!  What a difference wind direction and protected waters make!  It was about 25 miles up the river to Chestertown, and I enjoyed the sights while working on the little baby sweater.

This sweater is a fun construction puzzle, made all in one piece.

Chestertown is a pretty town with Revolutionary War history.  We may have afternoon tea today in an old inn and hopefully I’ll get some good photos!  The river is full of duck blinds, edged by rolling fields of farmland, lovely old farmhouses and newer manor homes.

Day 11, Sept. 21: Lay Day in Rock Hall

Day 12, Sept. 22: Rockhall to Chestertown

Day 12, Sept. 22: Lay Day in Chestertown

My finished shawl for Margo!  I’ll have a couple of her friends make their own prayers and wishes, along with mine, for healing when we get to Annapolis.  Then I’ll pop it in the mail.

Day 5, Sept. 15: Atlantic Highlands to Atlantic City

Zephyr is my favorite word related to sailing, and I’ve been saying this years.  Zephyr….bring it on.  A particular word related to sailing that I detest is gale.

The Greeks had many words for wind, and if I had better internet coverage here I’d try to find out just how many words there are for wind. Anyway, that is a sure sign that they have a lot of wind.

I imagined myself making peace with sailing down the New Jersey coast on a zephyr, relying on our motor to get us down the coast.  No such luck…. Bob is using a well respected weather router named Chris Parker, and if you are a sailor you will know that Bob has chosen well.  Chris Parker said it was a favorable time for us to tackle the New Jersey coast because even though there was a north wind which is highly fickle with lots of gusts (reaching gale velocity….my least favorite sailing word!), the wind would be behind us.  You know that famous blessing: “may the wind be always at your back…”

Well, this landlubber thought today sucked!  I dealt with it as best I could by taking half a stugeron at 7am and again at 2pm which insured that I slept about 6 hours during our 12 hour slog southward.  I still hated it.

But at last we came into Atlantic City as the sun was setting, no easy feat with the sun right in our faces and the buoy lights not on yet.  It was nerve wracking to me, the land lubber.  But at least I can say it’s a fairly quiet anchorage, in spite of the insane night lights of this gambling city.

I remember when Stitches East was held in Atlantic City for a couple of years…..now it’s held right in my new backyard (Hartford), but I won’t be there to attend this fall.  If only I could have done some knitting today….. not sure tomorrow will be any better.  We have to get to the C and D Canal (Chesapeake and Delaware) by Monday evening because Tuesday’s wind is going to be off the charts.  I need to find the appropriate word for that.  We plan to be in Chesapeake City, and I hope to be snug inside Vulcan’s Rest, a weaving/knitting shop, rewarding myself for enduring this fickle north wind, even if it is at our backs.

Day 3, Sept. 13:  City Island to Sandy Hook

This morning we played our own version of a “Top Gear” race.  We left City Island by boat, under power, and our younger son left his apartment on West 112^th St. (the block that has Seinfeld’s “Tom’s Restaurant” at one end and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine at the other) for a race to the bend in the East River (#7), near  Roosevelt Island across from Gracie Mansion.  I think we (on the boat) even got a bit of a head start, but our son the biker beat us on this leg of the race!

After photos and a lot of exuberant waving (and happy tears on my part) we began the second leg of the race: the Upper East Side to the Battery (#8).

In Chris’s case this meant dodging a lot of traffic on 1^st and 2^nd Avenues.  We, on the other hand, were just sluicing down the East River at half throttle, with a favorable current pushing us and luckily no other traffic!  We won this leg by several minutes.  Chris had some bad information on the quickest route downtown, so he was terribly disappointed to miss getting a shot of us going under the Brooklyn Bridge.

Given Chris’s struggle with morning traffic coming down the East Side, it was impressive that we only beat him to Battery Park by about 10 minutes.  That boy can ride!

 I had quite a moment of panic when Chris jumped over the railing in Battery Park to get a photo of us.  The folks nearby asked if he was planning to swim out to us….

I thought this was an interesting juxtaposition, the Verrazano Bridge and the colonial fort near the base.  And that brings me to the similar clash of cultures I felt as we went through New York today.  We were on our very small vessel, not a lot different than a floating gypsy caravan, with all our power in our little world generated by four solar panels that sit atop our bimini at the back of our cockpit.  Meanwhile, we were motoring through one of the largest cities in the world, the city I have lived nearest for over 40 years now.  It’s vastness was almost as great as the ocean to me….and I felt pretty tiny on board Pandora.

We anchored inside Sandy Hook (#10), New Jersey, in time for lunch.  The excitement of the morning had thoroughly worn me out!  So it seemed appropriate for some quiet time with my current book and then a nap.  At this point, it’s almost opening time!

Day 1, September 11:  Black Rock Harbor on Long Island Sound (#2)

We are on our way!  The gypsy life has begun, and so far the weather gods have smiled on us.  Beautiful September light, crisp air, calm seas and wind.  It looks very like that day 11 years ago, which makes us both sad.  We would not have chosen to leave on this day, but weather trumps all other factors.

As we left the Connecticut River yesterday, the only other boat out on the Sound was a small catboat under sail.  This seemed particularly prophetic to us since it was virtually the same boat Bob and I first owned when we started sailing 33 years ago.

To end the day, we stopped in the port where we had kept that first boat, a catboat named “Tao.”  We have friends who are still members of Fayerweather Yacht Club there.  They had arranged for us to tie up on the dock and spend the evening together.  Their son is now about the age we were when we bought that first boat and joined that very club, and he is now the dockmaster for the club, so he helped us dock.  What a moment!  We spent the evening with our dear friends and their son, and our own older son Rob joined us as well as Bob’s parents and another good friend who lives a bit further down the coast in Rye.  What a lovely ending to our first day out!  Thank you Chris, Travers, and Pat for hosting us and thank you to our family and dear friend Craig for coming to share such a memorable day!

Today we have sailed down the Sound past many familiar spots from our ancient BC past (Before Children).  I was on the phone with Rob this morning as we passed Southport Beach, not far from where he currently lives!   Then on past Wesport and the Norwalk Islands, Stamford, Greenwich, Mamaroneck….all our old haunts.  Bob made a stellar lunch of Croque Madame with turkey and brie, enhanced with  sweet red grapes on the side.  Yum!  Tonight’s first dinner on board looks promising: beef filet tips with mushrooms sauteed in red wine and served with rice.

The extent of my gypsy garden… rosemary, tarragon, chives and sage.  I’m hoping the salt air will be good for them and keep them healthy through the coming months of cooking on board!

I spent a good part of the afternoon knitting the flower basket shawl.  I have only one more repeat to go before beginning the 10-row edge border.  It should definitely be done before we reach Chesapeake City, where I hope to mail it to our friend.

Day 2, September 12: Little Neck Bay (#5)

What would you take in your caravan if you were pulling up roots and hitting the road?

Bob would love it if I could manage to fit all my fiber dreams for the fall and winter (and early spring) into these two bins.  It’s harder than I thought it would be.

On my list:
Non-negotiable:

1. Alice Starmore “Mary Tudor” supplies (in basket so colors will stay organized)
2. Vivan Hoxbro “Ann Jacket” supplies
3. Nadita’s “Soo Feminine” supplies
4. Vivian Hoxbro “Zig Zag” wrap supplies (more than 75% done I’m happy to discover!)
5. Einstein Coat supplies, ready to start sleeves
6. Bergere du France wrap, with its 3 cones of Zephyr
7. Partially finished circular shawl by Liz Lovick with notebook of instructions
8. Revontuli shawl supplies
9. “Wingspan” shawl supplies
10. Evelyn Clark “Flower Basket Shawl” supplies
11. skeins for 6 pairs of socks, some already in progress
12. All my knitting needles

It appears that I might not be cut out for the gypsy life.  Perhaps I am too much of a home body, nesting in all my wooly, silky, fibery material possessions.  How can I cull this list?…because I know it will not all fit in my two bins.  And I haven’t even started to list the spinning projects!

1. Electric spinner (at least this does not need to fit in the bin!)
2. Drop spindles
3. corriedale hand painted roving
4. Mohair hand dyed roving
5. Ginger red alpaca batt

Lastly, for those times when neither knitting or spinning seem to fill the bill, I thought I’d bring along one or two embroidery projects.  This is my solution for not taking any weaving with me.  Meanwhile, I have not even done any embroidery in about a decade.  I do realize this seems a bit manic on my part…. the fear of not having just the thing to occupy my textile obsession.  At least embroidery takes up so little room.

This is an Evelyn Clark shawl design called “Flower Basket” that was first seen in Interweave Knits, Fall 2004.  I’m using Mini Mochi in colorway “Seaview” that is so much subtler than the colors shown here.  The colors are soft blues and aquas on pale sand, just like a summer day at the beach! I wanted to finish this shawl before we leave so I could block it at home. (It is for a friend who has spent her life on the water.) No such luck!  I will be trying to block on our bunk on the boat, without the benefit of my blocking wires!

Departure date: Tomorrow!

A rainy Saturday

And the first tomato from my garden….yes, I did eat it on my homemade bread with pesto from the basil in the garden, topped with parmesan….it was a very comforting lunch.

Here is the progress made on my boundweave wall hanging.  Aside from the tree, which is not my design anyway, I am not happy with my images.  Drat!  That second figure is supposed to a coleus plant.  Are you laughing?  (I’m not.)  And the next figure is a lady slipper.  I think others may wonder if it’s some kind of bug, or a really bad rendition of a person standing on her head.  Dear Bob says these are things that mean something to us, so I shouldn’t worry what other people see in them.  I’m trying to convince myself of that!

This is a lady slipper, this is a lady slipper, this is a lady slipper…..I still don’t believe it….

Some boundweave hints:  many years ago when I did a Christmas wall hanging on 4 shafts, I remember reading about how the weft will slant up or down according to the direction of the treadling, because it is a twill afterall.

So, if you wanted eyes or hair (or in the case above, the lower petals on the orchid) to slant in a particular direction, you have to consider that in your treadling.

So the tree and the coleus were woven by treadling from left to right across my tie up.  But the petals on the orchid did not look right done that way, so I switched to treadling ‘backward,’ or right to left.  I could have changed direction in the middle of the orchid so that the individual picks up the upper petals would have slanted upwards.  My experience with the coleus plant was that treadling either direction didn’t quite give me what I wanted, so I decided not to change direction.  The source of this information is Clotilde Barrett’s book Boundweave, Chapter 7, page 60.

The other thing that I’ve found very helpful this time around is graph paper.  On the previous project I used square graph paper and had to figure out how many rotations of the treadling sequence it took to make my weaving square.  Now I discovered on  Weavolution that Karen in the Woods is using a flattened type of graph paper, where the height of each space is shorter than the length, making squat rectangles instead of squares. I went looking for graph paper like that.  I found it at incompetech.com (clever name). Click on ‘Grid/Graph Paper.’ I chose this one, and it is pretty close to being on square per pick.  And by ‘pick’ I mean a full rotation of the treadling series, which you’ll understand if you’ve done boundweave.

I hope my next few figures are better.  I’m going to start weaving a loom now, and it’s not my design either, so I feel it’s bound (could I have picked a different word here?) to turn out better.  I’m not feeling overly confident about any of my designs, and yet 20 years ago when I did my last boundweave project, all the designs were mine and I think those figures turned out very well.

Elves and Reindeer

Santa

Santa Lucia

Onward…..

On Saturday I will travel to St. Paul to go to my first bobbin lace convention!  This is the IOLI, the International Old Lacers, Inc…..a rather dowdy name for such a talented group of women keeping these amazing techniques going.

I’ve been thinking that if lace makers are like weavers, most of the attendees will want to wear a little something that they’ve made.  I’ve had a good length of lace edging laying around for a couple years, slated to be used as an edging for some handwoven linen hand towels.  But I have not even got that warp on my radar yet….  what I do have is a lovely, old linen blouse that I suddenly realized might look very charming with a lace border at the neckline.  Hmmm….. this blouse is probably more than a decade old now.  I sure hope it has plenty of life left in it since I now love the touch of lace at the neckline!

Gosh, I hope someone notices!

This is my new little corner of the world.  I feel very lucky that it is so beautiful here and so conducive to happiness and creativity!  Although you can always ‘bloom where you’re planted,’ some places are easier than others!  I do feel like blooming!

I have finally climbed under the Toika to tie up the lamms and treadles!  Go me!  It took some rather close scrutiny of Su Butler’s website,  a lot of fretting, and a pep talk from my younger son who is visiting to get me to do it.  Why are these things such hurdles for me??

And…meanwhile….in between everything else…. I knit….

One completed section of the “Ann Jacket” by Vivian Hoxbro

One virtually complete pattern repeat of “Mary Tudor” by Alice Starmore

The finished pieces of my “Soo Feminine” jacket!  ….

A week or so ago, I realized that I have been knitting for 50 years.  I don’t really know if it’s this year, or last year, or next year, since I’m a bit fuzzy on exactly how old I was when my grandmother taught me. But it is somewhere near my half–centennial of knitting….my golden jubilee.   I need a celebration!

What would make a better celebration than knitting a project, or projects, that are truly captivating…. enthralling…. compelling…. not to mention beautiful!

I’m already knitting one that has kept me happily intrigued for a couple of months now.  It is a pattern by “Nadita” called “Soo Feminine.”  It is a fun short row technique called “swing knitting,” which has been quite popular in Germany for some time and is certainly taking off in popularity here now too.

This might be even more fun to knit than it is to wear!  But I won’t know that until I finish!

Another project jumped into my arms while I was visiting Harrisville Designs on my recent trip to New Hampshire: a Vivian Hoxbro kit!  All of Vivian Hoxbro’s kits, which use Harrisville’s “New England Shetland,” were on sale for 30% off original prices!  I love Vivian Hoxbro!  Her designs are flattering on me, and the knitting is fun, involving color changes and multi-directional knitting.

This design is called “Ann” and can be knit as a jacket or vest.  I’m doing the jacket in the purply/plum colorway shown on the vest above.

And lastly, there is Alice Starmore, queen of color!  This is her “Mary Tudor” design.  What I love about it (aside from the obvious, duh!)–  all her designs are a masterful blend of colors on a design that perfectly balances the horizontal-ness of the knitting and color changing with a strong vertical-ness to flatter the body–but as I was saying, what I love about this particular jacket is the button band and collar, which depart somewhat from traditional Shetland design.  I think those two details make this sweater absolutely elegant!    Decades ago I knitted her Oregon cardigan in the blue colorway.  It is probably my most precious handknitted item.

Aren’t all these sweaters beauties?

“Soo Feminine” and the “Ann Jacket” are on the needles now.  The yarn for “Mary Tudor” has arrived and I’ve been sighing and moaning over all the little balls of precious Shetland wool.

But the pattern book has not arrived.  Wouldn’t you know I have almost all of Starmore’s books, but not Tudor Roses.  Ugh! I cannot believe I’m one of the suckers who paid over $100 for a knitting pattern book.  I had to do a lot of justifying to make peace with that.  You know the rationalizations, I’m sure!  It’s less than therapy, it’s better than some other addictions, it’s feeding my creative spirit…etc…etc… and it’s part of my golden jubilee celebration!

I started a post on moving day, April 18th, and thought it could be a work in progress following  leaving my New Jersey home and arriving in my new home in Connecticut.  Few things ever go as planned, do they?

The first hurdle was that there was a bad cable line at our new house which prevented us from having internet service for a couple of weeks!  By the time we had it, I was really buried in unpacking/organizing/cleaning chores.  It’s been a long six weeks, but I’m feeling quite settled now.

I love my new little part of the world.  Everywhere I drive is full of inspiration; every morning when I wake up I’m happy to be here.  I know what a blessing that is!

My studio is almost set up.  The looms are in place, the bookshelves are full.  With a bit of patience I can sort of find all the tools and yarns I might need to finish several works in progress and even start the projects I’ve been designing in my head.  But I’m a long way from finished.  I’m not sure if I’ll ever get completely settled!  The hard truth is that I just have too much stuff.  Don’t we all?

In my perfect studio dream I will have a stone terrace outside the door (oops!  not in the photo….it is right next to the window) where I can admire my perfect garden, where all the flowers bloom in profusion with no pests, where I can sit and spin on perfect spring and summer mornings.  My looms will all be warped with projects that will become treasured heirlooms.  I am dreaming about a peaceful life here.  I hope I mostly make that happen!

This photo (above) is looking toward the wall of shelves and cabinets for my tools and books.  You can just see a bit of my Baby Wolf which sits around the corner from the two larger looms.  I have a lot of tweaking to do with this storage area.

So I christened the room today by actually working here, instead of unpacking and arranging.

In the near future I hope to knit and spin here!

….or better yet… in the imagined perfect garden….