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ArgoKnot
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Mixed Bag

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All life is a mixed bag, isn’t it? Highs and lows, good choices, not so good choices… This adventure into sailing in the Med has been quite mixed for me. When we are in marinas with easy access to getting ashore life is easy. We’ve seen some magnificent cities and villages, and I’ve met skilled craftspeople at a number of these places. Bob and I have seen some incredible ancient places. When the weather is dicey being in a marina that is situated behind a seawall, or multiple sea walls really makes weather concerns almost as UNimportant as if we were home in the protection of a house.

We spent a long weekend in Palermo in the comfort of an upscale marina. My friend Lesley came to visit from the UK, and we had a marvelous time walking through street markets each day on our way to knitting stores. Lesley is well versed in European yarn companies. I feel I am also–somewhat–based on what we can mail order in the US. What shocks me is the difference in price we pay for our yarns, and the difference predates the current tariffs we are paying for foreign goods. There is a yarn shop next door to my son on the East side of Manhattan where Lana Gatto yarn costs a fortune! I paid $26 for the ball of cashmere blend of that yarn. Here in Italy they carry all the varieties of Lana Gatto, and the cashmere blend was 10€ and the very soft 100% merino sport weight was 2,50€ a ball.

At the first shop we visited we found a group of knitters sitting around a large, central table having coffee and sharing a large danish sitting in the middle of the table. The shop owner welcomed us to join them and have some of the pastry. No time for that when there was so much yarn to see! I wish I’d taken photos, but there is such a draw to look and touch yarn that documenting the store was not even on my radar.

We couldn’t get to all the yarn shops listed for Palermo, but since we were particularly interested in the shop that carries DROPS yarn, which neither of us can get locally–UK for Lesley and US for me–we decided to take the train to the nearest station to this yarn shop. Mazzuro Antica Mercerie is a beautiful shop, with fabric, buttons, ribbons, and plenty of yarn. It seems an entire family runs this shop together. An elderly man helped me find some pale gold, mother of pearl buttons to add to my stash. They may end up being used on my current cardigan project. I bought some DMC merino here in a shocking bright gold. More on that shortly! A woman somewhat younger than Lesley and I helped us with yarn, and a middle aged man was at the check out.

It’s fun to travel with a friend. Since Lesley stayed on Pandora with us it meant that we could talk into the night and wake up and continue over coffee in the morning!

We left the luxury and calm waters of Palermo to travel to Cefalu on the north coast of Sicily. This is also a beautiful city, and I feel lucky to have spent a couple of days there. However, there wasn’t really a harbor for protection from the weather. The first two nights we anchored right off the town, and we experienced the most severe rolling we have yet encountered. All our drawers and cabinets were locked to prevent them from opening in the violent rolling, but the sound of all the contents bashing back and forth inside the cabinets was deafening. No sleeping for us that night, between rolling sideways which makes it very hard to stay in bed, and the sound of all kinds of things crashing to and fro inside the cabinets. BEfore we got all the drawers and cabinets locked I got trapped in the forward head when a drawer came out of its cabinet, hit a door that slammed into my ankle, and then the door could not be moved because of the drawer behind it, so I was stuck in the head! Luckily Bob got me out rather quickly. Can you imagine having your cabinets and drawers needing to be locked at home?–contents bashing around? All our dishes would be broken. Luckily on Pandora our dishes are melamine. It was a memorable night, sono to be followed by others.

Cefalu is known for various things over its 4,000 year history. In its early days walls were built using huge stones. How did they move these massive stones into place for a wall?

My friend LeaAnn found this video about the ‘Megolithic’ walls of Cefalu.

There is a Byzantine church in the center of Cefalu, with amazing mosaics and plenty of other artwork.

I was more intrigued with the beautiful iron chandeliers than the massive silver …something…altar? font? Bob was impressed with the coffered ceiling.

There were small cafes with only two or three tables overlooking the water. One day we were lucky to sit in this one with a glass of wine and a plate of various kinds of bruschetta. In the photo on the right I got a shot of Pandora on the right in the far distance.

We got the bad news that the weather would be devolving soon. A huge line of thunder storms was heading our way, and we needed to find true shelter, not just a little scoop of shoreline. Since we wanted to visit the Aeolians, we sailed there yesterday, Friday, Oct. 9. There is a well protected harbor on Isola di Vulcano in the Aeolian archipelago. This harbor has a fleet of ferry boats that go all over, from small passenger ferries to the biggest ferry you can imagine. They run a tight schedule because this harbor is tiny and there are at least six different ferry vessels to-ing and fro-ing. There is a mooring field, and the local marina has a clever way of cramming in more boats than you’d think possible. They have two lines of buoys going to heavy moorings on the bottom of the harbor. When you arrive they send out two inflatable boats to help you get tied both fore and aft on the moorings. Done this way we don’t swing on the mooring as normal; we are held in place. They have cleverly placed these moorings so that the sterns of boats face into the West Mistral winds, which is what we are experiencing here. Our first night here we think the wind may have gusted to 70 mph! While I would not call it ‘comfortable’ I did feel safer than I expected to feel. The wind was epic, the thunder and lightning went on non-stop for several hours. The thunder was so loud it sounded like a fleet of jet fighters were flying overhead. No sleep occurred here last night.

Obviously no photos were taken in the height of the first storm. This is a preamble.

An interesting fact about this island. I laughed when I found that we’d be sailing to Isola di Vulcano. What a name! And it turns out the mooring field where we are situatated is right at the base of one of the volcanos–the one that is still active. It spews steam at all times. When the wind dies down a bit the smell of sulphurr is overpowering. I wonder how the locals endure it….but then I think about how much of human history has included bad smells. Basically our noses have become quite senstivie only in the past century or barely more. Life on earth is often not pleasant smelling! What Bob and I learned this morning is that the word ‘volcano’ was named for this island. This island was Isola di Vulcano before a word for volcanos existed. Perhaps the word originated here because there are so many volcanos in the archipelago. I think these volatile bodies date back 130,000 years. The last eruption was in the 19th c. Here we sit, during a significant weather event, on the island for which all volcanos are named. That seems like a confluence of risky ingredients.

At Cefalu I finished the Yorlin sweater (cardigan) that was designed by one of my favorite knitwear designers, Kate Davies. I know I ‘talk’ about her here quite often. For most of her designs she is also the model. Can you imagine how I swoon over the photos of her in her sweaters, and in stunning scenarios all over the north of Scotland? Imagine me dreaming of wearing the sweater, looking like Kate, and walking through the landscapes where she is photographed. Now you will realize how seriously disappointed I am every time I finish a sweater of hers and try it on!

While I was with Lesley I bought some DMC merino in a shockingly bright gold. At first I saw sunflower petals or Black Eyed Susan petals as the color of this yarn. But the yarn is a bit greener, and now I think of that intense color of daffodil petals. I’m enjoying knitting with it. It’s the color of April at my house where I have at least 1,000 daffs in bloom. I spent at least 3 days foraging through knitting sites (mostly ravelry) looking for an appropriate pattern for this yarn. And voila! I often find that I return to the same designers that have intigued me in the past. So my new cardigan pattern is by Tete Beche who is the creator of the sweater I am wearing right now: Ilha (which is Portuguese for island) the sweater based on Portuguese basket patterns. I love that sweater! It’s pale green and knitted in a Spanish yarn (Saona by Wool Dreamers) that is perfect for mild weather since it’s a 50/50 blend of Spanish merino and cotton. My current sweater is also by Tete Beche, and it’s called “Caresse.” It’s very feminine, and I think that’s what enticed me to knit “Ilha” as well as now knitting “Caresse.” Don’t you know, I’m already envisioning twirling in this sweater and looking like this fetching model! No chance!

If I were reading this rather than writing it, I’d think the mixed bag was heavily weighted to good times. I guess it’s a good thing I wrote a few things down to counterweight the rough times I’m having onboard. Life is good!

A Visit from My Former Self

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When we left Bosa, Sardina, we sailed about 30 miles south down the coast to a bay near Cabras which has the ruins of several ancient cities on one site, known as Tharros. This area was first inhabited by the Phoenicians in the 8th c BCE. Later the Egyptians and Romans were here, then the Saracens, then the Spanish. Each time another invader took over they tore down the existing buildings and re-used the stone to build their own monuments and buildings.

We arrived here in the late afternoon, with a low sun shining on both the Spanish tower and two Roman columns that were re-constructed in the 1950s using only a bit of the original stone found nearby, all that was still strong enough to use, and lots of modern cement and steel rods to support the columns. They are an impressive sight, and they sparked a resurgence of a former self–from about 50 years ago. A young adult that I barely remember took up residence in my head and brought me back to a very different time in my life.

I started studying Latin as an adolescence of 12, and I continued it through high school and college. In college I added Greek to the mix, and got a degree in both languages. It was Greek that brought me to weaving, and it was serendipitous that my college happened to offer semester long weaving classes that started in the fall of my sophomore year, taught by Candiss Cole, as an “artist in residence” opportunity. She ordered a dozen Harrisville Design folding looms–the well known 22″, direct tie-up looms. My not-yet-husband Bob assembled them all for Candiss, and even took the class with me. In ancient Greek there is so much overlap between “text” and “textile” that I knew I’d found my “calling” when I learned to weave. I thought I was going to be an academic and a weaver. That’s not how life played out, and for decades now I’ve barely thought about ancient languages and the cultures I once spent all my time studying.

This is the scene that greeted me when we arrived in the Bay of Oristano, where ships from Phoenicia, Egypt, the Roman Empire, and the Saracens have also anchored. Pretty sobering to think of 3,000 years of ships arriving here, battles fought and lost, new cultures taking possession of this place.

Our first sunset here was quite dramatic with a spotlight on the Spanish lookout tower.

The following morning we went ashore to visit this archeological site. With so many invasions over the centuries, the mix of buildings is quite a jumble. Whoever laid claim to this land took apart exisiting buildings from the previous inhabitants and used them to rebuild the place. Any valuable finds, and there are plenty, are now housed in two museums that are not on the grounds of the archeological site. The museums are in the towns of Cabras and Oristano. If we could stay here longer we might take a taxi to these museums, but we can’t seem to make this work. We must push on.

Walking through the ancient site of Tharros, my head was flooded with words I haven’t thought of in decades…. metopee, capitol, Ionic, pediment, and the names of deities for which temples were built all over the Roman Empire. The stone used in this area is sandstone. It can be “tufo” which contributes to the golden atmosphere of most of Italy. I struggle with the difference between limestone type “tufo” and volcanic “tufa.” I’m never going to remember which is which if I couldn’t do it 50 years ago, but I can enjoy the golden look of much of Italy’s ancient sites, especially against a deep blue sky and the color of the Mediterranean.

Walking to the site we saw the other side of the narrow peninsula. This is the Mediterranean, with a popular beach. In ancient times the bay was known as Mare de Morte (or ‘di’), the sea of death, because no matter how rough the Mediterranean might get, this bay is always calm. That is exactly why we chose to come here since at this time of year there can be strong north winds.

Imagine our excitement at seeing Pandora framed between the columns. Even if there is little original material in these columns, it’s still an impressive sight!

There are the remains of baths here where the foundations of the bathing rooms are still intact, and a large cistern for water further up the hill. There are foundations for a couple of temples; one is a temple to Demeter. There is nothing left but foundations, and you can see that one had the standard “porch” where the columns would have supported the roof and there would have been a pediment.

Carved stones for some architectural use. The stone in the center of the right photo might be a base or a capitol for something… I wish I knew more

This area will soon pass out of the dry season into the more arable seasons of fall/winter/spring. Still, there are plants here thriving in the dry season of summer. As a young adult I was surprised to learn that Persephone went down to Hades in summer, not winter. Being a young North American, I was not familiar with summer being the harsh time of year when little grows. Along the road to the archeological site we saw lavender, rosemary, and artemisia, with lavender still in bloom. I know the Sardinians are known for using a different combination of herbs in their local vermouth than mainland Italy uses. We’ve got a bottle, but we haven’t opened it yet. I know there will be rosemary in it for sure.

When we left in the afternoon we stopped into the Byzantine period church right near where we docked our dinghy. It’s just outside the ancient archeological site. The church is Chiesa di San Giovanni di Sinis (the Church of St. John of Sinis, Sinis being the name of the peninsula that creates the Bay of Oristano. This church was built in the 6th c CE, and the stones were taken from Tharros. It has barrel vaults and a very early baptismal font. The flowers on the altar were fresh and had now dried beautifully into preserved arrangements.

I had to revisit the ticket office where there was a small gift shop. Every gift shop everywhere has some woven items. It’s such a joy to see that woven goods have a following.

And this little gem came home with me.

It’s quite something to visit old passions. I don’t regret not continuing my studies, even though I still have a great love for the ancient world, when so many ideas were developed in science, art, and literature. I’m enjoying this short jaunt into the past, and into my own past. I know there will be more, and that’s the main reason I thought we should sail the Mediterranean before we are too old to sail at all.

Our Final Night in Bosa was the Festival of Our Lady of Regnos Altos

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What an incredible final night for our time in Bosa. The festival included a brass band, women dressed in medieval costume as well as the national costume of Sardinia. The festival started on Saturday night, with two brass bands, followed by locals carrying candles. Church members brought the statue of the Madonna from the large church in town to the Piazza della Consituzione where the fountain there was festooned in white lysianthus flowers and candles.

There is some of the handmade Sardinaina needle lace at the border of the draped fountain.

The following evening, just before the main event of the festival, the waiters and owner of one of the restaurants in the Piazza posed for a photo at this altarritos.

We ate at Don Carlo restaurant enough times tht every waiter knew us.

While I don’t understand the reason for this festival, I certainly enjoyed all the displays of lace. The story goes that a small Madonna figure was found in the small church that sits on top of the hill within the walls of Malaspina Castle, which was built in the 12th c and was in use for 800 years. To celebrate finding the little Madonna figure (found sometime in the 19th c), the large Madonna statue is taken from the main church down at the river and carried through the narrow, winding medieval streets of the historic Sa Costa area leading up to the castle.

The procession includes brothers from the church as well a local women dressed in medieval costumes and in the national costume of Sardinia. Somehow I missed all the women wearing the national costume.

What I noticed is that all along the Sa Costa cobbled streets women had made small altars (altarriti) that showcased their handmade lace, with copious amounts of flowers and candles and small Madonna figures. It was so impressive. Next to each of these altarritos women sat out on folding chairs talking to one another. It would have been wonderful to get photos of all the women, but it seemed invasive and inappropriate for a religious event. They were all happy to hear compliments on their lace and to have photos taken of their work.

Not all altars had handmade lace, but they were certainly impressive.

I had high hopes for finding the two lace makers I met in May on my first visit here. I was thrilled to find them, and after a few moments they remembered me when I told the story of not having enough cash to pay for the things I’d chosen. I asked where I might find an ATM, and or course, it was all the way back down near the river. I did not think I could make the trip up the winding streets twice that day in high heat, so I came back a day later, and the two women held my purchases aside for me.

On this visit Iearned how they start the needle lace. I had mistakenly thought that they must make the netting background on the frame, but this is not the case. They make the netting the same way the fisherman do it. They have the netting shuttle and make a length of lace. It grows on the diagonal from one corner to the other. I have no idea how they can tell how big to make the lace so that it will fit on the frame for the particular project they have in mind. If only I understood those words in Italian!

Walking back through Sa Costa at the end of the procession we saw lots of families eating together in large rooms with doors and windows open to the beautiful evening. Restaurants were open for dinner, and Bob and I found a charming place on a terrace overlooking a courtyard. There was a canopy of grape vines above us. It was magical, and the dinner was our best yet in Bosa. It was a wonderful way to end our time there.

Thank you to everyone in Bosa who showed us such hospitality!

Farewell to Bosa

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Tomorrow we will set sail and head south to some remote anchorages off the western coast of Sardinia, on our way to visit either Cagliari or some harbor nearby. We are hoping to connect with a couple of men we know from Essex, who always spend part of September on Sardinia. After spending some time on the south coast we will sail to Sicily. Bob has been working toward this for the entire two weeks since we’ve returned to Sardinia. There have been lots of boat problems. While that is the nature of blue water sailing, because crossing oceans is so hard on a boat, we did not expect getting services in Mediterranean to be so difficult. I guess it’s been easier to have repairs done in the Caribbean because there are enough English speaking cruisers there that English is generally well understood. In some of the islands, English is the main language, but even in the French islands it was easier to communicate repair needs than it has been in Spain or Sardinia. Bob wrote up his list of repairs, translated it into Italian, then photographed the things that needed attention and circling the important parts of the photos….but no luck…at all. Bob really climbed a steep learning curve to install a new inverter for our electrical system and a new alternator for the engine by himself. All I can say about this is he is persistent.

I loved being here. The people are friendly, and they’ve been quite patient with my fumbling Italian. In spite of several years of Duolingo Italian, I can barely compose a grammatical sentence. I have a large vocabulary, and that has worked well enough for me in spite of making rather nonsensical sentences.

If you should choose to visit Sardinia, I highly recommend spending some time in Bosa. It is a medieval city with a castle on the hill. It is well known for it’s colorful houses, and in spite of its charm, it is not a big tourist area. When we first arrived in May there were only locals. Now, at the tail end of the tourist season in the Med, there are only a few tourists. I’ve had wonderful opportunities to meet and even get to know a few locals. The high point for me is that there is a culture of fine craft here, from needle lace making to weaving and sewing, pottery, basket making, and so many other fine crafts.

Instead of writing on and on about this place, I’ll focus on showing images of Bosa. I hope you enjoy it.

When dusk falls and the lights illuminate the Malaspina Castle

Bosa is well known for its colorful houses that sit below the castle. My image is a little washed out due to the strong sunlight.

Bosa sits on both sides of the Temo River, and there are several bridges that connect both sides.

Bosa at night is spectacular! We would dinghy here and cross the bridge into the medieval part of the city for meals and museum visits–and shopping.

These are some of the colorful houses that are iconic for Bosa.

The entrance to a cafe right near our rended room
Our rented rooom in Alene Guest House, right in the midst of restarants around the Piazza Constituzione
These baskets are made from paper that has been rolled into tight coils. There is a bit of the famous Sardinia woven fabric in the middle. The baskets are finished with some kind of preservative that I did not understand. I said “varnish” and the woman who made these replied, “bio finish.” I then asked if she meant ‘natural finish,” and she said yes. I’ve no idea what that is exactly, and I did try a google search to find out more, but no luck there.

Here is the basket I chose. It was a hard decision.

These wonderful Sardinian fabrics are used everywhere, as valances on windows, table runners, bread baskets and larger containers, even little chickens.

Little chickens made into key chains or purse dangles, by Paola Porcu.

Bosa is well known for needle lace, and the whole town is festooned with it, especially the church.

My favorite part of our visit was the Tuesday market where I spent time looking through so many woven fabrics. I will never feel that I saw enough of them, or chose enough of them to bring home.

On our final day here there is a festival to the Virgin Mary. There seems to be a lot of these. Before we left in August I saw images of a festival to Madonna di Mare, where a statue of the Virgin was carried down to the river, amidst a mass of flowers. The flowers were thrown into the river, the statue was placed on a boat festooned in flowers, and I guess she blessed the fishing fleet and the bounty of the sea. Today the statue will be carried through the town and there will be displays of the needle lace made by many of the local women. I guess the Madonna will bless the lace and the women who make it. I am looking forward this, and won’t it be such an experience to end our time in Bosa!

The people of Bosa began the festival last night, while Bob and I had dinner near the Piazza Constituzione. The fountain was decorated with candles and white lisianthus bouquets. The statue was brought to the fountain along with a procession of a brass band playing hymns and people carrying candles. The Madonna was taken back to the church where an a capella men’s chorus sang a number of hymns followed by organ works. It was a beautiful celebration…and yet today will be the main event, so very likely even more impessive. I am excited!

This has been a memorable place to visit. I’ve loved every moment of it (except when we moved aboard Pandora before the repairs were completed). Can you tell how much I’m enjoying Bosa?

Farewell to this stunning and welcoming place. If our luck holds we’ll be back here in a few years as we begin the journey home.

Tote Bag Fetish

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It seems I might have a bag problem, as in too many. After years of collecting them I have now turned my attention to making them, and what fun that has been!

I recently came across a poem by Brian Bilston about someone who has a lot of bags. Naturally I thought he must be writing about a weaver. Somehow I thought it was only we weavers/spinners/knitters who can never resist the opportunity for yet another tote bag (okay, maybe also quilters). I was just about to write a comment on his poem when I saw that someone had already posted this:” I think you’ve been in my house!” There was no indication that she is a weaver/spinner/knitter, so maybe the predilection for tote collecting goes farther afield.

If you’ve never read Brian Bilston’s poetry before, you can find his poetry at https://brianbilston.com/ here. Or you can look for his books.

Bags

you have bags
of bags

collecting bags
with nothing in them
except bags,
inside of which are other bags,
full of bags

you have enough bags for life
for a hundred lifetimes–
if there was a prize for the total number of tote bags
you would totes have it
in the bag

don’t know why you need so many bags
when all you ever put in them
are other bags
— Brian Bilston

A couple of years ago, after I took a sakiori class with Janny Simpson, I continued to weave off my fabric. I used it as supplemental fabric on a denim ground to make a tote bag. I am smitten with it still, in spite of its lack of sewing skills.

I’ve bought plenty of tote bags over the years from places I love, like the Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh, a festival in Horta in the Açores, totebags from every weaving conference I’ve ever attended….the list goes on and on. Here’s the tote I bought in Nijar, Spain, in April after wishing I had bought it the year before, when I first saw it. I had to buy two so I could share the wonder with a friend.

Over the summer I used this tote bag from Spain to make another attempt at sewing one myself, with fabric I got in Sardinia in May. Do you remember how I asked a restaurant and vineyard owner to sell me this table runner right off one of the tables in his restaurant?

My sewing construction for this bag was much better. It helps to have a good tote bag as an example, along with help from my sewing friend Emily, and all the YouTube videos available. In these digital times there is always a solution to finding information. I love carrying this bag. Now that I’m back in Bosa (Sardinia) I have bought more of this fabric to share with friends. And of course I stopped by the restaurant to show the owner how I used his table runner.

And since I love to see what other weavers make wherever I travel, I was thrilled to find women here in Bosa who also sew with these fabrics, I’ve bought three more bags, but only two of them are mine! I just got the two that are shown together hanging on a door knob recently. All of these were made by a local woman, Paola Porcu, who sews lots of interesting items out of these traditional fabrics. The two I bought are lined with handwoven fabric that looks like Swedish canvas lace (that I just finished weaving myself in 40/2 linen as shawls!). That fabric was woven by Paola’s mother. What a treasure! How could I resist, and how could I just choose one of these stunning bags. They are HUGE, as you can tell in the top photo. I plan to showcase lots of yarns in these bags, and showcase the bags themselves by having them out for viewing near my favorite chair for knitting.

Before we headed home last June we stopped in Alghero, a little further up the western coast of Sardinia from Bosa. I found this man’s weaving studio, where he also makes tote bags, among other things.

Not all sewing projects turn out well on the first attempt. This tote bag is waiting at home for my return when I will try to figure out what on earth went wrong!! It’s made with fabric I love–made on a day spent with my good friend Jody who does wonderful work with botanical print dyeing. She guided me through this attempt, and I have a lovely raw silk scarf now. But I’m actually more intrigued with the cotton flannel fabric we used for an iron blanket on our scarves. I decided to use the cotton flannel botanical print for a hand bag. The sewing went well, using the pattern “Mini Poppins” by Aunties Two, but when I finished the bag by inserting metal stays to shape the bag something went terribly wrong. I hope I can fix whatever is wrong. It would be a wonderful bag to carry in fall and winter.

Tote bags are SO useful, and also beautiful. They hold memories of events attended, travels, and the gathering of so many rich experiences. The materials for making them provide a grounding time of creating and sewing the bag. How can I possibly resist them? Yet the poet Brian Bilson is also correct that many of my tote bags hang on hooks and are filled to the brim with other tote bags.

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