We spent a lovely day ashore in St. Augustine yesterday. It was sunny, there were blue skies, and the temperature was in the 70s! Finally! This is why we headed south!
The Main Square on King St.
The oldest church in St. Augustine.
Flagler College
It was warm enough for an al fresco lunch at a Cuban restaurant!
Christmas in the main square. Yes, those are poinsettias planted outside!
…and the highlight for me was getting this shot from the fort of Castillo de San Marcos which I think might make a lovely companion tapestry to my “Terrace View from Skouros.”
We ended the day with dinner at Bistro de Leon as planned. Chef Jean Stephane Poinard’s menu was as delicious as we expected, and this years’ Beajolais Nouveau is quite good!
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!
Chocolate Pudding from Cook's Illustrated
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!
Handpainted cotton roving "Phoenix Garden"
And in my large bin of toys I have some handpainted cotton roving fromGirl Meets Spindle in a colorway called “Phoenix Garden.” Now doesn’t this sound like a good plan for riding out a tropical storm?
So I’m hoping that wherever you are you are safe and dry, and doing something fibery on this stormy weekend.
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
Halcyon Yarn
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
On Board Fabrics, near Boothbay Harbor
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
Quilt Divas in Rockland also has a large selection of yarn and knitting books
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
'The Cashmere Goat in Camden
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,
Heavenly Socks in Belfast
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.”
Louet's "Cia"Louet's KidLin Mexican Orange
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!
This is the extent of my gardening on board (well, almost)! Rosemary, thyme and a bright red geranium! I have no idea how my gardens at home are faring in the 90+ degree heat of the past few weeks, but this little pot makes me quite happy!
A visit to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay with a good friend was a perfect summer day. These gardens sit on 128 acres that border the shoreline of Back River. The idea for the gardens started in 1991, and the land was purchased in 1996, with some of the founding directors using their personal homes as collateral for the land purchase. The grand opening occurred in 2007! There is a wealth of inspiration here, and most plants are clearly identified. There are tranquil spaces, such as the Meditation Garden and the Waterfall garden along with several quiet woodland paths. And then there are spaces that are strikingly beautiful such as the Children’s Garden and many perennial borders.
One of several mazes in the gardensBirdhouse at edge of Cleaver Event Lawn and Garden
Really large bonsai planter
So many daisies!
Path through the Vayo Meditation GardenPond in the Children's Garden
And here is the winning idea I took from my tour: a wall of plants! It is made by filling wire baskets with soil, then stacking them and framing them into an attractive wall. This wall of plants not only saves space, but also makes a good screen to block unsightly views! I want it!
Herb wall
This example of a planted wall is filled with herbs. You can see one of the wire boxes in the lower left on the ground next to the wall. They had walls planted with annual flowers and one shade wall planted with ferns.
Today the wind is howling so we will sit on our mooring in Boothbay Harbor. I am going to work on my Nantucket purse and remember my wonderful day in the gardens!
…or home away from home. My husband and I spend some weeks every summer sailing on board our sailboat Pandora. This year, just weeks before we moved on board I spent a week at Becky’s Vavstuga taking her Vavstuga Basics class. This is an absolute prerequisite for any of her other classes, her way of making sure that students have the same basic training before moving on to her more specific classes. This session’s basic class had five projects: a false damask small table square, a small (30″ x 30″) tablecloth, a dishtowel, a bathmat, and a blanket. I decided that all these projects, except the bathmat, would be used on Pandora!
one of the small tableclothsone of two dishtowel warpssecond dish towel with blue blanket in background
Student Susan sleying reed for Blue blanketIlona working on the green blanket
The block weave projectThe bathmat projectAndi and Patti working together
Becky Ashenden’s lovely studio and student residence is furnished entirely in Swedish style (mostly from IKEA) with her handwovens adorning every horizontal surface as well as all the windows! The whole place could be a scene from a Carl Larsson painting. In our bedrooms we each had a handwoven coverlet for our bed and handwoven curtains. In the main sitting room/dining room/kitchenette, there were wool blankets on the backs of the comfy chairs, a tablecloth on the side table in the sitting area, and curtains on the windows. All the curtains had handwoven tapes as tie-backs. We had breakfast each morning up in the residence dining room. Breakfast was made and delivered by Susan (Becky’s business partner), who brought up a different tablecloth each morning, while wearing a matching apron. I have a new appreciation for aprons!
Breakfast with one of many handwoven tablecloths!
Class started each morning at 9am after breakfast at 8. Monday we made color wrappings for dishtowels and chose the two designs we liked best. Then we began warping for them and also making the warps for the other projects. By the afternoon we were putting the warps on the looms. I will put details of Becky’s Swedish warping techniques on the weaving page. At 11am each day we gathered at a large table in the studio for drafting exercises. All of us except one student were experienced weavers. Some of us had been weaving for decades, and one student had even spent a year at a Swedish handcraft school just like the one where Becky herself had studied. Still, making drafts by hand on graph paper was a useful exercise for all of us!
The studio lights went off promptly at noon signalling lunch. There was one hour to enjoy an amazing lunch with lots of choices served smorgasbord-style. The class information stated that while Becky could not accommodate specific diets, most people on restricted diets could still get plenty to eat. It was true! Each lunch included a platter of raw vegetables, like radish and cucumber, a green salad, a cheese tray, a basket of crackers, a basket of Susan’s still-warm homemade bread, a plate of sliced deli meats and various dishes that were freshly made for that day’s lunch. These main courses included shrimp/fennel salad one day, a wheat berry salad with vegetable and dried fruit another day. It was a feast!
The dining room table set for lunch
Dinner always included the same assortment of platters holding cheeses, raw veggies, sliced meats, etc. And there would also be a hot main course. There was another loaf of Susan’s delicious bread. We loved it so much that we demanded a photo of her with bread before she sliced it! Becky made a fresh dessert each day to serve after dinner.
Susan with her homemade bread, wearing a handwoven apron
The studio re-opened at 1pm each day, so after lunch there was time for a short walk or for perusing the extensive library of weaving books….or shopping in the retail section of Vavstuga! We re-gathered at the table at 3pm each afternoon for another session of instruction which included looking at innumerable handwoven items. I have never seen so many handwoven items in one location. It was exhilarating!
Afternoon class examining some of Becky's handwoven tablecloths
Dinner was at 6pm each evening, and again the studio lights were turned off to bring us all to the table together. The studio re-opened from 7.30 -9 pm for evening weaving.
Gathering at the table
Our days had a definite rhythm because of Becky and Susan’s hard work and organization. After working together to warp four of the five projects, we were all weaving by Wednesday morning. We warped each project in groups of two which made beaming, threading and sleying a breeze. It is really quite enjoyable to warp with another person (and I’m someone who loves the warping process and looks forward to that time alone!). I want to see if I can institute a warping group when I return home in late summer.
Warping mill with view of the Deerfield River
Each day Becky wore a handwoven dress, and we all enjoyed hearing the plans for her summer solstice wedding, including her handwoven fabric design for her wedding dress. She was to be married just a week after our class ended, and I hope there will be photos on her site when she returns! While we did not get to see the dress, we saw the fabric leftovers after the pattern pieces were cut….stunning!
Becky’s studio sits at the entrance to the Bridge of Flowers which is an incredible place in mid-June.
Bridge of Flowers
Students' work on Friday afternoonThe class with our finished projects!Susan and Becky
So…..back to Pandora and my handwoven home on the water…..
False Damask table square on cockpit table
Handwoven tablecloth and blanket from my week at Vavstuga
Ooops! I think I left the hand towel at home, and the bathmat was made for our upstairs guest bathroom.
