She Knits By The Seashore

Baby Sophisticate Sweater & Gillette Castle

For my friend M's baby L, I knitted the Baby Sophisticate Sweater. He's a boy, so denim blue yarn and train buttons it is.

The pattern's gauge is a little wonky (the designer noted on Ravelry that knitters were reporting it runs small), so I knit the larger size. L will fit into it in a few months, right in time for winter.The pattern is otherwise easy, knit from the neckline down in one piece, with armhole stitches picked up for the sleeves, and the shawl collar knitted last.

I'm working on one last gift, and then I hope to start on a sweater for me!

Fall is not my favorite season, but I've got to admit the scenery is absolutely beautiful this year. Last weekend, Chris and I took a little road trip, and stopped at one of the tourist attractions in CT, Gillette Castle.

It was built early in the 20th century by William Gillette, one of the most popular actors in his day. He is most famous for playing Sherlock Holmes in the theater, but dabbled in many other areas as well.To celebrate his great success, he built a stone home on an estate on the Connecticut River he called Seventh Sister (referring to the surrounding hills). Today we know it as Gillette Castle.

Although we didn't take the tour this time, I have been on it before -- it's a rite of passage if you attended a nearby public school or belonged to a local scout troop. The castle is filled with Gillette's little inventions and quirks, such as mirrors positioned in such a way to spy on the servants or guests before entering a room, and locks that can only be unlocked if you know how to solve the puzzles that form them. He also had a railroad that ran along through the large property. It was dismantled but the engine is still visible in the visitor's center, and rumor has it that they may re-install part of the track on the property in future. 

The castle sits high on a bluff overlooking the river. Here is the view from the "backyard." And here's what it looks like from the ground below -- actually the ferry that we rode across to the other side of the river:

Visiting the castle as an adult made me appreciate it more, want to know more about the eccentric-- and, I suspect, lonely--Gillette. He married in 1882, and only six years later, his wife died from a ruptured appendix. He never remarried. We will probably never know why; upon his death in 1937 he requested that all his personal papers be burned. There is only one biography available for him, written recently by a local man, and the only research materials available seem to be second-hand stories and news articles.

I wonder if it's possible for today's celebrities to be as mysterious as Gillette, given all of our technology?

Several blog posts and articles I've come across lately recommend being a tourist in your own local area, and discovering or re-discovering what it has to offer. I hope to do more of this with Chris -- we had a great time that afternoon. What places have you visited lately?

If you are new to my blog, I want to recommend my Facebook page, Shoreline Writing Services, and my Twitter feed, ShorelineWrite. I'd love to see you there!! Feedback is very much appreciated. Have a good week!

Will Bike for Water

Chris and I have been riding some rail trails in the past few weeks. The Kingston, RI one is a favorite. This first photo is at the start of the trail, near the railroad station.

 Parts of the trail are wooded

 but a few streets after the end of the trail, you discover the ocean, Narragansett Bay. Swoon.

The public beach is to the left of where we were standing; I was amazed at how many people were there for a September afternoon. The surfers all had on wetsuits though.

By the time we rode back to the station, I think we did about 20-22 miles.

A trip to the area isn't complete unless we have dinner at Aunt Carrie's. It is one of the last weekends they are open for the season.They are totally a "seafood shack," but they do have a vegetable plate for me. The homemade cinnamon raisin bread is unbelievably sweet and moist.

On our way home, we stopped at Watch Hill, another one of my most favorite places. It too will close up in a few weeks (the stores and restaurants are probably not insulated/heated for winter), except for The Ocean House, which looked so incredible in the evening light. One of these days, we are going to have dinner there, so I can stand out on that balcony and look at that view.

Around the corner, we were treated to a dazzling sunset over the water. Sigh.

We're planning to do more riding into the fall, but those colored leaves are no match for the ocean in my world. :)

 

Cape Cod Weekend 2011

Chris and I had a restful time at Cape Cod, despite the rainy weekend. Since we couldn't ride our bikes, or visit the beach, we visited some of our favorite bookstores.

 
Scarlett is parked outside Isaiah Thomas, while we browse the shelves for used books.

 
Herridge Books, in Wellfleet (no link), has lots of newer fiction and more popular used titles.

 
Ben is back at Titcomb's after rest and restoration. He's a local celebrity, and all of the visiting authors have their photo taken with him.

 
Chris made reservations for us at the English Garden Inn. There are flowers everywhere; our photos don't really show the amazing gardens that surround the inn.

 
I love arbors and brick paths.

 
I'm not good at traveling light, and you can't even see my weekend bag in this photo.

 
Our third floor aerie. The door opens to a Juliet balcony: room to stand, but not to sit.

 
Braving the wind for a photo

 
A close-up of the ribbon embroidered lighthouse curtains 

 
The living room, where we sat to read

   
 Another pretty room

 
Breakfast Room

 
Tea! Waffles were coming.

 
Someone is very happy with breakfast food!

 
We had our anniversary dinner at the Orleans Inn, and like last year, the rain kept us from eating on the patio overlooking the water. The food was delicious, though, and someday, we will get to eat outside!

  

Believe it or not, I didn't buy any books. My one souvenir is this dress from Seabreezes, which looks much better on (and not so tent-like) than it does on the hanger. It's a soft T-shirt material, perfect for the hot days I hope we will have this summer. I can't find a link to the dress, but the company website is here.

I hope you are enjoying fun weekends and dry weather, and are getting lots of knitting and reading done. I need to do a reading update soon!
 

The Great Rhody Yarn and Bike Crawl

I had such a fun time!

At first, I couldn't decide whether or not to go. It's not like I need any yarn or patterns. But what I wanted was energy and inspiration and the camaraderie of other knitters, and there was more of that than I could have hoped for. Chris and I were in the mood for a road trip, despite the gloomy New England weather we've been having, and so we started off to Westerly on Saturday morning for our first stops on the yarn and bike crawl.

 

Knitwits is a small shop packed with amazing choices, and there were so many knitters exploring the yarn when I arrived that I could hardly move! Hannah's Farm brought two alpacas that were so adorable; I heard one person say that they had four inches of wool to be shorn for new yarn soon. The staff here were so kind, and excited to see the response for the event. They gave out Knitwit totebags and raffle tickets for either sample sweaters or book sets. Although I really wanted the La Boheme yarn in this gorgeous maroon and pink color, Plum Pudding, I remembered I had a similar color combo for the Louisa Harding yarn in my stash, and settled for the new summer issue of Knitscene.

For the cycling minded, Westerly has Brumble Bikes. They are not usually open on the weekend, so if you are planning a visit, you might want to call ahead. They happened to be open when Chris stopped by. They seem to have a strong bike team, which we saw on Sunday at the Ninigret Races in Charlestown.

On the way to our next knitting shop, we stopped at the East Providence bike shop, where Chris found a black base layer top, and I stood envying the ad for the women-only group rides. I somehow miscalculated here and missed Fresh Purls entirely, which I've never visited, but I hope to get there sometime this summer.

Stop #2 was in Warren, for Bella Yarns.

 

I had taken along the Summer Flies shawl pattern, which I'd discovered at another yarn shop last month. Since then, I'd been debating what color to use; as much as I love pink and ocean blue, I have so many accessories knitted in those colors. Do you usually knit in the same colors? The night before the crawl, I had an inspiration: lime neon spring green. So different and summery. I could pair it with navy blue, which is dear to my preppy, new wave heart. After entering a raffle for a gorgeous sweater kit, I was off to find green yarn.

Enter Naomi, the shop's co-owner. She is absolutely amazing. Not only did she help me find the shawl yarn (see photo below!), but on a whim, I asked if she had a moment to explain that PRB stitch I asked about in my previous post. It turns out that she has been swatching for the same project! She sat down with me on their cozy sofa, looked at the pattern instructions, picked up some scrap yarn, and showed me what to do. Now I can work on Paloma again. She and the staff are SO friendly and excited about knitting, that I want to go back again and again. There will be shorter time between my visits there for sure.

After Bella Yarns, we stopped by one of our favorite little restaurants, Leo's Ristorante, for lunch. We had to eat inside, but soon it will be time to sit at the sidewalk tables and admire the gardens during lunch.

 
 

Chris navigated time and distance for our trip; after lunch, we went to Tiverton, to Sakonnet Purls.

 
 They had the prettiest flower pots.

 

Here is the store cat, Lucy. I was so excited to finally meet her!

 

Though tempted by a sale on Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, to eventually make the Beltane Tee, I settled on a pattern, All Ruffled Up, by Champagne Maker. It's a small cape that I thought might be a great summer cover-up for bare arms in overly air-conditioned buildings. Oddly enough, the cape in the project photo shows the same lime green yarn I bought for the shawl. I don't have any particular color in mind for this cape, and since I'm not likely to start it this summer, I have time to figure that out.

After leaving Tiverton, one of my favorite places in the entire world, we stopped at Caster's, a very awesome bike shop in Warwick. Then, I was desperate for tea, and since we were sort of in the neighborhood, we went back to Main Street Coffee in East Greenwich. We'd been there for my birthday about a month and a half ago, and I was heartened to see that the tables and chairs are outside now, if not the flowers. Progress! I love their almond tarts.

  

By now, it was after 5pm, and though I could have visited The Mermaid's Purl as planned, I was on yarn overload. Since we were going back to RI the next day for Chris' bike race at Ninigret, it seemed best to go home and rest up and enjoy my new purchases. Here they are: 

  

I can't wait to start the shawl. After a sunny day yesterday (Sunday), we're back to gloom, but knitting this color has got to bring summer here faster. :)

A big thank you to those who organized this amazing event. I am already looking forward to next year. If you missed the RI crawl, there is an I-91 Shop Hop planned for June 24-26, with stops from Vermont to the CT Shoreline. 

I hope you are enjoying sun, leaves, flowers, and great spring bike rides!

Birthday Road Trip & Knitted Shawl

Last Saturday, Chris and I went to Rhode Island for a birthday road trip. Having a winter birthday when you are a summer girl at heart is one huge compromise. I'm never going to have an afternoon lying on the beach with a book without a head-to-toe parka or birthday dinner on the patio unless I eat with mittens on unless I travel very far south, like, the Caribbean. So, I try to plan a day where I get a taste of my favorite summer things to come.

We spend a lot of time on Cape Cod and in Rhode Island in the summer. Not only are there great biking roads, and book and yarn shops, but there's a summery state of mind there that I don't feel at home, even though our own beach is five minutes away and we have tourists here too. They have managed to keep the big box stores and chain restaurants away and maintain a village feel, with little clothing boutiques and coffee shops that give their towns a special charm. There is also something about the light -- maybe it's because they are surrounded by so much ocean, but the sunlight there has a shimmery quality to it that makes me feel alive.

Since a trip to the Caribbean was out, I planned a day in Rhode Island to visit some of my favorite places, starting in Westerly:

 

There are a couple of shops here like Seaport Downtown and Christina's, which have little sister shops in Watch Hill during the warmer months. Those shops, in fact, the entire commercial Bay Street of Watch Hill, were completely boarded up when we drove past!! They won't open until April, so visiting the main stores in Westerly had to suffice.

 
At Seaport Downtown, I found this pretty beaded necklace, and a plaque that has one of my many life mantras. I take these things to heart and try very hard to live them out, so it's a sweet reminder.

After Westerly, we drove up to East Greenwich. In my state, Greenwich is a very wealthy, New York-like suburb, and I try to stay away from that part of the state as much as possible. But in Rhode Island, Greenwich is a little town that is undergoing a revival, with indy clothing shops, antique shops, restaurants, and coffee shops like Main Street Coffee. In the warmer weather, the front windows are open, and there are little tables and chairs where you can sit outside and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea and their incredible pastries. They have colorful window boxes and vine-like plants, and it reminds me of the cafes in France. This was an inside visit. :)

 
Click here to see it in all its summer glory!!! Our winter photo doesn't begin to show you its character.

Also in East Greenwich is this yarn shop. I'll be honest -- I was surprised at how much it's changed since my last visit. There was minimal yarn or pattern selection, no more knitting books or their formerly enticing displays that I could see. Mostly, it was a big table and chairs in the middle of the shop for the local knitting group, with some yarn on both sides of the walls. I did, however, see this:

 

Summer Flies. I've been looking for a shawl that doesn't have the vertical row of yarnovers down the middle of the back. I don't know why, exactly, but I don't like that. This shawl is a circular design, so doesn't have that. It's just smaller than what I'd like, doesn't fully cover the arms, so if I knit it one day, I'm going to have to figure out some math to enlarge it. UGH. The saleswoman tried to explain it to me, but I couldn't follow her for the life of me. She gave me a copy of the free pattern, which you can download from Ravelry.

 

The copy of the pattern I received had very bleached out, black and white photos, so I asked permission to take my own photos of their sample. I need to see the stitch patterns up close when I start a new project.

After E. Greenwich, we went to Cranston, to Garden City. It's an outdoor mall; Chris pointed out that they've removed their white metal awnings since we'd last been there, which is why it looks different to me. One of the main reasons I wanted to go there was to check out the opening of the new Anthropologie store. I don't think I've ever been in one, and so many bloggers love it that I wanted to see it for myself. As much as I love vintage, there wasn't anything in the store that I fell in love with. If you love Anthropologie, maybe you can share your favorite things that I might have missed?

 

I bought a T-shirt top and scarf at Loft, and then we headed home for dinner. Since I didn't splurge on clothes at Garden City, I treated myself to these pillowcases:

 

Lilly started her shop in the 1960s in West Palm Beach, Florida, which is why she used such bright, cheerful colors and patterns. And though I am very far from West Palm Beach, geographically and temperature-wise, having a little Lilly is one of the best birthday gifts and antidotes to winter I can find. Maybe one day, I can spend my birthday in West Palm Beach.

 

Returning from Cape Cod

 

We visit Cape Cod often; it's close enough to drive to in a day, and far enough away from home that we can get some rest. As many times as we've been there, we still discover new and different things to do, depending on our mood and the season.

With high summer weather and the Tour de France on TV every day, we spent this week-long trip with Mr. & Mrs. SDC mostly on our bikes. We had such a great time! The Cape has a fabulous rail trail to keep cyclists away from the crazy tourist drivers (scroll down to see how close a truck got to Chris on a main road!), but there are also a lot of small residential streets to explore, with beautiful gardens and ocean views. Blue, pink, and purple hydrangeas were in bloom everywhere. Here we are in Chatham, (at the "elbow" of the Cape) across from the lighthouse. 

 
Chatham Light.  

 

Tired but happy riders. Mrs. SDC and I match only by accident. The guys match on purpose.

When we weren't riding, Mrs. SDC and I did some recipe experiments. My favorite was a version of the Everyday Food's grilled pizza. We stayed in a rented house with a fully stocked kitchen, and though the outdoor grill itself was not great, we had some delicious, healthy dinners. Mrs. SDC also made a version of these blueberry muffins. Yum!

I did a little shopping; bought a pretty scarf at Violet's and a daisy bracelet at Bella. Mrs. SDC and I enjoyed manicures and pedicures at Le Petite Day Spa, and also discovered a new knitting shop called Black Purls. I couldn't resist the heathered pink Cascade yarn for the Betty Minisweater. (I still haven't decided on a shawl pattern for my dress).

Though I didn't get nearly as much reading done as I'd hoped, I am loving the Whole Living/Body + Soul magazine and website. I read so many great articles on health and wellness last week, which was really inspiring. Do you read this magazine?

I did rip and re-knit the block pattern on the Vogue Pink Skirt (sitting in traffic for an hour on the way home makes for lots of progress!). I increased two stitches on each side (for a total of four) so that every block has 10 stitches, including the ones where the seams would be. I'm at the beginning of the second round of blocks.

Version 2.0: no funky block seams where the stitchmarkers are. 

It's still very hot and humid here in southern New England, for which I am deeply grateful. Real summer at last. Lots more beach days ahead, and it's even hot enough for me to go in the water!

Blue hydrangeas from our backyard. These are lacecaps, but the "mop-head" style are everywhere to enjoy too. The blues and purples are so brilliant. 

Cape Ann: Cycling Around Gloucester and Rockport

One of my top summer wish list items was to do a bike trip around Cape Ann. If you look at a U.S. map, it's the knobby piece of land north of Boston, MA. And, it's absolutely gorgeous this time of year. I went once as a teen and once when Chris and I were dating, but didn't remember it at all.

The view from the state park, where we abandoned the car and took up our bikes. I'm only sorry you can't smell the salt air too.

 

Grace steered me to Coveted Yarn, in Gloucester. They have gorgeous Louisa Harding and Noro yarns, as well as other treats, and if you are in the area, I highly recommend a visit. It doesn't look anything like the fictional yarn shop in the Seaside Knitting mysteries I've been reading, but is a treasure anyway.

 

One of the local beaches.

 

While we were looking for the lighthouse road, we took a turn down this amazingly breathtaking road where I want to live if I have an undiscovered relative who someday leaves me an inheritance. The view is so perfect, it doesn't look real. I am going to limit posting to one or two pictures, but Chris took tons for me. Here are my beloved beach roses, Rosa Rugosa. I have to get some for my garden, once I clean out the old shrubs.

 

The sailboats. The other thing I will get someday with my fantasy inheritance.

 

We found the lighthouse! They hid it down at the end of a private street on a rocky path, but we were not deterred.

 

 

I could live here very happily. Love the courtyard.

 

The little village of Rockport. If you follow this road out to the [short] end of Bearskin Neck, you are surrounded on all sides by water. So cool.

 

Lunch on the terrace of My Place by the Sea, at the end of the road above. Oh, the view.

 

After lunch, we saw the infamous Motif No. 1. Any time a magazine wants a symbolic image of New England, this is what they use. The local and visiting artists often paint it; there is an artist colony here, also mentioned in the Seaside Knitting mysteries, which I somehow missed.

 

The little village of Annisquam has a wooden footbridge...

 

...and it was so much fun to ride over!

 

After more pedaling (mostly uphill, ugh!) we completed 26 miles and returned to Gloucester. Here is the gazebo in the state park:

 

This sign may also look familiar. Remember the commercial?

 

One more scenic photo from Rockport, at Bearskin Neck:

 

And now I have to tell you a story about a dress. The dress.

After we ate lunch, we were just about to push off uphill for the second part of our ride, when I saw a little yellow house-shop with some dresses displayed on hangers outside. There was one that just sang to me, and I got off my bike, clumpy shoes and all, and went into the shop to try it on. It was love at first sight. 

We wish we had gotten a photo of my coming out of the shop to show Chris, as of course the bike shoes and kitty skull socks did not quite set the dress off to advantage! I had my cycling shorts and a little skirt on underneath too, which made the bottom of the dress pouf out like a square dancer's crinolines. However, I was going to buy the dress anyway, though there was one teeny little problem: how to get it back to the car. 

We did not have so much as a bike rack with us, let alone pannier bags or a backpack. I might have been able to manage a small shopping bag dangling off the handlebars, but that wouldn't be easy. So, we had the saleswoman roll the dress up as small as possible inside tissue paper, like you do for luggage, and Chris put it in his jersey pocket. It looked like he was carrying a huge subway sandwich on his back! Thankfully when I got the dress home and hung it up, it shook out beautifully.  I wore it to church the next day.
 
  

The dress is asking for a purple shawl. After going through some of my patterns, the one I like most is the Sweet Lily Shawl, but I'll need to get some laceweight yarn. Do you have any suggestions? I'm not entirely sure I want to start this while I'm also working on my skirt, but the sirens are calling me and I cannot resist. By the time I finish it, I may end up wearing it with my w-nt-r coat.

I hope you are enjoying our seaside cycling tours. Next post = the summer solstice observed. By the sea, of course!

Cape Cod

Last weekend, Chris and I celebrated our 15th anniversary in Cape Cod. Our original plan was to do a bike trip in Tuscany, but since I'm still job hunting and starting my writing coaching business, we thought it was better to stay closer to home.

We've been visiting Cape Cod since before we were married, and I'm amazed that for all of our interests over the years, we always find something new there. At first, we'd troll the antique stores and used book stores, and we still love to do the latter. Chris can find lots of railroad history, and I love all the little shops, including yarn shops, with the seaside theme. But over time, we've shifted more to cycling, with the rail trails and beautiful street views. I love all of the garden fences with the roses tumbling over them. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate for much of this weekend, and only Chris was able to get in a long morning ride, to the lighthouse in Truro. On the one beautiful summer day that we had, we made a new discovery, the Monomoy Wildlife Refuge. Here are some photos of our weekend, most taken by Chris.

The view from inside the Orleans Inn (can you tell how much I love these sweet Victorian buildings?!), where we had dinner. We had hoped to eat outside, but it was too wet.

 

 

 

The sun came out the next day, and I wanted so much to walk on the beach! We stopped at the information booth and got a map for Monomoy -- it's tucked away off of the "elbow" of Cape Cod, but what a reward if you find it! You walk through a small parcel of woods, to a tall wooden staircase...

 

 

...and then you are treated to this:

 

 

There is nothing on earth that I love more than this, the sound of the water lapping gently on the sand (those spa fountains and recordings that simulate the waves are a nice thought, but nowhere even close), sea birds flying overhead, shells scattered along the tide line. The smell of the salt air, the gentle breezes, the view to forever...my paradise. And I got to share it with a cute boy too! :)

 

You can see the little inlets of water and the beach grass, below. There are terns that live here, protected from the sea gulls that were trying to take over. We also saw lots of horseshoe crabs.

 

At the end of the day, we were treated to a striking sunset, on another part of the Cape.

 

Highland Light, high on the cliff. It's been moved back several times as the land is worn away by the water.

 

If you follow the path around the back, it takes you to the edge of the cliff...

 

...where you see this:

 

A much more wild ocean, fiercer winds, and yet incredibly beautiful too.

 

Chris contemplates the view (and recovers from the 40+ mile hilly ride to get there. I took the car instead). By the time we got back to the hotel, had breakfast, and were ready to go for a shorter ride together, the sky turned on us. The canal trail is at the foot of the railroad bridge (below), and the clouds and showers rolled in. Maybe next time!

 

While we were away, I finished reading Bird by Bird (truly one of the best books I have ever read), and last night polished off This Lullaby (if I can write half as well as Sarah Dessen one day, I'd be thrilled). Unfortunately the "to read" stack has grown larger than the "finished" stack...

 

The top two were Book Mooched, the next two were Amazon credits, and the bottom three were rainy day finds in the Cape Cod bookstores. As an anniversary present, Chris gave me A Garden Lover's Cape Cod too. So, of course, I've started A Rather Charming Invitation instead, which I ordered back in February for summer beach reading.

My pink skirt is coming along well, and I almost have enough of the block pattern done to share another in-progress photo soon. Tomorrow, we are going to Cape Ann, one of the places on my summer wish list, to do a bike ride, but I'll have plenty of knitting time in the car on the way.

I hope you have a great weekend!

New England Authors

National Novel Writing Month began last weekend. In a happy coincidence, Chris and I had already made plans to visit a few famous authors' homes.

On Halloween, we took a day trip to Cape Cod to visit Edward Gorey's house. He's probably most familiar as the illustrator who created the opening scenes of PBS' Mystery! show. Here is one version of the video. Gorey is known for his perhaps gothic sense of humor, but what I did not know is that he was a great supporter of animals. One of my favorite things about his house was the couch:

Yes, Edward Gorey was a big fan of cats, though it doesn't seem like he was able to train them very well!

 

The next day, the first of November, we could not have started NaNoWriMo off any better than to visit Walden Pond, where Henry David Thoreau wrote Walden. Our friends Hobgoblin and Dorothy, English professors, were the perfect companions to make the pilgrimage with us to Concord, MA. Walden Pond is (1) large, and probably really a lake (2) incredibly clear -- you can see to the bottom. We walked the mile or so around the perimeter and admired the view from different directions.

Chris, Henry, and I, with a replica of Henry's cabin in the background.

Site of the actual cabin, marked by stones.
 

After Walden, we went into Concord proper and visited the Sleepy Hollow cemetery, final resting place of practically everyone who is anyone in American literature: Thoreau, Hawthorne, Alcott, Emerson. The first three and their families are all neighbors, and Emerson is a little further along the path. People left pumpkins, gourds, and pens at the gravesites in honor of their mentors and heroes. I only recently read about the Dead Poets Society of America, and the search to find and document dead poets, so perhaps I should join?

Henry's grave, left middle, has gourds and pens next to it.

Mr. Hawthorn and family.

 Louisa has two markers, and there is a larger family marker outside of this photo as well.

Mr. Emerson.

 
A close-up. All images other than knitting taken by Chris.
 

After lunch, we found the Old Manse, home of Nathaniel Hawthorne for a time. Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldon Emerson also had connections to the house. Creative energy was palpable. In what is literally the backyard sits the Old North Bridge, home of "shot heard around the world," aka the beginning of the American Revolution. I am not much of an enthusiast, but for those who love history, Concord is teeming with it.

The Old Manse.

The Old North Bridge.

 The marker near the bridge.
 

We didn't make it to Louisa May Alcott's house, or some of the other historic houses in the area associated with these gentlemen, but hope to get back there again sometime. I personally want to learn more about Louisa; there is a Pulitzer prize winning book about her and her father, and a new documentary of her life which will air on PBS next month.

So how is *my* writing going? I'm keeping up with the daily word counts. The writing is incredibly rough, but NaNoWriMo is about word counts and producing a first draft, not about the quality of said draft. And that's a good thing. It's a terrific exercise for those of us who normally want to edit so much we end up stifling the creativity and not finishing anything at all.

 

You'd write and knit more if you'd stay home with me on the weekend! -- Rosie

My purple cardigan aka Mr. Greenjeans continues to grow ever downward. I've separated the sleeves and am almost ready to begin the ribbed cabling portion.

I wanted to finish this before the end of the year, but with NaNoWriMo as a priority, and wanting to knit some beaded ornaments for Christmas, I think I'm going to have to give up on that idea. Or sleeping. :)

Autumn in New England

Chris and I spent the long weekend road-tripping, looking at these:

 photos by Chris

Because I have lived here all my life, even though the leaves are beautiful, I'm afraid I am a member of this club. I much prefer Monday's scenery, at the Jamestown (RI) road race: ocean and sailboats. The inland leaf tours were making me twitchy!

 

start/finish of race, with Newport Bridge in background
 

Chris came in 24th out of 66 riders, which for a late-season race and little training beforehand, was great! Now The Season Is Over and unless you "race 'cross" you stick your bike on the indoor trainer and bide your time 'til spring. Sarah and Jeff met us at Jamestown, and you can see her great photos on her cycling blog. My start/finish line videos and photos are on Chris' blog here.

Now for some knitting -- since I spent a lot of time in the car this weekend, I knitted what seems like yards of the lace edging for the Shine Jacket. Here is the jacket sewn up, sans edging. I need to do another foot or two of the lace and then I can sew it on.

I also started Mr. Greenjeans, which is knitting up fast. The pattern is clearly written, for which I am very grateful. Because it is in stockinette, it's curling up around the needle. Hopefully as I knit more, the weight of the yarn will straighten things out so I can get a better photo.

One of the best things that happened this weekend was a trip to Colorful Stitches, and a 50% off sale on the Rowan Tweed in Thistle that I have been wanting for about two years now! It's for Forever Tweed by Wendy Bernard, a pullover stockinette sweater with a cowlneck. Why is it, now that I have been out of work for nearly a year, that every yarn store is having sales on the yarn I have been coveting for the last two or three years, all at the same time? My tiny stash used to be contained in shoebox size plastic bins. But with yarn for two Louisa Harding sweaters, the pink Vogue skirt, and a few small projects, I have "graduated" to large totes on the floor. I guess it is a good problem to have, hoarding yarn before the long winter?!

 

I am having a purple moment, after knitting blue all spring and summer. Must get back to pink soon though!

 I've started reading The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett, a funny novella about the Queen of England becoming an obsessive reader. It's a charming story and if you haven't already discovered it, I think you will enjoy it. And Simon's Cat by Simon Tofield is out!! If you love his YouTube videos, and are owned by a feline or two, these new cartoons will speak (purr?) loudly to you. Hilarious!