knitting kitchen

August brings with it school physicals and things at the doctors’ office are hopping. This makes it pretty close to impossible to take a vacation, still, I managed to grab some fun here and there.

M and I went to NYC to help Jessica move. She’d finished her stint in publishing and was ready to be closer to the trees at college. We stopped at the Fountain Pen Hospital and picked up a few pieces we needed to complete repairs on a number of pens.  It’s such a wonderful store and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Two of  my aging J-series Esterbrooks found new life after this trip, and I welcome them into the fold.

Esterbrook J-Series

Also in August, I followed M to grad school one day (by invitation). I attended a lecture on the history of Slavery in Connecticut at the Gilder Lehrman Center at Yale which was followed by a sail on the Quinnipiack where we learned about the Amistad ordeal from Sierra Leonean, Donald George.

Tall Ship Quinnipiack

Last weekend, we took off at the last minute for Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  We camped at Wakeda Campground which was very different for us.  It’s a well-established family campground in Hampton, and includes a camp store, a coffee shop, and utilities at each camp site.  We pitched out two-man tent between two RVs. Our neighbors had tomatoes growing in pots outside their screened-in porches, where they sat watching tv delivered by The Dish Network?!

Downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Breakfast al fresco with a spork

We went body surfing at Hampton Beach, revisited the Portsmouth Brewery, walked around the historic homes in Strawberry Banke, and even made a trip over the Piscataqua Bridge to Kittery where we had lobster stew served in bread bowls.

Portsmouth near Strawberry Banke

Naturally, I made my way to the Yarn Basket in Portsmouth.  Although I had Halcyon with me, and I managed to find something interesting to bring home. What tempted me was an alpaca and nylon sock yarn by Berrocco - Ultra Alpaca Fine.  Always a supporter of mortar and bricks stores, I also added needles and Cat Bordhi’s New Pathways for Sock Knitters to my haul.

From the Yarn Basket, Portsmouth, NH

We listenedd to P.G. Wodehouse’s Joy in the Morning for much of our trip and I toiled away at the Spiraling Coriolis Sock. 

Spirialing Coriolis Sock

 I was a bit dismayed when I first read New Pathways for Sock Knitters because Ms. Bordhi has a toe-up star toe as one of her sock elements. I recently unvented this toe for my first handspun sock and used it again in more boring socks just to make sure it is my new favorite toe. 

First sock with handspun yarn

Spiral toe, toe-up socks

The rest of her ’sockitecture’ revealed in this book forced me to forgive her for beating me to the punch. It is a brilliant and amusing addition to my over-full knitting library.  I highly recommend that any adventurous sock knitter schedule some quality knitting time with this book.

Knitting at Hampton Beach 

My first pass at holiday knitting  is Halcyon by Lisa Lloyd.  It’s Halcyon’s bad fortune that I met Spiraling Coriolis Socks before the sleeves were finished. I’m not too worried though. It’s an incredible pattern and I won’t want to stay away too long.

Halcyon

Well, the kids go back to school tomorrow and despite what the calendar says, that means the end of summer for me. I’m not too sorry to see it end. I don’t know if I could stand too many more days with unhappy soon-to-be kindergarteners expressing their displeasure at the immunization requirements for school.

Kayaking along the Connecticut coat, August, 2008