another unsolicited review – TWILL and a report on my day

Conference is OK. Some good workshops, some necessary workshops and adequate food.

I went for a walk early, trying to find some “paved paths through the woods” that I never did find, but got my walk in looking for them. It is chilly here, but it feels good after the over heated hotel.

Did a little research last night – after the Charleston yarn store bust, I hoped Nashua would have something for me to look at.

It did – I found a shop named “Twill” online, and when I checked Map Quest, it looked like I could find it pretty easily. And it is open until 8 pm tonight!

So right after supper, I headed out and followed the directions. It was very easy to find on Main street in Nashua. Parking was not as easy, I circled the area few times before I found a metered spot. then I only had 35 cents in change, which bought me roughly half an hour of time.

The store is very open and has lots of space for knitters and sewers to gather and work, in fact there were several people doing some sewing while I was there. The yarn is spread through most of the store, interspersed with nice cotton fabric and some very nice notions and knitting supplies. And for the most part, the yarn was very nice, but it felt to me like there wasn’t much selection – a few companies were represented, and all of it pretty expensive. And lots and lots of rusty reds and beiges and greens. Some blues, very few other colors. Little bits of luxury yarn and some gorgeous project bags. I couldn’t linger to look at the books because of the parking meter, but I was hard pressed to buy a skein, and finally settled on a pale gray Cascade Heritage silk, the most affordable yarn there.

If I lived around here, I would ask her to carry some different brands, but as a visitor with limited time, I was disappointed. I wanted to see locally grown, or at least locally dyed things (and I know they exist, because the NH wool weekend just happened and I am pretty sure there were some producers there, weren’t there?) and failing that, I want to see a wide variety of good quality yarn. There is so much out there, and space was not the issue here, she could have fit a lot more in the store. The woman who waited on me admitted to knowing how to knit but not really liking it, she preferred to sew. If she owns the store, then I really don’t get it as the fabric was very good quality but a small selection….

So…

May Challenge socks are just that. This is a bad pattern to knit two at a time, as in Row 17 you have to move a stitch from one needle to the next, which is a darned chore if the other sock is in the way. But I persevere because a challenge isn’t supposed to be easy, right? 🙂 Hope to finish these tomorrow….three more workshops, I should do OK.

Charleston, SC

I’ll try to keep it short. 🙂

Lots of uneventful (yea!) hours in the car heading south, and we arrived in Charleston Sunday afternoon, after all the heavy rains and flooding left. Easily found our hotel (the King Charles) on Meeting street, and unloaded, stretched, went for a short walk to work the kinks out. Then had a fabulous dinner at Jestine’s Kitchen, right down the street. I have never had fried chicken like this – OMG, it was delicious! A had a pecan crusted chicken, and we had their fabulous cola cake for dessert. Perfect end to a weekend in the car!

Yesterday (Monday) we took a bus tour around the city to get oriented and see all the things we should see. It was interesting, and did get us very well oriented. This part of the city is not very big, but has so many nooks and crannies to explore. We went for a walk in the afternoon and explored the upper part of King Street, also went to eh Charleston film at the Visitor center. While there I asked about local yarn stores. Turns out, there are none in the city proper. there is one about 30 miles away. Can you believe it? A city with a population (including suburbs) equal to half the population of my whole state, and there are no yarn stores? Very odd. A said maybe they don’t knit here because it is so warm? I can’t answer it, just am disappointed.

There is a huge bead store I will check out on Thursday, though.

Today we took the ferry ride over to Fort Sumter and explored that. Not much there, really, just a fort that is being restored, a museum and a gift shop.. but it was nice to be on the water (as we think it is hot) and it was interesting to see the fort and learn more about it’s history, beyond it’s place in history at the start of the Civil War.

after lunch, we rested a bit, and I went for a swim. I thought the water was on the cool side, but easily bearable, but a nice southern lady said she knew right away I was from the north, because apparently the water is too cold to get into. Ha! I was cool for the rest of the afternoon.

I conned A into taking a short walk with me after that, we walked all the way down East Bay to the Battery, and back up Meeting Street – lots of beautiful things to see, but we were both hot again and tired when we returned. So now we are just resting and cooling off before we have our delicious supper in our room. I think tonight it will be peanut brittle, Krispy Kreme donuts and a little praline. And of course, left over fried Chicken from Jestine’s Healthy diet!

Tomorrow we head off to explore Middleton Plantation. Maybe I will find a yarn store over that way. Certainly I will work on the dark gray socks.

PS one thing I did do this week is read Sue Monk Kidd’s The Invention of Wings, and I loved it. I would have loved it even if we weren’t here, but nice that it is set in Charleston. We have kept our eyes peeled for the Grimke House, and finally I looked it up. We have walked around it three different ways, but never actually past it. When we have the car out tomorrow, I hope we will remember to drive by so I can snap a photo….

the best laid plans….

THE SHOP WILL BE CLOSED FOR CLEANING/INVENTORY

APRIL 1ST THRU APRIL 14TH

REOPENING APRIL 15TH

So much for checking out the Cashmere Goat in Camden! Instead, Mom and I will meet at her house and have lunch in town, then go to her LYS, Over the Rainbow. Not as fun as a new (to us) store, but it is a good shop, so we will enjoy it.

Friday list!

Bet you are all dying from the long wait for this one. 🙂

Well, it’s a good one, let me tell you!

The chores:

dishes (just a few)
dump (that time of year when we have to go at least once a week. the only bad part about warm weather months)
grocery store
hair cut

The fun:
off to Bangor for a bit of shopping –
LYS – got a call that the yarn for the CAL is IN! can’t wait to get it and see how I did choosing colors.
the big box craft/sewing stores in search of buttons for that blue/green cowl I made a while ago – still looking for the right ones.
birthday present for sister-in-law S – always fun as I get to explore the craft stores thoroughly with no complaints from A. 🙂
Pick A up from work, when she gets out early!
follow her to Dick’s Sporting Goods, where she has a gift certificate (and no, I can’t really imagine a more boring place to have cash to spend.)
have dinner out in a place we haven’t tried yet – a pub in the downtown area – I will let you know how it goes.
knit (if it is on the list, I have permission to do a lot of it, right?) I am working on an interesting scarf, can’t remember if I have told you about it – diagonal triangles worked with short rows so no sewing. I am using some yarn I got last year at Maine Fiber frolic – a heathery purple lace weight from Pine Star Studio, in a wool/silk blend. It is elegant.

And here’s a few things I have already accomplished, so no need to put them on the to do list, but rather the done list!

finished the award-winning post – it is amazing to me how long it takes to answer questions and facts and check url addresses! But it is done,a nd I hope you all enjoyed it.
watched the last of the Downton Abbey recordings. All three seasons in about 6 weeks. I had to do it to see what all the uproar was about at the end of season 3. Now I know, and I am heartbroken.
washed, dried, folded, and put away 3 loads of laundry – yes, I was up at dawn. A had to work, and I did not go back to sleep afterwards

Thursday at last, and a Friday list

Well, this has been one heck of a week, work-wise, current event-wise, life-wise. Some good, some not.

Boston. Washington. Texas. Iran. Holy cow, it is overwhelming. What are we doing to ourselves?

On the home front, I was interviewed by the local paper for a story on identity theft and tax fraud. They wound up using the info I provided, but no quote. 😦 But if the info helps people know what to do, that is all good. I don;t need the glory.

Can’t remember if I told you about more changes at work (constant!) but they are starting to settle in, and actually, they feel pretty good. If they go as planned. I’ll be giving up my current job for a different one within the agency, working for all divisions writing grants. Very different, yet not. I’ll be glad to shed some of my duties, but will really miss working with the clients. that change happens 5/6, and I think it will be a summer of transition, as i work with the woman taking over my role, while at the same time, settling into my new one. Whew!

Lots of details to plan in that process.

Today I went to Orono and Bangor for two meetings. While there, I managed to stop in at a LYS to order some wool for the crochet-a-long in June. I hope it arrives in time. If not, well heck, I will have to use some of my stash and do something different with this yarn. lol, such a problem to have.

Then I went over to the big box store and showed ADMIRABLE RESTRAINT, picking up some adhesive for card making and a larger crochet hook for said CAL. It took me an hour, and many things went in and out of the cart. But I really didn’t want to blow my crafting $$ there, so I only got what I can’t get elsewhere, and then some spiffy magazines. Always love to see how to, color combinations, new ideas.

Home earlier than normal, so played with the kids and did a bit of blog surfing. Trying not to turn on the news…

Tomorrow is A’s first day of vacation!!! Wish I had one, too, but I don’t. Here’s the list:

webinar for me in the morning
maybe a stop at the town office fr a wedding license(!!! really!!!)
both of us to Bangor to get both cars serviced after that
Over to the jewelers to select rings
Other less important errands
Wind up at A’s office for game night with her coworkers

I’ll get knitting done in between, and while we wait for the cars, so may have another hat done. I am almost through the 5 skeins of red yarn A’s sister S gave me – I’ll be curious to pull out all the hats i made with it and see how many I got out of them. More than 5, of that I am sure. Photo will follow. 🙂

Oh, one thing I did was mail the leg warmers off today – they rode around in the car all week waiting for me to be near a post office when it was open. Clerk said they might be delivered tomorrow, can’t wait to hear how they work.

Time to go do some crocheting on the baby blanket for A’s coworker’s new baby, due in July. Blanket is half done, I love how fast crocheting goes!