Bots over Brooklyn

We had a wonderful visit to Brooklyn in July. Some of the high points:

Got to see brother Bill in a production of Hamlet in J.J. Byrne park in front of The Old Stone House. It was a perfect summer night, and the performance was very enjoyable despite the tragic plot. There are so many familiar quotes from that play - I'd forgotten where they came from.

Did you know there are fireflies in the city? We saw several playing hide-and-seek between folks spread out on the lawn to watch the play. Who knew?

As the city that spawned Etsy, it should not have been a surprise that Brooklyn houses a diverse and interesting artist community. We spent quite a while window shopping. Found a very friendly LYS (local yarn store) called Knit-A-Way and dropped some cash on a few skeins of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. Yum! Also found a cute pair of robot earrings. Joy!

At one point, we stood transfixed by the contents of an antiques shop window which was filled with amazing robot sculptures.



Yet another thing to save my pennies for (or is that buy lottery tickets for?). But which one? Ms. Jello, Simplex 3, or Spot?? Sigh....

A Whirlwind tour of the Sheep Shearing Festival at Gore Place

Angora bunnies from Evergreen Farm

Yesterday, we went to the annual Sheep Shearing Festival at Gore Place. We could only stay for an hour-and-a-half before departing for our cider bottling adventures, so we had to run through instead of meandering around as usual.

Alpaca couple posing for the camera

You know that first really nice day of warm weather after a cold New England winter? The one where you forget all about hats and sun block? It was that kind of day. What a different atmosphere from the cold and drizzle of last year.

We spent a lot of time with our old favorites - Seacolors, Evergreen Farm, Bartlett Yarns, and with our new favorite, Ellie's Reclaimed Cashmere. I managed to limit myself to just one skein of cashmere - pretty good considering how tempting everything looked and felt.

Reclaimed cashmere. Must touch. Must have.

Will and Ellen of Ellie's Reclaimed Cashmere

If you are in the Boston area, make sure to check out the festival next April. Now back to treating that sun burn...

Knitting Cafe

On a recent trip to the MFA store, I picked up a new knitting book called Knitalong. I could not resist the pattern of the felted origami crane. In between the knitting patterns, the book is about knitting traditions, and the thread of crafting together as it has spun out over time - from quilting bees to crafting get-togethers.

The book also describes the emergence of a relatively new phenomenon - the knitting cafe.

So on a recent visit to NYC, I sought out and visited a knitting cafe called Knit New York. The sign out front contained one of the most evil marketing messages I have ever seen: "Knit for Free". Wow. Yes, knitting is free, but the yarn, the needles, the bags, the stitch counters, tape measures, and on and on, are not. Joy!

Inside, they have cute little tables with flowers on them. They have these fabulous yarn storage shelves - look like something from Imelda Marcos's closet of dreams.


The staff was very friendly, but there was something about the place that did not tempt me to linger -- not what I expected to find. Also, the espresso machine definitely had the look of something that has been unused for quite a while.

I guess I had my hopes up after reading Knitalong. Does anyone have any good knitting cafe's to recommend?

Bunny gone

In another recent diversion from the sweater-finishing and robot-knitting imperatives, I made a wee little rabbit for a freind from the oh-so-adorable "The Cute Book" by Aranzi Aronzo.

What did said friend do? She took little Remy to Paris and England with her. And took pictures (lovely pictures). And posted them on the web (cursed web!). Do you hear that sound? It is the sound of my flip-flops, fwip-fwip-fwip as I run away from the increasing queue of folks looking for little pals of their own.

If you find yourself going blind doing teeny little stitches, don't say I didn't warn you!

;-)

<3 to Syndi, and thanks for sharing the photos, seriously!

View all of the photos here.