Category Archives: Travels

And I thought knitting lace is complicated

My friend Luly Mason who lives in Dublin, Ireland, just returned from a Spanish studying trip to Valencia, Spain. During her visit she went to school and stayed with a local family. She says the conversations with the family were the most helpful to her Spanish.

She sent me these amazing photos of her hostess, Toña Peris Raurell working on her hobby:

Tona Peris Raurell making lace

Tona Peris Raurell making lace

Look at all those pins and bolillos

Look at all those pins and bolillos

What a beautiful intricate work

What a beautiful intricate work

What an amazing work. I wonder how she remembers which bolillo to use next. I can imagine the mess I would have done with all these pins, threads and bolillos.

And I thought knitting lace is complicated !

Thank you Luly for showing me this beautiful work and letting me use your photos to show it to my friends here.

Ulmus II

I wanted to tell you about our surprise sail last Friday:

Surprise Sail at the Mouth of the Niagara River

Surprise Sail at the Mouth of the Niagara River

but it is late and I must share with you my new obsession so I will have to return to the surprise sailing adventure some other time.

I would like to introduce my new Ulmus II:

My new obsession - Ulmus shawls....

My new obsession - Ulmus shawls....

I had to cast on for another Ulmus the minute I finished casting off my Dandelions shawl. I don’t know what possessed me; I have so many things I want to knit and so many projects I want to finish; but nothing could stop me, I just had to knit another Ulmus. I think maybe because I am a bit disappointed with my Dandelions shawl:

My Dandelions are drying much nicer than the flowers!

My Dandelions are drying much nicer than the flowers!

The colors are exquisite but alas where is the nice drape?!? It is completely my fault, I think I knitted it on too small a needle and I actually suspected it for quite a long time. Or maybe it is a combination of the yarn and the needle size. I washed it and added some hair conditioner and hope this will improve its drape but I am still not sure I am not going to rip it off and knit it all over again,,,  ETA: The spa treatment (shampoo, conditioning and quite a lot of stretching) helped a lot and now I believe my Dandelions Shawl is going to stay as is. I still believe it may have been nicer knitted on larger needles but it is good enough to stay as is.

For my new Ulmus (and this one is for me) I am using a hand painted yarn I bought from Kelly from Tucker Woods Farm at the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival:

Hand painted sock yarn

Hand painted sock yarn

The colors are a bit off in this photo I think the next one show them better but I am not completely sure now:

Close-up on my new Ulmus II

Close-up on my new Ulmus II

The slip stitch pattern create a combination of these two colors that I love,  very much my color.

I think the drape of this one will be closer to the one in my imagination, the yarn is thiner and the wool content is different too but I will have to wait and see.

Wish me luck because if this one will disappoint me too I may find myself knitting Ulmuses to the end of my life,,,,

Animals in a City

While contemplating what I want to write about the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival, life gave my darling Joe another excuse to travel and I found myself yet again in Southern Vermont (not that I complain).

Immediately I found an excuse to visit my favorite spinnery there – The Green Mountain Spinnery:

Home of the friendliest spinners in Vermont

Greem Mountain Spinnery

My excuse this time: I am not sure I have enough meadow yarn to finish my Dandelions Shawl! (Unfortunately they had only 4 skeins of this wonderful color and not surprisingly they sold all of them in New Hampshire but they ordered one for me from the dyer so I just have to wait.)

But, actually as the header of this post suggest, I wanted to show you today some moose we encountered on our way back:

Moosefest, Bennington, Vermont

Sofia and Shamoose, Moosefest, Bennington, Vermont


Mooses all over Bennington, Vermont

Morpheus, Bennington, Vermont


Another of those Mooses

Vincent: I think he is related to Sofia and Shamoose from the other photo,,,


The Hippy of the Bennington Moose Fest, May 2009

Ziggy the Hippy-Pot-O-Moose of the Bennington MooseFest, May 2009


Covered Bridge Moose in Bennington, VT, May 2009

Covered Bridge Moose in Bennington, VT, May 2009

This one was my favorite, it is made of thousands of tiny photos:

Close up of the Bridge Moose

Close up of the Picture This Moose

I think his name is Picture This but I nicknamed it: The Covered Bridge Moose. It caught the attention of other passers-by:

Girls Checking the Bridge Moose, Bennington, VT, May 2009

Girls Checking the Bridge Moose, Bennington, VT, May 2009


These ladies found the Bridge Moose facinating too

These ladies found the Bridge Moose facinating too

We even found one in the The Village Chocolate Shoppe:

Yummy Moose

Yummy Moose

Apparently they have a Moosefest in Bennington, Vermont these days:

Even the moose get their own crossing in Bennington, VT

The moose get their own crossing in Bennington, VT

When you invite a lot of moose to your town, you better take good care of them, just like they do in Bennington, VT.

This is the third time we encounter animals in a city. The first ones were penguins in Tel Aviv (Scroll down), unfortunately I couldn’t locate any photos of them, I think it was in 2000 or so. The second time was in Sedona when  Margene and Smith came to visit Arizona and we found all those Javelinas in the streets of Sedona. And now the Moosefest, I wonder where and what we will find next!