Wild Times in New England

As if the Common Ground Fair on Sunday wasn't enough, this Thursday I skipped work an hour early and Mr.Cleaver and I headed to the Cumberland County Fair. There were cute kids on rides (check out the tongue action on this "Biker Chick"):

Fair Food for Dinner:

Prize Winners:

Cute Animals:

4-H Pig Races (worth the price of admission alone):

an International Ox Pull

and sneaking it all in before it started to rain.

With a rainy Saturday, the Mr. and I took a trip over to Westbrook for Candlepin Bowling and $2.25 worth of Pinball:

Roadtrip: Common Ground Fair

It's fall in Maine, which means Fair Season and for the even slightly crunchy granola of us, it means the Common Ground Fair hosted by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. When I went last year, I was unemployed and recently arrived from Chicago. I went because I was told there'd be yarn.

This year I went up as part of a group of seven from my Tuesday night knitting group. We left Portland at 7:30 and even getting slightly lost, managed to avoid the long line of traffic that you get after about 10 am. It was cool when we left, but the weather couldn't have been more perfect. We wandered around the fair for about 6 hours seeing all the sights.

And yes, we bought yarn and fiber. I bought lots of fiber because this is my first fair trip as a spinner. The haul, as displayed below is as follows: Llama fiber from Botanical Shades (Orange on spindle and purple), "fudge sundae" wool-bamboo-silk blend from Pleasant Valley Farm (dark multicolor ball), and wool and sparkle blend from Enchanted Knoll. The sheep sculpture is from Maple Lane Pottery.

I spin now, did I mention that yet?

Mr. Cleaver got me a drop spindle for my birthday and I've be happily leaving tufts of wool all over the sofa since July. But really, we all knew it was just a matter of time, right? I look forward to sharing more bits of fibery/handspun goodness here in the coming months.

My first (grey) and second (white) spinning samples, apx 1.1oz each, wool fiber from the Portland Fiber Gallery and Studio.

A Day at the Beach and a Walk in the Park

This is the time of year when I'm going to try and make everyone jealous that I live in Maine. For reasons, see the following evidence:

Exhibit A: (Sunday - Ocean Park Beach)

Exhibit B: (Monday - Evergreen Cemetary (half a mile from my apartment)

SUNday

We had a whole weekend of sun which meant I finally got to wear a new summer top I made on Saturday.

It's loosely based on Maryy's Hot Hot Heat top tutorial, and was made before a) Burdastyle made an actual pattern of it and b) I took the pattern-making class, so it was a lot of trial and error to get something that looks right. There was a time in the middle when I thought it was hopeless, but I think it turned out pretty well in the end. The fabric came from a bag of stuff from a friend of m mother-in-law's, so it was nice to have some free fabric to experiment with.

But really this post is about Sunday, which involved soft-serve with sprinkles and several hours at Fort Williams Park taking it all in.

Summer is finally here! Hooray!

Stitch & Pitch

For national weather watchers, and New England blog-readers, you may have heard that it was a damp June here in Maine. We pretty much had mist, fog, or rain every day for the last three weeks of the month. A little fog didn't keep six brave knitting souls from attempting a stitch n' pitch at Hadlock Field this past Tuesday.

By the middle of the first inning we had seven runs against us, one out and a reliever pitcher, we never rallyed as hoped (I've yet to ever see the Seadogs win a game), but despite the weather I had a great time.  It's July now and it looks like we'll be getting more sun, and there are more plans to knit outside, so fingers crossed!

It's Greek to Me

This Friday after work, Mr Cleaver and I stopped by the annual Greek Food Festival at the Holy Trinity Church. Mr. Cleaver has been talking this thing up since May and fortunately the weather was dry enough for us to grab some dinner.

When we got there at a quarter to five, the line barely fit in the tent, by the time we got our food there was hardly a seat. This thing in popular and there's no doubt why:

After stuffing ourselves full on delicious Greek food , we wandered through the neighborhood a bit and looked  at the fancy old buildings. I thought the color-coded townhouses below were particularly charming.

Roadtrip: Maine Fiber Frolic

This past Saturday, six of us from Portland Knitters on the Town took a field trip up to Windsor Maine for the Maine Fiber Frolic. There were over 200 locally-based fiber vendors and dozens of adorable animals.

 

The highlight of my day was holding a pair of 6-day-old cashmere goats - one who feel asleep in my arms!

The Fair is largely geared toward spinners, and my spinning friends made quite the haul (not pictured, the four raw fleeces they also took home), but there was plenty of lovely hand-dyed and hand-spun yarn to be purchased as well. Being on the poor end of my pay cycle, I only came home with one skein of yarn. A lovely hand-dyed lace weight from Pine Star Studios that will be soon made into an Ishbel shawl. The entire Pine Star booth had beautiful items, including the orange and green roving seen above.

Hopefully both Pine Star and my other local favorite, Enchanted Knoll will be at the Common Ground Fair and the fall and  regardless of whether I spin yet or not (because we all know I eventually will) I'm planning on picking up some roving. I'm hoping to pick up drop spindling in the fall. I was really entranced by it at the Frolic and really, who wouldn't want to be as cool as this guy?

Tonight: my second night of weaving!

Lord Love Vacationland

So today being Memorial Day, the more or less official start to the summer season, gives me reason to taunt? flaunt? that this is going to be my first summer in Maine. Maine, as you may or may not know, is called Vacationland, at least on the liscense plates. It is also referred to as The Pine Tree State on the quarters, and the Way Life Should Be on the sign as you cross the state border. 

All of this is to say, 40-hour work week aside, this is going to be an awesome summer. And Mr. Cleaver and I kicked off our Memorial Day weekend with style.

After our usual yoga class (me) and tennis match (Mr. Cleaver), Mr. Cleaver kindly drove up to Brunswick so I could meet one of my favorite knitwear designers, Ysolda Teague, at Purl Diva.

I got to chat with her briefly and got a signed copy of her adorable book of patterns, Whimsical Little Knits. And just today I found out that she's going to be at my regular Tuesday night knitting group, so double yay!

Afterward, Mr. Cleaver and I strolled around the Bowdoin College area, poking our heads into any shop that looked interesting and then made our way to Fat Boy Drive-In for an early dinner.

Unsurprisingly, I love drive-ins and Fat Boys is pretty quality. My chocolate shake was perfect (I guess they're called frappes [pronounced "fraps"] here), and though not on roller skates, our waitress was very friendly.

And food is always more exciting when eaten from a tray hanging from your driver's side window.

Sunday we took low-key, running some errands and reading the paper; potting some plants and eating a cherry pie I had made and frozen months ago.

Today we went to a Seadogs game (a minor-league affiliate of the Boston Red Sox) and then went to a cook-out at my Mother-In-Laws. All-American and all awesome. This is going to be a great summer.

Maine Maple Sunday

Today Mr.Cleaver and I went to our first Maine Maple Sunday - for those unfamiliar with syrup production, when it first starts getting warm sugar maple sap is running high, trees are tapped, and on the 4th Sunday in March, local sugarhouse open their doors for tons of syrup-seeking locals.

We headed out to Merrifield Farms because I told Mr. Cleaver I don't care where we go as long as there are pancakes. We did get some delicious pancakes and sausage and hot dogs and maple baked beans after about an hour wait. It was cold, but it was worth it. 

And while Mr. Cleaver patiently waited in line I got to run around the grounds taking pictures of other people's children's enjoying the day. We didn't pick up any syrup sadly, because one long line was enough, but I hope you enjoy my photos of our little jaunt!

Getaway in Boothbay

Mr. Cleaver and I have a somewhat annual tradition of a mid-winter getaway: that time somewhere between late January and mid-February when we get stick of being stuck inside and need to get away from the house. Ironically, we have often gone to somewhere colder than we're leaving, but its always been good for the soul nonetheless.

When we were dating it was a rainy day-trip to Boston. Two years ago we went to Lake Geneva, Wisc. where I had hands-down the best meal I've ever had in my life. This year we headed an hour north to Boothbay and stayed at the charming Kenniston Hill Inn. 

This year's trip was a bit of a last minute decision, but we are both so glad we went. We spent two days at the inn, eating Valentine's cake and drinking tea by the fire, both in the living room and our room at the inn.

We wandered around Boothbay and nearby Wiscasset, and while a number of places were closed for the season, we still found some great antiques stores to visit (including one where I got a new apron for my collection), some tasty places to eat and my new favorite fabric store in Maine. 

When it wasn't too windy we took in the area's outdoor area. In a park in central Boothbay someone had hung hundreds of fabric hearts from the trees.

We also attempted to visit the Coastal Maine Botanic Gardens, but the cold and lack of trails turned us back after about 20 minutes. We did see some small bits of green before we left.

All in all it was a fantastic time, which has bolstered our spirits in the continuing winter. 

p.s. there's more photos of our trip on my flickr account (see the sidebar for a link).