Roadtrip: Grafton Notch and Step Falls Preserve

Mr. Cleaver & I took advantage of the wedding to stay at a B&B and enjoy a mini-vacation in Bethel.

Since the wedding didn't start until the late afternoon on Saturday, we took the morning to do some hiking. Based on a recommendation from our lovely  innkeepers at the Rivendell B&B, we took the drive up Route 26 to Grafton Notch State Park.

Grafton Notch is unusual for a state park in that the highway literally runs through the middle of it. The portions of the park we explored were all accessible via little pull-off parking lots off 26. Each of the falls were little mini-hikes that took no more than 10-15 minutes tops.

In all of the spots we stopped at in Grafton Notch, the landscape had been carved by glacial runoff, and nowhere was this more evident than our first stop, Moose Cave Gorge.

As you approach the gorge the temperature noticeably drops from the ice cold waters still running through the cavern. The drop was incredibilty steep, and apparently earned its name from an unfortunate moose that slipped and landed inside.

The next stop south was Mother Walker Falls. Due to the season, most of the falls were less full than they would be in the spring, but the newly turning color in the trees made up for any lack of rushing water.

My favorite of the three stops at Grafton Notch was Screw Auger Falls.

The most sprawling of the three falls, Screw Auger features a small upper and dramatic lower falls, as well as a number of beautiful picnic spots upstream.

Our last stop was just outside of the state park at the Nature Conservancy's Step Fall Preserve. Also off 26 - Step Falls has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it sign, but is well worth the hunt.

The climb to the top of the falls is steep (and due to concerns about time, we didn't quite make it all the way up), but the view is breaktaking.

Now that I know how relatively short a drive Bethel is from Portland, I'd love to make a number of return trips to this beautiful area.

Speaking of trips, I'd added a Roadtrip tab to the top of page to collect the posts on the other lovely spots we've visited.

Mike & Maggie Get Married

I didn't mention it in the last post, but the reason the Notary Dress is named the Notary Dress is because I made for a very special purpose, to officiate Mike & Maggie's wedding this past Saturday. The knitting readers may know these two from Mike's touching Ravelry proposal.

The wedding was held on the Artist's Covered Bridge in Newry in Western Maine.

We gathered on the bridge Friday afternoon for the rehearsal. It was my first time officiating a wedding, so I was a bit nervous, but once we got all the parties there, it went pretty smoothly.

Afterwards, Mr. Cleaver and I got to join everyone for a delicious rehearsal dinner, prepared by Maggie's father, who has convinced me that I will someday need to own a meat smoker.

The wedding day arrived, warm and sunny.

The knitting contingent arrived early.

And while the day of the wedding was beautiful, the bride was even lovelier

Officially got them married!!

Now off to the party!!

Congrats you two - you make a wonderful couple!!

(And a special thanks to Mr. Cleaver for the photos)

The Notary Dress

This weekend I finished my "Notary Dress" I showed a peek of last week. It's made of a navy blue wool/poly blend with an Egyptian cotton lining in the sleeves and bodice. The pattern is McCall's M5972 View A, but I've made a number of changes.

I've been wanting a classic navy blue dress for a while, and I picked the pattern for a number of reasons:

• The class silhouette. The straight skirt in particular, was different from anything else in my full-skirted closet.
• The open yoke. I knew I wanted to add some horizontal pleating to the yoke of the dress, so I selected a pattern where I wouldn't have to deal with moving any darts or seams.
• Wide neckline. I wanted a boatneck, which I find very flattering. From the envelope illustration this appeared to be a fit but in reality it was more of a wide scoop.
• On a side note, when it comes to patterns from the major publishers, my preference goes Vogue, McCall's, then Butterick. I've worked with Burdastyle patterns, but never a Burda one.  Maybe I need to branch out?

( If you're curious, the necklace, which I love, was purchased at the most recent Picnic fair, but the artist, Kriya, also has an Esty shop.)

So in terms of modifications, I made a ton. My go-to guide to design modifications is Adele P. Margolis's Make Your Own Dress Patterns. For fitting modifications, I use Fit for Real People.

• As with all commercial patterns, I cut out the pattern on different size lines for the bodice and skirt to match the envelope measurements, smoothing the lines with a french curve.
• I redrafted the neckline as a boatneck.
• During the tissue fitting (Gertie has a great series on tissue fitting that I highly recommend), I took a wedge out of the center front, to make the neckline lie flat and so the center of the pattern lined up on my center. I also rolled the shoulder seam forward about a 1/2 inch, which is typical for me.
• The bodice fitted, I cut out the lining and then went back to the pattern piece and added my three horizontal pleats. Each pleat is about an inch wide, with an inch folded under, so I added two inches at each pleat point. I will mention that once I got it on my body, I had to refold the top pleat some to get it to lie flat. I also blind-stitched the pleats downs.
• Raised the waist seam an inch or so to match my natural waistline.
• Added cap sleeves. I used the "sport sleeve" instructions from Margolis' book. Basically, I traced the armhole and then made a few muslins that I based into the actual dress until the fit was right.
• Because I added the sleeve, it made the side zipper a little difficult. If I had been smart, I would have added a seam allowance to the back and moved the zipper there. As it is, there's no closure, I just pull the dress on over my head, which works, but is not ideal. Actually getting it on is fine, getting the dress off is a little more difficult.
• I ended up slimming the extra I had cut into the skirt at the hips, so a smoother silhouette.

So after all that, how do I think it turned out?? Hmmm....

I give it my official seal of approval. (Seriously, I love this dress!!)

Coming Attractions

Just when you though she didn't sew anymore, coming soon to a blog near you: The Notary Dress, in the world's most lint-attracting fabric,  just a zipper and a hem (and some hand-finishing) away!

The Lady Grey Sew-Along: My first attempt at a coat!! (But first to find some fabric for the muslin...)

Early Apples

So far the votes from the last post are 60% for both  of us and 40% for me (sorry Mr. Cleaver & puppies), so in honor of your vote, here we are together:

But who took the photo, you ask?

Why this lovely lady, who accompanied us on our annual apple-picking adventure.

As other Maine bloggers have mentioned, the apples are super early this year. Since my favorite apple type (Jonagold) ripens a bit later than the first apples, we waited until mid-September, still several weeks earlier than usual, to take our annual trip to Ricker Hill.

The day was warmer than we imagined (hence the short sleeves), but it was a lovely day for apple picking (or slinging).

This trip is nothing is not full of traditions, so as per usual there were many dozens of mini apple cider doughtnuts,

plenty of tasty apples to pick,

(these look like cherries and taste like apples!)

a trip into the depths of the corn maze (dry enough to traverse the whole thing this year) --

including making it out alive (!!),

a race over the obstacle course,

and cute farm animals.

And I get to look forward to days filled with apple pies, crisps, muffins and sauce!

Roadtrip: Boston on Foot

Mr. Cleaver & I took the train down to Boston (our last visit was in 2006!) to wander about and have some fun on the last unofficial weekend of summer.

While we bought T passes, we kept looking at our map and saying "that's not too far", so we ended up hoofing it the entire day and racked up about 5 miles around the city.

We promenaded the Boston Common

We munched lunch at The Paramount (after standing in quite the line - this is a popular and tasty spot!)

We stumbled upon the cutest community garden in Cambridge.

And found happy turtles and triceratops,  indoor lightning, and knitted brains at the Museum of Science.

Now, during this daytrip, Mr. Cleaver insisted on taking more photos of me than usual, because, in his words, "Your blog readers aren't interested in pictures of me, they'd much rather have picture of you."

So, as a concession to the mister, I leave you with this photo of me running from dinosaurs and an opinion poll:

[polldaddy poll=3726516]

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

I have a love/hate relationship with blueberries that falls directly on the low bush/high bush divide. I'll admit it, before I moved to Maine I didn't know there were different kinds, but boy is there a big difference. The low-bush or wild blueberry is a thing of beauty, small, tart and delicious. The high bush blueberry on the other hand, I feel is gritty, heavy, and lacking in flavor. In short  - I am not a fan.

I wish I could say the berries in the recipe came from wild blueberries we hand picked somewhere in a distant field (and if you know a good place to pick wild blueberries in Southern Maine, let me know - please!!), but they didn't - but they are wild Maine blueberries, and those are tasty enough for me.

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

(adapted from Whipped's Cranberry Orange Muffins)

Makes 12-16 muffins

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• zest
 of one washed lemon
• 1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk + 1 Tablespoon lemon juice)
• 1  to 1 1/2 cup fresh or frozen wild blueberries

Preheat oven to 375°F.

If making buttermilk, mix milk and lemon juice and set aside until needed.

Grease  or line muffin cups. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in a medium mixing bowl.

Whisk together butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, lemon zest, and buttermilk in a separate mixing bowl. With a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in the flour mixture until just combined.

Toss blueberries in a small amount of flour until coated and fold into batter. Fill each muffin cup about three-quarters full. Bake until golden and a toothpick comes out clean (20-24 minutes). Let muffins cool in pan for 5 minutes and eat warm with butter.

Roadtrip: Lake Mooselookmeguntic

Mr. Cleaver and I got back Tuesday afternoon from a few much-needed days in the woods at Stephen Phillip Memorial Preserve campground in Oquossoc, Maine. Though it was grey when we arrived, we lucked out on the weather and had a fantastic time hiking, canoeing, and sitting around the fire.

If you're ever in the Oquossoc/Rangeley area, I'd highly recommend the camp, as well as a stop at the road-side vista point Height of Land, and the breakfast burrito at the BMC Diner in Rangeley.

It's wonderful what some time lakeside does for the soul, isn't it? I've included some of my favorite photos below, but if you'd like to see some more, the full set is available on Flickr.

Sweater Love

I finished my newest sweater last week and while, realistically, it's too warm to wear it yet, I am in love.

The pattern is Manu by Kate Davies, and based on this pattern, I will happy knit anything else she writes up. The sweater itself if relatively simple, but such thought has been put into the details and finishing (with one small exception - the pleats don't mirror, and unlike many people on Ravelry, it didn't bother me enough to change it). The i-cord edging is so very polished looking and the shaping fits like a dream. I also enjoy that I learned a number of new techniques on the project, including the i-cord bind off and the pleating.

I made a few modifications - namely I went down a needle size to account for my yarn (more later) and I skipped the pockets, since I felt they would look weird unless my hands were in them all the time.

As for the yarn? The yarn is Malabrigo Silky Merino in Sand and the product of at least a month of searching for the perfect shade of mustard yellow. I'm sure it will pill like crazy in the future, being a single ply and all, but it is so soft and lovely to the touch that I have never enjoyed knitting with a yarn more. Based on a number of reviews that mentioned the post-blocking growth of this yarn, and my own gauge swatch, I ended up knitting everything a needle size down, which ended up being perfect.

I'm not wishing summer away, but as soon as it gets cold this sweater will get some heavy rotation.

The Garden: Then & Now

Then (June 19):

Then (July 5):

Now (August 4):

Then (July 5):

Then (July 28):

Now (August 11):

Then (August 11 - 5:30 pm):

Now (August 11 - 6:09pm):