Florida and How I Met Barbara Walker

My next stop after Rhinebeck was southwest Florida to visit with my Grandmother. It was so warm and relaxing, I didn't really want to come home! And yes, if you must know, there was knitting happening by the pool.

The visit seemed so short, but I manage to pack in a decent amount of activities plus have time to relax. On the first day, we took a trip up to the Marie Selby Gardens. I am a big fan of orchids, and it certainly did not disappoint.

On the way back, I wanted to do a little yarn shop exploring and I found a wonderful shop called A Good Yarn. Susan, Amy and Crew were so welcoming it was definitely my LYS away from home - so much so that I ended up coming back for knit night on Thursday and stopped in one final time on Friday before heading home. They have only been open for 6 weeks and the selection was wonderful: Madelintosh, Schaefer, Rowan, Malabrigo......I could go on and on! I didn't come back with any yarn (darn deadline projects), but I did manage to pick up Wenlan Chia's new book Twinkle Sews and a pretty cheap project bag.

And here's where the story gets very interesting - and don't mind my fan girl gushing. When visiting A Good Yarn, I had found out that I had just missed.....ready for this......Barbara Walker! Yes, The Treasury of Knitting Patterns Barbara Walker! I couldn't believe it! How could I have been so close to meeting one of the knitting greats and it got away from me? As we were talking about it, my Grandmother realized that this must be the same woman that her neighbor knows and had told her about a year or two before, she just could never remember her name.

When we returned home, a few phone calls were made and sure enough, her neighbor did know Barbara and just like that, I had a meeting set up to meet her on Friday at her home. I can't even pretend that I was cool, calm and collected when I heard the news. I was jumping up and down, twittering the news, smiling from ear to ear. I know you guys understand!

On Friday, I met Barbara Walker and got to see a small portion of her doll collection, actual knitted pieces from some of her books, pictures of her published designs, and sweaters she had knitted for herself, family and friends. She has knit so many beautiful sweaters over the years and many were sparkly. I was in such a state of sensory overload, I wish I had asked more questions, but we briefly talked about magazines not giving credit to the designers in the past and how the pay scale hasn't really changed much. She also talked about how she has created some 1,000 original stitches never seen before.

Next, she showed me a book shelf filled with books she's written, books that she wrote that have been translated into other languages, and books she has contributed to. Besides her knitting books, she has also written several feminist books. I also got to see her tarot and I Ching decks which she had done the artwork for and her extensive mineral collection. Barbara Walker is quite the amazing woman and I feel so lucky to have had the chance to have a short visit with her.

So I celebrated my birthday, saw some great sunsets, ate good food and met Barbara Walker. I don't know how I'll ever top this one!

A Llama Wedding Weekend!

So my co-worker got married this weekend in Massachusetts on a llama farm. Yes, a llama farm! How cool is that?!

Saturday started off with a huge rainbow that went from one end of the sky to the other. The rain from the previous day had finally begun to break, so good news for an outdoor wedding.

Later that morning, we took a llama hike on the property which was a working farm for 200 years. The farm is long gone, and the trees have grown in, but portions of the very old stone walls used to keep the Merino sheep inside were still visible. This is Tanner, the leader of the pack who kept me company on the hike. He was part llama and part alpaca (and so very cute!)

The bride was beautiful, the groom was happy, and the rain managed to stay away til we were all tucked safely under the reception tent. Here we have the wedding party posing with the llamas.

I was also able to see a few yarn stores in the area and walked away with some goodies. We stopped at Wonderful Things in Great Barrington on the way up. Very nice selection of yarns and the friendly cat kept my husband busy while I browsed.

On Saturday, before the wedding, we took a short drive to Lenox where we visited Colorful Stitches. It had a wonderful selection, the staff was very pleasant, and I got to see the St. Denis yarns trunk show (which I just found out will be at Knitty City on Oct 12th & 13th).

While we were at Coloful Stitches, we also got to witness the annual tubs parade. We had seen flyers, but had no idea what this meant. Well, it was a parade of horse drawn carts, carriages, coaches, fire "engines", and delivery trucks. It was certainly a site to see! Sadly, I forgotten my camera back at the farm, so couldn't take any pictures.

On Sunday, as our stay was wrapping up, we took a trip over to The Mount - Edith Wharton's estate and gardens. This is where she wrote her most famous book, The House of Mirth. The house and gardens have been under serious restoration work since 2002 and they have made tremendous progress. The house was lovely and the gardens were so beautiful. The estate is one of the mere 5% of historic landmarks dedicated to women.

We will definitely have to return to the Berkshires soon! There is so much we were not able to see in the short 3 days were were there. Also, Webs is about 45 minutes away from where we stayed, so we'll definitely be back!