Catching up is hard to do!

The Knitting Camp trip was great as always. In addition to all the usual wonderfulness, after some years of blog and email virtual visiting, Angie and I were able to arrange a real meet-up in Cedarburg WI for lunch at Cream & Crepes (yum!) and some visiting after lunch. Fingers crossed that we can do it again! 🙂

Meet-up in Cedarburg.

A friend at Camp had made the Scallops & Ribs top (Knitter’s K110) and brought it for Show & Tell, so of course she was also part of my Show & Tell. I love her choice of color!

Natascha’s Scallops & Ribs.

I had a wonderful time, but of course the downside of trips is catching up when you get home. The garden (especially the beans!) kept growing while I was gone, and I’ve frozen quite a few beans to be enjoyed next winter. They’re still coming in at a pretty good rate, and the little French fillet beans (Calima) are definitely on the do-again list, in fact, probably more of them and a bit less of some of the other varieties.

Except for a very few here & there, we’re still waiting for the tomatoes, but the squash and cucumbers are coming in at a manageable pace.

My new rose bush had a tiny, but nice surprise for me – I wanted red, and this is a lovely red.

Prairie Clogger (Griffin Buck rose).

If anyone’s looking for me, I’ll probably either be in the garden, or in the kitchen dealing with the veggies 😉

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Craft Fair in Riga

Our visit to Riga was planned to include the large annual craft fair which is held at the Latvian Ethnographic Open Air Museum – the weather cooperated and we were able to see crafts, demonstrations and reconstructions of historic cottages and other buildings from the 16th-19th centuries. I’m sure the kitchen was state-of-the-art for its time, but I’m happy not to have to cook there!

Interior

Kitchen

Lace knitter

Weavers in traditional costumes

Basket weaver

A linen lace doily similar to the one the lady is holding (but unbleached), and a small linen table cloth from the weavers might have followed me home, but I couldn’t figure out how to pack any of the baskets 😉

Jette’s Mittens

The new issue of Piecework came recently and I was delighted to see Barbara Plakans’ article about Jetta Uzane* (1924-2007) and her beautiful Latvian mittens. Much of the information in the article plus additional photos can be found at LatviasFriend.

At the 2000 Oft-Timer’s session at Meg Swansen’s Knitting Camp, Lizbeth Upitis announced that she was going to take a group to Latvia in June, 2001—several of us just looked at each other and said “Let’s go!”

We had a wonderful trip, with access to mitten and stocking collections in a number of museums because of the contacts Lizbeth had made during research for her book, and also getting to meet with knitters (with the help of Lizbeth and a guide/interpreter).

One of our trips away from Riga, where we stayed much of the time, was to meet Jetta at her home. A collection of her mittens had been displayed in the US, and Lizbeth returned them to her while we were there.

Jette Uzane, 1924-2007.

Jette’s Window (mitten series)

Jette & Lizbeth Upitis: Jette’s mittens come home.

At Jetta’s home.

All photos ©2001, E. J. Slayton.

*Rough approximation of the pronunciation is Yet-ta OO-zane; e as in let, short a.

Looking back …

at a few memories from the lovely trip I took to Ireland 2 years ago.

The River Boyne by Knowth.

The Salmon of Knowledge.

Column base at the National Library of Ireland.

I’m trying to finish a stealth knitting project and construction matters keep distracting me – deadlines are definitely not high on my list of favorite things. On the positive side, my studio window is here; not installed, but here, and the deck is showing definite progress 🙂

Later …

In Dublin’s Fair City …

October 1, 2007: We saw St. Patrick’s Cathedral, truly awe-inspiring, with memorials to Jonathan Swift, O’Carolan the blind harper and many others, soaring arches, beautiful stained glass … O’Connell Street, and so much color everywhere, from the bridge over the Liffey to vines on brick buildings.

Dublin: River Liffey

Dublin: St Patrick’s Cathedral

Dublin: St Patrick’s Cathedral, O’Carolan Memorial

Dublin: St Patrick’s Cathedral, Floor tiles

Dublin: Charles Steward Parnell, O’Connell Street

Dublin: Molly Malone (“The Tart with the Cart”)

Dublin Doors

Dublin Color

One Year Ago Today …

I was in Ireland, in Westport County Mayo. In the evening we went to Matt Molloy’s Pub – if you’re familiar with the Chieftains, he’s an important part of the group. We went for the music, and actually saw him there, even though he wasn’t performing – definitely cool!

I went on a knitters’ trip, landing at Shannon, then Galway, a trip to Inish Mor, Donegal, ending in Dublin and had a wonderful time. We were very fortunate with the weather – it hardly rained. Lots of pictures (these are all from Westport), lots of memories 🙂