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The Restorative Properties of a Vacation

The first week of summer camp raced by, and last night I took a break with some friends to teach them how to work on socks.  We had wine, brownies, good food and better conversation.

After a breakneck week I’m taking a day to just breathe.  In addition to the camp I was kept hopping by a variety of design submissions that I’m getting ready to send off.  Right before I left for Yosemite, two weeks ago, I was feeling burned out.  I was missing sending out design subs because I just couldn’t bring myself to come up with anything that was of any merit.  I was getting a little worried about how design subs, which are one of my favorite things to work on, were becoming a task.

Me, working on the drawing.

While I was in Yosemite I didn’t pick up my knitting once.  As I climbed on the train for a three-day ride home, I felt sure I could get the urge to knit.  And then… I didn’t knit or crochet once.  I read and napped.  I took multiple naps in a day, and then slept through the night – something I’ve only done when I’m sick.

I did do other crafty stuff – including a drawing that I spent several hours on.  I don’t normally pull on my art classes from Highschool very often, but I got the urge to do a perspective drawing of the train we were on, based off of a picture I took (above).  I made it for our most wonderful train hostess, who was amazing in the face of a late train and grumpy passengers.

It was nice to do something creative that wasn’t creative in the same way as my knitting.  I based the lettering off of a coloring sheet the hostess was giving the kids.  But I didn’t like the cartoony type of train they included, so I decided to do something stylized, a bit simpler, but more accurate to the train we were actually on.

Train picture.  Note the texture to the gravel in the tracks.  And the logo both on the front and side of the train.

Almost right after our Train/Yosemite trip, we headed to the farm.  I took with me Barbara Walker’s set of stitch dictionaries, which I had bought as a treat to myself and then hadn’t read at all.  At the farm I finally picked but my knitting and crochet tools, and I began to swatch from the books.  And finally, after a near unheard of two-week hiatus, I began knitting again.  More importantly, I began sketching and coming up with ideas.

Just before we left for the farm I printed out all the design calls I knew were coming up in the next four weeks, and I brought them with me to the farm.  And on the sheets of paper, I began sketching and generating ideas for the design calls.

I was so relieved.

It turns out I just needed some rest.  In a very real way, I needed a vacation from my job… which meant, in a strange way, I needed a vacation from my hobby.

Now, my batteries are charged and I’ve got a bunch of things I’m sending out, along with a bunch of things that I’m working on my own.

Off on Vacation!

I’m heading out for a week and a half to Yosemite with Michael’s family, so the blogging will probably be rather sparse while I’m gone.

You can expect regular posting to resume somewhere around July 2, and there’ll probably be bunches of really great photo’s I’ll want to share.  I wonder how much knitting I can get done in 10 days… Michael and I will be spending about 3 of those days riding a train cross country (of course)!

Back Home from the Holidays

Michael and I staggered in from traveling home on Thursday.  It’s now Sunday, and I finally feel like I’ve recovered from traveling.  While I have much to tell of our adventures while we went home to visit my parents, I thought I would share the sight of what greeted us when we returned home.

Apparently Peake and Watson got bored while we were gone, and we returned to find that they had gotten into one of the boxes where I store my yarn.  Luckily most of the yarn was odds and ends from other projects – so no great loss, but I’m baffled as to how they got in the box – seeing as they had to pull it out of a shelf, take off the top of the box, and then open another box that was inside of it.  *Shakes head* These cats are perhaps smarter than I realized.  Also, I think they have thumbs they are hiding from us.

It was like a scene from a movie will lasers going across the room – the was yarn wrapped around the couch, through and around the Christmas tree, around the dinning room table, through chairs, around the office chairs and the checkered table… let’s just say I’m glad we didn’t have a bigger apartment, as I shudder to think of how much of a mess they could have made in a bigger home.

After contemplating untangling the whole thing, I got out the scissors and cut.  No doubt I could have untangled it all – so long as I wanted to devote the next few days to fixing it.

Luckily, that was the worst of the trouble they got into.  We had the foresight to bring all the houseplants into the bedroom, so they couldn’t knock over any of those, and all the knicknacks were stashed safely away.  There were a few Christmas garlands torn down, a new ornaments that were off the tree, but it was all small fries.

Meanwhile, I’m brainstorming new ways to make sure they don’t get into my boxes of yarn.

We Made out Like Bandits, I Tell ‘Ya

Michael and I belong to a CSA, Spiral Path, which we pick up once a week from the Silver Spring Farmer’s Market.  Every once and a while Spiral Path will have an open farm day for its members.  It’s a cross between a harvest festival and a good backyard party, and we’ve been wanting to go for a while.  The only drawback is that the farm is 3 hrs away in PA.

However, this last weekend Michael and I had Ray visiting (who has a car that gets double the miles to the gallon that our car does). Coincidentally, there was an open farm day.  We decided to make a day of it, and got up REALLY early (before the sun rose) and drove to Spiral Path.

The drive was well worth it.  There was a fabulous pot-luck, tours of the farm, heyrides and other wonderful events.  Michael and I hadn’t quite realized how big Spiral Path is – they service 2250 members.  Just for perspective, most CSA’s have around 200 members.  Spiral Path is huge, but still very down to earth.  All the growing they do is organic, and you can see the values they hold in every choice they made about how the food is grown and prepared for shipment.  Michael and I feel very passionately about supporting efforts like this, and it’s great to know that we not only are getting great value for our food, but that it is going to a solid business model.

The most lovely part of the open farm day is the goodies that you get for free.  Spiral Path has a chunk of produce that it grows that for whatever reason isn’t considered sell-able – either it has blemishes, is too small, or has something else wrong with it.  Normally they donate the “reject food” to the local food shelter, but when they have the open farm days, they make this extra produce available to the members for free.

Our bounty from Spiral Path (the veggies) and Rock Hill (the apples)

Take a look at our haul:

We took home: 2 pumpkins, 2 butternut squash, 2 spaghetti squash, yellow squash, green beans, eggplant, summer squash, and a whole bunch of peppers, of various sweet and spicy flavors.

Finally, Spiral Path also had a herb garden where members could cut their own herbs.  We brought home mint, sage, and lots and lots of basil (for making pesto).

The event ended at 3, and by that time I was pretty tuckered out.  But we weren’t done yet.  On the way home, we stopped by Rock Hill Orchard, and picked up some Empire and Jonathan apples.  Just because it’s the beginning of fall, and that’s what you got to do.  Go apple picking.

Summer Travels

Our Amtrak train coming to pick us up.

So I promised that I would tell about the rest of Michael’s birthday trip, and I’m keeping my promise – though it’s a little late.

You can refresh yourself by going here – I’ll wait for you.

After finishing up a couple of relaxing days in Ashland, NC, we proceeded to board another Amtrak train, this time taking us to Richmond, VA.  We had a layover there for a couple of hours, which wouldn’t have been of note, except Michael’s grandmother lives in Richmond.  So she met up with us and we all went out to lunch.

Richmond train station has a lovely outdoor seating area.

Michael’s grandmother, called by him Oma, is a wonderful lady, and I use the word lady in the truest sense.  She’s 92 years old, and has aged with grace and poise.  Her brain is as sharp as a whip, and she’s one of the best people I know at cutting Michael down to size when he’s getting a little bit too full of himself.  There’s such obvious love and affection between the two of them, and I always love watching them together.  One of the big moments I’m looking forward to is introducing my two grandmothers to Oma, and I think all three women have aged with grace – and I think they’ll all get along very well.

After having lunch with Oma, we proceeded to board the train again (do you sense a theme?) and head on to Cary (as Michael calls it, Containment Area for Relocated Yankees), where his parents proceeded to pick us up.

Random Mantis.  It was cool. Hard to get a picture of, though.

What commenced was a whirlwind of activity.  We visited with our friends Ray and Alison, ranged around Carborro trying wines at trendy grocery stores and investigating railroad tracks.  We tried Mexican food and played with interactive art.  Then we went home, celebrated Michael’s birthday with friends, played games, went to bed, woke up and came home.

It was a lovely trip, and a good balance of quiet and rest with family and activity.  It was also a nice way to say goodbye to summer, as it seems that just after we came home, the weather began to change.

Summer is for vacation, right?

Hey, not to state the obvious, but I think I’ll let you in on a little secret.  I haven’t been around much on the inter-webs lately. Socking Shocking, I know.  Heh, I have been doing quite a bit of sock knitting too, but I can’t talk about a lot of it yet, because it’s going to be coming out in a few different places in the next months.  Details when I can talk about them, I promise.

So what’s been happening?  Well, let’s just say this is a bit of a story, so I’m breaking this up into two posts.

Last week Michael and I went on a short vacation in honor of his birthday to Ashland, VA, and then continued on to Richmond, VA and finally to his parents who live outside of Chapel Hill, NC.

The common question I was asked when I told people where we were going was, “Why Ashland?”

Well, if you look at Ashland on a map, it doesn’t seem to have much going for it.  It’s small, the town history is rather brief, as there have been no real major events in the town.  No one famous was born or died there.  No battles were fought, no slave uprisings or protests.  It’s a pretty quiet town.

Well, quiet in one way.  In other ways?  Not so much.  Because CSX has a train line that runs right through mainstreet.

And that meant there were trains.  Michael loves trains.

Michael and I have a list (we actually have many lists) of places we see when going someplace (say his parents) that we would like to stop and see one day.  It can be a restaurant, an antique store, a town, a museum  battlefield, anything really.  Ashland was one of them.  We have passed through Ashland every time we take the train to Michael’s parents.  The reason we take note of it is because Main Street is bisected by the train rails.  So there’s one lane of traffic, the rails, and another lane of traffic.  It seemed like a quirky town, with a general store that’s been operating for 120 odd years, old architecture and a quiet southern feel.

It was lovely.  We spent two nights (three days) in the town.  We visited a coffee shop, used bookstore (I found a few gems) and model train store.  We went to the Iron Horse, which had some of the most delicious food I’ve ever had the honor of encountering.  Seriously.  I’ve been to some good restaurants in DC, restaurants run by chefs from shows on TV, ones that have been written up in magazines.  This place ranked above them.  There was this chocolate pave (I think the word was) that blew my mind.  Also, gnocchi that was savory and rich, but the serving was just enough not not be overwhelming.  The almond encrusted chicken I had struck just the right notes with the mashed potatoes and green beans I had with it.  Seriously good.

The hotel we stayed at, The Henry Clay Inn, overlooks main street.  And it has a southern style porch, two floors.  After lunch, we plunked ourselves out on the porch, and Michael watched trains go by.  Me?  I swatched.  I had originally hoped to get yarns from a few different companies so I could work on some design deadlines that I have due later this month.  (It’s going to be a rather frantic few weeks).  For good or ill, they did not arrive by the time I left, so that meant I brought yarn to dream and plan.  I swatched for a few different design calls, and then, when I was done with that, I got to work on my own stuff!

I’m working on a doily to go on the hutch Michael and I are slowly refinishing.  I’m doing something freehand, which is entirely wonderful.  There’s some things I do in my own work that I sometimes find to hard to describe to people who read my patterns, so when I’m designing for magazines I sometimes follow conventions instead of doing what *I* like to do.  When I’m working my own projects, I’m also free to brainstorm ideas that aren’t firm enough to become a design proposal yet, but I need to work out on a piece.  It’s a quirk of mine that even my swatches have the potential to become part of other projects, or part of samples for teaching lessons.  I like everything to have at least two purposes.

One of the best parts of the trip was just watching Michael geek out over trains.  One of the most lovely things about him is that he brings the mind of a historian and researcher to almost everything he does.  So taking a trip to a train town means I get a guided exposition about train history.  Any question  I could have about trains, Michael can probably answer.  If he doesn’t know the answer to it, he knows where to find it.  I love that about him, because it always makes it incredibly interesting to talk to him about what he’s pasionate about.  This trip, Michael had recorded all scheduled trains that were supposed to go through the town.  Then, he tracked in a journal if they were running on time, late, their engine numbers, and a bunch of other information (so he can report back to his train friends on the Amtrak Forums).

 Since I do the same things with yarn, I guess it’s fair.