Roadtrip: Maine Maple Sunday 2010

Every year, the 4th Sunday in March is celebrated state-wide as Maine Maple Sunday. Which is yet another reason to love Maine. Last year, Mr. Cleaver and I visited Merryfield farm in Gorham. This year we cast our syrup-seeking net a bit wider and drove out to Sebago to get our sap and sugar fix. And boy did we ever!

We started off our morning at the Sebago Town Hall for a tasty pancake breakfast benefiting the local fire department. The fire chief himself served Mr. Cleaver his coffee. The hall was packed to the gills with locals, with a few sundry outsides like ourselves.

No Mrs. Butterworth here!

After we'd filled our bellies we drove about five minutes up the road to Greene Maple Farm  - where six generations have been turning sap into syrup.

Outside the Greene sugar shack I overheard the following exchange:

Teenage boy in shorts: "It's cold"

His sister: "It's always cold on Maple Sunday!"

And indeed it was chilly, but it's nice in the sugar shacks next to the evaporators: )

At Greene's we sampled warm maple syrup over homemade vanilla ice cream and picked up a pint to take home.

A pile of tree taps.

Next we stopped at Grandpa Joe's Sugar House over the line in Baldwin., where the Murch's have been in residence since 1916 and making maple syrup since the 1980s.

They had a plethora of goodies at Grandpa Joe's and we came out with some more samples, some maple sugar candy, and, Mr. Cleaver's favorite, maple cotton candy.

Though some strange weather patterns (mostly a string of unseasonably warm days) has significantly cut back on the sap run this year, everyone was proud to demonstrate their craft. And visitors were glad to stand by the fire, which runs around 214°F/101°C.

There may be no more beautiful sight than the stea rising from a Maine sugar house on a cold spring morning.

I can't wait until next year, but at least I got syrup to tide me over :)

5 True Things and a Lie

One of my dear friends and old college roommates tagged me on this so I figured I must comply - the rules are I must write 6 things about myself, one of which is a lie.

1. When I first met Mr. Cleaver, I hadn't sewed in years and didn't yet know how to knit.
2. From since I was little, up to today, whenever I take long roadtrips and I'm not driving, I imagine myself riding a (rather speedy) horse alongside the car.
3. I really want to learn how to quilt.
4. I own at least a half dozen children's books in Latin.
5. I once stole 54 green crayons from a restaurant.
6. If I ever did more acting, my dream role would be Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible.

You can put your guesses for the untruth in the comments if you'd like. :)

Lent 2010: Update 2

Our newest family member, Billy Budd the Betta

I have to say that I somehow expected things to be radically different sans TV, but really its much more the same than it has been different. I'm still tired when I get home from a stressful day at work (of which there have seemingly been many of late) and more often than not, I'll still sit down on the couch and knit, just like I would when we watched tv. Though I have been doing more spinning of late.

We have been eating at the kitchen table more and the dishes get done right after dinner more often. I will say that.

An Updated Lent by the Numbers:

• Games of Boggle Played: 1
• Games of Scrabble Played: 1
• Games of Trivial Pursuit Played: 1
• Games of Pinball Played at the Mall: about $8 worth
• Development League NBA Games Watched: 3/4 (the power went out)
• Quarters of USM Men's Lacrosse Wathched: 1 1/2
• Patterns Drafted:
  • Basic Tee I : The learning experience
  • Basic Tee II: getting closer....
• Concert DVDs Watched:
  • Stop Making Sense
  • Patty Griffin at the Artist Den
  • The Last Waltz
  • Johnny Cash at Austin City Limits
  • Guster on Ice
  • Pink Martini : Live
• Movies Watched:
  • The Hangover
• Episodes of The West Wing watched on DVD: a lot
• Episodes of Mad Men watched on DVD: 3/4 of Season 1
• CDs Listened to: too many to count!!
• Visits to Borders to read comic books and magazines: 3
• Walks taken:  a lot
• Books read:
  • Emma
  • 1/4 of Pride & Prejudice
• Times Mr. Cleaver fell asleep with a book in his hands and didn't wake up when I took it out: 2
• Hours of live TV watched: 0

There's also been dining out, internet surfing, knitting, sewing and  general lollygagging about.

Introducing: SandDune

For a while now, I've been dreaming about starting my own little knitting pattern company, a today that little dream just got a little more real.

This is SandDune, my first Ms. Cleaver Creation.

Inspired by my favorite Maine beach, SandDune is a lacy self-storing bag, perfect for gathering together your favorite items for those days by the shore that are fast approaching. Though it's cool and rainy in Portland today, I know before too long, it'll be time to head out to the ocean.

Knit from a about 200 yards of Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy in Sunflower #14, the bag is both study and airy.  The hemp gives the bag a beautiful earthy look. Knit in the round, the bag is a quick and satisfying knit.

The pattern can be purchased in PDF form for $5.00 USD via my Ravelry store or the store:

I'm very proud of this pattern and am happy to say this is the first of many designs on my pipeline and there'll be more surprises in the weeks and months and years to come!

The 24-Hour Pillow

When I was little, my dad had a book called How to Be Your Daughter's Daddy, and the only parts of it that I remember was a section that had a bunch of little "date" type activities for dads and daughters to do together - things like roast mini-marshmellows on toothpicks over candle flames and the stipulation that every girl needs at least three pillows on her bed.

Well, if you don't count Mr. Cleaver's pillows, I have been languishing with only two pillows for years now. Well no more, says I! I had a pillow form sitting around for about a year and this weekend I gathered all the materials together and made this throw pillow.

I drafted out a quick envelope back pillowcase and spent the majority of yesterday morning watching MR. Cleaver play his first tennis game of the season and doing the embroidery, which I had bookmarked for this pillow since it showed up on Sew, Mama, Sew! I definitely got to practice my french knots. I love the way the pillow turned out and it really ties the bedding together.  And really, it makes me feel as if I've fulfilled my girly quota on pillows.

Purple People

Remember back in January when I said I was in a Purple Phase? It's still going strong apparently. Case in point:

Your honors, I rest my case.

Lent 2010: Update 1

Now that I'm two weeks in, I should probably give a Lenten update.

So far, it's not too bad! I did miss watching the Olympics (Mr. Cleaver very cutely asked me if he could watch the end of the US/Canada men's hockey game - I said yes.) and Sundays are generally the hardest. But I have to say I don't miss prime time tv at all - the only thing I really miss is Jeopardy!

Mr. Cleaver and I both agree, that live without tv somehow feels less stressful. We can go out any night we want, becuase we don't have to be home to watch anything. We've been doing more stuff, talking more over dinner and generally having a good time.

Here some Lent by the Numbers:

• Games of Boggle Played: 1
• Games of Scrabble Played: 1
• Games of Trivial Pursuit Played: 1
• Games of Pinball Played at the Mall: 9
• Development League NBA Games Watched: 3/4 (the power went out)
• Patterns Drafted:
  • Basic Tee I : The learning experience
  • Basic Tee II: fingers crossed
• Concert DVDs Watched:
  • Stop Making Sense
  • Patty Griffin at the Artist Den
  • The Last Waltz
  • Johnny Cash at Austin City Limits
• Movies Watched:
  • The Hangover
• Episodes of The West Wing watched on DVD: a lot
• CDs Listened to: too many to count!!
• Visits to Borders to read comic books and magazines: 1
• Walks taken: 3
• Books read:
  • 3/4 of Emma
• Times Mr. Cleaver fell asleep with a book in his hands and didn't wake up when I took it out: 2
• Hours of live TV watched: 0

There's also been dining out, internet surfing, knitting, sewing and  general lollygagging about.

Completion, Progress, and Learning

Completion:

As promised about a week ago - here's my finished a-line skirt. I had to do some adjusting to the waistband (because my waist is not rectanglular), but I love the finished product. It isn't a fabric I would normally pick out or wear, but somehow, here it works.

Progress:

Whenever I'm knitting a sweater, I'll periodically ask Mr. Cleaver "Does it looks like a sweater yet?" Answer right now? : Yes!

Learning:

I mentioned last week I was drafting a tee and trying my first knit-sewing experience. The sewing part was okay, but the tee fit terribly. It was about 2 inches too short (not even counting hemming), the neckline was off, and it was bunching at the arms in an altogether unattractive way.

Mistakes seem less daunting when you have Cadbury creme eggs.

I wandered around the house in a shirt full of pins for about a half an hour trying to figure out where I went wrong.  I'll admit that the instructions for this one aren't terribly detailed - I'd suggest measuring a lot of your store-bought shirts first for things like length - and I was dissapointed that there were no alteration suggestions in the book, then I realized what I needed - the full bust adjustment.  So I've totally redrafted the top for version 2.0 and purchased some more (probably inappropriately thick interlock) jersey and will hopefully cut it out later this week.

Roadtrip: PKOTT at NETA Spa

This Saturday the lovely ladies of Portland Knitters On The Town took a field trip to NETA's Spa, Spin and Knit weekend up in Freeport, where the Hilton Garden and Haraseeket Inns were crawling with Spinners and Knitters from throughout New England.

Many were day trippers like ourselves, but others from New Hampshire and Vermont came to stay for the whole weekend. The Hilton was sold out - primarily to knitters and spinners. It was great to see so many fiber lovers in one place!

There were also a ballroom full of the usual merchants, but being pretty stocked up at the moment, I only purchased a card of beautiful pewter buttons that made me think of a new sweater design almost instantaneously.

With so many spinner around I was inspired to pull out my spindle, which I haven't touched since sometime in late September/Early November, when Christmas and other deadline knitting kicked in.

So while I didn't purchase any yarn, I did come out of the event with some new yarn. Which as Mr. Cleaver accurately described it, "feel like you hair after a day at the beach." It's llama, and yes, it's a bit straw-like. I'm hoping it'll soften up a bit when I wash it (which it seriously needs - so much dye transfer!!), but I'm proud of the thinness and relative evenness of this skein. Inspired, I started spinning it's companion purple fiber last night.

We also made side trips to a BBQ joint and a fabric store. So all in all, it was a good day. :)

February Sunshine

While the Mid-Atlantic has been getting pummeled with inches upon inches of snow, we've been sitting up in Southern Maine with hardly a flake insight. Amazingly it is February and there is more grass to be seen than piels of snow. I'm sure we'll get hit with a doozy of a storm as soon as I post this, but in the meantime, Mr. Cleaver and I have been taking advantage of this February Sunshine.

Last weekend we took my first trip to the Maine Audubon sanctuary in Falmouth. In the past, Mr. Cleaver has gone to the sanctuary to cross-country ski, but we just wandered the trails, holding hands.

It was still cold and breezy, but the sun was so nice we sat on the ground and soaked it in.

I didn't think it possible, but this weekend was even nicer - so we went to the beach.

We picked up pizza and pier fries at Lisa's Pizza and took a walk along the shore at Old Orchard Beach - one of those places that is crawling with tourists in the summer, but lovely and quiet in the winter.

We're currently at a 50% chance of snow for Tuesday, but in a Maine winter, you take what sunny days you can.