I lost a day this week to hotels, airports, and planes — high winds in the west affected flights in/out of both Albuquerque & Denver. Luckily, though after quite a delay, I was able to make it to Denver on Tuesday, as planned. The delay meant a missed connection, though, and the new itinerary sent me to Chicago for a few hours instead of directly home. Thankfully, the airline put me up in a hotel on Tuesday & gave me a couple of meal vouchers (of which I only used one).
Anyway, all that to say… I’m behind!!
Here’s a little eye candy until I catch up a bit! Our Airbnb in ABQ was just a few blocks from both the Albuquerque Museum & Old Town. On one of the days, we stopped into a cute shop called Desert Bird Mercantile. Kate had wandered a little ahead of me & I heard her call out, “Mom. There’s fabric over here.” Oh my, was there. I was extremely restrained in walking away with only three fat quarters — one more than I originally had in my hand. These are just a few of the many designs/colorways by owner/artist Tammy Wenderlich. Aren’t they spectacular? I’m hoping they’ll work with what I’ve got going in the sampler quilt, but I’m not sure I’ll really need them and who cares, anyway? They’re so pretty!
We had a nice, relaxing weekend in the UP. There’s so much snow up there!
Our Airbnb cottage was on a very small, very quiet lake… there were other people around, but I didn’t see them.
A few inches of snow fell while we were there. There was never a big flurry, just very lightly falling most of the day (or at night when I wasn’t looking).
The roads were mostly snow-covered from Escanaba north…
…and sure made a mess of my car! This was my Subie’s first road trip & she did just great, though!
We discovered that The Up North Lodge was only a few minutes away, so we headed there on Friday night. Food & service were both great.
There was a huge, curved, custom bar featuring cuts of “Woods of the Up North.” It was so cool, but I was only able to see a very small portion of it (without being rude). Alas, a good enough reason to go back? I think so.
We went up to Marquette on Saturday for much of the day. I dropped Rusty off at a book store while I went on a mission to Alley Kat’s Quilt Shop! I’m sure that’s no surprise.
Needing some sort of direction, I printed a simple color wheel & tried sorting my FQs that way — it really helped, and also made me aware that I have enough for another two or three projects. Anyway, I found a few cuts at Alley Kat’s to help fill things out (or give me some choices). (I also had a couple of cuts from a local-ish Etsy seller waiting when I got home.)
I commandeered the table for our most of our stay! Once I figured out where I was headed & got things sorted, I started pressing & squaring up my fabric.
For a relatively cozy cabin — and even though Rusty & I both immediately thought about how we’d have arranged it all differently — there was a lot of room!
There was a lot of wood, a definite duck theme, and lots of plaid!
Rusty made a little watercolor on Sunday while I ironed, trimmed & cut fabric.
I made my first block at last night’s class! I had time to cut my pieces for next week’s block, too.
We’re going to An Evening With Jeff Daniels at The Grand Opera House in Oshkosh tonight, and then hitting the road tomorrow morning on another #whirlwindarttripwithkate. This time we’re headed for Omaha, Nebraska! I haven’t been that far west (on a road trip) since the early aughts when Sharon lived in SW Kansas. I drove through/around Omaha a few times in the early ’80s when I drove out to Oregon for visits, and then to move there (and, eventually, move back), but have never stopped. It’s not much further west than Kansas City, which was the last big #WWATWK road trip, but it feels like it, and it’s making me yearn for a real long-haul trip! (One of these years.)
We’ll also be going to Lincoln to visit the International Quilt Museum and the Sheldon Museum of Art, and a few other stops & points of interest in/around/on-the-way. I have stopped in Lincoln before, at least once, to hit the hay on one of those I-80 trips to Oregon, but the Holiday Inn or wherever was the extent of my visit. And maybe McD’s for an Egg McMuffin to fuel forward progress the next morning. This will be more intentional & interesting.
I am really looking forward to getting outta Dodge, as it were, and recharging.
There is so much to share — I had such a great time in Nashville! But re-entry has been wild, to say the least, as my boss was in the hospital from Friday night until Tuesday afternoon & the office was all but closed for two days (thank goodness for the answering service). I was gone from Friday morning until Tuesday evening, and was unaware that any of this was happening until late Monday afternoon.
So, the dust has finally cleared a bit! This is going to be (haha, was supposed to be) a short post, because there’s still a lot going on (two Airbnbs to ready by tomorrow morning, among other things), but some updates!
When we last met, I had started sewing up the granny square afghan. I hemmed & hawed about bringing it to Nashville — an afghan, even throw-sized, is substantial (and knowing I’d need room for purchases) — but I did, and I’m so glad. I got it all seamed up & did a single-crochet border around the whole thing while I was there — readying for the real border, which I started last night! I spent most evenings in, and it was perfect. My Airbnb host had previously worked as a curator at the Country Music Hall of Fame (CMHoF) and had a small but excellent selection of music documentaries on DVD; I watched:
It was very crochet-friendly viewing (& listening). My only complaints are that the TV could have been a little bit larger and a soundbar would have made such a difference. I remember renting It Might Get Loud back when Netflix sent discs in the mail, and bought my first soundbar in preparation! haha.
Anyway, while I was gone, the Rowan Magpie was delivered, as was the Noro Ito. As suspected, the Magpie is not a perfect match, but it is definitely close enough to proceed with the Farfalle Cardigan as planned!
I have a lot more to share, but that’s a separate post. (It was amazing.)
Afterwards, I made my way to Robert’s Western World — the only music venue that I really wanted revisit — and got my honky tonk on!
I caught the last part of Jesselee Jones & Brazilbilly and the first part of Kelley’s Heroes, bands that I saw there in different iterations last time, and that I was very happy to see again.
A girl needs to eat, so I ordered up a Recession Special at Robert’s — a fried bologna sandwich served with chips, a MoonPie, and a PBR — for $6! (I believe it was $5 when Annie & I were there last, but we did not partake then.) Other than lunch on Monday at the CMHoF, that’s the only meal I had other than at “home” or at MDK.
While I was at Robert’s, there was a little hubbub up front at the table that’s reserved for any VIP that might walk through the door… and it turned out to be Tanya Tucker! I have been aware of her since she first burst on the scene (Delta Dawn) and, though our lives have been very different, you could say that we grew up together — she’s less than a month older than me. Her birthday is today!! (I didn’t know that off the top of my head… had done a quick google search while I was at the bar… and wished her a Happy Birthday as she walked past me on her way out.)
Normally, at this time of year, there’s enough early morning (before work) light in the garden room for decent photos. This is not showing the yarn very well at all. Today’s the last day of a miserable cold wet bunch of days, though.
Obviously, I was focused on capturing colors when I took this photo… I didn’t notice the crazy amount of dog hair until I downloaded it! Shedding (a lot) is Kai’s one-and-only flaw.
Anyway, the yarn is from Olivia & Oliver Fibers that I purchased last summer at Stephen & Penelope in Amsterdam. It’s Olivia BFL, 100% Bluefaced Leicester, in a colorway called “Waitomo Caves,” and it’s so pretty — mostly greens & blues, but I’ve been running across the littlest bit of deep purple now & then.
Waitomo Glowworm Caves is a natural attraction on New Zealand’s North Island… Google it & click on images to see how it inspired this yarn!
READING:
I’m back to reading The Farmer’s Wife: My Life in Days by Helen Rebanks, after taking a break for a couple of other books, and I’m enjoying it.
The other books were Lights on a Ground of Darkness by Ted Kooser, which I loved… and it’s close by because I know I’ll be reading it again! The other was Permission: The New Memoirist and the Courage to Create by Elissa Altman, which I’ve passed on to Rusty (and his collaborator, Kate).
TRAVEL KNITTING/READING:
I have to get serious about travel knitting! Next Thursday I’ll be lounging at EWR/Newark for a few hours awaiting a connecting flight. (Trust me, I’m nervous about connecting at that airport right now… fingers & toes crossed. Thankfully, the return connection is through IAH/Houston.)
I think the book coming with me to Peru will be Nesting by Roisín O’Donnell — YES (don’t faint)! I hope to join you all for book discussion next month! It’s also available with my Spotify subscription, so I might leave the actual book behind. The other contender is The Names by Florence Knapp, and same. Decisions, decisions…
And, yes, it’s very likely that I neither knit nor read while I’m in Peru!
