October in New England really is all that
Loaf of whole-wheat bread dough rising on the stove, about 350 new miles on the car*, favorite band concert ticket in my back pocket, sock yarn on the kitchen table, a counter groaning under apples, and a fridge full of vegetables.**
A prototypical New England autumn weekend. A two-diner weekend, at that.
* With a new bumper sticker, which instead of "Together We Can" really should read "Another Beat-Up Honda for Deval."
** DJ Dave, paraphrased: "For only one person, that's a pretty full fridge."
(To quench envy in New England expats, it's 64 degrees in my apartment. Up from 60. I refuse to turn on the heat. It's baking season.)
Due to timing, the Au(tumn) Gratin went to Kate instead of potluckers. (Post-potluck query: Restart Game Night with homemade "Apples to Apples"? You write the nouns: e.g., Bauhaus, rapscallion, cat o' nine tails, John Casablancas Modeling School.)
So. Starting backwards with photos from today's biscuits-'n'-gravy/apple fest in Derry, NH.
A little late in the season. (Cue Son Volt, "Windfall.")
If you pick quickly, you'll be done too soon. How to slow down? Hey!
Apple bocce! On nature's bocce lane. (Okay. Cultivator's lane.) Action shots:
"Hmmm... I think this is the pollini. Wait. Maybe it's that other apple."
We must've played for forty minutes.
Unfortunately, time did not improve my skill. Proving his projectile skills beyond arty mini-golf, and in an uncontested decision, Dave was ruled #1.
Home again, pie crust obsession enabled:
I swear those apples expanded after we left the orchard. My just-over-one-third of a bushel now fills up a half-bushel bag. I was seized with the desire to make pumpkin pie.
-- End of the food, cooking, apple bocce (I'll pause for a moment while you absorb the brilliance of that innovation), and boy butt-shot content. Everyone who thinks that knitting is lame can click away to some other website now, such as the incredibly nadiresque nerd board.
So. Saturday: Knittyboard gathering in Northampton and (briefly) Grafton. (Normally I can navigate a car.) I seem to have run out of entertaining description. Oh dear. Anyway, Webs lived up to its press. As did my companions. What a friendly and fun group of gals [waves].
(Deb/Yarner lived beyond her press, especially when she dumped chili over the uneaten end of her chocolate cake as a preventative measure.)
Bryghtrose/Cathy found yarn the same color as her hair.
My host Bethany (theherocomplex) stole about three hours from her writing and day-job responsibilities. I don't know how she does it, or how she functions with so little sleep and no caffeine. (Alert: Northampton Coffee.)
Knowing Webs's reputation, I entered with a plan. Oh yes. I scribbled down project notes and bought only:
- A pattern for an upcoming project so cloaked in mystery that I can't share details or photograph even a corner to show you. Mystery Cloak will be, for you, a boring project. When I start it. Which date recedes ever farther, like Mario Batali's hairline, as I plod on with the APT, whose first half measures 14" from the part-one-turns. I've almost used up my first ball of Cascade Fixation.
- Yarn for an upcoming project I can-- sit down-- chatter about with impunity.
These skeins of Cleckheaton (never heard of it) (plus dishes) to make anti-war Knucks for my activist cousin. Brown base with cream numbers. (After all this time, finally, I will learn Fair Isle.)
I can't remember where I read about this idea. You knit the number of people killed in Iraq into each mitt. The second mitt's number is higher than the first. Knuckle slogan: EXIT IRAQ.
- As I've noted before, I don't spend enough time knitting to feed a stash. However, sales...
Sales are another story. $2.50/skein! Gedifra Fashion Trend Sportivo. (What's that you ask? Yes, that is the same color mix as the Fleece Artist yarn. Yes, I noticed. Coordinated. That's what we'll call it. Coordinated.)
Time to heat the oven, write a late-into-work email to my boss, and turn in. Happy October to you all. There's over two weeks left.
A prototypical New England autumn weekend. A two-diner weekend, at that.
* With a new bumper sticker, which instead of "Together We Can" really should read "Another Beat-Up Honda for Deval."
** DJ Dave, paraphrased: "For only one person, that's a pretty full fridge."
(To quench envy in New England expats, it's 64 degrees in my apartment. Up from 60. I refuse to turn on the heat. It's baking season.)
Due to timing, the Au(tumn) Gratin went to Kate instead of potluckers. (Post-potluck query: Restart Game Night with homemade "Apples to Apples"? You write the nouns: e.g., Bauhaus, rapscallion, cat o' nine tails, John Casablancas Modeling School.)
So. Starting backwards with photos from today's biscuits-'n'-gravy/apple fest in Derry, NH.
A little late in the season. (Cue Son Volt, "Windfall.")
If you pick quickly, you'll be done too soon. How to slow down? Hey!
Apple bocce! On nature's bocce lane. (Okay. Cultivator's lane.) Action shots:
"Hmmm... I think this is the pollini. Wait. Maybe it's that other apple."
We must've played for forty minutes.
Unfortunately, time did not improve my skill. Proving his projectile skills beyond arty mini-golf, and in an uncontested decision, Dave was ruled #1.
Home again, pie crust obsession enabled:
I swear those apples expanded after we left the orchard. My just-over-one-third of a bushel now fills up a half-bushel bag. I was seized with the desire to make pumpkin pie.
-- End of the food, cooking, apple bocce (I'll pause for a moment while you absorb the brilliance of that innovation), and boy butt-shot content. Everyone who thinks that knitting is lame can click away to some other website now, such as the incredibly nadiresque nerd board.
So. Saturday: Knittyboard gathering in Northampton and (briefly) Grafton. (Normally I can navigate a car.) I seem to have run out of entertaining description. Oh dear. Anyway, Webs lived up to its press. As did my companions. What a friendly and fun group of gals [waves].
(Deb/Yarner lived beyond her press, especially when she dumped chili over the uneaten end of her chocolate cake as a preventative measure.)
Bryghtrose/Cathy found yarn the same color as her hair.
My host Bethany (theherocomplex) stole about three hours from her writing and day-job responsibilities. I don't know how she does it, or how she functions with so little sleep and no caffeine. (Alert: Northampton Coffee.)
Knowing Webs's reputation, I entered with a plan. Oh yes. I scribbled down project notes and bought only:
- A pattern for an upcoming project so cloaked in mystery that I can't share details or photograph even a corner to show you. Mystery Cloak will be, for you, a boring project. When I start it. Which date recedes ever farther, like Mario Batali's hairline, as I plod on with the APT, whose first half measures 14" from the part-one-turns. I've almost used up my first ball of Cascade Fixation.
- Yarn for an upcoming project I can-- sit down-- chatter about with impunity.
These skeins of Cleckheaton (never heard of it) (plus dishes) to make anti-war Knucks for my activist cousin. Brown base with cream numbers. (After all this time, finally, I will learn Fair Isle.)
I can't remember where I read about this idea. You knit the number of people killed in Iraq into each mitt. The second mitt's number is higher than the first. Knuckle slogan: EXIT IRAQ.
- As I've noted before, I don't spend enough time knitting to feed a stash. However, sales...
Sales are another story. $2.50/skein! Gedifra Fashion Trend Sportivo. (What's that you ask? Yes, that is the same color mix as the Fleece Artist yarn. Yes, I noticed. Coordinated. That's what we'll call it. Coordinated.)
Time to heat the oven, write a late-into-work email to my boss, and turn in. Happy October to you all. There's over two weeks left.
posted by Danielle at 11:22 PM
3 Comments:
Hey, at least the detour through Grafton was a scenic one.
'Twas very nice to meet you yesterday!
Oh, I am wallowing in my expat New England status. My dad still lives in NH and I just posted some pics on my blog that he sent me - there really is no place like NE in the Fall. I miss apple picking.
Thanks for making me feel like a kid again.
It was fun meeting you and everyone else at WEBS. You bought some nice yarn--great colors!
I love your apple picking pictures.
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