Knitterguy

NYC 2011 - Part 2

Lots of photos in this post, which finishes up the second week of my trip in NYC. Jack and I got home from the men's knitting retreat, and spent the next day -- Monday -- regrouping. I had a summer cold, and spent some time coughing and sniffling. I have to say, we had perfect weather this week: it was mostly hot, and bright and sunny: big contrast to the previous week. Oddly, I got lots of pictures of flowers, but not many of anything else. No idea why it played out that way.

Tuesday, Mar and I connected and took the train into The City. We passed through the station in Secaucus, with its marvellous statue.

 

 

We went to Habu, where I may have bought some yarn. When you step off the elevator in the building holding Habu, there's this lovely design in the floor.

We wandered through the city. I think we were generally in the wholesale flower district. (First and third photos, BTW, are of artificial flowers. I loved the colours.)

Overhead walkway at  32nd Street.

On Wednesday, Jack and I headed into the city. We met up with Michael and crossed over into Brooklyn to Brooklyn General, the yarn and fabric store. I may have bought some yarn and a few do-dads. (Excellent pizza in the small shop next to Brooklyn General.)  Weather was very warm, clear and sunny (actually, the clearest day of the week, I think) which was very good as we took the ferry to Staten Island. (The ferry was very crowded: I couldn't get close enough to an open window to take pictures.

On Thursday, we went to The Cloisters. The subway stops just south of Fort Tryon Park, which flows beautifully into the property holding the museum. (Or the museum sits within the Park: not sure which it is.) It was a gorgeous day to walk the  Heather Garden in Fort Tryon Park. From the park, you can see the George Washington Bridge crossing the Hudson River.

 

Peonies and irises were in full bloom in the garden.

We visited the Cloisters museum. I saw one of my favourite statues, and then strolled through the gardens. (Which includes an espaliered pear tree.)

 



 

We subwayed back downtown, and met Mark for supper. Some walking through the neighbourhood and then home. (I think we went past the Stonewall.)

Friday was my last day for sightseeing. We subwayed up to The Cathedral of John the Divine, where I hoped the fountain would be operating. (It wasn't.) The Cathedral is just above Morningside Park. You go down steps into the park from the street. (Just one of the many flights of stairs I went up or down in NYC.)

There's a beautiful water fountain in the park. It wasn't running, but you could see the 2 pans that would hold water.

So we visited the grounds of John the Divine, went across the street for iced coffee and pastry at the little Hungarian pastry shop. (Well worth it!)

And then we walked the length of Central Park. I could walk that every week. The batteries in the camera died partway through, so I got fewer photos than I wanted.

Here's the fountain in the centred of the French-style section of the Conservatory Garden.

One of the shaded paths in the Italian-style section of the Conservatory Garden.

And the English-style section is also beautiful.

And that's about where the camera died. We finished the walk through the park, and headed back home. Pizza and beer for supper -- some of you will note that I ate pizza on 3 consecutive days -- and then I started to pack up for the flight out next day.

I had a splendid 2 weeks, even with the sniffly and coughing of the cold. Many thanks to Jack and Judy for their hospitality. Their lovely little home is a great base for the city, and I am so grateful that they allow me to visit.

MSKR 2011

Jack and I left very early on the Thursday morning, driving through rain and fog, to meet a group of retreat attendees at Green Mountain Spinnery in Putney, Vermont. A tour of the mill had been arranged prior to the retreat for anyone who wanted to go, and as I think that everyone who knits should see how yarn is made I was really pleased by how many guys attended. After seeing the process from raw wool in the storage area through washing, teasing, carding to spinning frames to skeins winders to shop shelves, the guys did some selective purchasing. It was the first time I’d seen a couple of these guys in 2 years, so it was a great opportunity to chat and get caught up. Then it was time for lunch: the Front Poach Cafe had been alerted that we’d be showing up, so they set a table for us on...well, the front porch.

Easton Mountain was beautifully green. It rained a lot while we were there.

The retreat was really enjoyable for me. I hadn’t rushed in, as in past years, and I was a lot less stressed about life, which has been a problem in the past. I really enjoyed myself, and thank Joe and Willy for organizing a great gathering, and the staff at Easton Mountain for keeping us fed, and all the attendees for going in with the best intentions that we have a successful gathering. Many thanks also to the companies and businesses that contributed yarn and books and fibre and gadgets for swag and for prizes.

We had workshops.

A trip to Foster Sheep Farm.

A full bowl of candy for those moments when you’ve dropped a stitch and need to reinforce your spirit with a hit of chocolate.

 

There was lots of time for chitchat, knitting and spinning.

Duing the retreat, Joe, Mike and I went into the studios of WRPI-Troy as guests on the program “The Quest of Life”, hosted by Harry Faddis and Steve Simms. We spoke about the men’s knitting retreats, about men knitting and I can’t-remember-what-else. I think we all did really well.  The interview has been archived here: you’ll need the basic Quicktime player to listen to it. (That's Harry, then Steve, in the studio.)

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And of course, we had show’n’tell. I had 4 items this year. Two have been shown on the blog: the spindle-spun white scarf (I took it so the beginning spindle-spinners could see that with practice you can make enough yarn to make something real), and; the grey scarf from the fleece that I bought last year at from Carole at Foster Farm. (The scarf has gone to live with Carole.)

The third item was the Pink Poodle Scarf from Morehouse Farm. I saw it on their website, thought it a hoot, ordered the kit. I don’t think anyone got a picture of me modelling it, so  here’s one I just took in my apartment. I dunno; somehow I’m not sure it’s Me. 

 

The last item has a bit of a story.  Back in 1987, I was one of a dozen male knitters interviewed by Knitters magazine (issue 6; Spring 1987). None of us was a “knitting personality” or a “name” in the knitting biz: we were all just guys who knit. (I think a couple of the guys owned yarn stores.) It was an interesting article for a craft magazine to run, since the content of craft magazines was (and is) about patterns or product news. But Knitters was in an early development stage (Issue 6, after all) and, I think, experimenting with what its content could be to appeal to a target market.  (I understand that customer response was extremely negative.)

One of the retreat attendees emailed me shortly before the retreat to ask if that was really me in the article. I dug out my copy of the magazine to look at what I’d actually said -- or rather, what they chose to publish of what I’d said during the interview. (Wow; I was young back then.)  Buried in the few paragraphs of my interview was a mention of my first knitting project. I was somewhere between 8 and 10 years old, at home sick with a bug of some kind. Restless. I had craft books from the public library; one had a pattern for a teddy bear.  I’d been watching my Mom and grandmums knit for as a long as I could remember. One thing led to another, and I turned out my first knitting project. Primitive from many perspectives, but it worked. I still have it, and took it for show’n’tell. Here it is.

Eventually we all packed up, said good-byes, and went on our ways. All in all, a very good weekend.

 

NYC 2011 - Part 1

I took a chunk of my vacation days in late May and went to NYC. Embedded in that trip was the Men’s Spring Knitting Retreat, held as usual at Easton Mountain. I’ll talk about it in another post; this post will be 1 of 2 about the trip to NYC.

I flew into Newark International Airport and stayed with Jack and Judy at their little house in a small town in New Jersey. It’s really a great spot, being 3 blocks from a commuter bus that takes you to the Port Authority in Manhattan for $12 return in about 30 minutes, depending on traffic. (It costs $8 to get through the Lincoln Tunnel, so $12 seems a great deal.) Weather was overcast and rainy when I arrived, as it was for much of the week.

Next day, Jack and I headed into Lincoln Centre to see the American Ballet Theater’s production of “Don Quixote” with music by Ludwig Minkus. (I know: I’d never heard of him either.) The principal dancers were Paloma Herrera and Jose Manuel Carreńo. Apparently Jose is retiring at the end of this year’s season, and according to Jack he danced like a guy 20 years younger, pulling out all the stops. (Um...pipe organ metaphor; sorry.) The audience loved him. This was my first time at a ballet, and I note that ballet-ophiles are as wildly enthusiastic as opera-ophiles: cheering and applause after individual numbers. (Quite different from your standard classical music concert where We Don’t Do That Kind of Thing.) I thought the whole thing absolutely dazzling. Dancers really are amazing in their attempts to beat gravity. That's me, in front of the  Metropolitan Opera House, one of the 3 buildings at Lincoln Centre.

Before the concert, we wandered around a bit. Weather was a bit iffy, as it had been raining, but mostly the rain held off for us. The flower beds in front of Lincoln Centre were full of Allium Gigantium. When I was taking this picture, a passerby pulled herself up short so as not to put herself in the photo, asked if the flowers were anything special and whether she should take a picture of them. “Absolutely!” I said, and after she finished taking her pictures I took one of her in front of them. (She did offer to take one of me, but I declined.)

We wandered down (up?) to the Apple store so I could buy a cable adapter for my iPad. The cashier said it was a quiet day.

 

We saw some interesting architecture. (The sign over the door reads “If fraternal love held all men bound, how beautiful the world would be”.)

 We wandered through and past Central Park. Rhododenrons were full in bloom. All the plants were about 2-3 weeks ahead of ours here at home. Lilacs, for example, were finished blooming in NYC when I arrived. They’d not started blooming here when I left, but were in full bloom when I returned, as were the late tulips. But I didn’t see a tulip anywhere in NYC. (These pictures enlarge nicely. Click on them.)

 

Eventually we ended up at Columbus Circle.

Along the way, we saw the Tardis.

Next day it rained.  We took a fast trip to the yarn shop in Montclair, “Stix-n-Stitches”, as I needed to buy a needle. (And while there, got a copy of EZ’s “Knit One, Knit All”) Here’s the shop greeter.

And here’s the shop coffee table. Apparently it’s an Ikea product. The table is a series of  boxes, covered with a piece of glass. In the shop, each box holds a novelty yarn. Pretty neat.

A quiet evening followed. We packed, as there was an early day ahead of us to drive north for the Men’s Knitting Retreat.