June events, March interview, library quilt

This gorgeous quilt was made to celebrate Maryland libraries, and was unveiled at their annual conference. The story of this quilt will come in a later post.

"Stories of Knitting" talk will be given at Bedford Public Library, Bedford, NH Thursday May 28 at 7:00pm.

Come visit us Saturday, June 6 at the Granite State Knit-in XVII at Loon Mountain, NH (603-898-6931 for info).

AND come visit us June 6 & 7 at Fiber Frolic, Windsor, ME (www.fiberfrolic.com).

Back in March, Kathy was interviewed by the WERU 89.9 FM Radio Show "Doing Business." You can listen to the podcast here: http://archives.weru.org/doing-business/doing-business-30509. Kathy is introduced around minute 6:00.

The Powers Of The Internet: Faro del Sur

all photos originally from Faro del Sur

From Katherine Jane:

Oh, the wonders of the internet! Neither Kathy nor I is fluent in Spanish, yet through the glories of the internet we realized that this post from the blog Faro del Sur had a lot of people clicking through to our site.

Faro del Sur is an absolutely beautiful blog; the breathtaking pictures are universally lovely no matter what language you speak, and we were pleased to be in such good company. But, curiosity led me to plug the exact quote into the Babel Fish Translator to see what exactly the blogger, Lía, was saying. Thus, this paragraph:

- Desde hace una semana o así mis idas y venidas de casa al trabajo son uno de los mejores momentos del día gracias a la portentosa memoria del nuevo mp4 que me ha regalado mi madre. Ahora mismo estoy escuchando “America Knits” y de verdad que me tiene totalmente enganchada...tanto que esta mañana lo primero que he hecho ha sido encargar el libro porque me muero por ver las fotografías y tenerlo como constante fuente de inspiración. Mi teoría de que con los audiolibros me iba a ahorrar dinero y espacio en libros parece que falla...

translates to

- For one week or thus my goings and comings from house to the work are one of the best moments of the day thanks to the marvellous memory of new mp4 that my mother has given me. Right now I am listening to “America Knits” and really that it has to me totally hooked… as much that this morning first that I have done it has been to order the book because I die to see the photographies and to have it like constant source of inspiration. My theory that with the audiolibros it was going to me to save money and space in books seems that it fails…

Not the most artful translation, perhaps, but free and certainly useful! And I must say, I can sympathize with Lía's plight. I've noticed that books I love tend to breed and procreate on my shelf. If I have a hardback I want the paperback; if I have a phsyical copy I want the audio version as well, and an electronic copy for my Kindle to boot! We're pleased to see that our audio version America Knits got Lía so excited about Melanie Falick's great book; and I say, shelf space be damned, the more copies the better!

Spread that internet love and go check out the great pictures on Faro del Sur.

-Katherine Jane

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Katherine Jane Arathoon lives in New York City and occasionally guest blogs for Knitting Out Loud. She also blogs at Between Ewe And Me.

New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival!

There were stunning hand knits,

gorgeous hand-dyed yarns,
including Mochas Fiber Connection (www.mochasfiberconnection.com):

jeweled-colored fleece,
including these from Buckwheat Bridge Angoras (www.bwbagoats.com):

delicious natural yarns,
including these from Greenwood Hill Farm (www.greenwoodhillfarm.com):

wonderful spinning and weaving supplies
from my neighbor in Maine, Purple Fleece (www.purplefleece.com):

and adorable livestock:

We had a wonderful time!
It was great to meet all of you who stopped by the booth.

Romance, lighthouses, mystery scarf

From my husband's high school buddy, John Anderson: This painting is of my Swedish grandfather, Anders Anderson. He grew up in the province of Skane in Southern Sweden. At the age of 16, Anders went to sea, but after three years of sailing all over the world, he jumped ship in Maine. He joined the commercial sailing fleet out of Stonington and eventually became a Captain. One day his vessel was anchored in the thick fog near Mark Island Light near Stonington. He rowed his dory over to the light and struck up a conversation with the light keeper's family, the Gilleys. He was immediately drawn to Annie and became a frequent visitor, but Annie was too young to marry so Anders courted Annie for seven years before they finally married.

As far as we know, this scarf pattern originates with Maine island lighthouse keeper's wives in the 1800's. It has been handed down in my family for three generations. It was taught to my grandmother Annie Gilley, who grew up in lighthouses, by her mother. Annie in turn taught my aunt, who knit this for me. It may go back further into Maine's past: it would be interesting to know if this pattern was common and is known to knitting historians or if it is just a family pattern to keep the lighthouse keeper warm around the neck! In any event, after Annie married Capt. Anders Anderson in 1903, she knitted these for her husband to wear on his sailing voyages. My Aunt Louise revived her knitting of these scarfs after her retirement to Florida, where she knitted scarfs, mittens and watch caps which she donated to the local seaman's mission, as a way of honoring her father's memory. She knitted a cap and two of the scarves for me in 1999. She told me she always knitted them either green or blue because those were the colors of her father's ocean. She died in 2002 at the age of 93, still sharp as a tack and knitting until the last year of her life.

-John Anderson