Thursday, July 16, 2009

trip Down East, local yarn

We had a day or two of sun last week and as our daughter is away, my husband and I decided to go Downeast. Downeast refers to the coast of Maine north of Ellsworth, or of Penobscot Bay, and got its name during the maritime heyday of New England. The Maine coast is east of Boston, so ships heading for Maine sailed east with the wind at their backs, which is "downwind". Our first stop was Shirley's Yarns and Crafts in Hancock where I bought the yellow yarn. I love yellow! It smells great! It feels great! It is a Maine yarn, from Bartlett Yarns in Harmony, Maine. The second yarn, which is actually plum colored, is from Heavenly Socks in Belfast (bought on a different trip, I'm cheating here) and is from Hope Spinnery in Hope, Maine. It's scrumptious! I love having yarn around the house.
This is a typical Maine house. White. The main part of the house was probably built around 1880, and it has many lovely ells added on. Looks like it grew out of the ground. This is in the town of Cutler.
The fog rolled in later that day.
This is also Cutler. Maine's coast is famously rocky.
We went all the way to Eastport. Here is their delightful library. Eastport is on the border, on Passamaquaddy Bay, on the edge of the Bay of Fundy. It was incorporated in 1798, and has a year-round population of about 1,600.

Eastport has many art galleries and antique shops. It is the home of Raye's Mustard, whose Brown Ginger Mustard is the best mustard on earth.
And of Sarah Graves, who writes juicy murder mysteries about the place.
Gorgeous! You can see Canada across the way.
All towns need a sense of humor.
On our way home, we stopped and took a four hour hike along the coast.
I made a rest stop. I love living in Maine.
- Kathy

4 comments:

andrea said...

Morning Kathy!
Just finished reading your blog about your visit to Eastport. When you took the picture of the library you were probably standing in front of our old house on Key Street! We lived in the old Cape Cod, built around 1834, with multiple updates through out the years. Can you tell me if there were flowers planted in the front window boxes? Interesting FYI: The house was reportedly haunted but he/she/it or they never bothered us! Sounds like you had a grand time! Take care.
Andrea

Knitting Out Loud said...

Andrea, now that I know your wonderful ghost story, I will make a point of looking for your house on our next visit! There were lots of flowers around, but I was pretty focused on the library. What fun to live in Eastport!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful area. the landscape looks similar ot Norway where I'm from but the houses are very different.

pinkfairygran said...

It was lovely seeing the photos of Maine, it is somewhere I always wanted to visit (I live in the UK) but know I won't manage to now. I have a very dear friend who lives Glenburn. Nice posting, thanks for the diversion!