October Indoor Flowers

Our friend Gregory Dunham (whose gorgeous watercolors of Maine you can see at http://gregorydunham.com) gave me the orchid pictured above, which is now gloriously in bloom. Thank you, Gregory!
This blue streptocarpus was given to my by my cousin Sue, who grew it from seed. Thank you Sue!
The geraniums I bought as porch plants for the summer. But geraniums will often bloom all winter long too.
A little fuzzy, but you can see the lavender, rosemary and woodpile quite clearly.
The phalaenopsis above was a present from my wonderful mother. I just moved it to the bathroom, where it is enjoying the mist from showers. Thank you, Mom!
Here's the Gregory Dunham orchid again. Not sure what kind it is.

Knitting Out Loud will be at RHINEBECK this coming weekend!!! Come see us (me and the delightful and always amusing Karen Jelenfy) at booth #26-9.

Happy fall!
-Kathy

In the Garden, June and July

June. Papaver orientale 'Helen Elisabeth'. I planted this one and gave my friend Kathleen the other one. Our daughters, Helen and Elisabeth, have been friends since birth.
Lupines plant themselves.
The daylily, Hemerocallis, comes from Asia. I love H. lilioasphodelus, the Lemon Lily, which has a sweet scent.
The blue irises also have a sweet scent. My dear neighbor Bettie, who passed away many years ago, gave me these from her garden.

Iris siberica and Rosa rugosa, also both Asian imports.

Bistorta.

July in the garden. More daylilies. I love these orange ones. You see them blooming by the roadside all over Maine.



Monarda or bee balm, a North American native, Echinops (globe thistle, native to Europe and central Asia) and hollyhock (Alcea, another import from Asia).

I grow antique roses, mostly from the nineteenth century. Roses that Napolean's wife Josephine would have grown. Also known as Old Garden Roses.
Belle Isis. Rene d'Anjou.
Konigin von Danemark.

Duchess de Montebello.



Stanwell Perpetual.

Happy July everyone!
-Kathy

Penobscot Marine Museum and Acadia Fiber Faire 2011

Two weeks ago was the very wonderful Maine Fiber Frolic in Windsor, Maine, and I hope you all were there. On Saturday of the fair my husband and daughter manned the Knitting Out Loud booth and on Sunday my dear friend, road trip buddy and all around life-saver Karen Jelenfy left Village Books (in the hands of her daughter and my daughter and her blacksmith husband Jeff) to man the booth. Thank you all of you!!!

I was here that weekend,
at the Penobscot Marine Museum, Searsport, Maine, in the Fowler True Ross House (the "ell" of which is pictured above) giving people guided tours. The ell shown above is the original part of the house, built sometime between 1801 and 1815. It was built as a two room house with a central chimney. Seven children were raised in those two rooms. Miles and Jane Fowler bought the house in 1815 and raised their four children in the two rooms.

Below is the fireplace over which their meals were cooked.
Ship building was big business in coastal Maine in the 19th century. During the 19th century Searsport built over two hundred sailing vessels and provided ten percent of America's deep water ship captains.

By 1837 Miles Fowler had made enough money to build a grand seven room Federal style house attached to the original house.
Above is the master bedroom with a fancy water basin.


Below is a shadow box of a ship in the children's bedroom.

Dolls furniture below.
Below is the Captain's study. The chairs are from Burma.

The painting below is by Dolly Smith (1824-1891) of a ship captain's daughter.

And here are my photographs from the Acadia Fiber Fair which was on May 21st (but I'm not behind with anything!). This the adorable daughter of a family friend whom we took with us on summer vacations to Vinalhaven when she was a child. You can see she is a knitter.

Finnish born sculptor Melita Westerlund-Brecher was at this event with a stunning sweater.
This sweater was made without a pattern out of odds and ends, says Melita.

We are having a fabulous summer here in Maine! The gardens are lush, the air is sweet, the sky is a gorgeous blue. Photos of the garden are coming...
-Kathy

New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival 2011

Spinning from the rabbit! See the live rabbit on the spinners lap?
Gorgeous live bunnies above, lovely knitted bunnies (knitted with bunny yarn) below.
And hats knitted with rabbit yarn.
The booth across from me was the New England Border Collie Rescue.
You can find alpacas, alpaca yarn and maple sugar at Sweet Maple Alpacas.


Grace and Miss Mouse Soaps, above and below. Very sweet display.

There were a group of farms and small yarn producers who had several booths together.
They had beautiful hats for sale.
Lovely inlaid wooden boxes and nice yarn.
These gorgeous quilts were part of their display.

Here's more of their yarn.
A hand-knit sweater for sale. Wonderful colors!
More yarn in lovely rustic colors.

The charming guy below was in our barn.
Along with rug hooking and spinning
Wooly Beers yarns and Knits of Durham, NH.

Another cutie!
Wonderful felted animals.


Spinners' Warren of Acton, Maine was our neighbor again.
Sheep dog puppy!
Shorn sheep.
Have you heard of fainting goats? The Wonder Fall Farm has them. Check out the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yO2P5Vw05ZA
More sheep, I love the sheep!


Alpacas. We heard them hum. Quite the noise.


Adorable goats.

Here are the youth sheep events. It's wonderful to see young people with their animals.

My husband took this lace photo.
And this baby.

My husband came with me on this trip and we stayed with our friends in Derry, Stape (painting buddy of Scott's) and Kathleen Kearns (Kathleen is my web designer). You can see that the yarn bomb which Karen Jelenfy put on their lampost a year ago is still there.
Happy spring!
Kathy