Back to civilisation

Just arrived back in the civilised world of Boston, MA after a couple of days in "the wilds" of New Hampshire! Who would have thought that, in this land of plenty, we'd have found almost two whole states with no cellphone connection at all? For the last two days, we had enforced "peace and tranquillity" in an inn in Franconia, where, not only did we have no cellphone or internet, but no tv, telephone or newspapers either. Now, this might be a haven for some, but for those of us with responsibilities at home, particularly in a time of travel disruption - this is a far from relaxing situation to be in.

Anyhow, we are back in touch with the world and all appears to be fine. We might even be able to take a bag on board our flight home on Thursday evening!!

We stopped off at the Canterbury Shaker Village today, en route to Boston. What a fascinating place it was, and what a splendid guide we had to explain things for us. The craftsmanship all around was superb - in the meeting house, sets of small round markers were set into the wooden floor as positions for dancing - whether they were plain wooden dowel, stripy wooden dowel, copper discs, steel nailheads or black ?wood?, all were perfectly set and had remained so since they were placed there more than two centuries ago.

Of course, there was plenty of other evidence of the aesthetic aspects of their plain and simple life. We enjoyed seeing inside the laundry, with the "system" of making sure nothing got lost by applying numbers and letters to everything. The Sisters House with the spinning and weaving tools, knitting machine and examples of their work was interesting, and though we couldn't see a demonstration of making boxes, there were plenty of examples...one of which is in my suitcase! (Made in Canada, Nadine!)

No yarn shops today. I think that, even I have to say that I have enough yarn to be going on with. For now.

Bears

Yes, there was a yarn shop today - a very good one, too. Kaleidoscope Yarns in Essex Junction had another amazing selection of unusual hand-dyes, together with an excellent collection of good quality, plainer "extraordinaries". Nice, friendly service too - a warm welcome does make it easier to spend the pennies!

But we had fun at the Vermont Teddy Bear Company, too. Someone with a great sense of humour there. as we browsed the shop after the tour, we wondered why this bear was labelled "an alien".

We soon found out why:

Oh, there was another cute one:

He's called the "over the hill" bear.

Seen on a shop doorway today

Today we spotted this notice on the entrance to a shop. Though the Grumpy Shopkeeper might think she is the only shopkeeper of such disposition, I thought she might like to know that she has some way to go to match this one! 

Another day, another yarn store

Today we had a mooch around the Berkshires, and, thanks to the landlady of the inn where we stayed last night, we found another amazing yarn store. This one goes by the name of Colorful Stitches and is in Lenox MA. What a wonderful selection of yarns were there to tempt me - though on closer inspection, many were Colinette, some were Rowan and others Debbie Bliss. Good to see the home team well represented! The skein which really wanted to come home with me is in the photograph - top left hand corner - a yummy melange of twinkle, eyelash, fuzzy and plain. But at $96 a skein (and I'm pretty sure I got that right) I really felt I could manage without.

We didn't only shop for yarn today. We also visited the Norman Rockwell house - terrific place - and Edith Wharton's home, The Mount which was also fascinating. My list of books to read when I get back gets longer, with the addition of The Age of Innocence. We also did a drive-by of the gingerbread house - errrmmmm, "quaint"? - and arrived at the Hancock Shaker Village twenty five minutes before closing. Drat. We will have to try to get to Canterbury later in the week.

So, we've had a busy day. Wherever we've been, people have commented about the security alert back home and the news channels here are, quite understandably, full of it. We have been pleased to be able to access the online BBC News website for a more familiar, authorative take on the situation. Let's hope the situation calms before we set off home in a week's time. 

Next in the "Yarn Shops of the World" series

Well, it was only just off our route today...

We're now in New England, in The Berkshires to be precise, and Webs was just a short detour from the Massachusetts Turnpike. My goodness! Jaw dropping stuff for people like me who think the Get Knitted warehouse in Bristol is large! Not only was there a huge showroom with a whole department for needles, another for weaving stuff (hardware, books and yarns), another section for spinning (again, hardware, books and fibres) there was almost every knitting yarn you could think of (and then some), books, patterns and magazines alongside.

So, just when I thought I'd seen it all, a helpful assistant showed me the "other stuff" - the warehouse! Almost as much again, in boxes and on shelves.

The staff were all delightful. Knowledgeable and prepared to offer opinion without being pushy. Understood about "unshopping" when the heap of yarn in the basket began to take over...

Confession time will be when I get home and I will reveal all my purchases. Yes, I left money there. My excuse is that I brought two skeins of yarn which I left with Nadine yesterday, and there was a two skein hole in my suitcase just begging to be filled. The rest can be squeezed in somewhere, I'm sure.