New England's Narrow Road

Walking Here While I Remember There

Walking is something I began doing when I lived in New Hampshire. The scenery is really too lovely to ignore although the weather does not always cooperate. It makes those nice days call louder to draw me outdoors.

Now I am in Florida. I like to imagine that I am still walking those New Hampshire back roads when in fact I am stuck walking in a much drearier place. What I am actually doing, compared to what I am thinking, is what follows.

The Walk

I get dressed. Coolest, sleeveless top I own and capris. It will be hot, and worst of all muggy, before I take one step. Dress in layers because it will be cool, maybe even cold, when I start out, but I will work up a sweat on the hills.

Out the front door onto the level pavement of the long, straight, boring neighborhood road. I may go around the nearest block, but that is only 1/2 mile at best. It depends on the amount of heat I feel. Step outside and breathe in the beautiful, fresh air, as I head up the short driveway to begin my 2 mile walk. No doubts about the length because it’s my usual. I’ve measured it in my car. On a day like this, I could walk much further if my body would let me.

fall leaves — My old driveway – where my walks began

Heading down the road I pass house after house. This November morning is hot, but not oppressive at this hour. I spot lots of shade down the road ahead so I decide to take the longer route. Past my friends home and the trail where I sometimes see deer. I look back to make sure my cats are not trying to follow me. Down the hill I go, past familiar homes on my neighborhood loop. I know some of the people living in these houses. Coming back, that long hill is a killer climb, and I am often out of breath and sweaty as I reach my front yard. Today I won’t be coming back. My mind won’t get that far.

The stopwatch part of my iPhone is on so I can gauge time and help with distance. I know I used to walk 2 miles in 15-20 minutes on hilly roads. Now my walk is totally flat all the way. I should go faster but I am horribly out of shape because I hate walking here. My new way to cope is to think about New Hampshire. Where would I be at this point in my walk? I turn the corner and head to the next block. The homes in my little New Hampshire neighborhood each stand on an acre or more. Many of the homes in my neighborhood are quite large in comparison to my own. I am past the end of my loop and heading onto the main road where the walk gets really nice. Tall trees line both sides of the road with stone walls of course. When the leaves are off the trees I have a good view well into the woods. Soon I will see the white rock and the shortcut trail through the woods which connects this road to another.

Trying to ignore the boringness of driveway after driveway and the long straight road ahead (not to mention the suffocating humidity) I try to remember the cool, crisp air of Fall in New England. I discovered the big white rock in the stone wall on one of my first walks and it became ‘my rock’. Every time I drive or walk past this area I can spot it. Rocks usually stay put for years and years and that is comforting. The rock will surely be there long after I am gone for good. The path through the woods would take me to Union Street and I’ve used it before, when I’ve taken my longer walks, but it can be swampy in places. I see the young trees which are still bent over from last year’s snowstorms.

Not many people are out on this Thursday morning but I do spot a school bus farther down the road. I am thankful I no longer have to ‘do school’. Surely I’ve put in more than my fair share of time with it. I am in the home stretch. As I turn the corner back onto my street I am not sure how far I’ve walked but it really hasn’t been that far. Maybe a mile. I am sweating from the sun more than from exertion, which stinks. I’ve passed the MacDowell Colony big house on the corner. I always step off the side of the road in that area when I hear a car coming because they will not see me easily on that bend. Now the long driveway to the little red shed is on my right and another long sloping upward hill begins. I’m almost halfway through my 2-mile walk, which must end today at the halfway point in my mind.

My Florida house is up ahead. The top of the hill is up ahead.

Florida Live oak with Spanish moss — Live oak with Spanish moss – My Florida tree

I walk into my driveway and stand under the southern live oak and palm tree and close my eyes. I have made it to the halfway point – 1 mile. I stand in the shade of big trees at the top of the hill. Another MacDowell Colony house is just beyond the wall. It’s a good spot to drink some water and rest for a moment. I take this time to enjoy the beauty of the place where I live, and then I head back the way I came. I look forward to it.

With a sad heart I walk to the front door where Skittle the Cat comes out from under the bushes to greet me.

It’s not all bad.

In Closing, About the Colony

(I have photos of the MacDowell Colony area, and the road I always walked, but I’m not sure where to locate those photos. The Colony consists of many acres of land with main gathering areas and smaller houses scattered throughout the woods. I could see some of these buildings on my walk. It is a retreat for creative types. They are assured of peace and quiet during their stay and it is a lovely area for that.

It was not uncommon to see someone on the road carrying a picnic basket. The baskets are used to deliver food to the guests. I suspected it was a visiter of the Colony returning the basket. Also a lot of the bike riders I saw were perhaps writers, actors or artists staying in the area. At least that was what I imagined. One summer we heard that Johnny Depp was a guest at MacDowell Colony. I never saw him on my walks. 😉

Easy Knitting FREE Shawl Pattern For Gradient Yarns

Lots of knitters love to use gradient color yarns. Often shawl patterns work best for this, and I have found a free, simple pattern to try. It is called the Scrappy Bias Shawl and you can download it at Ravelry. I am grateful to knitters who share their free patterns. It’s the perfect way for beginners to get used to trying new things.

Some yarn shops will offer small skeins of colors that match or contrast which can be knit up in any order you choose to make your own gradient of color. This requires adding new colors as you knit and can leave lots of tails to deal with. The effect can be quite pretty, but with lots of weaving to come.

yarn tails — Changing colors makes many tails of yarn to weave in later

Speckled or variegated yarns can also be used to create a gradient effect, and I love the look. I began the ‘Scrappy Bias Shawl’ using dark green fingering yarn, then dug out more skeins hoping to have the colors changes from dark to light along the way. I am not finished, and will begin to revert back to darker colors to end with.

Create Your Own Design

What I love about this simple pattern is that once you know the basics of the shaping, the colors can be anything at all! It could be done in wide stripes, skinny stripes, a solid color, or add a simple pattern to some of the rows.

I decided to knit approximately 20 rows with one color, and then alternate two rows with my next color choice. You can see that in my image below where I went from pink to yellow, then yellow to variegated white. I did not buy any yarn, but used what I had in my stash already. I believe the “scrappy” part of the title is meant for knitters to use up their scrap yarn on this project.

Mostly I am using Mad Tosh Merino Light and similar sock / fingering weight yarn. It’s a simple garter stitch knit with increases at one side and a decrease at the other. I wanted my colors to “blend” as I progressed. Viewing the pattern page will also show how other knitters interpreted this pattern.

Changing yarns: All my new yarn was added on the same side of the project so each color row made one complete back and forth row. Then I would pick up the alternate color to knit. Once I was done with the previous color, I cut it and continued on with the new color.

For easy counting of stitches, I have added stitch markers at 20 stitch intervals. Once you memorize the beginning and ending of rows, this pattern is super simple to knit while watching television.

new shawl — The shawl is finished… read more here.

Avoid All Those Tails by Using Gradient Yarn

After some searching online I found some lovely yarn at The Fibre Studio called 50 Shades of Gradient. Check out “Nantahala” (one I must buy soon) and others that come in cake skeins which make wide color swaths that gradually change as you knit.

My other WIP (work in progress) is the Bay’s Edge Shawl. And I just finished up a couple of hats and a thick scarf to give as Christmas gifts.

Winter Knitting Bay’s Edge Shawl Pattern

Today I finally decided on the seven colors I would use to knit the Bay’s Edge Shawl pattern. I had been searching for a rectangular shaped shawl to knit.

It took me days to decide which blue-green shades of yarn to use. Then there were the two contrast colors. The main color was an easy choice as I wanted something with a bit of a gradient and not the plain white shown in the pattern. I wanted colors to represent ocean and beaches I see near my home.

The Bay’s Edge pattern suggests a gradient yarn collection (find it at Miss Babs) to make buying easier, but I wanted to choose my own colors! The ripple effect evokes waves of water so I chose blue-greens and blues with one tan (sand color) and a peachy-pink to add a bit of color to offset the blues.

At Miss Babs I added many colors to the “compare” section, then deleted them, and added more. I think I went through every single 2-ply toes yarn shown! The only color which is the same as one in the collection of yarn used in the sample pattern is Sea Oat. I chose to exchange their blues, green and purple with shades of blue-green.

My main color yarn will be “Life Begins” which is a Yummy 2-Ply wild iris (non-repeatable color way) in light blue-green with some speckles – See the big skein below. I needed one skein in 400 yds. My yarn arrived November 1st – how exciting! I love those little gifts they always include, and the yarn is super wonderful! Look at those colors…!

shades of green yarn — Yarn colors for my shawl project

Miss Babs offers smaller skeins of Yummy 2-Ply Toes with 133 yards each, and I needed 6 of those to complete the “waves” in the pattern.

Here is what colors I ended up choosing: (a “wild iris” color is non-repeatable, one of a kind dye lot).

“Sea Curtain” (Wild Iris)
“Mount Kootaloo”
“Black Watch”
“Sea Oat” – tan / beige
“Picuri” (Wild Iris) – pink
“Aquarius”

I would have liked the two darkest greens to be more of a contrast, but buying yarn online makes it difficult to see everything together. The “Blackwatch” color way is really beautiful and I’d love to knit something using that color again. It looks a lot more green than blue in reality. The photos at Miss Babs look very blue, which mine was not.

Beginning the Shawl Pattern

It took me three tries to get this shawl’s “cast on”. If you have ever knit a triangle shawl, you probably know how that weird beginning goes. You must know how to “pick up and knit” stitches. I suspected it would give me trouble and I expected to have to re-do. I finally had it looking okay and got on a roll. I can see the pretty little triangle shape emerging!

Miss Babs yarn is so pretty with slight variations in color throughout.

knitting the Bays Edge shawl — Beginning the shawl

Now it is January and I am finishing up this shawl. Once I did the bind-off on the first edge, I fell in love! The I-cord bind off looks so nice. Once I completed the second half and needed to do the bind-off again, I had to look it up to refresh my memory.

Today I wove in the ends and washed the finished shawl. It is blocked on Knit IQ mats, and in the process of drying in the spare bedroom. The pattern was easy to follow and fun to knit. I really love the way it turned out. The yarn colors I chose were meant to represent the colors of the sea. Shades of blue-green from light to dark are mixed with a row of beige for “sand” and “pink” for seashells.

Bays edge shawl in ocean colors — Blocked and drying – the Bay’s Edge shawl

My Notes on Knitting the Bay’s Edge Shawl

Notes: Beginning this shawl is a bit tricky. Watch a video about how to pick up stitches and knit them, if you have never done this. You must know how to SSK and M1R and M1L. I placed markers for each 19 stitch set on the making waves rows just in case I ended up off with my count at the end of the row. I could easily go back and count 19 stitches in each section to see where I was off. Many of the rows were simple knit across, which could easily be done while watching TV. The I-cord bind off takes time, but is worth it.

More Rectangular Shawl Patterns

Buy the Bay’s Edge Shawl pattern (link at the top of this page) or view some of the other patterns I found in my search for rectangular shaped wraps.

Opaline Wrap by Ambah O’Brien

Torquata by Ambah O’Brien

Fading Point by Joji Locatelli

Nakarra Wrap by Ambah

Time Trades by Caitlin Hunter

Honestly some of the patterns seemed too involved for me, but maybe one day I will be brave and make the attempt because they are all beautiful.

Winter Hats I’ve Been Knitting

All hats shown here were knit from patterns found in the Hats On! pattern book which is available at Amazon.

Gansey Watch Cap

Screen Shot 2018-08-07 at 7.05.05 PM — Fur Pom Pom Added to Gansey Watch Cap

The pattern is in chart form only, and I was not sure how to do it. I think the top is not quite right, but it’s good enough. I would make this hat again with smaller needles in the smaller size. Mine is a size Medium, but came out a bit loose.

Fana Cap

I finished knitting the Fana Cap just before I left for New Hampshire, and gave it to my daughter. We volunteered at the Monadnock Animal Shelter fundraiser and it was a cold, rainy day, so she wore her new hat.

Yarn Used: Manos del Uruguay “Gloria” in superwash merino worsted wool in color “Pescador” blue. White yarn is Rowan Alpaca soft DK combined with Rowan Kidsilk Haze mohair, held together.

Notes / Changes: I made the Medium size, which was perfect for my daughter’s small head, but next time I would make the larger size.

Aran Watch Cap

I knit this one in size Medium which was large enough around, but I needed more height. Changes: Next time I will add another inch to the top part and maybe make a longer cuff. I like a nice wide cuff to flip up and give my ears double coverage in the cold.

This is an interesting pattern with cable and seed stitch between simple knits and purls. For that reason a solid color is recommended. I used Malabrigo worsted yarn in “Water Green” color which made this finished hat nice and soft.

I plan to make this one again with the changes I mentioned. The decrease section is quick so dealing with DPN’s is fast.

Depending on your knitting skill level, the hats in this book will keep most knitters happy. I began by knitting the simple patterns like the Classic Watch Cap and Tam, and progressed to two color patterns and cable patterns. Still on my list of “want to knit” are the Triple Pattern Watch Cap, All-over Two-Color Pattern Watch Cap, and Norwegian Star.

Some of the colors chosen to knit the sample hats in this book are not the best, but change the colors yourself and come up with something unique.