Remember

B, Nigel and I are back from Normandy, and overall it was a good trip.  I've been to this Northwest corner of France three times now, and you can only appreciate Mont St. Michel and the Bayeux Tapestry so many times before you're wishing for a bit of Provence. 

We rented a small house in the country, about an hour inland from Cherbourg.  The setting was exactly as you'd imagine a French country cottage:  dairy cows munching on grass, roosters crowing, and wild flowers.  So many foxgloves, poppies and daisies.  Just so many.  Breakfast in the garden was the best part of the whole trip.

Coincidentally, we were in Normandy in time for this year's annual D-Day festivities.  All weekend long were ceremonies, parades and general merriment as the citizens of the region remembered the sacrifices that American, British and Canadian forces made in liberating France from Nazi occupation.  Today is the anniversary of D-Day, and before I get to the knitting, I want to take a moment to remember those men and women who gave their lives so that we may be free.  My own grandfather earned a Purple Heart on June 6th, 1944 while coming ashore on Omaha Beach.  Had he not survived (and he only barely did), I wouldn't be typing this message today.

Back to the Regularly Scheduled Knitting

I tried to track down the Berlaine yarn that I need for my Cable V Neck Sweater pattern.  I hit up the Bergere de France retailer in Bayeux, only minutes before she closed for lunch.  Unluckily, they didn't stock the Berlaine, and it had something to do with it being 100% wool. 

Me:  Avez-vous Berlaine?  (Do you have Berlaine?)

Shopkeeper:  Non. (nose scrunched)

Me:  (Not sure if I pronounced Berlaine well enough, though I have to say that's not a difficult thing to say.)  C'est de Bergere de France.  (It's from Bergere de France)

Shopkeeper:  Je n'ais pas Berlaine.  C'est 100% laine.  (I don't have Berlaine.  It's 100% wool.)

I have no clue if wool isn't appreciated as much in France or if it's just because summer is coming, but I swear she turned her nose up at the mere idea of 100% wool yarn.  She showed me another wool/acrylic blend, but then she admitted that it wasn't the same weight.  When I showed her my pattern, she said something about it being from last year, again with the nose.  I refrained from upping her snottiness with my own thinking, "Lady, you are running a rinky dink store in a run-down shopping center, and I'll probably be your only customer all day."  I was planning on maybe stocking up on another sweater's worth of yarn because I quite like a lot of Bergere de France patterns, but I couldn't wait to run away from her nose.

Oh well.  Guess I'll order a skein online and see how it goes.

Booga Bag 80% Done

You read that right.  80% done.  Owing to a ton of traffic on the highways, I logged many, many hours of car knitting.  Don't believe anyone who tells you that Europeans don't drive.  We sat in Jersey Turnpike-type traffic that stretched for kilometers through Belgium and France.  It took us at least three hours longer to get to our destination than it did back in January. 

Still, the Booga Bag is almost insultingly easy.  It is literally just yards and yards of knit stitches.  Even the i-chord is technically just knits.  I dropped not a single stitch, and I could stop mid-row whenever I wanted.  I highly recommend this for car knitting, but it might bore you to tears in any other situation.  I think the only thing that will help me finish it up is the excitement of throwing it in the wash to see what happens.  Otherwise, I'm not sure I could handle it outside of the car.

BTW, I ended up going with the larger needles on the advice of some felting article I found just before we hit the road.  I'm even a tad worried that it's still not loose enough.  Guess we'll find out.

Malabrigo So Soft

I'm really not sure I have adequately expressed how soft this yarn is.  It's almost obscene.  All the while I'm knitting away on the Booga Bag, I'm dreaming of all the other projects the Malabrigo Worsted Merino would be perfect for: hats, scarves, and chunky pullovers.  I will definitely work with this again.  I don't even mind the uneven nature of the kettle dye.  It has character. 

Comments

[tiennie]

It sounds like a lovely time. I have one skein of Malabrigo that I'm about to cast on with too!

[becky]

So when you were thinking your afterthoughts to the shopkeeper, I wondered what they looked (sounded) like in French and it made me laugh. Maybe owning a yarn shop becomes torture- the happy yarn store owner is so few and far between in my experience.

[Heather]

So glad to know that the French retail experience is ever the same!;)

My dad fought in WWII and was very much formed by that experience as were most of his generation.

Thanks for the thoughtful post.

[Meghann Holcomb]

Mmmmmmm....Malabrigo! I have two skeins sitting in my stash waiting for me to find the perfect pattern for them.:)

[Jen]

Tiennie and Meghann: What are your plans for your Malabrigo? I'm also thinking throw pillows would be great too.

Becky: Nah, my inner snarkiness is much too bratty to sound French, especially not with my husband around who often says what I'm only thinking. hehe I popped into a couple of small town knit shops on this trip, and I noticed that they're very old school - not too unlike the weird shop near my house. There were no beautifully printed books, no drool worthy yarns. It had all the trappings of practicality and none of the soul. I'd be unhappy there too.

Heather: The 'tude is not as common, but it's still there sometimes.

You're very right about how WWII shaped 'the greatest generation.' But I think it's all too easy to glamorize WWII and not see it for it's ugly reality. On the upside, it was like 4th of July driving through the area all weekend - the Star Spangled Banner was flapping in the wind in front of many, many shops and businesses. I have to admit that I got a little choked up more than once.