Terry is really hooked on the fiber arts, and for a long time now she has been drooling over a website for a place called The Woolery, located in Frankfort, Kentucky. Terry said they have anything and everything that the knitter, hooker, weaver, or spinner could ever want or need. (Get your mind out of the gutter, people who crochet are called hookers.) (Terry loves crocheting; does that mean I’m married to a happy hooker?)
Frankfort is only two hours south of here, so yesterday we took a road trip to check it out. When we walked in the door, Terry’s eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning! They had it all! There were spinning wheels.
There were looms.
There were enough kinds of yarn to cover most of Texas. Or at least New Jersey.
I could tell Terry didn’t need me there getting in her way, so I left her with a kiss and a credit card, and wandered off looking for something to do.
I had planned to spend some time at the Kentucky Historical Society Museum doing genealogical research on the Stephens side of my family, who lived in Ludlow, Kentucky. The museum is just a few blocks from The Woolery, but as it turns out, it is only open Wednesday – Saturday due to budgetary restrictions. Bad timing on my part.
But just across the parking lot, I discovered the delightful Capital City Museum, which was not only open, but had free admission. Housed in a 150 year old building that is all that remains of the Capital Hotel, which burned in 1917, the museum tells the story of the City of Frankfort from its earliest days as a frontier settlement to today’s position as the State Capital.
A wonderful lady named Lynda Sherrard was on duty at the desk, and she went out of her way to make me welcome and tell me all about the museum and the city. I will have a feature story on the Capital City Museum in a future issue of the Gypsy Journal.
Lynda also told me about another nearby place to visit, called Fort Hill, so when I left the museum I went to check it out. Located on a hilltop overlooking Frankfort, the site includes the remains of two earthen Civil War forts and the Sullivan House, an 1810 “dog trot” style structure built about 1810. Being a border state, Kentucky saw a lot of struggle during the Civil War, and though it was a slave owning-state, it remained part of the Union. In September, 1862, it was the only Union capital to be occupied by Confederate troops. A month later they were forced out of the state and Frankfort was once again in Union hands.
It started to rain about the time I got to Fort Hill, so after looking around for a while, I drove back to The Woolery to pick Terry up, and we started the trip back to the Thousand Trails Preserve. It rained steadily most of the way back, but traffic was light and we made good time.
We crossed the Ohio River back into Indiana under a heavy gray sky, and Terry took a picture of these smokestacks on the north side.
We got back to the campground a little after 6 PM, tired from our long day trip, but Terry was also pumped up by all of the new supplies and accessories she found. She’s one happy camper. Or is that hooker….?
Thought For The Day – He who laughs last probably doesn’t understand the joke.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
So glad Terry is hooked on hooking. We are hooked on genealogy. Just spent a delightful day in Yale University library (built like a Gothic cathedral). Being hooked on a hobby is fun. Happy hooking!!!!
Nick, If you haven’t seen it, the next time you go to Frankfort, be sure and visit the Kentucky Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The design concept is in the form of a large sundial. The stainless steel gnomon casts its shadow upon a granite plaza. There are 1,103 names of Kentuckians on the memorial, including 23 missing in action. Each name is engraved into the plaza, and placed so that the tip of the shadow touches his name on the anniversary of his death, thus giving each fallen veteran a personal Memorial Day.
The location of each name is fixed mathematically by the date of casualty, the geographic location of the memorial, the height of the gnomon and the physics of solar movement. The stones were then designed and cut to avoid dividing any individual name. The resulting radial-concentric joint pattern suggests a “web”, symbolic of the entangling nature of the Vietnam war.
The state capital tour is well worth the visit and who can complain about free?
Dave, we did a story on the memorial several years ago. It is an excellent and very moving tribute to Kentucky’s fallen heroes.
Nick. I know you hate to be corrected but tough beans. Rug “hooking” is not the same as crocheting. The sooner you get that straight, the better off you’ll be.
BTW…Interesting info about Kentucky being a slave-owning state and still being in the union.
OK Nick, now you have to say 10 hail Marys and 10 Our Fathers!
My mamma hooked rugs and did that other thing. I don’t know what she called herself…
Gene
Wow, I am so amazed you found some nice places there in Frankfort…we spent one night there on our way from the West Coast to NC to live some 9 years ago. That was SUCH AN AWFUL experience, we decided to drive a long ways around that place!! NASTY PEOPLE, etc etc etc. Of course, then I did not have my southern accent down so well…after 9 years I am better!! HA!! Later on a certain relative lived near there for a time too…and THAT was also no draw…heh! But the places you mentioned do sound interesting…esp. the store Terry shopped at!!
I like to crochet too…always have some projects going (did you know that it the best therapy I know of for arthritis in your hands, which I have?) But I would certainly NOT appreciate being called a Hooker…no thanks on that one!! (And not a very good way to earn one of my lovely afghans or crocheted winter hats either).
Don’t kill the messenger, I didn’t coin the term! A couple of different shops have used that description for people who crochet.
Hehe…I understand Nick…