Tag Archives: Paradise

My Paradise Cardigan

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norlin_cardiThis is Sandi Rosner’s sensibly named “Infant Set III.” As you quickly see, I didn’t make the set, which included this cardigan, a cute cap with earflaps, booties and a blanket. Somehow I was only drawn to the cardigan. The pattern is Ann Norling #86. Her company’s patterns are not available for download. But there are many shops and sites selling them.

My only modification was to extend the button band to include a bottom band. I picked up stitches all around and mitered the corners. To accomplish the mitering, I placed a marker at the center point of the two corners and then increased one stitch on each side of the marker, every other row. I am very pleased that the modification gives this little sweater a more finished look.

The cardigan is knitted in Vintage DK by Berroco. It’s an interesting bouncy blend of 50% acrylic, 40% wool and 10% nylon.

While I have nothing but kudos for Rosner’s simply named pattern, I’ve called it my Paradise cardigan. That’s because I purchased the pattern in the small Upper Peninsula town of Paradise, at a multi-craft shop with an interesting selection of quality yarns: Village Fabrics & Crafts.

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The Fish House of Paradise

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Whenever you go to Paradise, eat at Brown Fishery’s Fish House. In fact, whenever you are within a car tankful of gas from Paradise, consider eating at Brown’s. Open noon to eight. They have the most fresh, best, whitefish ever eaten. Really. This little unassuming place, where on one visit the waitress told us the fish were so fresh they were still flipping around in the kitchen and then brought out a just-caught 30 inch whitefish to illustrate her point, is worth a special trip to Paradise even if you don’t care for scenes of incredible natural beauty. If not for Tahquamanon Falls and The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum and birdathons at Whitefish Point, come to Paradise for lunch or dinner at The Fish House.

You can take home smoked whitefish or smoked trout, or whatever’s in season for some additional yummy tidbits to tide you over until your next visit. Brown’s Buddy B. crew catches the fish. Brown’s kitchen crew catches the live customers. The Browns have been fishing for five generations and I hope that their dynasty lasts for many more generations.

This was our heavenly lunch for both our days in Paradise.

And, yes, the cole slaw was great too!

Welcome to Paradise (Michigan)

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This is Paradise. Really. It is a small town in the eastern part of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Paradise is the gateway to Tahquamenon Falls and Whitefish Point. I’ll be writing more on the area in upcoming posts. One of the cool things about Paradise is that it’s about 3.5 hours from Long Lake. Cross over The Big Mac, drive an hour and 30 minutes, and you’re there.

Paradise is the wild blueberry capital of Michigan. From the 1880s until the 1920s, the area’s huge stands of white pines were logged basically into stubble. The stubble caught fire regularly and wild blueberry bushes thrived in the acidic soil. In June and July it’s low bush blueberries and in August and September it’s the high bush variety. The berries were in high demand back before folks learned how to cultivate blueberries instead of just find them. Wild blueberries are mighty tasty–in a way that’s different from the farm grown ones. They don’t all look like they were extruded from some machine. And low bush blueberries have a violet-colored inside. When you bite into them, they don’t pop out of their skin so easily like the cultivated ones do. That means that when you chew a mouthful you don’t feel like you’re chewing little slimy eyeballs.

Today, Paradise relies on hunters,fishermen, birders, shipwreck enthusiasts, kayakers and those looking for waterfalls and whitefish. We met friendly folks, in a town with one ATM–a dial-up modem inside this combination convenience store, sporting goods store, gas station–guarded by a cool example of modern folk art.

We saw much natural beauty during our two days in Paradise. We also visited some very sobering sites, including the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point and a local cemetery. But I thought I’d start the blogging where our visit started, enjoying one of the more memorable bikers and his dog.

Really, how is somebody supposed to take a biker dude seriously when he travels with his purse dog?