The vacation started last Wednesday at 4am, when Alex, Mitch and I departed from Arlington Heights. Several hours later, we arrived at the cabin. Here is the view off of one of the decks:
The toe-up cabin fever sock is clearly enjoying the view of the Smoky Mountains. I clearly enjoyed being able to spend some time knitting in such a lovely place. Especially when that place is equipped with my friend, Dan, playing the harmonica while in a rocking chair:
Dan is quite the harmonica player. Well, I mean, he is learning, but he whipped out a slow harmonica jam that was quite awesome. If you ever need a harmonica player, Dan is your man. I should note here that Dan wanted to learn the harmonica for some time, so Alex got him one for his birthday a couple years ago. When we booked our trip, I told him I dreamed of sitting on the deck in a rocking chair with my knitting, looking at the mountains while he jammed out on the harmonica. I did not knit while he was playing (there had been consumption of beers, you see), but I really appreciate Dan making my dream come true. :)
And, now, onto other things. . . .
The first full day in the Smoky Mountains, the 11 of us went white water rafting. It was such a good time. I was lucky enough to get to swim a category three rapid (uh, which means, I fell out while on a category three rapid). It pretty much scared the crap out of me, but in the end it was fun. I have pictures, but they need to be scanned onto the computer, so I will let you, all 12 of my readers, know when I put them on Flickr. :)
The next day (Friday) all of us went to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for some mountain-y goodness. We went up to Clingman's Dome--
which was very fun, but kind of a lot of work for a girl who likes to sit on the couch and knit. There was much rejoicing when it was time to sit and eat lunch:
On Saturday the boys went on "man hike" and the girls went shopping. I dragged the non-knitting friends to the Smoky Mountain Spinnery in Gaitlinburg, so I could buy yarn. The first thing I got was this:
It's some hand spun yarn made right there at the Smoky Mountain Spinnery. It is alpaca and by far the softest yarn I own. Hooray for such good souvenir yarn. I was ready to pay and to only walk out with that one thing, but then I also got this:
The sock knitter cannot turn down sock yarn, right? After the yarn shop there was much shopping had by all. It was a good time.
On Sunday there was the long drive back home. Alex was nice enough to drive the whole way, so I was able to finish the cabin fever socks:
I finished them somewhere in Kentucky.
Cabin Fever Socks: The Specs
The Yarn: CTH in Cabin Fever colorway (of course, purchased at The Loopy Ewe)
The Needles: Size 2
The Pattern: As with the other toe-up socks I made, I used a combination of various toe-up instructions to get these babies done.
The Verdict: Perfect vacation socks! They were very simple, which was nice because I could set them down anytime and not be too confused when I picked them back up again. The Cherry Tree Hill yarn is wonderful, and so pretty. And the socks fit me, so it's all good.
After finishing those socks, I was ready to start another pair. My other WIPs were in the trunk so I did what any crazy sock knitter would do:
I cast on the sock yarn I bought while on vacation and started knitting more socks! Again, I did this one toe-up because I am trying to get good at it. I am not completely convinced that I make a nice heel when knitting socks in this way, but that is why I am practicing. This time, I decided to throw a little stitch pattern in there to mix things up. Since I have the Broadripple pattern in my head, it made for some easy car knitting. Well, it's sort of a modified version of that pattern, but you get the idea. My sister claimed these socks today, so she will be getting them once the other one is done.
Anyway, that's all I have for now. Hopefully there will be knitting time this week. Hope everyone had a good weekend.
If you would like to see some more pictures of my vacation, you can view them here. Happy knitting!!
