OK, well not heaven, but my next-best place to knit – our beautiful NC mountains.  We took a little road trip today (well, okay, a 10 hour one!) up to the mountains today with our MINI friends Ann and Steve.  We stopped first in Blowing Rock, a beautiful little town, and visited their cute little downtown shopping area, which was heavily populated with expensive clothing stores, gift shops, and antique shops.  We had walked all the way down one side, and were almost done with another, and I said, “It’s hard to believe they can have all these shops and not a yarn shop!”  I had already told Mark that since I’m still officially on SOS, we weren’t going looking for a yarn shop, and if we stumbled on one, I wouldn’t buy anything that was less than spectacular.  I had no sooner stated that I couldn’t believe there wasn’t one, when I saw “Dee’s Yarn Nook” down a side street.  Of course we all walked down there, and everyone else kicked back on the rocking chair porch while I went inside.  Fortunately for me (or maybe unfortunately!), they had basically 4 things:
1. Frou frou (lots and lots of it!)
2. Expensive yarn (WAY expensive – gorgeous, but out of my price range)
3. Next to nothing in sock yarn – 1 small 12×12 cubicle, not even half full, of truly ugly or bland sock yarns.
4. A lady winding lots of yarn on a horribly clattering ball winder – it must have been on its last leg, and it went on and on and on.  I cheerfully said, “Sounds like that thing is on its last leg!” (brilliant, am I not?), and the lady said, “Yes it does.  We’ve worn it out.”  Now, if you’re going to sell $200+ packs of yarn, can you not spring for $40 for a new ball winder?  JoAnn’s has a coupon!  The noise and lack of “me” yarn was enough to have me out of there in 5 minutes flat, with NO purchases.  That’s right, I did not fall off the wagon.  (Fortunately the Knitpicks needles and knitting books I ordered yesterday are not counted in SOS!)

When we first arrived in Blowing Rock, it was clear and cool (low 70′s – cooler than anything I’ve felt here in over a month!).  We left to drive to Linville Falls so we could drive on the viaduct, and not too far past there, it started to cool off and cloud over.  By the time we’d finished lunch, it was raining lightly.  We drove some more, and drove to the summit of Mt. Mitchell, highest point in NC.  When we got there, it had fogged over, was down to 58, with gale force winds that were shaking our car, and driving the clouds right down into us.  The guys got out for pictures and were cold and wet in minutes, but got some great shots.  Down the mountain a ways, as it was beginning to clear up, Mark took this great shot:

It was a great day with great friends, and beautiful views – every time we go to the mountains, I wish for the day when we’ll actually live there.  I can’t wait!  On the drive today, I worked on some socks in Knitpicks Simple Stripes.  As noted by Patricia earlier, the fair isle part is not great – some goes around the leg all but an inch, some wraps around 1 1/2 times, and on one of my last few rows it went around 3 times.  I’m trying 2 socks on 2 circs, and will attempt to do short-row heels.  We’ll see if it works.  Tricia knows that when she issues a challenge like, “I’m sure it can be done” then I will have to try it immediately.  Here’s what I got done today:

Also, for anyone who’s interested, here’s the progress on the Lotus Blossom Tank.  It’s currently waiting for the KP needles to arrive, since the circular I have it on is way too short, and I’m constantly shifting and pulling stitches.  Also, I have no way to know what size it is unless I pull off all 280 stitches onto some waste yarn, and I just can’t do that right now, so onward I’ll push, once I get my new needles.  This is a gift for my OtherMom, who picked out the pattern and yarn as a Mother’s Day gift, and hopefully I’ll get it done before it’s too cool to wear it.

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