Eastburn Adventures

Judyth Elaine Wilson-Hart

Judy, you touched so many lives and you will be missed. But because you knew Jesus, we have the peace of knowing we'll meet again. We love you.

We arrived in Asheville, NC on Sunday afternoon and were not disappointed in our temporary home. I highly recommend Willow Winds to anyone coming to the area. Our 2-bedroom, 2-bath "cabin" has a whirlpool tub as well as a jacuzzi on the patio; a deck with a spectacular view; there's a putting green in our "backyard"; they have foosball, ping pong, air hockey, and skee ball in the game room; there's a fitness room; a fishing pond; a 1000 title free video library (can't wait to watch Dreamgirls); and it's in a really convenient location (i.e., there's a Starbucks nearby - I'm not being deprived of my Vanilla Bean Frappucinos)!

So here's some of the highlights of the trip so far.

The view from our deck (I love Adirondack chairs):

Biltmore House:

Steve and Ginger relaxing in style:

The Biltmore Gardens:

We ate lunch at a fine dining establishment (yes, this is the "world's classiest McDonald's according to the Travel Channel):

And dinner at an even finer restaurant on the Biltmore Estate. (No, Steve and Robert did not dress alike on purpose, and Steve is not Robert's Ring Twin!)

The food was delicious and the view spectacular!

. . .to be continued. . .

On Tuesday we decided to drive to Chimney Rock Park to check out the 360-degree views of the Smoky Mountains. Here's a tip - if the brochure touts a 360-degree view, it pretty much means you have to climb to the top of a mountain. Oops. I've driven some white-knuckle roads in my time, but this was definitely number two on my list. The only reason it wasn't number one is because Robert was driving, not me. That's why this was a "once in a lifetime" event. We'll never do this again!

If you decide to go yourself, this is what you'll see:

Ginger stayed safely in the middle of the Rock.

Once we were safely DOWN we decided on a safer activity - shopping! (Okay, it's still dangerous, but not life threatening.) We went here for the guys and Ginger and I checked out Purl's Yarn Emporium and Earth Guild. Purl's was a very nice shop, and the worker was very friendly and helpful. Don't waste your time on Earth Guild. The people in there working didn't even acknowledge we'd entered the store, and were totally rude. I saw some alpaca lace weight I would bought, but because of the workers' attitudes, I wasn't spending any money in there. On Monday after the Biltmore we stopped in at Yarn Paradise, and I'll probably have to go back. Their entire 2nd floor was all 40% off yarns, and I may have to get something for another sweater. I haven't bought any stash enhancement (yet), but I did splurge when I saw the Namaste Executive bag - in ORANGE - at Purl's! I love it!

I have accomplished some knitting, but no photos yet. I've finished two more Lizard Ridge squares, and another repeat on the Moss Grid Hand Towel. I've also been working on the heels on the Monkey socks, but may rip those out again. I am not liking short-row heels. Ginger has been working on a secret project and found a great knitting spot. I think I'll take advantage of it later today.

I'm always overly optimistic about how much knitting I can get done when I have a week to do nothing but knitting, which also includes 26 hours in a vehicle. Unfortunately, I can't seem to knit more than an hour or two at a time without getting bored or cramped fingers. So, it's our last day in Asheville, and here's what I've done so far.

Two Lizard Ridge Squares (the third one is started and I'll save it for the drive home):

Two repeats on the Moss Grid Hand Towel:

The heels are turned on the Monkey socks:

And last, I finally started Lola's Short-Row Hat:

We'll see how much more I get done today and tomorrow.

Well, not quite. We got back from Asheville late Saturday, and after 27 five loads of laundry and a long nap, I was ready for work this week. It's always so hard coming home from vacation, because there's double the work to recover. I haven't yet figured out how to make that better. :0

No real knitting news to report. I have some cool stash enhancements that I need to update here and on Ravelry, but I haven't taken the photos yet. Also, I scored some Wollmeise in The Loopy Ewe's latest Sneak Up - and I think I'm officially a Loopy Groupie now! WhooHoo! (Don't tell Robert - he's scared enough of the stash!)

I also bit the bullet and ripped out the heels on the dreaded Monkey socks - again. :-( But I think I know what I was doing wrong, thanks to Zarah. Except when I was trying to knit the second heel in Asheville, I couldn't figure out how to get to the second sock on the Magic Loop, so I slipped the first sock to waste yarn and knit the second, which actually worked out quite well. Then I put the first sock back on the needles. Except, somehow I think I got them on in reverse order, or backwards, or something, so now that I've ripped them, the working yarn is on the wrong side. I think I'm slipping one back to waste yarn - again.

I don't know why I'm having such trouble with these socks. Okay, so toe up is new for me, Magic Loop is new for me, and two at once is new for me. Maybe next time I shouldn't be so ambitious about learning new techniques!

Anyway, my plan is to finish the socks by Tuesday. Yep, I have a deadline. Because Sunday, I'm flying out to Denver for another business trip, and planes and airports are very conducive to knitting. I'm only taking these socks and a couple of balls of Noro to work on some Lizard Ridge squares. That's it. If I don't have anything else with me, then I have to finish.

And for a final Asheville pic - it always seems like wherever I go I find some crazy squirrel. Everytime we'd start to open the door to the deck, he'd run over and put his paws on the window and want to come into the cabin! Funny, he doesn't look like he's starving!

"To everything (turn, turn, turn), there is a season (turn, turn, turn), and a time for every purpose under heaven. . ."

Okay, can anyone really read the book of Ecclesiastes and not be humming The Byrds as they read? I didn't think so.

What does this have to do with knitting? Everything. The dreaded, cursed, howmanytimesdoIhavetodothistogetthemright short-row heels on the Monkey socks. I take some comfort in knowing that I'm not alone. Although Brianne and Zarah breezed right through theirs, Kate and Elisha are suffering right along with me. I think we've all finally got it figured out, even though we've made some concessions to the standards of "prettiness" we usually require.

Thursday night we met for Knit Together, where I proceeded - again - to rip the heels and start over. By the time we left, I had one completed heel, with no holes. That's zero, people. I was proud. We were all trying to follow Wendy's, Misocrafty's, and Silver's instructions, but I ended up combining the three and making it up as I went along. The second sock was going better tonight, but then I realized I'd made an unfixable mistake in the first. Yep - I'm ripping them again. I desperately need some short-row mojo.

"To everything there is a season" also includes happy moments like stash enhancement. I got my Loopy Ewe package yesterday - can you say Wollmeise? - and was happily surprised at my Loopy Groupie goodie bag which also included 2 hanks of Claudia's handpainted yarn - Sheri, thank you so much! You're the best!

I'm not posting all of my stash enhancements on the blog since they're being stored on Ravelry, but here's some Wollmeise and Dream in Color eye candy.

. . . try, try again.

Truer words were never spoken as applied to the dreaded, cursed, FINISHED Monkey Socks! I am so happy these are complete, but I have to say I'm going to miss them a little. Let's recap, shall we? I cast on for these in Knit Picks Felici in Pebble, with no recipient in mind (I've now decided they're going to Ginger - she knows this, but has to wait). I had to learn the Figure 8 cast on (Kate says the Turkish cast on is better; I'll try it next time); I had to learn Magic Loop; I learned toe-up and two-at-a-time; I did my first short-row heels (although I did them at least 8 times before getting it right); and I learned the E-Z sewn bind off from Zarah. Oh, and 8) I learned to read a chart.

It wasn't just the heels that gave me fits, either. The Figure 8 cast on was re-knit at least 5 times, including after I was finished with the toes and starting the pattern when I realized that not having matching stripes was going to drive me crazy. So I frogged them and found the repeats in the yarn and started over. I was stalled in Boston when I was ready to start the heels and lost internet access in the dorm so I couldn't research tutorials. Even after binding off today, I put a sock on the sock blocker and discovered I'd missed a dropped stitch. I learned a new skill - picking it up (several) rows down, and creatively weaving in a piece of waste yarn to secure it. (I wasn't about to frog back at that point - sorry!) It's really not that noticeable, even if I do say so myself. See? It's the very center of the darkest brown.

And because I'm so proud of these - check out my short-row heel! No holes! Once I got over my apparent learning disability, they really aren't so bad - and I may actually try them again. (I still love a good heel flap, though!)

I also splurged with my allowance and ordered the complete set of the new Knit Picks Harmony Options Needles and DPN's. I'm so excited to cast on a new project with these, but I'm not sure what to start. I know I have Christmas knitting to do, but I also have my 2007 Knitting Resolutions to make (which didn't include Christmas knitting). So, I have decided to cut back on my previous list of gift knitting - what gets done, gets done, and I'm not going to fret. My only non-negotiables are Lola's hat, and socks for Robert and for my sister, because I promised. (Although that's really only because I have a devious plan to get Kathy hooked on sock knitting!) All in all, I've really done a pretty good job with my resolutions. We'll see if I actually get Lizard Ridge and my sweater finished this year - those are my two big projects hanging out there.

What's next to go on the needles? There's so many great patterns in my Ravelry queue to choose from - I don't know - maybe a Wisp for a brief diversion before jumping back into socks? Anyway, I'm back from my last business trip of the year - Denver - and home for a while, so I should have plenty of time for knitting.

So what do you do when you're not knitting? Because face it, we can't knit all the time (Kate - keep your hands on the wheel). Here's how I spend my time:

1. Oodles of time on Ravelry. Casey is a genius, and there's always something new. This week I've spend time favorite-ing patterns and moving them out of my queue. The queue is now a much more manageable single page of projects I'm really planning to make, and may already have the yarn for. Speaking of Ravelry, check out my new progress bars in the sidebar! They link to my project pages in Ravelry (although if you're not on Rav, I'm not sure you can see the page).

2. Shopping for yarn, knitting books, and patterns. Ravelry has really become an enabler in this area, too. You find a gorgeous yarn and the next thing you know - must. have. it. There's always an excuse to nab an available skein of Wollmeise from The Loopy Ewe, right?

3. Living vicariously through our knitting friends. Fair warning, I'm probably not the best person to call when you need an intervention to prevent you from adding to the stash. Sorry, Zarah!

4. Listening to knitting podcasts. I've only just started with this, thanks to Brianne. And, since Robert and I just re-joined the gym, they're good motivators to keep me on the elliptical. (Now, if I were just coordinated enough to work on a pair of socks while working out - that would be sweet!). I'm currently catching up with Stash & Burn, with Cast On, CraftLit, and Knit Picks waiting in the wings. What are your favorites?

5. Blogging. Reading favorites, updating my own, and searching out new friends in the blog world. Again - Ravelry is an enabler! I've joined several groups on Ravelry and faithfully monitor the forums, and then when you make a connection, you have to check out your new friends' blogs. I really appreciate the comments left new friends (as well as the old ones)!

6. Thinking about knitting. Are you obsessed? I think I'm seeing a pattern here (ha! pun intended). I think there's a part of my brain that is often thinking ahead about projects I want to make, who I want to make them for, etc. And yes, Ravelry keeps me organized.

So, what's happening for the upcoming months of knitting? Zarah invited me to join the Socktoberfest group, and I'm going to make my sister's Christmas socks (but she only gets them if she starts commenting on the blog again - ha!), and socks for Robert. That's a sock a week! This weekend I hope to start and finish the Short-Row Hat. It's a quick knit once I get going. and, last week at Knit Together, Kate and Brianne decided to throw a Knitting/Movie Night party which is tonight. At my house. I love having friends who are comfortable enough to invite themselves over! Speaking of which, I need to go bake brownies.