July 05, 2005
Knitting Bliss
Fabulous weather, gorgeous panoramas, family and no work...it doesn't get much better than this! Well, perhaps if you can combine all of this with knitting, which I've been able to do the past two days. We're in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, having a wonderful time. Yesterday, we spent the day at the outdoor pool here in the timeshare complex. Today, we went to Dolly Parton's water fun park and had a blast. My skin is a bit toasted and I'm tired but happy. I was able to get in a few hours of knitting on my Studio sweater both days and here's my progress so far:
The balcony of our apartment is in full sun in the afternoon and so the picture doesn't do the colors justice at all. What an interesting construction method! The lower triangle is knitted first. Then the long piece and the second triangle are knitted at the same time. Finally, the two sections are joined and you continue to work across both sections, which become the front and shoulder of the sweater. It's fun to see it all come together but this section requires 160 rows of tiny knitting. At least I'm changing colors regularly so my progress is visible. I think if I set this project aside, it will be hard to get excited about picking it up again.
Tomorrow we're going into The Great Smokey Mountains National Park. It's a beautiful drive that twists and turns almost 30 miles through the mountains. On the other side is Cherokee, North Carolina, where we plan to visit the cultural museum and go horseback riding. I don't expect to get to knit much but it will be a nice day.
The balcony of our apartment is in full sun in the afternoon and so the picture doesn't do the colors justice at all. What an interesting construction method! The lower triangle is knitted first. Then the long piece and the second triangle are knitted at the same time. Finally, the two sections are joined and you continue to work across both sections, which become the front and shoulder of the sweater. It's fun to see it all come together but this section requires 160 rows of tiny knitting. At least I'm changing colors regularly so my progress is visible. I think if I set this project aside, it will be hard to get excited about picking it up again.
Tomorrow we're going into The Great Smokey Mountains National Park. It's a beautiful drive that twists and turns almost 30 miles through the mountains. On the other side is Cherokee, North Carolina, where we plan to visit the cultural museum and go horseback riding. I don't expect to get to knit much but it will be a nice day.
July 04, 2005
Vacation, at last!
I love family vacations! It's so fun to visit other parts of the world, to see new views and to explore new areas. For this reason, I don't mind driving. This summer, we returned to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We went there last year, too, and absolutely loved the Great Smokey Mountain National Park and all of the touristy things to do around the town. We divided the trip (950 miles) into two days. The first day, we drove from Winchester, Massachusetts to Winchester, Virginia. I was able to get a couple hours of knitting in on my Silk Waves Poncho while my husband drove. Here's my progress:
The darker waves are made with the silk chenille yarn and the lighter waves are made with the smooth silk yarn.
On the second day, I decided to start my Hanne Falkenberg Studio Sweater. This is a very different knitting experience as the yarn is two ply, fingering weight, and knit on US #2 (2.75mm) needles for a gauge of 25 stitches per 4 inches. I'm using Susan Bates 14" long needles and knitting my traditional way, with the right needle under my arm. This is the first time I've knit an HF pattern. What interesting methods! Here's the progress I made on day two of the road trip:
Now, it's back to vacation! I hope the fireworks are nice tonight.
The darker waves are made with the silk chenille yarn and the lighter waves are made with the smooth silk yarn.
On the second day, I decided to start my Hanne Falkenberg Studio Sweater. This is a very different knitting experience as the yarn is two ply, fingering weight, and knit on US #2 (2.75mm) needles for a gauge of 25 stitches per 4 inches. I'm using Susan Bates 14" long needles and knitting my traditional way, with the right needle under my arm. This is the first time I've knit an HF pattern. What interesting methods! Here's the progress I made on day two of the road trip:
Now, it's back to vacation! I hope the fireworks are nice tonight.
