Upcoming Vacation

Perhaps for the first time I am actually working on multiple projects at the same time, and none of them are getting left behind while I devote all of my time to another.  I have been trying to work on the Autumn Arbor Stole, Delain (that's my sweater), and spinning throughout the day so that one doesn't fall by the wayside.

A quick Tour de Fleece update:  I have sort of disappeared from participating in the conversations over on Ravelry, but I am still spinning every day.  This is what I have after four days of spinning -

It's not much, but it'll have to do.  I only spin late at night before I go to bed.  That's a little over an ounce of merino, spun relatively thick.  I'm going to make it a two-ply, and figure it'll come out maybe DK-ish?  I have no idea because this is my first time spinning merino and I hear it blooms a lot in the washing.  Right now when I let it ply back on itself it's looking like fingering weight and I figure that'll grow a bit.  I'm spinning it rather lightly because I want a puffy yarn.

I've also worked a bit on Delain.  He's slowly growing.  The entire back is in this strange slipped-stitch "cabled" pattern and is very easy to work on.  I've been putting this one in the back for the past few days because I know I'll be getting a lot of car knitting time in on it in a few days (more about that in a bit.)

 

I'm also slowly working on the Autumn Arbor stole.  Some might assume that I don't like working on it and that's why it's going so slowly, but really I do love it.  I'm taking my time with it because I can and I don't have to rush through everything - each stitch is really a joy to work on.

I wasn't sure if I was happy with the way the colors were working out at the beginning.  There are two large leaf motifs and they each were developing their own different color area.  I was fine with this, but as the stole is knit in two pieces and seamed in the middle, I was a little worried that one half would have columns of color while the other would be more mixed and it would look weird.  I was going to rip and start over, but I couldn't guarantee it wouldn't happen again.

After knitting a few more rows, you can see that the color "pooling" (I wouldn't even really call it pooling because there are so many different colors involved) has shifted and things are mixing up a bit.  I'm just going to keep going with this because I think it's pretty and interesting.  I am curious though what it would have looked like had I gone up a needle size or something...

Ok, on to vacation.  Every summer my family goes up to my Grandparents' cabin in North Dakota.  I love being up there because it's so peaceful and secluded and, well, fun.  It's definitely an escape from the busy life back in a city.

So, the drive is about 8 hours, and looks like this the entire way...

While pretty, it gets a bit boring.  This is when I plan to knit on Delain.  I think the Autumn Arbor Stole would be a bit finicky to work on in a car with 5 other people, so Delain it is.  I like knitting on the shawl while sitting outside in the sun anyway.

My cabin is in the Turtle Mountains of North Dakota on Lake Metigoshe.  (I know, who knew they had mountain?) right on the Canadian border.  I couldn't really find a decent map, otherwise I would show you guys where it is.  It's right near the International Peace Garden, but I've only been there (the garden) a few times.  I think I went two years ago, which was the first time since I was really little, and it was kind of sad because it was the 75th Anniversary and they planted so many flowers, but then there was a drought and all the flowers died, so they re-seeded everything, but then there was a lot of rain and all the seeds got washed away, so it was a little sad looking.  Very cool though.

In the above crappy picture you can see the Turtle Mountains and above the trees in the middle you can see a hump and then a tiny hump directly to the left of it.  That, supposedly, is the "Turtle" (its body and head), but it may just be what my parents always told me.  I'll try to get a better picture this year.

Anyway, all that to say that on Friday I will be leaving the comforts of my computer for a week and half so that I can relax on a lake and undoubtedly spend my time...

... kissing frogs.