Weekend In The Mountains

Last weekend my mother came down from Virginia for her first visit since my husband and I moved to the mountains of Western North Carolina. We had a blast! We spent time combing through flea markets and thrift stores, driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway, visiting Little Switzerland, and generally exploring the area. It was so much fun to get to show her around the area!

Some of Mom's flea market finds. Marion, NC has 3 flea markets and I don't know how many thrift stores, antique stores, and consignment shops. We didn't come close to checking out them all! We did our best to fill up her van, though. My mom sells antiques - you can check out her online shop here.

Saturday, Black Mountain Yarn Shop celebrated World Wide Knit In Public Day by welcoming everyone to come knit along the sidewalk. There were so many great projects! Plus cookies. Everything is fun with cookies, amiright?!

Mom and I are way down on the end. We had gone to some yard sales before driving up to Black Mountain, so we were a bit late to the party. The guys next to us were so much fun! And everyone walking by was very friendly.

Mom and I on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was such a wonderful weekend. I'm working on convincing her to move to North Carolina!

Spring Shawl

Today has been such a lazy day! I guess after spending 2 weeks perfecting a lightweight shawl pattern, I just didn't feel like doing anything today. Plus it is HOT. Ok, it isn't as hot here in the mountains as it is in many other places. But it is warm enough that I spent the day in bed reading a book. Even my kitties didn't feel like doing anything other than laying with me (they are usually busy causing trouble).

I had a bunch of this super soft Debbie Bliss cotton/angora blend laying around. It is rare that I have so much yarn of the same colorway/dyelot. I thought this was a good opportunity to make a larger project, and so thought up my first triangle shawl pattern. I wanted it to be an open knit, so that it was lightweight and perfect for a cool evening in the spring or summer. I liked my first creation, but having finished it, there were some changes I wanted to make to the pattern.

So I started on the next one, making some slight changes - larger needles, a different top edge. (I apologize for the blurriness of the picture. This took up my ENTIRE kitchen table, which is bar-height. I had to stand on my tippy-toes to get everything in the picture!)

 

The new shawl is on the top. The changes aren't huge, but just enough. The top edge looks more finished and matches the bottom edge better. And it has more of the open knit I was looking for.

 

Now that I've finalized the pattern, I'm starting the next shawl. In the end, I will have 4 matching shawls based on the final pattern. Perfect for bridesmaids!