Gone skiing

Hiya! So, last week we went away for a little midweek ski trip getaway to Bear Creek. We had a great time! Okay, I'll be honest, the skiing conditions were definitely quite slushy and the very definition of "spring skiing"...but this meant the weather was warm enough that we were able to dress down and not have to bundle up so much. We had a blast!

The resort there was really great. We stayed at the lodge that was right there "on mountain," and it was very nice. It was new and modern and clean (we asked, and they said the part we were in was only 4 years old, and there was an even newer part that was just built at the end of last year). It had three restaurants (one was cafeteria-style, but still very nice, and another was also very casual, but one was a proper restaurant) and indoor and outdoor pools and hot tubs. One thing I really liked was that if you stayed there, you got a big locker in the ground level that you could store your skis and boots in. They gave you a lock and key and you could just leave your ski stuff down there and not have to tote it around. Then the elevators were right there to go up to your room.

Our room had a king size bed, and one of the more current conveniences was that there was an iHome clock radio next to the bed that we could plug our iPod into.



Even the colors and decor were fun...the walls were yellow (near the bathroom sink it was red!) and there were a ton of pillows all over. We had a sitting area, and...



a fireplace! It was a gas one that you just pushed a button and fwump it came on or went off. Toasty warm and cozy.



Even the main lobby area was cozy and cute. The whole place was a sort of rambling collection line of buildings one after the other and there were cozy sitting areas with fireplaces all over the place. Heh...did I mention it was cozy? ;) I can only imagine how much cozier it would be if there were actual snow on the ground...the slopes were all man-made snow and there was none to be found elsewhere. Oh well.

This was the main lobby. You can see out the windows in the background how very foggy it was! We arrived in the fog, and the driving got a little hairy at the end but then suddenly we came over a hill and all the night-skiing lights just lit up the fog and the whole place glowed. It was pretty cool.



Another view of the cozy lobby area:



The first night we were there it rained all night long. So we sort of expected the skiing conditions to be rather slushy...and they were. But it was still a lot of fun. The best part of it was that there was NO ONE THERE. This midweek ski trip was a great idea.

Anyway, Wednesday morning this was the view from our room...you can see the raindrops on the window, but also the blue sky peeking through the clouds. It stopped raining midmorning and then the sun peeked out a few times during the afternoon, and it was a decent day after all.



Thursday was gorgeous though...sunny all day and warm.



Here we are, doing the classic, hold-the-camera-as-far-away-as-you-can-and-take-your-own-picture thing. :)



In the evenings after skiing both days, we went to this hot tub:



It was awesome! We were kind of pooped after a full day on the slopes so we didn't really do any skiing at night, but it was fun to relax in the hot tub and watch the skiers and snowboarders go by. The only downside was that there wasn't an indoor locker room or anything...you just had to take off your pants or whatever you wore over your bathing suit right there and hop in! Brrrrrr!!!! Of course, getting out was even worse...!

Here's a nighttime view of the place.



So...hope you enjoyed my rambling recount of our little ski trip! :)

Now back to the knitting. Believe it or not, this was all the knitting I got done while we were away:



So, the sock moves slowly onward. I still really like the yarn.

And, as promised before, here is the first Fall Embossed Leaves sock complete...I love how it came out! Oh, and I did one less repeat on the pattern so my leg part is shorter. I like how it fits this way.



The attention to detail in the pattern is fun and I like how the decreases in the toe sort of follow the leaves a little:



I haven't started the second sock yet...in fact, I haven't been knitting so much because I have gotten myself sucked into a book...The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. (Yes, I know, I'm a little behind the times...finally getting around to reading this book!) Really good book...I read through half of it Friday night and yesterday, and for me, that's fast. Today we had to do chores (bleh) so I haven't read any more. Anyway, great book. Read it if you haven't yet.

Oh, and one more photo I have to share...when we got home we had two very happy cats...and, well, I think Moose missed us. When I sat down in the chair, he climbed up on my lap and then proceeded to get veryveryclosetome, settling himself on my chest, right up against my chin. Could not have gotten any closer unless he sat on my head. I'm not actually holding him there, he's just that close. hee. :)



Now, sadly, it is time for bed. This daylight savings time switch has me all confused today...it's way later than I think it should be, and there are things I would rather do than go to sleep. But I'll regret it in the morning if I don't!

Pink Flamingo and Random Other Things

Well, the hats are in the mail, winging their way to my favorite "aunts-in-law". (I think I'm going to coin a new term here...I mean, why isn't there a term for anything other than mother- or father-in-law, brother- or sister-in-law? What about cousins and aunts and uncles?)

We had some lovely sunny weather here this weekend and went for a nice long walk in a park near where we live. It was so pleasant. Walked for about an hour. There's a loop path there that's 5 miles around, although we didn't park right on the loop so we just did a half hour out and then turned around. I'm not really sure how far we went, maybe 3 miles? Yesterday was crazy warm (we noticed our tulips are starting to come up!) and today is supposed to be warm too. Which is fine and all but it's only early March, and besides, we're going skiing this week!

Oh, and one more aside...my friend just reminded me of something...did you realize that this weekend is when Daylight Savings Time starts?! Already?! I'm not complaining here, but that sure snuck up on me!

In knitting news, I actually do have progress to report on my Fall Embossed Leaves socks, however I have no photos to share at the moment. I had thought I would leave them be for a while, partly because the fall colors are more fun to knit in the fall, but also because the first time around I knitted an entire sock before I realized that I'd made two rather large errors causing me to rip it back and start over. See, when I did the gusset decreases for the foot, I mis-read the pattern (totally my fault, a real "duh" moment) and didn't decrease enough...but didn't realize this until I started the decreases for the toe. Whoops. Meanwhile, I'd tried the thing on and my cast-on was WAY too tight, so that was the end of that sock.

So, back when I was home sick a couple of weeks ago, I suddenly had the urge to work on a patterny sock, and I got them out. I made some decent progress, and then this weekend I finished sock #1 (which felt like sock #2 since I've done almost the entire thing twice now but with only one sock to show for it). It came out great! Yes, I know this blog is lacking in the photo department at the moment. You'll just have to trust me on this for now. See, I was going to do this Sunday night but truth be told, the movie my husband was watching (during which I was going to not really watch while I uploaded photos and blogged) totally sucked me in. It also had subtitles so no knitting got done. I'm not much of a knit-without-looking person.

ANYway...the sock came out great although I was a little afraid it was going to be too long in the foot for me, since you have to follow the pattern or it won't look right (the toe decreases mimic the leaves in the foot...very clever...but you have to stop at a certain point in the pattern for this to work). But it worked...it's maybe a tad too long but not by much.

I also started a new pair of plain socks...I'd been itching to start some, and I can totally justify having plain socks on the needles because the way I see it is, they're a must-have for travel and such, and I have so much sock yarn in my stash that I really should have some on the needles at all times anyway. So I dug out this Opal in Flamingo.



Here is a very exciting WIP shot of a couple of inches of a sock ;)



So far I like the yarn, although the patterning hasn't really shown itself off yet. I'll get moving on it soon.

I'm curious about other people's sock sizing...see, I have different patterns that I use, depending on the yarn:

- 56 stitches on size 3's for thicker sock yarn (I don't use this often though)
or
- 64 stitches on size 2's for "average" (that's what I'm calling it) sock yarn

But then there are the yarns like Trekking that are thinner still...and to me this Opal seemed a little thinner as well. These I feel are better suited to size 1's so I decided to do 72 sts on size 1's. I had started a pair of socks with Trekking on size 0's with 72 sts, but they ended up being too tight, so next time I'll try 1's. I am hoping that the size 1's with the Opal will do the trick too. We shall see.

What do you guys do? Do you have a system like this to follow depending on the yarn? Just curious.

So, as I mentioned above, we're going skiing this week. Heading up to Bear Creek for a few days and staying at the lodge that's right there on the mountain. I've never been there and am inclined to think that it's going to be more of a hill than a mountain, but should still be fun. I really wanted to go someplace where we could stay "on mountain" and not have to drive to the slopes...it's always a fun atmosphere at such places anyway. Now I'm just hoping the forecasted rain doesn't mess with our plans too much.

Anyway, I might not be blogging for a few days so if I disappear, that's why. Keep your fingers crossed for us that the weather holds and we get some decent skiing in! :)

Knitting-wise, I'm bringing my new Pink Flamingo socks and one other thing...perhaps the Fuchsia Lace Scarf? I need something simple for when there's people-watching or something else going on, but then I need something that'll hold my attention when it's quiet.

So, chat with ya later!

Gone Camping

Ahem. Long time no post, again. My apologies to my loyal readers…if you’re still there!! I do have some pretty pictures to show you, so hopefully that will appease you.

So, during my latest blogging hiatus, I was both here and very busy (no excuse) and also away on vacation (definite excuse as we were in the middle of nowhere). We went camping on Lake George, in upstate NY. So much fun! Well, okay, the rainy day-and-a-half was a bit of a drag, but when the weather is nice, there’s nothing better. We spend our time relaxing…sitting around in our camp chairs, reading, knitting (in my case anyway), snoozing in the hammock, swimming in the lake. And, lest I forget, soaking in the gorgeous view:



The place where we go camping is on one of many little islands in Lake George. It’s so gorgeous there…the water is clear, and surrounded by green everywhere. You need a boat of some sort to get to the islands for camping.

This has been my in-laws’ destination for their summer family vacation for many years, since before my husband was born. So they all have camping running in their blood. The new generation of littlest campers (our nieces and nephew) truly love it too. Oh and did I mention? We’re talking real camping here…as in, sleeping in tents and cooking on a camp stove and/or over open fire and swimming in the lake (no soap allowed!)…and last but certainly not least, using an outhouse (which can be seen lurking in the background of the following photo).



As for me, somewhere in our family album there is photographic evidence that I went camping as a toddler, but needless to say I have no actual recollection of this. However, I am proud to say that I have become a huge fan of camping! I’ve been going along on this yearly trip every year since I met my husband, and I love it, bugs and all. Actually, rain is way more of a pain than bugs. I don’t even mind the outhouse. I’m fairly low-maintenance when it comes to my hair etc., so I like to think I fit in pretty well to the camping scene. Granted, that first shower after coming back to civilization sure is a wonderful thing, but there’s also something fun about not having to worry about how you look for a few days, and just jumping into the lake for a swim each day to get the grime off.



Here's a picture with a couple of our tents (that’s ours on the right...what you can't see is that it's covered in ants...truth be told, I could've done without those, especially since many managed to find their way INTO the tent):



I got a quite a bit of knitting done on this trip. After much deliberation I ended up taking along my Grasshopper sock #2 and my Fuchsia Lace Scarf. Both were well-suited to camp knitting. I finished the sock before I moved on to the scarf. I also interspersed my knitting with some reading. It truly was a decadently relaxing vacation. We even decided to take an extra day off from work and extend our trip by one more day. I am glad we did since the day we would have had to drive back ended up being the most gorgeous day, and it would have been a shame to have missed it. This was also my personal record for number of successive days of sleeping in a tent: 4

Back soon (I promise!) with knitting updates and tales of FO’s!