Knitting 40 shades of green

Spring Vacation

I had a few weeks off of work last month and decided to take a long overdue trip to visit my best friend from high school and her family (last time I had seen her that would have just said husband but they had since added a new addition who was quickly headed toward her 2nd birthday). She moved to Colorado 14 years ago and while I don't see her or talk to her often enough, I miss her always. I also have another friend/former colleague who moved outside of Denver last summer and thought I could see them both. Well, it worked out better then expected because when I said that I was going to Fort Collins and let her know the dates I would be there, she mentioned that she and her husband had been talking about doing the brewery tours up there and it coincided with her spring break as well. And I even got a touch of snow.

So here you have drinking local in Colorado.  It started out with a tour of the local Anheuser Busch facility.

Home of the famous Clydsedales.  These beautiful stain glass windows are in the barn.  My mother should appreciate making stain glass representations of the animals that live within.

Fort Collins is a training facility for the horses.

After the horses we went to see the Brew House.

This is followed by a tasting in the tasting room.  They have expanded their line far beyond Bud, Busch and Michelob.  There was a blueberry flavored beer, shock top wheat, and some other interesting things to taste.  From there we went to lunch followed by a tasting at Odell's Brewery.

Finally, we capped off the day with dinner at Coopersmiths Brew Pub.

The next day we went to New Belgium Brewery, beer of environmental drinkers everywhere, where I won a 22 oz Fat Tire Ale with the following haiku which I had to read in front of all the assembled tasters (luckily it was still pretty early and therefor not crowded).

Beer, drink of the Gods

Hangover sure ain't no fun

Good beer, New Belgium

We capped off the beer fest with a tasting at Fort Collins Brewery.  I have to say it was a great vacation and I didn't just drink but it was interesting to try all the different beers and get an idea how they are made.  If you are in the area and like beer it might be worth a long weekend trip.

On the road

For no sane reason whatsoever I subjected myself to the insanity that is traffic the week of Thanksgiving -- because of this I find myself exhausted in a hotel room without the ability to form a coherent sentence (may have to do with missing dinner and the hotel restaurant was closed by the time I checked in) so my recap of todays adventures will have to wait until morning.

Vacation Knitting

I had a few days off and my uncle and aunt invited me up to their vacation house in the Poconos to get away for a spell. They have a house in Hawley, PA which is about a 5 - 6 hour drive. I knew there would be lots of sitting on the porch and looking at the leaves. I would need a project that would allow me to concentrate on the conversation and not the chart or tricky pattern.

The weather was lovely and we even got a bit of much needed rain which helped the colors come out a bit more.

While Autumn Rose was sitting there haunting me, I needed something a bit more mindless.  I came out of the gold (that is what I tell people is in there so they will understand why I won't let them see in there), stash, extra bedroom with the "Striped Silky Wool Jacket" which had been marinating in there for a couple of years.

I choose a slightly less bright colorway and the project fit my purposes perfectly.  I was able to finish one sleeve and get started on another before driving back to Virginia.  Here is a picture of the left front that I am currently working on.

hotel rooms

So, I post every day for a month, leave a promise for pictures in my last post and then disappear for 6 days.  Typical.  That post a day was a bit trying when I didn't have things to say and knitting to show.  Thanks for sticking with me through that.  I have been in Richmond for 4 days for some training for work

it didn't take long for the room to be overcome with yarn...

I was working furiously on log cabin squares when I realized that I only had nine colors with me. I must have left the 10th at home (at least that is what I am praying...) and here is the promised picture of the baby kimono with just a few rows left. I have to run and check out before my day of meetings...

Vacation Part II

So as soon as I get on the road again I hit construction back up.  They have decided to do work on the Millard E. Tidings memorial Bridge.  They are taking the traffic from three lanes down to one and as soon as you get out of the back up they charge you $5 for the pleasure of sitting in that traffic at 9pm.  So here I am 6 hours since leaving home and I have only made it 90 miles.  Hmmm, at 15 miles/hour it will only take 34 hours to get to Vermont. 

I had bought a coca cola at the rental car place and hoped the sugar and caffeine would keep me awake and vowed not to stop for the night until I hit New York.  (I had planned on staying with friends in Albany but they had to work in the morning and I had to sleep at some point and that would be at least another 100 miles beyond my goal).  It was late when I found a place to stop in New York (maybe close to 2) and there were about 5 motels on the exit.  It looked promising.  I drove around the fist one and noted there was only one entrance, through the lobby (remember I have the dog with me and not too many motels allow dogs.) So onto the second, a Ramada and look separate entrances that are accessible with your room key.  So I snuck Tiger into the room (which I wouldn't have stayed in at that price if it hadn't been 2am.  The place needed major renovations and the AC was so loud you couldn't sleep with it on for long.  So the few hours of sleep that I got consisted of getting up every hour or so to turn off the AC for a little quiet once the banging became too loud and then turning it back on after the heat became unbearable (of course the windows didn't open).  At 6:15 someone left there room and let the door slam shut setting Tigger to barking.  Time to get up.  I smuggled him back out of the room and took him for a walk and then put him in the back of the car while I showered, ate a little of the free continental breakfast and checked out.  I had about 4 1/2 more hours of driving, I might as well get on the road.
The drive to Vermont is often beautiful and I started to relax as I got closer.  On the Vermont/New York border I saw this sign ... how could I not stop for some EARLY PRODUCE!!  So I bought some veggies and some cheese and some little Gherkin Pickles that had been made for Pattie's patch right there in Hampton, NY.

A little more driving through Vermont and I see the house with the for sale sign out front (a point of contention for Jessie) and pull in the driveway. Things are looking up (other than the fact that I called the auto shop and they said the engine is spent and will have to be replaced).

Vacation

Well, I have been buying yarn and reading Jessie's blog for a while now, longing for Vermont. Here was my latest stash enhancement.  The colors are beautiful although hard to capture; tidal pool and slate.  The all Vermont yarn  would help me for a little while but never long enough.  We would e-mail back and forth every time she showed a hiking trail or other reminder of the Green Mountain State.  Then she started talking about how she had bought a new house and was having trouble selling hers. She was nervous about making two mortgages and she mentioned the possibility of renting it short term -- maybe for the summer.  Well, I e-mailed that I would love to come up and rent the place but how could i since I don't have the summer off.  And after some back and forth I knew I had to visit Vermont anyway (my friends were thinking it was long over due) and we agreed that I would come up for a week and a deal was struck. So I am staying in a great farmhouse in Vermont but the road to Vermont was a little more bumpy.

I spent Wednesday and Thursday canning the 25 pounds of tomatoes that I got a great deal on at the market and wouldn't last until I got back. I bottled 12 quarts of Italian tomato sauce in small batches due to my lack of a huge canning pot. It was the hottest and most humid two days we have seen this summer.   I am sure opening these beauties come winter will seem well worth it.
Then without much thought or planning I packed a bunch of stuff into the car. (You don't have to be too careful about packing when driving a car -- there is loads of room and it doesn't all need to be contained.) Tigger jumped in the back seat. (He likes to hang out in the wheel well behind my seat -- since I have it pulled all the way up and there is lots of room).  And we were off...
I had waited until after 3 to leave so that I could pick up my CSA veggies. (I was renting a house and would have a kitchen. I would hate to see all that good local produce go to waste.) Well, in DC, rush hour starts at 3 and I didn't find myself across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge until 4. At 5, I had traveled 30 or so miles when the oil light started flickering. I figured I would pull off at the next exit and get some oil. (I know, I know, I was going to get the oil changed before leaving but with all the sauce making I got behind.) Within moments the engine was making a horrible noise, like there was a hole in something and I was pulling over to the shoulder as the car lost compression. I looked down at the speedometer -- look this trip would have put it over 100,000 miles. I say "would have"...

I started making calls, the first to AAA for towing. They couldn't get a truck there until 7:15. I called the local auto shops asking if I could tow the car in and then started calling local car rentals. Everyone closed at 6:00.  I sat, I stewed, it was hard to knit because I couldn't move the seat back because Tigger was sleeping behind it.  I watched the traffic pass and back up and clear out and back up again. 

But wait, I paid extra for the AAA plus membership because they tow up to 100 miles. The airport was only about 40 miles away and the car rental places stayed open until midnight. I was bound and determined I was going to get to Vermont. I sat on the road for just under two hours when the tow truck called. I had found an auto shop called Airport Auto, surely it was close to the airport.  I managed to call them just as they were going home for the day and they said I could leave the car and the key and a note.
So I had the tow truck driver take me there and then left the car and the dog and all my stuff.  But because he had a big flat bed truck he didn't want to go into the airport due to the additional security since September 11.  The auto shop was down a pretty lonely road so I set to thinking again and had him drop me off at a satellite parking lot. I jumped on the shuttle and the driver asked where I had parked my car (I guess I came from the wrong direction and had no luggage). I told her my story. I got to the airport and got on another shuttle to the rental car building. It was after 8:00 when I got back to Airport Auto loaded all my stuff into the rental car and Tigger and I set off again.
To be continued...

Some days are better than others

I had low expectations for this day.  Lots of work, not enough time, too many meetings.  It went much better than I expected.  I had some time free up at work that allowed me to get ready to leave for the next four days to go to Tampa.   This meant I didn't have to return to work after the city's public hearing on the budget. I didn't have to speak at the public hearing just support my colleagues who were speaking so instead of getting nervous I  instead got two hours of knitting time on my sister's sock which is now at the heel.  I was also able to make it to my twice monthly knitting group.  While there I had a chocolate chip cookie and milk, as this is my current comfort food.  All in all, a pretty good day although I still need to pack for the above mentioned trip to Tampa.  I am stalled because I am under the impression that the conference will provide ample knitting time and I don't know what knitting to take.  Since I don't know how much room my knitting will take up, I am unsure of how much space I have for clothes.  Hmm, looks like the evenings are cool I guess I need a few long sleeves.

Well after  throwing some clothes in the bag, I packed the half finished back and yarn for the front of Ronnie (although I am not sure I have the smaller needle for the beginning of the front-- or I do and it is in Olympic Boogie).  I packed the Olympic Boogie (it takes up a certain amount of room but I hope to finish it soon).  I chose ten colors of the hand dyed yarn for the socks for my Sockapaloooza pal.  I have my sister's socks and a random ball of sock yarn.  I also have the address of a yarn store just two and a half miles from my hotel and they may even serve chocolate chip cookies and milk there. 

I will be taking the computer so there may be blogging but I am unsure if I will be able to figure out something for downloading pictures so they may have to wait.  Now to call the cab for the morning and go over my list.  What was I thinking making plane reservations for 8:30 when the conference doesn't start until Tuesday night?