Carolan and Other Updates

I didn’t mean to let a month go by without posting to the blog. I tried several times to post from Estes Park, but the wifi and even my phone’s internet were not great in the mountains. Uploading pictures was just not happening. Then after I got home life kept getting in the way, but here I am with a few pictures, a finished shawl and a new one shawl on the needles.

I finished Carolan about 10 days ago I think but just got around to blocking it yesterday. I really love this shape shawl. It is pretty easy to block and wear.

Quite a transformation as you can see in these before and after blocking shots.

So here’s what I have going now. It’s a semi circle, using the Elizabeth Zimmerman pi shawl formula. I really think this shape is great fun to knit. I enjoyed the last one I did which Dee designed using my Classic Merino Superwash Sock yarn a few years ago. Here’s the Ravelry link to it; Culpeper. This new one is called Kassiani which I am making using my Classic Merino Bamboo yarn in one of my newer colors from last summer, Cerise.

I had a great time in Estes Park. It was my first trip to Colorado.

This was taken on the little highway going into Estes Park. It was quite magnificent but as you can imagine can also be tedious when there is a lot of traffic. Which there was. Apparently June is high tourist season in Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park is right at the entrance.  I stayed in an adorable little cabin just outside of the strip and about a mile from the park entrance.

I liked the quiet and was amazed that you really don’t need air conditioning. I left my windows open the whole week and it was actually quite chilly in the morning, getting down into the mid to upper forties at night.

This river was running through the property and was as close as I got to hiking. I started several times to go into the Park, but I kept getting turned off by the prospect of sitting in traffic for hours which is how it seems to be this time of year.  I really didn’t mind just hanging out and reading and knitting.

One thing I did just have to do was go drive by the Stanley Hotel, when I realized it was right there in Estes Park just up the road from where I bought my groceries. For any Stephen King fans, you probably know that this is the hotel which inspired the story The Shining. I didn’t want to pay for parking so this was as close as I could get to it, LOL!

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to vend at the Wool Market next year since the date falls on the same weekend as another Festival I am already signed up for, but it was a fun experiment. It was a bit too far and expensive for what I made as well, and that’s just how it goes sometimes. You don’t know if you don’t take a shot though. By the time it was all over I was very happy to get home and stay here for awhile. After 5 shows in 5 weeks, it was high time for some home time. I am here until July 31, when I will be off to Chicago for Stitches Midwest.