Lax......and the trip :)

I know. I've been extremely lax in my postings as of late. I have pictures from our trip to Greensboro (NC) and Washington DC. There are more floating around but I don't have them. I'd have to get them off Husband's phone and he's not here right now.

So, on to the pictures and details of the trip.

We left on Tuesday, May 24th around noon-thirty.

This is the skein of yarn I brought with me to make socks.....actually, I wound the blue one next to it, as well. You know, just in case I finished an entire pair of socks during the drive to and from Washington D.C. The red/yellow/pink/orange is Blue Moon Fiber Arts' Socks That Rock (lightweight) in Bella Coola. The blue/green/yellow next to it is htNEVELE fingering in Parrotfish.

The socks I decided to make in the car were the Simple Skyp Socks (ravelry link).

This is what the sock looked like the day before we left. I worked on #1 Blackthorn DPNs. Actually, the sock made it through the beginning cuff before we even left the house. I didn't want to chance having to frog in the car and start over while the car was moving. So, I got about an inch in before we left.

We got through Chicago in about 45 minutes.....from the northwest suburbs to Gary, IN. We literally booked through Chicago because we didn't want to deal with rush hour. Luckily, Little Man slept until we got to Gary. We stopped outside Gary for lunch (for both us and Little Man) and continued on to Cincinnati, OH (okay, Wilder, KY was where we actually were but it's just outside Cincinnati). When we got to the hotel, my sock looked like this:

Obviously, I didn't knit the entire way to Cincinnati. That would have been 8 solid hours of knitting...and I just didn't do it. So, this was probably 4 hours of knitting...maybe not even that much. Anyway, this is what the sock looked like when we got to Cincinnati.

We stayed over night in Cincinnati and then drove down to Corbin, KY. Why? There's nothing in Corbin except bible thumpers...and the first and original Kentucky Fried Chicken. There's a little historical marker outside the original KFC and that's about it. They hate the Colonel down there. They all figure he was an idiot...long story. Anyway, we stopped at Waffle House and then went on our way. We drove by this along the way:

That is a really, big cross. Remember, we were in bible thumping country. My car got a lot of nasty looks. First of all, I drive a Volkswagon...which is only important because it's not an American car. Second of all, it's red. Thirdly, I have "satanic" license plates. They have "666" on them. *sigh* Whatever. But, Husband drove us by the big cross because it was so big. He's weird like that.

We drove from Cincinnati to Greensboro, NC on Wednesday. We had dinner there with Jeff & Kira. Jeff and Husband used to work together at the school district, both as contractors. Jeff was let go due to budget cuts. But, he's a "smoking gun." All he has to do is pick a city and he'll have a job. He was actually brought to Wisconsin by then-governor Jim Doyle to work for the state on internet and networking. He actually helped in the creation of broadband/DSL (and I mean overall, not just in Wisconsin). No, I'm not joking. Anyway, when Jeff was let go, he decided that he wanted to live in NC, as he had never lived there before...so they moved to Greensboro. Jeff now works for the University of North Carolina system doing networking. So, we had dinner with them. I went back to the hotel while Husband went out for drinks with Jeff. We were tired from driving.

On Thursday, we drove to Jefferson, MD to my brother-in-law's house. Pat and Carol have lived there since September-ish with their three-year old, Sweet Girl. We basically relaxed there for the rest of Thursday.

On Friday, we drove into Washington D.C. to see Matt & Trisha and their daughter, Cutie Pie. Matt was best man when we got married. Husband was best man when Matt & Trisha got married. Anyway, we went to the National Zoo and then to Matt & Trisha's house for a little while. When we got back, Husband made fajitas for dinner and we dinked around at Pat & Carol's.

Now, I have to break the "story" up a bit. Carol, Husband's sister-in-law, doesn't have a crafty bone in her body. When Husband and I were first together, Carol fussed over what to get me for Christmas. Husband said, "well, she started knitting a couple months ago." So, Carol found me a knitting book. Now, for someone that doesn't have a crafty bone in her entire body, she did quite well. She picked out AlterKnits...which is grand. I haven't done anything from it (yet) but it's a wonderful book. She did well.

So, back to the story...when we got there, she said, "We need to go to a yarn shop." Okay. No arguments or complaints from me. She got online and looked up Kiparoo Farm. Apparently, it was a whole five miles from their house. It's a farm with a Middletown, MD address but it's between Jefferson, Frederick, and Middletown, MD. Anyway, she said that we needed to go there. That was our plan for Saturday.

We got up early, Sweet Girl threw up a few times (we don't think the fajitas agreed with her - she'd never had anything like them), and off we went.

Here's Little Man, just outside the gate. He was sunscreened up, hat on, and ready to go. 

This is a view of the field of the farm and Sweet Girl. In the background, where you can't see much of anything, there are a couple of sheep roaming around. 

Here's a better picture of Sweet Girl. Doesn't look a bit sick, does she?

The shop itself, is an old farmhouse. Based on the architecture and the growth of the area, it was built sometime around the beginning of the 1800s. It's a gorgeous house, original leaded glass and brickwork...just lovely. I wish I had taken more pictures inside but I didn't. The woodwork was almost entirely original. The electricity was rigged into the house. Obviously the house was built before the advent of electricity.

Here's a better view of the front of the house.

And the sign on the door.

The shop was lovely. They spin from their own sheep, obviously and they sell their wares. The house is much larger than the shop but I think they live in the house, as well. I'm not entirely sure.

The lady that owns the shop and the farm is originally from Wisconsin. She was born in Madison and grew up in Milwaukee.

I purchased only four skeins of yarn...but they totaled over 2400 yds. of workable yarn. I bought two skeins of fingerweight (each over 600 yds) and two skeins of a Celtic cotton. You wouldn't believe how soft this yarn is! Actually, the two skeins of fingerweight yarn are incredibly soft, as well. I can't even begin to describe it. Also, I haven't photographed it yet... I picked up a pattern, as well, for the Celtic cotton. Oh, and some soaps made from cow's milk (from their cows)...and some hand cream.

After that, we went into Frederick, MD for some shopping in the old part of town. The German word is "altstadt," which means "old city." That's basically what part of Frederick we were in. The houses were all connected, no yards...loved the architecture. The shops, too, were old. We went to a toy store/gift shop and picked up some things for Little Man...a bird house that has shapes for birds and you put them in the right holes, a stuffed Aloysius Snuffleupagus (yes, that Snuffleupagus from Sesame Street - did you know he had a first name?), and a Doug & Melissa wooden train. Pat & Carol picked up some pool and sandbox toys for Sweet Girl. After that, we ate lunch at a little coffee shop nearby and then continued down on the street. While we were walking, we came upon another yarn store!

It was called Eleganza Yarns. I only made it to the first floor...and I managed to spend $100+ on yarn. It took me less than 10 minutes. I should mention that I also spent $100+ at the other place. Anyway, part of what I picked up were for Sweet Girl. I've been making the giraffe from Susan B. Anderson's Itty-Bitty Toys. I decided that I would make Sweet Girl something, too, probably for Christmas...maybe a little after. I had her pick out a pattern. She picked out the hippo...and wants her to be pink and purple. So, two skeins of the yarn I picked up were for the hippo. Sweet Girl approved the yarn, too, so that helped.

After that, we started to get a little worn out so we headed back to Pat & Carol's. We at at Macaroni Grill for dinner that night and that was that. We left on Sunday morning for Cleveland, OH. It was about a 5 hour drive to Cleveland. We got stuck in one hell of a nasty storm that night. We were out to dinner at Bonefish Grill and it was horrible. No tornado warnings or anything like that...just an extremely nasty storm.

We were going to drive home from Cleveland but we decided we didn't want to put Little Man through that long of a drive again so we decided to stop overnight in South Bend, IN.

Did I mention that South Bend is the home of Notre Dame?

Husband walking toward the bookstore at Notre Dame. Yes, that's the bookstore...the whole building is the bookstore. The. Whole. Thing! HUGE! I picked up some shirts for Little Man and Husband and I. It was grand. We didn't stay on campus long...it was getting hot and we still had a 6 hour drive home.

The statue outside the bookstore. Don't ask me what it was...no idea.

This was the sign outside the bookstore. I just focused on the part where it said the University of Notre Dame.

We got stuck in rush hour in Chicago...sort of. It wasn't as horrible as we were expecting but it was Tuesday.

I haven't photographed my sock...but I did get to the heel-flap. That's where I've stopped. I'm still on the flap for now. I'll photograph it sometime.

Other than that, we're home. Oh, I forgot to mention...while we were at the hotel in South Bend, Little Man took it as an opportunity to roll himself off the bed. Up until that point, he had only been rolling himself from his back to his belly and only in one direction. So, at the hotel, he decided he could roll and roll...and he did, right off the bed. I was washing bottles in the bathroom and Husband was laying in the bed, near Little Man (but not right next to him - he could grab him but not too well, apparently). I think it scared him more than anything. He cried and cried but he was okay. Not a scratch, bump, or bruise on him.

Anyway, I'll end with something cute :)