TAIYO IN THE SMOKIES

Noro Taiyo that is - gorgeous stuff - I found a great shop on the way to Tennessee in Franklin NC - I have been traveling thru Franklin since I was a small child - I have fond memories of going there with my grandmother and great aunt as a child - my great aunt bought fabric remnants from a mill over that way for braided rugs. I don't think she did the braided rugs but apparently someone did - we used to have a large round one in my grandmothers house but I let it go years ago before I knew the value of hand crafted rugs. Sentimentally speaking - it should have been kept and taken care of - for that I am very ashamed. OK - so that is my connection with Franklin - a quaint little town on the edge of the Smokies near the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I found Silver Threads and Golden Needles when searching for needlework shops in the area where we were going which is actually a yarn wasteland. Silver Threads is a darling shop with GREAT yarns - they were having knit night when we stopped by there on Thursday evening. Had I known it was such a great shop - I would have arranged to spend the night so I could have enjoyed the evening knitting with Virgina's group. AHHHH - on to the yarn purchase - She had lots of neat stuff but we were tired and the men were pacing the sidewalk in front of the shop - I knew I had about 15 minutes before tantrums would occur. She had Spud and Chloe another new yarn venture for Blue Sky Alpaca - could not find a pattern and I did not care for their pattern support - I was looking for something different - something I had not seen before or could not get locally. HUMMMM - A whole section of Noro was spotted and books too - I started thumbing thru a nice new looking book - Flowers I think it is called. Found a cute jacket that could be made into a large size - OH OH OH - she had the yarn - Taiyo - gorgeous stuff - cotton/silk/wool/nylon - AND the owner graciously pointed out a shop model in the exact jacket I was considering. OK - that was it - I was sunk - I busily found a beautiful colorway and even snagged some coveted Lantern Moon Destiny circulars so I could cast on right away. Here's a better picture without the view from our 4th floor balcony.

We have had a fairly relaxing vacation - It has been much cooler which was a pleasant break from the oppressive summer heat in NE FL.

I thought I would get so much done while here - silly me - I did get a small start on the Brenda Keyes design - Sailors Wife - but I mostly worked on another BK sampler - Plymouth - Here is a WIP photo of that one. It has a lot of fill work so it is easy to work on when distracted.

Well - it's Labor Day- Happy Labor Day everyone - I hope you all had a wonderful 3 day weekend and enjoyed BBQ's, picnics, and days filled with happy stitches. We'll be traveling home tomorrow - I'll be drawing for the 3 skeins of lace weight yarn later tonight. Gotta run now - I'm late for dinner.