Oh Deer!

As I mentioned earlier in the week, our vacation spot this year was Lost River State Park in West Virginia. It was wonderful. There were lots of organized activities planned by the naturalist on site like campfires, games and hikes. It was also a perfect place to sit back in a rocking chair and do nothing. We did a little of both.


This is the cabin that we stayed in. The super cute log cabin that I showed you earlier this week was the one next door to us. As you can see, this had a less charming exterior but on the inside it was clean and lovely. There was a large fireplace (no we didn’t use it – ahem, it was freakin’ hot out!) and wood floors and plenty of room.


One of the best things about the cabin was that the deer would come right up to it. None of us had ever been that close to a wild animal before. This deer is in the small grassy area between the cabin and our driveway.


The park was heavily wooded but, as we learned, it wasn’t always that way. When the cabins were built there were few trees surrounding them. They weren’t removed during construction – there just weren’t any. Go figure! After construction the trees were added. Today the park is full of trees and shady paths and creeks like this one abound.


Naturally, being in such a gorgeous setting inspired hiking. The naturalist led us on a hike up the Loblolly Trail. He was very knowledgeable about all kinds of things like how to tell pine trees apart by the number of needles it produces in a packet. Who knew?


Part of the trail led through an area affected by a fire a few years ago. It was fascinating and encouraging to see how the forest was regenerating.


Here’s the real highlight of the hike – wild blueberries! They were all over and we spent quite a while picking them. Yum! There were ripe blackberries too.

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Here are the Squishy Purple Socks that I made for Stinkerbelle. I have to say that when I bought the yarn quite a while ago on Elann it was a total impulse buy as are most of my purchases on that site. I’m not sure I even had a clue how to make a sock at the time. It was cheap and purple and it looked soft – that was it.

Since buying the yarn I’ve made quite a few socks and what I’ve learned made me wary of the Elann Esprit. I feared that the cotton with the elastic content would be too weird to knit. How would I get gauge? How tight should I pull it? Would the texture of the yarn obscure any pattern I tried?

After reading the positive things that Theresa said about the yarn I decided it was time to give it a try. I’m happy I did. I’m also going to buy more. I am jealous of Stink’s socks and I want my own. They are so soft and inviting. The best word I have for the fabric created is squishy. It’s a little like gym socks but softer.

One more thing before I stop talking about these socks. Since they were an experiment of sorts, and since Stink is 7 and won’t notice or care – I did 2 different heels. The first sock was a wrapped short row heel. I still hate it. It’s no fun. It never comes out right for me. Blech! The second sock has a heel I saw in the pattern for Priscilla Gibson-Roberts’ Priscilla’s Dream Socks. It worked so much better for me. I’ve got 2 pictures here so that you can try to detect the difference. Can you tell which is which? Here’s a hint – the first sock looks a little worn.