Goodbye Autumn & Knitting Pattern Sneak Peek

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the seasons change, with today being the first day of meteorological winter already. I suppose I must say goodbye to beloved autumn, but not before I get a chance to share a couple of things from that season.

We enjoyed the fall leaf season with a visit to the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee after our October weekend trip to Rhinebeck for the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival (see this post). 

While there, we found a cute little shop in Gatlinburg, The Smoky Mountain Spinnery. 

 

Although small in size, owner Nancy has packed it full of fiber and yarn for spinning, knitting and weaving.

We enjoyed browsing drop spindles, 

a selection from yarn companies like Louet,

and Brown Sheep

as well as all sorts of fiber including some terrific Icelandic wool.

The tiny shop is also loaded with fiber-related antiques from the mountain area, like those above and shown in the photo at the top of this post, and offers spinning, weaving and knitting supplies and classes.

While we did visit this one shop, most of our time was spent hiking and running through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We enjoyed the lovely rivers

and did a lot of running on mountain trails.

I don't recommend falling on this trail or you might end up with seriously bruised ribs and torn up knees like I did.

We loved the natural beauty of the area, and even saw a little black bear, but she was frightened by the tourists and ran into the woods before we could get a photo.

Another activity I engaged in during the trip was to knit a few experimental samples for my upcoming pattern releases, like this scarf in a sculptural cable and lace combination (sorry for the terrible photo, this was taken quickly on the floor of our cabin).

This version is a very rough prototype, but it gives you an idea of the final design. The scarf shown was knit in Berroco's Ultra Alpaca yarn. 

The final, refined pattern version is currently being test knit and will be released soon; I'll have better photos and more information in an upcoming post.

I hope to have much more to share about all my current projects soon. Until then, peace, blessings and happy knitting to you!