Gobble *shiver* Gobble

Happy Belated T-day to everyone. Boy do I have some fun stories.

First, let me catch you up on my knitting retreat. As usual, I spent a weekend in Nov with my buds at Clara Parke's knitting retreat. Still being dedicated to the whole P90X gig, I ran and hid every time we had a meal, which meant I ended up spending a lot less time with everyone than I would have liked. Not that mealtimes are all that long, but since I ran and hid, I ended up driving to other locations (OK, OK - yes! Yarn shops!!!), which reduced the amount of time I had at the retreat. Seriously, it wasn't nearly enough time, so next year, I plan on meeting a couple of buds in Boston a few days before the retreat so I can get my fix. I did have a good time though. Spent too much on yarn (what a shocker, huh?), and on one of my escapes, I got to check out a Rowan exhibit that was on display at the Lenox Library. Personally, I liked the quilts the best, but I loved this jacket. Very nice. And I had to take a shot of this dress, as I actually know someone who made it. The end of the retreat came all too soon and I had to wish my gals farewell, but I'm looking forward to next year already. Also looking forward to spending a weekend with them down in Georgia in summer 2010, and, spending a week doing BRAG in June. I need something to keep me going after New Years Eve, and I figure this is the ticket.

So, on to this past weekend. The SigO and I went to Garrett County, MD, which is the far west part of Maryland - almost to WV. It's a very scenic area, with lots to do, all of which we got skunked out of. But, before I get to that, let me tell you about Art's Market. Oh yeah, SigO - I'm going there! And I'm taking my readers with me!! So, here's the deal. Tuesday, 24 Nov, we still don't have plans for the weekend. All the ideas I'd come up with had fallen through and I was plumb out of ideas. So, I called the SigO and dropped it in his lap. He googled Mid Atlantic Resorts, and came up with Yellowstone Village Cabin rentals in Maryland. I checked it out on line and thought it looked pretty great, so he called their office and reserved a cabin for us for the weekend. Yay SigO, right? Showing great initiative, and all that. Now, had he only shown enough initiative to get an address...that would have really been something - but then, how humdrum would our thanksgiving have been if he'd been so normal, right? See, the rental agency informed him they would be closed on thanksgiving, and he would need to pick up the keys at a location near the cabin. He listened very carefully to the instructions and wrote down "Art's Market" as the place to get the keys. No address. No intersection. Nope. Just Art's Market. But how hard can that be, right? I mean, we're talking a small little town here - surely all we need to do is ask a local where Art's Market is...and so we did. Many, many, many times. We even stopped at the Maryland State Police - nobody had ever heard of Art's Market. We even stopped at Arrowhead Market and asked them. No dice. Three hours later, after driving all over Garrett County, with the turkey sitting in the ice chest in the back seat, we're still trying to find who might have our key - and, oh yeah - where our cabin might be. Finally, we find a sign that says Yellowstone Village Cabins (I'll give him the props - he saw the sign), and hooray - that's where we're supposed to be staying - now which cabin - oh, and yeah - still no key. So, the SigO started knocking on doors. One by one. Undeterred by the fact that everyone would be sitting down to Thanksgiving meals, he was not to be defeated (no surprise there - he was imagining the weekend back home, had he failed - not a pretty picture). Finally, he found someone who knew where to go. You guessed it. Arrowhead Market (sound's just like Art's, right?), back where we'd looked almost three hours prior.

I literally jumped for joy when we finally got to the cabin, and I saw how nice it was. Cathedral ceilings, with nice big windows. A fireplace in the living room, and another on the deck, next to the jacuzzi. A big den downstairs (where I would do my workouts), and a nice big kitchen. The turkey came out great - I'm sure it had plenty of time to get all nice and tenderized rolling around in the back of the car for all those hours, and that's why it turned out so great. The stuffing was yummy (I think so anyway - the SigO wouldn't even try it. I made it with Quinoa, so it wouldn't be so unhealthy, and upon hearing the stuffing would be healthy, he promptly jumped in the car and drove back to Arrowhead Market to get some cornbread stuffing - never even tasted mine!), the gravy was quite tasty, and so were the green beans. The only disappointment was the pumpkin pie. Some things shouldn't even be attempted to be healthy. That night it started to snow, and we got about 3-4" total for the next day. So, we scampered off to go X-Country skiing, only the rental lodge wasn't open, and we still don't have our own equipment. So, we went up to Wisp, hoping for some snow boarding, or air boarding. Skunked again - they don't open til Dec 4th. So, we went and saw 2012. Good CG affects. While driving around, we stopped at this little corner market that also had a corner dedicated to a U.S. Post Office. I still had my traveling scarf to mail, and this was the first post office I'd seen. This, without a doubt, is the coolest market (no - it wasn't called Art's by the way) I'd ever seen. They used an old coal-heater to warm the place, and it had been in the family for generations. I just loved this place. Anyway, we didn't do much Friday, so, we hoped for enough snow to go skiing Saturday.

Saturday, we woke up to the bulk of the snow being melted. All that was left was muddy, nasty trails. So we headed home.

Sounds like a bad weekend, but let me tell you, that was my favorite Thanksgiving ever.

Don't You Wish Your Boyfriend Was Hot

Like Mine. Sing it now - you know he is!!!

But, this isn't just a gratuitous "look at my hot boyfriend" post - believe it or not, I took this picture, at least in part, for you to see the scarf I knit for him. When it was done, I told him I thought it would look good with a pea coat, and so he bought one. And now he's mega-hot. Just sayin.

And on the note of scarves, this is the latest in the traveling scarf saga.

I think it's the nicest one so far, although this is undoubtedly the worst picture I've taken. I put this off til the last minute (I know - whoa! shocker!!), and barely got it mailed out by the deadline - and then when I got to the post office, I realized I hadn't taken a picture yet, so I took a shot on the hood of my car, with the sun beaming down behind me, so yes - that's my shadow on the scarf. So, it may be difficult to tell, but you'll just have to take my word for it - it's definitely the best of the lot so far.

Otherwise, I've put all my other projects aside for now so I can get some chemo-caps knit up in time for Clara's retreat, which is now less than 2 weeks away. For those of you new to the blog, Clara Parkes is a knitter extraordinaire, who has published a few knitting books, and who has a "Knitters Review" newsletter she publishes monthly. And once a year, she has a retreat in Massachussets, and this will be my third year. I go, primarily, to hook up with friends that are also faithful to come every year. Anyway, we normally have some sort of charity we knit for, and this year (and last), it's hats for patients who have undergone chemotherapy. So, I knit one last night (in alpaca - i understand that the most important thing about the hats is that they be seamless, and in a nice, soft yarn), and I'd like to get 3 more knit up before I leave next Friday. Hats are such a nice, quickie project, it's not really a challenge to knit 4 in two weeks.
Actually, the challenge this year, will be staying on my diet at this retreat. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Oh, and this last shot is for my family - cuz by now I'm sure they're missing all the fall color they got to see while they were here.