Hiking

Yesterday a friend and I went up to North Georgia for a bit of hiking at Tallulah Gorge State Park (I call it hiking even though we technically never left a trail and our packs both weighed less than 50 lbs.).

It was a great day for hiking, 70 F/21 C and overcast, and the views were spectacular. We decided to hike down into the gorge to see some of the falls better.

There's a suspension bridge across the gorge. Very cool looking even though the swinging motion made me a little nervous.

There are over 1000 steps down into the gorge but it was worth it. Isn't this picture amazing?

The trails around the rim of the gorge were lovely with all the falling leaves.

Before we stopped for lunch we decided to hike to Inspiration Point.

Inspiration Point is perched almost at the very tip top of a 1000 foot bluff.

Not many people can say this was their view for lunch yesterday:

Just as we finished up lunch it started drizzling and by the time we got to the car it was starting to rain. We timed everything perfectly and were on the road back home by the time it really started to come down.

Needless to say, I needed a lengthy nap yesterday.

Today I'm dyeing up some yarn. I have a custom order of Juniper Moon Farm cormo that needs to be done as a prize from the EEROP/Project Hope Christmas knitting drive from over the summer. I'm also going to dye some yarn for myself (something that doesn't happen very often)! There is a new mystery knit along designed by LISMI that I'm hoping to get around to during the Christmas holidays that I would like to use my self dyed yarn for. I would like to start it before then but I still have Christmas knitting to get to, though it is coming along nicely. Oh, and I have to start Thanksgiving cooking today too :)

Vacation

After much anticipation, my week of Thanksgiving vacation has arrived! I'm looking forward to relaxing and spending time with my family. And eating. I'm really looking forward to that. To kick off my vacation I spent this weekend with my family at Stone Mountain Park.

They were having their annual winter festivities so my parents took two of my younger cousins out for the evening. I came along to help with crowd control and to get my first taste of the holiday season. There was a snow angel (who does a presentation at the end of the night complete with a snowfall).

And I had my first Santa sighting.

Seeing Santa was pretty cool (even for a grown up).

Having the whole week off has put me more in the holiday mood than in previous years. In the past I've felt like Thanksgiving just sneaks up on you and then, once that's over, it's pretty much Christmas. This year I feel like I'm actually prepared for turkey day and Christmas parades and carols and all that jazz. And I've been itching to make some warm winter wear (even though the temps are back up in the 70s (Fahrenheit)/ 20s (Celsius) this week). Something cozy and thick and wool. What am I knitting with though? Cotton. At least it's red and green... (pictures of works in progress to come later).

Sometimes I Over Do It

I wish that statement applied to making cakes or exercising or even online gaming but it does, in fact, refer to my tendency to try and juggle as many balls at once as I possibly can. You can imagine the outcome. At some point along the way my body will just throws up it's hands and says "Enough! You won't slow down? I will make you slow down!" and then I get grossly sick. Like strep for the 4th time this year sick. Like tossing and turning all night because I felt feverish sick. Like waking up with body aches sick. Yeah, something like that. Oh, and did I mention I was supposed to be baby-sitting all weekend? Um, yeah...Not happening. At least not until tonight when my antibiotics have had a chance to fully kick in and make me feel less like a zombie. Let's focus on happier things shall we?

When I was at SAFF I started making some fingerless gloves for myself. It was freezing there and fingerless gloves seemed like something that would be good for the cold. And I had a little sample yarn left over from dyeing to try.

Well, this is the almost finished product but you get the idea (they have been completed since this picture was taken). This is in my Olive: I Love colorway and I've really fallen in love with this color and dye job.

Still working on grad school stuff which pretty much takes up the majority of my free time. There's a ton of reading to do and then 4 one page long discussion postings I have to make a week. I'm enjoying it but that does mean my other activities are severely limited and mostly relegated to eating and sleeping.

I did manage to start my Christmas knitting last week. I've got quite a few things I'm ambitiously thinking I can finish in just 6 (or less) short weeks. Won't show you the projects here because there are quite a few gift recipients who read this blog but I will show you the nice project bag I got from Joann's Fabric and Craft store for buying a butt load of yarn.