Home again, home again, Finigan!

Well, after a delightful 4 days in Northern Minnesota, we sang our familiar homecoming chant as we pulled into the driveway last night.

Other than the first night's temperature dipping into the low 40's (a little chilly for sleeping in tents - brrr), the weather was ideal. We missed the significant rains that hit southern portions of the state and the rain that had been forecast for Northern MN held off until we were actually on the road for home. It was fortunate that the DH decided on the Bemidji area, instead of the more southern KOA's we also looked at, because there were areas of 6+ inches of rain in areas of Southern Minnesota. Yikes! We have been in prayer for people in the area because of the devastation. The DH's sister was temporarily displaced from her home, due to a mud slide that took out her gas line and air conditioner. Other's have lost their homes and a few even lost their lives. Wild weather in Minnesota, that's for sure.

Because were were camping 'unplugged', we were unaware of the situation until Sunday, when we finally turned on the phones and radio. I am just so thankful we were not out in that mess.

On a more positive note, I was allowed to make one fiber-related stop on this trip to the Bemidji Woolen Mill. This was against the rather strenuous objections of the kids, who all pronounced my fiber obsession as excessive. To quote, "You knit too much!"

My reply, "There is no such thing as too much knitting."

However, since Peeps picked up a new stuffed animal (not pictured), Bubba and Dancing Diva scored new slippers and Hockeyboy and the DH picked a new woolen lap robe for the often chilly, big-screen-t.v.-watching/playstation-playing family room, I think they are now a little more reconciled to my fiber obsession.

As for myself, the 8 skeins of gorgeous, natural homespun yarn in two different shades was all I needed to make this vacation completely perfect. The pattern I'm formulating is still in the mental cogitation stage, so I can't divulge many details yet. But I can say that I'm totally stoked about designing an outerwear cardigan for fall.

Rani asked a question about dealing with knots in sock knitting in the comments of this post. When knitting in the round, I leave very long tails and I do a lot of weaving. When I encounter a manufacturer's knot in the yarn, I cut it out and re-tie it with long tails. There are some who practice no-knot knitting, who just weave in the ends but I am not a huge fan of that method. I'll take a little lump over facing another nasty repair mess. I often split the yarn into individual plys before weaving in when the join falls in a highly visible location. Distributing the bulk of the yarn really helps the appearance, as well as making the join more secure. Alas, the ribbon yarn didn't have plys or I might have avoided that whole fiasco!

Well, my day is getting away from me and I need to head to the dance studio. Yup, it's Open House week and we're gearing up for the new dance season already.

Where did this summer go?