It's almost overwhelming. Where to start?
Back in August we had heard about the Okanagan Fall Wine Festival that's held the first week of October in British Columbia. We thought about going, but our first priority at the time was for our Uncle Otto. Since his passing on September 19th our days before and after the funeral were so emotionally draining, and busy that it was a welcome reprieve to think about getting away. So October 3 we left for Valemount, B.C. picked up my mom and headed for British Columbia's wine country for some wine education. A few pic's......
Fall colours heading into the Alberta Rockies
Just taking a leisurely walk alongside the road.
A view from the balcony at Gray Monk Estate Winery.
Grapes waiting to be processed.
Mom and DH tasting some grapes right from the vine.
The cellar at Mission Hill Winery.
The view from the outside bistro at Dirty Laundry Vineyard.
Wine tasting at Jackson-Triggs Okanagan Winery.
It was great to get some knitting in while driving, and I started a new sock KAL designed by Kirsten from Through the Loops.
The free pattern can be found on Ravelry: Fans of Through the Loops.I had full intentions to get all these 'in progress' sock pictures with the vineyards as a back drop, but after the wine tasting I never remembered to do it...Geesh.
A great time was had by all three of us. We visited 16 wineries in five days, and we all agreed it would be something we'd love to do again. There are so many wineries and vineyards in the Okanagan that a person could go back and not visit the same ones.
Of course no trip is complete until I've visited the local yarn shops. There was only one shop in Kelowna. Kelowna Yarn and Needlecrafts........
I bought this......
And I couldn't keep my hands from smooshing it the rest of trip.The second fibre shop stop was in Armstrong B.C. on our way back to Valemount. We stopped in and had a visit with Sharon Wickstrom from Homespun Haven. What a wonderful shop she had!
It's in her home in a big room situated over her garage. I was inspired, and she had such patience with all our questions. I found out that she's hoping to teach some courses at next spring's HWSDA's conference at Old's College in Olds, Alberta, May 22-24, 2009. Hopefully next spring I'll be able to attend one of Sharon's classes.
I've never seen so many spools of yarn. Click to embiggen.
Sharon was showing me one of Ashford's looms. This ones called The Knitter's Loom. She gave us a mini demo and I'm putting it on my Christmas list.
I bought this for the stash...............
This grey is something I never heard of before. It's combed wool in a natural gray colour. It is a bit on the itchy side, but it has some wonderful fuzziness to it which I'm hoping t
o incorporate in some projects..................................>
So I need to take pictures of my works in progress right now. That'll be my next post....Stay warm everybody!
2 comments:
I can see why you do that wine tour Charlene. It's incredibly beautiful....I was saying 'Wow" at those pics. I hope to someday take my DH to western Canada to show him the beauty. We are saving our money right now for a trip to visit family in Holland next summer.
My goodness Charlene looks like you had a great trip. Your pictures are lovely. I really liked that one of the wine cellar. That is neat. I've never been to a winery. Thank you for posting those pictures.
All that fiber and yarn. Looks like you found some really great buys.
In answer to your question on my blog, I have a top loading washer.
Also, I think I'm going to have to wash the hat one more time. It's still a tiny bit too big. I've also taped some more on the sheep picture and added two more sheep. I'll post another picture when I'm satisfied with the looks of it. Aren't fibercrafts fun?
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