Knitting On Vacation

As I mentioned in my last post, the One Stitch Cardigan, this time done in handspun, was my vacation knitting. The night before we left on a road trip to Alberta to visit my mom and her husband I had the pocket linings done and the cast on and a couple of foundation rows done. Over the next several days quite a lot of knitting was accomplished as we drove and drove and drove.

Here we see the sweater, in its infancy, enjoying the view at a rest stop just outside of Osoyoos, at lunch time, on our first day. With both side-fronts and the back being knit in one piece on a long circular needle, the progress looks slow but is coming along nicely.



At days end we checked into the Prestige Hotel in Nelson, BC. Here the cardigan basks in the sun warming the balcony overlooking the lake.



The following day my husband drove and drove and drove some more while I knit and knit and knit. He prefers to drive, and I prefer to knit so it works out perfectly. We arrived at my mom's condo in the early evening and for the next two days I completely forgot to use my camera. Oh, I thought about it a few times, but the camera was always left back in the guest suite. That means I didn't get any pictures of my mom and her husband, their new condo, our walk along the paths at Henderson Lake, or Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden . The clickable links will have to suffice. After three evenings and two days enjoying family we headed toward home again. In the late afternoon we stopped for the night, once again in Nelson, BC, a convenient halfway point. This time we stayed at the ancient old Hume Hotel which has been renovated more than once.



These two pictures, above and below, are from the hotel's website. Although the one below is not our exact room, it does show the decorating style of the room we stayed in on the fourth floor. One very noticeable quirk of the old hotel is the very warped and unlevel wooden floors in the hallways and rooms. Although we found it quite entertaining to be walking uphill to look out the window or staggering sideways on the way to the washroom, I think it might be quite hazardous to elderly or tipsy patrons.



And then there is the elevator. I stayed at this hotel years ago (named "The Heritage" at the time) and one ride in the jerking, shuddering, closet sized* contraption has made me vow never to step foot in it again. This time I happily jogged up the 4 flights of stairs numerous times to avoid even the suggestion that I step inside that claustrophobia inducing nightmare. While we were bringing in the luggage and a few valuables that we didn't want to leave in the car overnight, I wheeled the heavy suitcase as far as the elevator, left it in my husband's care, and met him on the fourth floor just as the doors to the elevator opened there. Yes, I was able to take the stairs faster than the elevator was able to lurch its way up the four floors.

Despite the way it sounds, I really enjoyed my stay at the Hume Hotel. Sure it's quirky, but it's not a cookie cutter duplicate of every other hotel out there. It has a unique personality that you won't see anywhere else. It's also super clean, the staff are friendly, and a nice breakfast in the lovely little restaurant is included at no additional charge.




Another progress photo of the cardigan. Here it lounges on the desk in our room. The pockets are in place and the shaping for the dolman sleeves has begun. From here on out the rows get very, very long. At their longest point there will be 504 stitches per row.



This is the view out our little window. The building across the street used to be the Post Office, but now houses the museum.



* When I say "closet sized" I mean it. Apparently during one of the renovations an existing closet was refitted as an elevator.