Family reunion, family vacation and new yarn

What an adventure we had. I can tell you one thing for sure, it is a long drive across NC and twice as long back across! We made frequent stops for yarn and such. We left NLR on Thursday night, drove to Franklin, KY and spent the day in Berea, KY. I love this town. I visited a yarn store and did not buy any yarn! I was holding out for later indulgences. We arrived in Williamsburg, KY that late afternoon and spent the weekend visiting relatives and going to the family reunion on Sunday morning. Late-afternoon Sunday, we struck out for Asheville, NC. Monday morning found me at Earth Guild shopping for dyes. I bought several colors that I use often and had been out of for a while. I, also, took advantage of the fact that they had some dyes for bamboo and other plant fibers. I had bought some finger weight bamboo yarn in Dallas in April at the DFW Fiber Fest and didn't realize that I needed a different dye for it. I bought plum and peacock. I bought a cone of linen 14/2 lace weight for a special Proverbs 31 project/design that I will be working on this fall.
This is some Lambs Pride Worsted that I bought for a Knitting in Peace Cardi/Vest. I will make this one a size small. I am looking for a size 32" model to knit it for.
After Earth Guild, we had a latte at the Green Sage. We then went and bought some specialty spices at The Spice Tea Exchange in Asheville. We bought Vietnamese Cinnamon. I used some of Monday night to make an apple torte. It has a wonderful flavor. I will make cinnamon rolls with some of it soon. We, also, bought Ancho, Hungarian Sweet paprika, and Smoked Hot paprika. We used some of the smoked hot as a rub on our salmon and tilapia last night, very yummy!
Then we stopped in The Chocolate Fetish. I would show you what we bought there, but it is gone! They have incredible truffles!
My next yarn stop was Yarn Paradise. I bought buttons for future designs and an extra skein of Cascade wool just in case the sweater I was knitting took more yarn than I had planned. I have a burgandy squarish one to go with the rust and brown one on a future knit. The buttons on the card are my arm-and-leg buttons. I thought they were really unique. I did not realize soon enough that the price was EACH! I have never seen an EACH on a card of buttons. I will have to design a gorgeous sweater for these pricey buttons!
We left Asheville for Edenton, NC. That was to be our home base for a few days. We drove from there to the Outer Banks. We stopped to see where the Kitty Hawk took its first flight.

We visited a lighthouse on one of the Outer Bank islands.
My boys!
Then we drove all the way to Corolla and walked the beach.
My honey wading in the Atlantic.
This was Ben's first time to see the Atlantic Ocean. The last time that I had seen it was the summer that I was pregnant with him in 1988 and did not know it, yet.
Ben looking for some pretty seashells for Grace.
I love walking on the beach. I could just walk for hours. If we were not so white and easily sunburned, we would have spent the whole day there, just walking for miles and miles. It always saddens me when we have to go! I would be content just to spend 5 day walking the beach. I'm not much of a swimmer, but I love wading in the shallows, letting the tide wipe at my ankles.
When we left Edenton, we made our way back to Asheville for the night and started toward home by way of Gatlinburg, TN.
Ahhhh Gatlinburg. I say that for one main reason, Smoky Mountain Spinnery! I have visited many yarn stores and I do believe this one is probably my ALL TIME favorite. They had an unbelievable selection of yarns, fibers, tools, wheels, looms, weaving yarn......everything a yarn addict could possibly desire! The shop owner was nice and help. She let me look and look and look. I had such an incredible time deciding what to get and what not to get. I passed up an overshot coverlet that was hand woven by an weaver in NC. I could not get the yarn and the coverlet. Next time I am there, it will follow me home!
I bought a cone of sportweight linen. My favorite purchase were these hand made sheep buttons and some Lambs Pride Worsted to match them. The yarn color was only important because they matched these unbelievably wonderful, perfect buttons. I am going to do my Twisted Yoke Cardigan in this yarn and use these buttons.
As you can tell from this post, I had many hours on the road to knit. Before I left, Cindy and I and Vicki and I talked about what I was taking to knit on this trip. Cindy just knew I would run out of things to knit. She was right and I ended up having to start the yoke strip on a Knitting in Peace Cardi/Vest with the Lambs Pride Worsted that I bought at Earth Guild. Thankfully, I had bought that yarn for this design.
I took with me a ball of turquoise Cotton Ease for a yoke strip on me a Knitting in Peace Cardi/Vest (finished). I took some Cascade 220 in a brownish gray heather for a reknit of my Lacy Leaf Cardigan (finished to the neck band). I took some orange/red heather Galway wool and Jojoland Rhythm in autumn shades for a Two Colored Buttoned Sontag/Shawl(finished). I took 2 balls of Knit Picks Stroll in Merlot Heather for a Slice of Autumn (finished). And I took some Olive Green wool and some Jojoland Rhythm in navy/red/olive shades for a Two Colored Shrug(half finished, I only brought one ball of the olive yarn and could not go on with out another ball), so that left me to start the yoke strip in the Lambs Pride. I finished that one, too.
I will post photos of the finished knitting soon. I can't give it all to you in this post!
I leave you with an really funny photo of one of the neighborhood cats. I call him FatCat. He has the look on his face that I do in the morning before I have had my coffee quota.
BTW, I survived my vacation without any weight GAIN!!!!!!! I think what saved me was the 20 peaches that I bought in KY on the first Friday of our trip. Everytime I got the munchies, I ate a peach. They were so delicious!