North Carolina, I miss you................

I am home from my short visit to North Carolina and I just want to jump in my car and head back.  It is so beautiful, so green and lush, perfect temperatures and  beautiful mountains everywhere you look, you can't get better than that.  I had a very uneventful trip up, I was ahead of the storm by about 30 miles the whole time.  I was lucky I only had a bit of rain.  Seems like the rest of Florida, Georgia and North Carolina got loads of rain and wind, but not me!  Little Buddy's school was canceled for two days because of a chance of flooding in our county.  My house was dry and didn't even lose power.  Thanks for your well wishes for a safe drive for me.

My friend and I chatted, ate, knit, ate, made some small day trips, read, knit, ate and slept.  The weather was gorgeous.  The company was great.  Just spending time with an old friend is the best, especially one that has been through so much fighting cancer all the while her husband was at the end of his fight with cancer.  

On Friday we went to visit Skyvue Ranch where they raise beautiful alpacas.  This is the view from their front porch.  What a great way to live.  Carol, the owner, was as hospitable and gracious as she could be.  She has a small fiber shop in her basement and yup I had to buy a little yarn.

She taught us all about these beautiful creatures.  They are gentle souls, only spitting when they are upset.  They make lovely little sounds, and are just as sweet as can be.  Did you know that alpacas do not have upper teeth so they can't bite?  They are sheared once a year and can have babies almost at any time so the boys and girls need to be separated.  A pregnancy can last 11 1/2 months, that is a long time!

This is Lil Pumpkin.  She is about to give birth in just a few weeks.  I bought some of her beautiful yarn.

Above is Patches, he was my favorite.  He was hanging out with the guys.  They also have a guard Llama called Sargent Pepper.  You can call for a tour, which is free if you are ever in the area.  You can find out more at their website here.

I felt I had to buy some yarn because it was only us and the owner, I know it doesn't take much for me to make an excuse to buy yarn, but how can you not buy yarn after seeing those sweet faces?   I also bought this cute little alpaca, not for Little Buddy for myself.  He got some new Paw Patrol pj's!

On Saturday we spent the afternoon in the middle of historic downtown Franklin.  It is a wonderful area full of shops and little places to eat.  This is the view for the center of town, isn't it beautiful?

This is my second favorite yarn shop in the world, Silver Threads & Golden Needles.  It is a gorgeous store with so many beautiful things to see. 

My favorite part of the store is the yarn they have made for the store.  It is so soft and wonderful.  The owner hand dyes the yarn in incredible colors.   This yarn is Black Cherry.  I kept going back and back to it so I thought it was the perfect purchase.  Remember souvenir does not count when you are on a yarn diet.

On Saturday we went to a fun dish store south of Asheville.  We saw a billboard for this store and found it was only a few miles away.  It was a wonderful store, but actually too full if you know what I mean.  It had everything from yarn, to weaving and felting supplies.  But by this time I was at my yarn purchase max so just wandered the store for a few minutes.  It was packed full if you are ever in the area.

  

When I returned home I was able to spend a few hours with my middle son who was home visiting from college.  I had enough time to squeeze him and kiss his beautiful face.  He is not loving college yet, actually he has roommates that are older and gone all the time but he is adapting.  Tough on a mother's heart isn't it when one of your children are making a tough adjustment.

Okay I am off to work, have a good day.