snowdonia - day 2

On our second day in Snowdonia the sun finally made an appearance, which by a happy coincidence had been the day we chose to take the train up to Mt. Snowdon. Before that, however, we decided to take a short hike in the beautiful valley of Cwm Idwal. It's an easy path that goes all around the lake in its middle, and it took us about 2.5 hours. The views are outstanding, so it was definitely worth going.







After that we made our way to Llanberis, where we had a quick lunch at the station before boarding our train up to Mt. Snowdon. From the train we could see the hiking trail and a lot of people on it, and we almost wished we had decided to do the same, but unfortunately we didn't have the time for a full day hike this time. Again, the views during the train ride and at the summit are absolutely amazing ...










Next we went back to Caernarfon, to explore the castle area a bit more, and have another delicious dinner at the Black Boy Inn (next time we'll remember to book ahead, so we won't have to eat twice outside, as it was a bit chilly for that)









Back in our lovely hotel there was still time for a short walk after dinner to watch the sunset ...

snowdonia - day 1

:: Beddgelert



:: Views from the road (A4086, Llanberis Pass)






:: Dinner at the Black Boy Inn (Caernarfon)


:: Harlech Castle





:: Dolwyddelan Castle


:: Swallow Falls


More photos at Flickr

on and off the needles

So the other day I dug up all the unfinished socks I had laying around and came up with all of the above. I think these will be perfect for finishing during summer, since they're such small projects and so quite portable for carrying in my bag wherever we go. At least that's my hope, because to this date I have only ever finished one pair of socks, and that's because I really loved the colors. So there you go, my knitting goal for this summer, to finish 4 pairs of socks.



On the other hand, here's the finished cardigan for S. I finally found the perfect buttons for it, and I'm very happy with the result. It took me almost a year, and I had no idea what size would turn out (the pattern is written for worsted weight yarn, and I used a gorgeous dark red 4-ply I bought in Berlin last year instead), but I think it should fit her this next winter (or so I hope)

Pattern: Tiny tea leaves, by Melissa La Barre
Yarn: GGH Merino Soft (2 skeins)
Needles: 3.25 / 3.5 mm
Size: 2 years