Wheel of Socks

 Socknitting Heaven, the Bavarian Alps, and A Beautiful Drive

We loaded Michelle's car early on Friday morning and headed south toward Hechingen and Bavaria.  Our first stop was in Hechingen.  We visited the Opal Sock Yarn factory and store, where we were treated to a tour of the steaming and balling room by our host, Felix. This picture shows the yarn just before it's rolled into balls and labeled.  The large cakes of yarn here are from the "Best of Opal" Lollipop collection.

    

Michelle at the Opal Factory Store



I bought a little yarn...



Of course we visited the Opal Factory Outlet Store...even Michelle bought sock yarn as well as some finished socks.

On the way out of the steaming and balling room, I pointed to a large garbage bag into which the workers were placing odds and ends of yarn from the various processes there, and said, "THAT is the bag I want!", and Felix went off into the depths of the factory and came back carrying a bag for me!  He said they give them away to schools, usually, but I could have one since I asked. : )  It's just a lot of very short bits and pieces, but I think there may be enough length to make some MonsterSocks.

Oh...I bought a few skeins of yarn, too...

Here are some views of the town of Hechingen :


Narrow street and walkway to lower level



Half-timbered building

Just outside of Hechingen, we saw a castle crowning a mountain in the distance.  We made a small detour, and discovered that Hechingen is the ancestral home of the Hohenzollern family of Europe, and this was their castle.

Tower near the Hohenzollern Castle





The Hohenzollern Castle on its hilltop



As we continued, I was treated to my first view of the Bavarian Alps.  I have seen mountains, the American Rockies, Great Smoky Mountains, the Ozarks, but the Alps are different from all of them. They were simply breathtaking.



We reached the town of Garmisch and the Edelweiss Hotel and Resort in early evening, and settled into our room for the night.  This was the view from our balcony on Saturday morning:

        

Saturday: Dachau and Munich

The Bavarian Alps