Ah, what a lovely weekend so far. Great company, luscious food, lots of knitting, spinning, and sleep. Just what I needed to regroup after my long week.
Speaking of spinning... One of my (many) purchases at Rhinebeck was some buttery soft white Polwarth that I didn't look at closely enough, because when I got it back to the bed and breakfast I discovered it was very (very very) neppy. Seeing as how I almost exclusively spin gossamer and lace weight, this was a bad thing. And it was even more frustrating because I asked for four ounces of it, and when I went to pay, I had actually been given six ounces. I went ahead and bought it all because it was so soft and I figured I could dye some. I wasn't sure if it was salvagable because I only had my Hitchhiker wheel with me, and for some reason the treadling was funky and I couldn't concentrate on drafting well enough to pick out the neps while I spun. So, once I got home, I wanted to check out the roving to see if it could be saved. I did some pre-picking and further smoothed it out as I was spinning. It was a bit labor intensive, but the resulting yarn is oh-so-soft.
I wish you could feel how heavenly this yarn is. It's on my computer desk right now and I keep petting it. Ummm...polwarth.
I've also be exercising Option Two, which is sampling for destashing. As a young and foolish spinner, I was led astray by many a fiber that was a lovely color, but not suited for my style of spinning. Or, in the case of this next fiber, was bought over the internet based on a misleading picture. Now, I know that different monitors show colors differently, but so far the fibers I've gotten haven't varied wildly from what I thought they would be based on pictures, so I believe the fault lay with the picture, not my monitor. I got into a bidding war on ebay over this fiber, which looked very lovely and pastel in the picture. And in real life... not so much. In real life, the fiber turned out to be more... well, neon.
I tried plying it to see if it could be subdued, but it doesn't appear to have worked. I'll still knit up a swatch to make sure it doesn't spontaneously mellow out, but I'm pretty sure this fiber is gonna go. I think it would make a great fun hat for a little girl (or a big girl with a love of neon pink) but I don't really see myself making a shawl out of this. I'm just not a neon shawl kind of gal.
But I am a food addict kind of gal, so I've just got to spread the word about a new-to-me restaurant that I tried today. It is called Honey (it's in Cincinnati), and it is to die for. It is so gorgeous on the inside, very simple and warm. We started with honey fries (yukon, idaho and sweet potato fries) and crispy polenta with mozzerella, dried romas and roasted garlic; entrees were duck breast with a crepe filled with cardamom pastry cream, cherry compote and swiss chard, and diver sea scallops with black truffle risotto (oh my god, bears repeating: black truffle risotto. *swoon*); dessert was a chocolate cake with cayenne pepper and garam masala, buttercream frosting and chocolate ganache. Everything was delicious, and the presentation was beautiful. I will be going back as soon as possible. Yum. Just thinking about it makes me sigh contentedly. Yes, a very good weekend so far.
# posted by Jenni @ 11/04/2006 11:09:00 PM
