trish ca-lives.

We went on vacation. Just a little one. But it was pretty aaaaamazing.

We stayed at Ravenwood Castle in Hocking Hills for the weekend. We both took Friday off work, and headed down there. Due to problems that were entirely (not) my fault, we totally and completely missed our exit off the freeway - but that's because we never actually passed it. So we grabbed a map, and made our own way. It only took twice as long as expected, but we got to drive through so much green and over so many hills it was all okay. Except for where the road closed, and we had to backtrack 30 minutes. That was stressful, but we all survived.

Then we checked in at our little cottage which was delightful and cozy with a huuge bathtub. And ran over to Old Man's Cave for some hiking and walking around and being part of the green. We took the long way back, intending for dinner in Rockbridge, but there weren't actually any places to eat there. So, to the 'city' we went, where there was one restaurant open. And the food was delightful. Well, the Goat Cheese Walnut Potato Skins were. The rest was just okay.

Saturday involved getting up with the sun (I'm not very good at sleeping in anymore, it seems) and a lesiurely breakfast on the back deck of the castle. We stopped at various shit shops, and purchased various knick knacks. We headed into Nelsonville, got a coffee, walked around the town square. Nelsonville Pottery had a fantastic statue of a lady I just had to have, as well as coffee bean soap! The Spinning Turtle was delightful, with a pretty large selection. Both high end and moderate yarns. As well as SPINDLES and roving. So I purchased an Ashford Turkish drop spindle and a couple ounces of roving! I've been denying the desire to spin for so long; it felt good to give in to a bit of temptation. I haven't gotten very far yet, though. The shop owner gave me an "introductory lesson" except that she was terribly flighty and all over the place - and didn't once let my touch the spindle in her presence. So it was largely useless. I'm bumble through, though, once I have the ability to sit and focus. Pants got a potholder loom, and some cotton loops. She's making potholders pretty obsessively right now; it's darling. We broke out some pretty cotton yarn the other night, and wove with that instead of the loops. The thing came out pretty, and feels just about right. I wouldn't use it to take our cast iron pans out of the oven, though.

I've been baking bread! It's fun. Especially since we don't/can't eat store bought bread. It's nice to have it around, again, for little nibbles and morning toast with eggs. I used it to make Toad in the Hole for breakfast on Monday; it was amazing. I need that all the time for breakfast. Because it uses different flours than standard bread, it's incredibly different. But, the last time I ate store bought bread, I thought the texture was wierd. Ha. Funny how quickly paradigms can change.

On the needles right now I've got my Muddy Waters scarf, which is coming along nicely. It's probably about 18" long right now. I started a sock with Comfort sock before vacation, but I'm only about 4 rounds into the to right now. I'm still working on a grocery bag. I completed one, but I disappointed with how much stretch is in it. I might just end up working a pattern of my own I've been working on in my head. We'll see...