hot to trot

I was totally smitten with this little horsey when I spotted it at an antique shop in Pennsylvania.... and I'm very happy to report this treasure is now in my living room!! 

Planning to hang it in the window this weekend - I think it will make a fun alternative to curtains and a much prettier window view than the brick wall we currently enjoy. Giddy-up!

wine is like a peach tart

Last week I snuck away for a little vacation to Sonoma and Napa Valleys in California. It was lovely (how couldn't it be?), and it was cool that it seemed like everyone we met was totally into making something, from handmade salumi or the perfect compost pile, to oh yeah - just a little wine.

I sure learned a lot about the wine making process. At the beginning of the trip, I totally didn't understand what made a good wine versus a bad wine. Like, it's all smashed-up fermented grapes, right? I can taste the difference between good and bad, but I didn't know how they got one result over another.

By the end, I realized that making good wine is a lot like making a good peach tart. The most exquisite handmade tart from peaches homegrown with love and the most delicious butter and a delicate hand when forming the dough, versus a partially hydrogenated factory Mrs. Paul's. They may both have (basically) the same ingredients and use a (sort-of) similar process, but the end result couldn't be more different.

We even got to get a little hands-on (feet-on?) experience in the wine-making process, with this guy who actually stomps grapes by foot for some of his wines. I didn't think anybody'd done this since Lucille Ball, but what do I know? I'm just glad I wore my black shorts that day.

And a few more shots I love from the trip...

on the needles

For some mysterious reason I was recently overcome by an immediate urge to knit myself knee socks - intricately cabled knee socks. So I cast on for these Clessidra Stockings, as seen in Knitty.com Spring 2007. 

I haven't mentally committed to even finishing these, but I thought I'd knit several inches and see how I like them on my legs, and how long they're taking me, and whether my fickle crafting ways have drawn me to a new project my then. But so far so good. They sure are pretty, though they're kind of killing my hands because the needles are soooo teeny tiny. We'll see how it goes. 

They aren't as grape-y purple as the photo makes them look (thank goodness), but they are plum, and the only reason they're plum is because I had to have yarn that very moment and this is what was available. I think they'll look really nice with maybe a grey wool skirt and some clogs.

I have committed to them a bit though I must say, because I'm going on vacation in a few days, which will involve some pretty decent flying time and hopefully lots of sitting on the deck doing nothing time, and this is the only project I'm taking with me. Yep. I'm not even going to bother bring five backup projects. It's liberating... I feel like such a minimalist.