Bayeux Market

When we were Bayeux, we stayed at a lovely little inn called Sainte Croix.

Very cute place. I would hesitate to call it Victorian in style (I don't know what they called that frilly and modest period in France).

It sat right on a giant tree-lined parking lot, which served as kind of a town square, where the weekly market takes place.

We found out quickly that they enjoy their sweets in Normandy. Breakfast was lovely and good, but sorely lacking protein. I knew we were in trouble when baskets of bread, croissants, slices of brioche and jam were laid in front of us. Later came the pot du caramel and malty sweet waffels. Enough already! I need an egg! I don't eat that much sugar and carbs in a week, never mind at the breakfast table. Still...it was tasty.

The market had a lot to offer. We enjoyed sampling and chatting to the cider and calvados producer who sent us home with a crate of his goods. Being somewhat in the countryside, they sold livestock!

There was a vendor who sold tiny little songbirds.

There was also the typical food and produce vendors.

The locals line up at the Chevaline stand. You can't usually buy horse steaks from a regular butcher, but they have specialty butchers that are exclusively dealing out Trigger and Flicka.

Afterwards, a nice walk around the town to try to re-establish healthy blood sugar levels.

Moving is Hard Work.

My to-do list has been pretty gruesome lately. No one wants to hear about my mundane everyday scurrying around, packing things up and itemizing everything for insurance, filling out visa applications, opening accounts overseas and closing them over here. I have spent a great deal of time listening to hold music, and happily knitting away here and there while trying really hard not to whip myself into a murderous rage that I will one day take out on Kenny G.

That is all.

I promise for some more interesting content soon. Adventures are in the works...

I did some spinning!

While at a friend's house over the weekend for a little spin-in I realized that spinning is the guiltiest of my pleasures. I hardly ever do it anymore. I always feel like there is something else that I should be doing. It also seems like that i can't just sit in front of the wheel for 5 minutes here or there- when I'm comfy and getting a groove on, I will spin for hours and hours, until the roving runs out. I don't really have that luxury right now, so it's been quiet. I'm trying to work something out with my conscience- we are in the middle of some hard bargaining in regards to the whole spinning thing.

First up is a Loop Spontaneous Spinning Batt.



I corespun it as thick as I could on a wool core.



I also let the silk ribbon randomly wrap around the core.



It's sparkly and beautiful. I got almost 180 yards out of it, and it's fairly heavy weight.

Another loop batt. I really loved the colors in this one.



These are so fun to spin, but they make a glittery mess all over the house.



I spun a thick, even single. Well. Not really even. I just let it be what it wanted to be, and sometimes a big slub of silk would give it some interesting texture. 164 yards.



I don't have a before photo of this, but it's 8oz of Spunky Eclectic fiber in the "Turkish Delight" colorway and South African Fine fiber. It spun up similar to Merino.



300 yards of worsted 2-ply. I feel like I got the colors to line up pretty evenly. This will make a nice pair of stripey mittens if I ever get around to it.

Oh, one more thing before I continue to be placed on hold. I sent an old friend of mine some bits of handspun that I had saved up over the years from various experimental phases and workshops and samples. Within days, this landed in my inbox:

So CYOOOTE! I never thought about making an abstract chicken before. Thank you Beth for taking those scraps off my hands!

Eating New York

I have been eating like crap lately.



It's all good crap though. All this packing and planning and preparation for moving means I'm stressed, and if I'm stressed I'm more willing to eat than if I'm not stressed. Added to that stress is the stress of the fear that I won't be able to get a good deal of comfort food after next month. So I do a grand tour and make sure I'm getting the good stuff while the getting is good. Don't cry for me though. I'm sure I won't starve to death in the coming years.



Fried chicken from Hill Country snuck in there. I didn't even know that I liked fried chicken until now. I had my brakes on at the mere suggestion of fried chicken, but lucky for everyone else I am easily coerced when pie was mentioned. It's tragic, really. People would always be taken aback by the fact that I don't like Radiohead and I don't care for fried chicken. I can say that at least I'm sticking to my musical taste (or lack thereof, apparently) but currently no chicken is safe in my presence.



Their chicken is marvelous- tender and not dry at all, with a crispy addictive coating. I haven't eaten enough chicken to tell you more or compare it to anything but I'm pretty sure this is as fantastic as it gets.



It's a good thing that I've been taking out the rest of my stress at the gym every day.