New Year's Eve

It's overcast this morning. We had rain last night and likely will get more before the day is over. That's just fine; I like days like this. They are soothing in a way. Our plans for the day include staying in and doing knitting or spinning, so the weather really won't impact that.

I played more with my Bosworth minis yesterday. They are wonderful. The paduak spindle spins better than the walnut, but husband thinks perhaps the hook just needs some adjustment. I spun up the sample fiber that Sheila had started on the spindles and am now ready to tackle either some silk hankies or some silk roving that I bought at SAFF this fall.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have some Christmas money that was given with the instruction to spend it on fiber related goodies for myself. I've had a serious case of lust for Golding's Midnight Sky spindle since the day I laid eyes on it. It is heavier than any of my other spindles at close to 60 grams, so it would fit into the collection nicely. I've heard good things about the spin of these spindles, too. I probably will order this on Tuesday. I'd thought of buying myself a piece of jewelry with my Christmas money, but I think the spindle will likely bring me more pleasure.

We made a trip over to Aiken yesterday with the primary goal of locating a Spring Formal gown for daughter in mind. I'm pleased to say that we were successful! Daughter is part of a social dance class in town, and they have two formals each year--Christmas and Spring. Spring Formal in particular is a BIG DEAL! The bridal shops are pretty good about not selling the same gown to more than one girl which I think is nice. That also means you cannot delay in looking for a gown, and when you find one, you'd better buy it then! We looked through the stock of one of the oldest bridal stores in the area and found several prospects. Unfortunately, many of them had already been spoken for by other girls attending the Formal. We perused a lot of catalogs, and daughter decided on one design company as being her favorite. They had a lot of the "princess" type dresses that daughter fancies. Princess dress = ball gown style. As luck would have it, the store had a gown by this designer on the rack, and it was in daughter's size and color. She tried it on, and husband said he could see her eyes light up when she stepped out of the dressing room. I'm glad he went with us for this shopping trip. I know daughter well, and when she has her mind made up, there's no changing it. She knows what she likes which makes it much easier to shop. This is the dress daughter will be wearing. (Please disregard the hoochie mama pose of the model.) This photo does not do justice to the gown. It is absolutely magnificent in person. It includes spaghetti straps that can be attached as well as a shoulder wrap in matching tulle netting with beading and sequins on the ends of the wrap. Daughter's dress is lilac.

We tried a great wine this weekend by Duplin Winery out of NC. We like sweet red wine, and their Hatteras Red certainly fits the bill. It is delicious. We had it with dinner, but I think it would go well as a dessert wine. The muscadine flavor reminds me of childhood and time spent munching grapes off our grape vine or the vines at my aunt and uncle's house. I am eager to try more wines by Duplin. We found them at our local Fresh Market store, and they are quite affordable.