Last Day Tour de Fleece and Beyond.....

Sunday I spent the greater portion of the day spinning trying to get Karma Chameleon done. Here is what I ended up with by the end of the day:


Submissions close on Friday for Challenge Day and currently we are doing pretty good vote wise. I hope this next week of voting just continues to help improve our odds on winning. Is that awful of me that I'd like to win something?

Along the way movies were watched along with episodes of Stargate SG-1 season 1. Just a couple more of those left and then it's on to season 2.

I couldn't resist finishing up the Basket Rib Hand Towel:


I also couldn't resist trying out Deep Blue Sea and seeing how it knits up, the background doesn't help the colors:
This is one chart of the Sinuate pattern by Marnie Maclean. I've added another repeat and blocked it to see how it is. I think I'll keep going.

We had little visitors to the pond that I don't recognize. I'm wondering if one of their relatives was an escaped parakeet: Do you have a name for them?

Drop spindling is time intensive. It wasn't until Wednesday afternoon that I finished up all the roving into singles:

I then started plying them and even took them to the Wednesday night Sip n' Stitch at Hagen's and continued plying there. I was able to also show Judy and Mac what it looked like.

It's now Thursday and I plan on taking it with me to Insomnia for the Thursday group to hopefully finally get it finished up. I made one of my shoe boxes into a Lazy Kate and it seems to be working much better than the last plying session. I have Brandon tasked with making a drop spindle lazy Kate. He's working on it. The ladies at school are eager to see the finished yarn and what kind of project it can be made in to, so no pressure or anything. Summer school is done this next Thursday so I'll have to find a project for it also and at least start it so I can show why handspinning can be fun.

The rain and clouds were nice earlier in the week. Now we're back into sunny weather and warm, hopefully not too warm again!

School wise things were much better this week. My student likes the computer time-walk schedule that we have going and was even really happy and holding my arm several times today. Hopefully we can end the summer on a positive note.

Stage 19 & 20 and Challenge Day Prize

Stage 19 - Friday - I did an hour of spinning in the morning with Karma and then Will and I ran his errands. After dinner was made, homemade chili and cornbread, and eaten, and while watching Juno I spun for another two hours.

Stage 20 - Saturday - Time Trial - I got up and started spinning after doing the dishes. Spun for a couple of hours, got caught up on reading and also posting Deep Blue Sea in the Challenge Day Prize Contest in the Tour de Fleece 2008. The link is good if you're a Ravelry member. The contest ends on August 1st so I'll have a long wait to find out if we are good enough to win. Heck it was just cool to be able to enter, you had to have a completed yarn done.

I've spent another three hours spinning on Karma Chameleon while watching TV. I've only gotten two more blocks blocked today. Lots of cloud coverage and just a little bit of a breeze. The second one took hours longer than the first that had more sun. I'll wait to put out block 19 until tomorrow with hopes of more sunshine. Since this is a Time Trial day, I'm going to try for a few more hours tonight spinning. The left thumb is still feeling sore but I'm learning to hold it in a different position.

Another break to get dinner started, homemade chicken enchiladas, and starting some mustard. Yup, you read correctly, mustard. I made homemade mustards for Christmas last year, and they turned out well. I have some mustard seeds left and so I started two batches.

One is a German based one - dark beer is part of it. I did have a dark beer in the refrigerator, but it's Belgian and Raspberry flavored. I think it will still work. ;^) The other is kind of French, since it has sherry. Again, I didn't have sherry on hand, but I did have some Spanish sherry, Marsala. The seeds have to soak in the liquids for 48 hours and soften up as well as soak up the liquids goodness. Then they are blended with some additional seasonings and called good. You can use them immediately, but like other things, often taste better if allowed to age for a week or more.

I still have 27 Dresses and Atonement DVDs to watch, not sure though that the boys will be willing to join in though. The boys are currently playing D&D out in the garage. Something about more space, but there is a distinct lack of air conditioning.

Sometime tomorrow I need to get out into the garage. Brandon on Friday put legs on to my desktop. I now need to stain the legs and then put the sealant on. I'm going to add more to the desktop because I'm not happy with how it's not keeping the dust repelled. This I think will put us closer to rearranging the rooms where the computers are and my sewing/craft stuff.

Stage 17 finished plying, Stage 18 back to Karma

So Wednesday was a good day in many ways. I had a good day with my autistic student as school - yea! I also finished plying up the BFL and then with Brandon's help getting it off the spindle and on to the swift so that it could be wrapped for a wash set of the twist.

I just got that all done when it was time to head out for a busy evening. First stop was LaHaie's to pick up Will's lettermen's jacket. He'd gotten at the end of the year the wrestling patches and then also adding in his track patch. So the jacket is complete for his athletic career. From there it was a quick stop at the library to drop off movies and pick up books and then on to Judy's to drop off Brandon. I then headed over to the Jo-Ann Superstore so that I could pick up supplies to send off to my Dishcloth Swap Giftee. A quick swing through KFC for a few snackers and cole slaw and I headed over to Hagen's to meet up with the Sip n' Stitch ladies. I worked more on my Basket Rib Hand Towel as a nice easy not to mess up while talking and listening project.

I also finally have photos of what I received in the Dishcloth Swap Exchange:


Thursday I picked up my Karma Chameleon spindle along with some KC roving and took it to school to show one of the ladies there. She works in the Transitions Program through the district and from what I described to her thought it might be something that some of the kids might be able to do. So I gave her a demonstration, then ended up giving another demonstration again later to a few more co-workers. One lady was amazed when I told her that I had knitted the socks that I was wearing that day.

I came home at lunch and then finally got the BFL in a wash, swish out moisture then set it up to hang dry outside. There was just a faint tinge of blue to the water. I also set another block of the CLR out to dry/block. Down to just four left to do and the blocking will be caught up. I just need to finish the last couple of blocks this weekend. I spent a bit of time spinning more Karma too.

I snipped some fresh lavender for the Insomnia ladies and then headed over. We had a nice chatty session of knitting, beverages and discussions. Tammy had brought The Eclectic Sole and Little Box of Socks. Must have both of them! The 'box of socks' is cool. It really is a box that has the socks on card stock and one for each sock design. There are twenty designs so at just under $20 a really good deal, a great deal if you order through Amazon at the lower rate too.

I came home and rotated the BFL for drying in the sun to get all of it dry. Brought in the one block and setup another to start drying. I found out this morning that I forgot about it and left it outside over night. Thankfully no bird poop was found on it this morning. I did bring the BFL in and since it was still damp, popped it back on my swift to finish drying overnight.

It's all done and I introduce to you, Deep Blue Sea:


I scored last night at the library and picked up four movies: Sweeney Todd (boys liked it, me not so much, thankfully I could spin through a greater portion of the movie), Atonement, 27 Dresses and Juno. I've now spent the morning on sleeping in, photos, catching up on the blog. Still need to do banking, shopping, mailing my exchange package (after I photograph it all), drop off stuff at the library and I think a trip out to the financial aid office at PCC. We'll also most likely watch Juno tonight. I'm also going to try to get the rest of the CLR's blocked today.

Stage 16 plying

Okay, I finally figured out that my days weren't coming out correctly. I was seeing Star start out with days, then somewhere switched to stages and I got mixed up on the count. Today really is day 18 but stage 16. I think because of those 2 rest days?

I finished spinning up the BFL earlier. Took a little break then got them both off of their spindles, after of course taking pictures of them. I have them on little cardboard tubes but couldn't find planter pots to help out with the plying.

I think I have about half of it plied. I can definitely tell the different spindles. My first one has more thick and thins than the second one does. I was much more consistent with keeping the spin thin. I hope to get it all plied up tomorrow. Not as fast as I had hoped.

The new spindle has awesome spin! Lot less work than the other two donuts. I'm definitely going to use it for Hydrangea. If I weren't thinking of plying it on itself, I'd also use it for Karma.

No knitting and no blocking. We've had overcast skies today and I got so caught up in the plying setup and then the actual plying that is all I've done today. Which also means that while I took some pictures, I haven't taken them off of the camera.

Tomorrow night, Wednesday I'll take Brandon over to his mom's for socializing and I'll head over to Hagen's for my knit socializing.

Finished up Small Favor late last night. That last 50 pages where the author sucks you in wrapping things up and you can't put the book down syndrome. I'd hoped to get to the library this afternoon to pick up books waiting there, but as mentioned above plying happened. ;^)

Day 15 & Rest Day

Sunday I spent a lot of time spinning. I also spent a lot of time blocking blocks. Made use of the sun and any wind and had them dry a little faster I think. In between there was of course dishwashing, finishing up laundry.

Before it got too dark last night and while it was cooler, I popped Nessa up on the table on the patio and trimmed her now. She's looking good in her Schnauzer cut. Still need to do Norbert, but he'll probably have to wait until later in the week.

The last part of school this morning was interesting. I ended up being a punching bag for one of my students. He has behavior issues and had been a little bit more agitated today, but just lost it when it was time to go home. Sure knows how to pinch and luckily was keeping the hits to flat hand rather than punching. Probably won't know for sure about any bruising until tomorrow. I'm going to try not to hold it against him, but I'll have to come up with a new plan for how we do things.

Brandon does think he broke a bone on the top of his foot. Of course if we took him in for confirmation, they would tell him to stay off it as much as possible, possibly give him a walking cast or just do what we have done - ace bandage it. He has done better over the weekend about staying off it and icing.

Today was also the last Rest Day for Tour de France/Fleece. I though did not rest. I started the day with three bundles of sliver to work and managed to get two of them done before my hand started tingling. Tough as it was to do, I set it aside and rested.

I did do one more color row on the CLR, and started the next to the last color for that block. Just two colors left and block 19 will be done. Then one block left. I also got three blocks blocked today for a total of eleven of them blocked. I need to set a timer to go check them.

Tomorrow I should be able to finish the last of the BFL. Then it will be winding them off the drop spindles and getting setup to ply them together. I'm going to try using pots and pulling out of the center holes in the bottom to hold the balls of yarn while I ply. Then winding off the drop spindle again and setting the ply. I really want to know how much yardage I'll get.

Pictures of lots of things coming up tomorrow!

ETA: I keep forgetting to add, since it's summer, and there's a total lack of TV. I've taken advantage of the SCI-FI channel and have been loading up on Stargate SG-1. I think it's because, Brandon told me this, that they came out on like Showtime, that I never got started on it when it first came out years ago. It's interesting getting them in a hodge-podge sort of order. I've seen episodes here and there and then pieced what happened. We're trying to watch them now chronologically.

Tonight though the movie watching was Nick Cage's "Next", not bad really. First though we had watched "The Painted Veil", Ed Norton and Naomi Watts. I wonder if that's where Naomi and Liev hooked up? Interesting movie too.

Domestic Goddess & Day 14

Today has been busy and productive, all without leaving the house. ;^) A blog post in progress throughout the day:

Get up, wash dishes, see that the potatoes really need to be used up before they go bad. Only three left so add those and eggs to a pot of water to boil away for potato salad. Decide that I'm on a roll so make pancakes for breakfast. More dish washing.

Have towels that need to be washed so check the drier, those clothes aren't ready yet, so start another wash load. Since sink is now clean and empty grab one of the Cascade Lizard Ridge blocks and get it wet so it can be blocked. Pull out the fabric pad that I got for quilting and using the mini-iron that has handy grid lines on it to block the block. Set outside to sun/air dry. Please don't tell me this is bad for the yarn!



Grab camera and take pictures of some of the backyard, the dried first block, and the finished BFL from last night. Come back in and make up the potato salad and a pastrami sandwich. Get second block blocking.



Brandon had dropped a piece of wood on his foot Thursday. Doesn't think anything is broken. That night has a lovely bruise from where it hit that he does ice a bit. Spends Friday outside doing stuff around the yard and more time upright on the foot than he should have. Today, instead of gaming with Luke and Will, he's got his foot finally elevated and icing (RICE - Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation). He'd been using his shoe for the compression, but totally skipping all the rest until I strongly suggested that he do that. Foot looks worse with the bruising around it that probably came from being on it yesterday. Men!

Since he's not gaming I'll watch some shows with him and spin. The boys are on the xbox gaming until their 4:10pm showing of Wall-e. Off to eat that sandwich....

A few hours later....I've done more dishes, the second block is done drying and I have a third one drying. I've divided up the BFL into eight little bundles and have spun up two and started a third. Good progress there.

ETA: sorry, the photo that was here was deleted to make space on Flickr, I refuse to pay for the Pro service when I'm already paying for a web site....

Put on my landscaping hat, really clippers, and finished up the bushes in the front yard and moved into the backyard. Trimming up berry bushes: blueberry, honeyberry and gooseberry, as well as the grape vines that were running rampant. Speaking of rampant vines the hardy kiwi was also running amok so trimmed it back as best I could. When Will mows the lawn tomorrow he'll mulch all that into the grass.

The CLR blocks are blocking out at 10"x15" so a little longer and narrower than gauge. Well the three so far, and since they lay like the others, I imagine they all will block this way.

I've heated up the leftover Papa Murphy Chicago Stuffed Pizza for dinner, off to eat that and continue spending time with Brandon and spinning the BFL. The boys are back from the movie and in painting their figurines.

Not a bad day.

Sore fingers - Day 13 Tour de Fleece

I spent a couple of hours working on the last of the BFL from the first sliver. It's all done and looking pretty good. Unfortunately I finished just as it was starting to get dark, so no good pictures. I'll take those tomorrow and post the update view. I have a second drop spindle planned to work with the second one that way I can use my high tech shoe box lazy kate to get them both off and plied.

I'm tempted to break things up tomorrow and spend more time working with Karma. I'll try to be dedicated though and continue working with the BFL. Really should come up with a name for it too.

While waiting in line last night by the light of a parking lot light I cast on the Basket Rib Hand Towel using the Coral Cotlin out of my Summer Sampler from Knit Picks (it's the center top one). It was a nice light color and a simple pattern. Yes, the Cascade Lizard Ridge is an easy pattern but takes too much counting to work easily while standing in the dark.

Dark Knight really is a must see movie if you like the fantasy genre at all. Heath Ledger really did an awesome job as the Joker. It really was an amazing movie for holding your attention through the whole two plus hours. Go see it! Well if you can, they're saying that if you don't already have tickets you won't be able to see if for several weeks because tickets are pre-sold out. Wow!

I did add a few rows in the car this afternoon while driving with Will on his errands. It's a nice easy pattern and the Cotlin feels nice to work with.

Since we went to PCC Rock Creek Campus and were by The Knitting Bee I popped in to try to pick up some Cascade 220 for the border and the seaming. Stephanie thought the blocks looked nice and is looking forward to seeing the finished project but suggested that I wait until I have it all seamed together and bring it in to pick out the border color then. Something about it being easier to tell what would look well against the whole from her experience with quilting. She's a different quilter than I am. I usually planned ahead and bought my border and backing at the same time as I picked up my block material. Obviously different styles but thought she might have something so left without buying yarn. Yes, you read that correctly. No new yarn came home with me. ;^)

A trip to Home Depot and lots of effort looking in various locations of the store finally yielded a black plastic grommet for one of my last to be put together drop spindles. No that's not true, there's a green donut that didn't sit correctly and needs to be re-glued to the dowel. I need Brandon to pre-drill a hole in the dowel for me and I need to polyurethane the dowel and it will be ready for use. I think I'll save it for the Hydrangea. I'll have a picture of it completed soon, but may wait to post until I have some yarn on it so I can safely put in my 'stash' at Ravelry. I'm walking the line with my stitch markers in there. ;^)

Going to bed early to catch up on sleep but also to get some good reading time in on Small Favors. I really enjoy The Dresden Files world. It was one of the series I was just recommending to my mom as well as Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series, oh and Iris Johansen's Eve Duncan series. I had already gotten her started on Kay Hooper's Bishop series and the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.

Hopefully fun things tomorrow, so we'll have to wait and find out about those - Good night!