Lost, Found and Spinning

Today was a very mixed day.  I had a very slow start, I meant to get to the grocery store before lunch. That did not happen. 

Before I went grocery shopping, I had to find a couple lost things. Of course, one of those were my earbuds that are always getting lost. Luckily, I have a tracker on my phone to help find my earbuds. Although it did get complicated because it showed the location as the couch. So I looked under the couch and did not find them. I looked behind the couch and did not find them. I looked in the cupholders and the storage container. I removed all my blankets and shawls from the couch. They were still missing, but I was close. So then I started looking through knitting bags, of course my earbuds were hiding in a knitting bag. Where else would they be playing hide and seek from?

Then it was off to find the microwave popcorn maker. I looked in all the usual storage spaces, not once but twice. I looked possible storage places. Then, as a last ditch effort I thought why not look where the pots and pans are  stored . Of course it was hiding behind a pile of pots. 

Then it was off to the grocery store to get everything. Between coupons and gift cards I saved over $70 today. I’m really happy with that. I had thought that after I had gone grocery shopping, I would spend some time spinning, boy was I wrong. It was nap time. I was too tired to do anything.

We had a simple dinner at home. Then it was time for spinning. Well, actually plying the yarn I finished spinning yesterday. I must be really out of shape, because after plying one skein of yarn I was exhausted and needed a rest.  I guess I will have to build up to plying more than one skein of yarn on the drop spindle at a time. It was a lot more work than I remembered.maybe I will try to get Peyton a couple of times a day to get the project finished sooner.

After that, I watched some television and worked on a simple Tunisian crochet scarf.  I am on the last skein. 

TTFN. It has been a very long day and tomorrow is over packed.  

Tour de Fleece 2026

 On this the second day of the Tour de Fleece, I would like to say that I am doing it a little different this year. As I have been doing since January, I am trying to finish my UFOs, that includes hands-spun yarn. I have a lot of projects that did not get finished when I got sick two years ago. So those are first on the agenda for this year‘s tour. Since I’m not going for any prizes except for maybe a cleaner knitting  and spinning room I’m totally fine with this. 

I cleared the yarn off of 12 spindles today. There were 11 from a 3.9 ounce braid from www.edgewoodgardenstudio.com in the color Dusty Plain 1 in Stricken Lonk Wool which I had never spun before this. If you have never spun with Stricken Lonk wool I would highly recommend it. This wool is amazing, I used very tiny light weight spindles weighing in at about 18 grams all the way up to 1.5 ounces and got the same fine spin with all of them. 

On the Hansen electric wheel I have a braid that I am currently plying. The skein was bought at Grandmas Spinning Wheel her in Tucson. The braid is an in house dyed line by Cassie and Jessica. The braid is a merino and silk blend that I am plying with ITO raw silk. The yarn feels amazing. I am hoping that I have enough to knit a pair of fingerless mittens for myself. 

When I get caught up, I will bring out two batts with wool I have never worked with before. It’s a European wool that is raised on a small farm, locally processed near the farm.  The business the process this wool has been in business with the same family since 1800s. And then I bought the batts from a  company that specializes in small batch fibers from Europe.  

I am going to mainly concentrate on my drop spindles, Turkish Spindles and see if I can do a little bit of supported spinning.  My personal feeling on the subject is that I can spin on a Navajo spindle, supported spindles are very similar.  Although in the future I would like to trade my big company Navajo type spindle for a Dine made spindle.  I understand the balance is much better. The craftsmanship is usually better too. 

Below is a picture of my 11 spindles of Stricken Lonk Wool.  You can see what I mean by the different size spindles.  

Updated with the picture of the spindles loaded with Stricken Loch yarn   

Fun Things May Be Coming

 I have been playing with a new to me yarn called Coastal Cotton Ocean Mist by the Queensland Collection.  The yarn is 100% Cotton, the label says it is Pure Soft Cotton.  I must wholeheartedly agree with that statement.  By the way it is carried by both of Tucson’s Local Yarn Shops, Birdhouse Yarns and Grandma’s Spinning Wheel.

I chose this yarn because I am currently knitting items for a higher end charity event.  I wanted my yarn to reflect this. So far with the first skein I have made one 8” x 8” washcloth.  I have enough yarn to make a second washcloth which I started tonight.  If I have enough to make 3 washcloths I will add an addendum to the bottom of this post. 

I am really rocking geometric shapes in the patterns that I am designing. The yarn seems to be holding up well to this fun style of knitting.  I am also pleased with the yarn definition as I’m changing between knitting and pearling. I am also not using a pattern or sketches of any kind. I am just going with the flow. 

For full disclosure. I purchased all the yarn for the charity auction work, replacing yarn in current patterns and for the new patterns in the works. I purchased half the yarn from each of my locally owned yarn shops. If this yarn is not available locally to you both shops will take phone orders and mail out the yarn and anything else that they carry.

Knitting Accessories

 It has been determined that my husband’s car has a preference to what knitting accessories it likes to eat. It’s number one choice is the expensive Chibi darning needles. Once one falls I will never get it back.  I have tried flashlights and magnets to no avail. 

The car however, does not like stitch markers which is a huge surprise to me because I loose so many. The car practically spits them back at me. My guess is the car just does not know what to do with stitch markers.  

Does your car have a preference to what knitting accessories it likes to eat?  I am just curious. 

No Yarn Chicken for Me

 Tonight I decided that there was not enough remaining cashmere on the skein to knit 2 rows.  Since I don’t like frogging Cashmere I decided to change the yarn at the end of the row. I thought it would give the shawl, a more elegant look.

So it was time to change to the second color, which is 222 g of  hand spun yarn.  The yarn was a spinning challenge to try to make a color way that looked like a Monet‘s paintings. I think I came pretty close. Also the bonus is that one of the shades of the hand spun yarn Has the same red color as a cashmere yarn. 

Since the shawl is going to a charity auction. I will not be taking pictures of it because it is something called a blind auction. I will pack it up in a box with a note inside that they can read after they have won the auction. I like the idea of bidding on a mystery box.  I will be making several boxes for this charity event. Almost all will include something hand knit. 

So I will include a picture Of the Yarn I decided not to play chicken with. I will also say if you ever have a chance to knit with high-quality cashmere yarn go for it. Even if it’s not the whole project, it’s a once in a lifetime experience.

I Need More Spoons

 I am sad that my body will not keep up with what my mind wants to do.  I am really getting tired, no pun intended, of not having the spoons to knit my new knitting project after dinner. 

Even more that I am in the mood to clean and declutter but if I do it standing and walk around the house, it’s 20 minutes max before I need a 2 hour nap.  If I am lucky enough to be able to do the project sitting down, I can go for hours.  I just can’t figure out why there is such a difference.  

I have also decided to get a wooden coat stand with shelves for my knitting and spinning baskets.  That will free up more shelf space for yarn and kits.  It will also leave the floor empty so John can run his robot in the room occasionally.  

Well it’s time to call it a day.  

The Next Batch

 The next batch of yarn to leave the house is all Sugar and Crème yarn that I used for fundraising efforts for Eric’s day program.  I got the yarn whenever it was on sale at least 50% off the regular retail price. I did this because I used to give the day program 100% of the sale price.  So stocking up on yarn at really low prices made sense. After Eric died we as a family decided that it was time for the parents of current participates to take over the fundraising efforts.  It was also time for me to explore the next chapter in my life. 

The yarn is going to a Tucson knitting group who make hand knit and crocheted washcloths and other items to sell to raise funds for The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona. The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona is a cause that our family has supported since so last century.  So I feel very good about where all the Sugar and Crème yarn is going. A little over 100 quarts of yarn. My ultimate goal is to get my yarn stash into counting it by skeins instead of quarts and gallons.  Wish me luck on that one. 

I am also going to put a Google link at the bottom of this post if you would like to help out The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona.  Of course at this time of country wide need because of  the current climate in Washington D.C. all our food banks across the country need help. So I am asking all of my readers to be a blessing in their areas to support your fellow community members. Whether it is your local food bank, Meals on Wheels, religious organizations that house and feed people, helping out with school supplies and clothing, everything helps. 

As a bonus for the group members I am also going through my knitting and crochet magazines to give them all the ones that I no longer want.  

I never knew that getting rid of extra yarn and the things like books that I have already read would make me physically feel a lot lighter.  Not to mention give me more space.  I might be nearing the end of this deep cleaning cycle but rest assured there will be more on the way.