S to Z or Z to S

In spinning there are 2 ways to spin and ply the yarn.  I was taught S to Z and find it very easy.  I decided to try Z to S. After spinning and plying 5 skeins, just about a pound of roving, of Z to S, I think I will go back to S to Z.  I just find it easier to spin. My hands and fingers just want to work that way.  My yarn is just a little smoother. So here are the pictures as they were washing.  

 

Progress

I started the first of 2 baby blankets this morning.  As of right now I am 25% done with the first blanket.  Eric was a big help. He held on to the yarn while I was knitting.  Here is my progress so far.

I also managed to spin a little and get the laundry finished today. Eric is feeling better, but still not 100%. 

Laundry Overload

I know I have hit laundry overload when I start dreaming about laundry. Last night I hit overload. I was up with the eyrpy boy until 3:30 a.m.. I was trying to keep up with the eyrpy laundry, but I had to finish the laundry I put in the washer and dryer before bed. The dryer was my sore spot last night, it took forever in my very humble and tired opinion to dry anything.

Well I finally got to get a nap around 3:30 a.m. I dreamt that I was pulling an old fashion 2 wheel shopping cart, the kind women of my grandmothers generation used to use when they went shopping and had to walk or take the bus home with their groceries. The cart was pretty empty when I started out. As the dream progressed it kept getting fuller and fuller. The more I walked the fuller it got.  I could not find any place to wash the pile of laundry no matter how much it grew and was stuffed down in the basket.

When I woke up at 5:30 a.m. I went right back to doing laundry. With great hope on my part, I have what I think is the last load of laundry for the day in the dryer as I write this. Wish me luck. Eric is still a little eyrpy.  Now of course this does not include the yarn that I am plying right now on the spinning wheel.

Hand Tired

I had a pretty busy day today.  Overall it was pretty good, but tiring. By 5:30 pm my hands were to tired to move.  So the knitting and spinning I wanted to get done are still UFO's.  Also this is a very short blog so my hands can rest.  

I Step Back

I landed up having to rewash all of the white roving. I did not get enough lanlion off the fiber.  It looks much better now.  The wool will spend tomorrow drying.  Then I will go to the next fleece on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning.  Hopefully that will be the last fleece that I find in the storage room.  

Next on the line up are a few dog pillows for my spinning groups dogs. There are a few new puppy's.  I also want to start my next design this week.  There is just so much to do. I will get more accomplished if Eric does a good job of sleeping. 

Play Time

Eric was home sick today. Since he spent much of he day sleeping I took the time to play. I managed to wash about 2 pounds of wool and 9 ounces of alpaca.  I found time to spin and knit 2 hats with a total of 63 rows toward the 1 million row challenge. When John got home I even managed a 3 hour nap.  Also on the plus side Eric is feeling better. 

A Busy Sunday

I managed to get all 5 loads of laundry done today despite my very late start. I did not get the first load in until 7:30 a.m. which is quite late for summer.  I usually stop the washing machine when it hits 100 out side and then wait until it cools down to 100 again. if I am very lucky I can keep things running until 11:00 a.m. or so and then restart everything back up after dinner. This is what I mean by giving the appliances the afternoon off.

The great part about living in Tucson in the summer is that the grocery stores tend to be pretty empty when it is over 100. So today I went in the middle of the day. I got everything I needed without getting bumped by a bunch of carts. This was a good thing today. My Safeway has gone through another upgrade. I am not sure if this is do to the merger with Albertson's or that a brand new Whole Foods will open up across the street in a few months. This meant that I had to go up and down all the aisles. Everything was in a new place, this makes it hard to do a quick trip in and out.  I noticed that quite a few things were gone and a lot of upgraded stuff was brought in. They have also added a lot of "organics" gluten free and "health food" along with bins full for all kinds of things including teas, pasta, grains and specialty items.

I managed to do a bunch of odds and ends but no big projects got finished. Yesterday I tried to cut back on caffeine and today I got the headache in return. I guess I will try that at a later date. I am waiting for Eric to settle down for the night, but it might be a while.