Yarn

First there was the beginning of the Tour De France. Then the Tour De Fleece decided to cheer on the riders by spinning along. So I have a little extra fleece that wanted to be spun so I join the spinners. Here are my first 6 skeins of yarn. 4 of the skeins are 4 ounces and the little bitty ones area half ounce. all I have to do is wash and set the twist on the yarn.

Tour De Fleece

Today I spent 4 hours plying the yarn that I spun over the first days of the tour.  I have decided that Shetland Wool is not pleasant to ply when it is spun to a lace weight yarn. Masham Wool is wonderful as a thick and thin yarn. It’s even better plyed.  BFL is always wonderful to spin and ply.

I am trying not only to spin as much of my fiber stash as possible.  I am also trying to spin as many different breeds of sheep as well.  Each breed spins a little differently.  I am also trying to spin as many British  Heritage Sheep fleeces, batts and braids that I have.

Eight skins were plied today. There were 4 four ounce bobbins and 4 smaller skeins for the 52 Yarn’s to Spin Before You Cast Off Book. I am really too tired to take them all out of their bags tonight, so I hope tomorrow will be ok for pictures.

I think that because of my sore Achilles Tendon I will do most of my Spinning on my classic Louet S-15.  I also found out today that the Louet S-96 in Oak is no longer being made and I will have to settle for an S-95. I also found out that it will not ship until Mid-September.  That means that I will not have it for the Sheep Thrills Fiber Retreat next month. All I can say is it’s a bummer to have to wait so long for a birthday present.

Tour De Fleece

I have 4 bobbins of yarn to ply tomorrow and will show off my first Tour De Fleece 2018 yarn. Now what am I going to do with 4 new skeins of yarn?

Busy

It has been very busy around here this month. The Birthday gift for Teri sent just in time. The laundry has won, I have not been able to catch up all month. It seems to take about 2 days to knit a hat right now, I am barely over 3 dozen hats knit for the year at the moment. I am still in the midst of deep cleaning the guest/craft room, a lot is leaving. My craft books are next.

For Tour De Fleece I have 12 ounces spun and it is waiting to be ply. So I can not count that yet. I have one braid on each wheel going. Yes, it has occurred to me that I can only use one spinning wheel at a time, but with my Achilles tendon still sore I need to switch between wheels as not to get my heel mad at me. I will post under Team Into the Whirled with the #ITWTDF2018 on social media. This will happen once the yarn is plied. I have spun every day of the tour, even if it is only a half ounce like today. Into the Whirled is a great indie dyer. Give her page some love*. I just love spinning her fiber.


*I have paid for all my own fiber from Into the Whirled. No payment or samples have been given to me.

A Long Day

I have been up since 6a.m.  It is almost 11 p.m. and I am still waiting for Eric to go to sleep.  I am not sure that is going to happen anytime soon since he did get a booster shot at his doctors visit today.   Right now he seem to be talking to Elmo about his day.  I am falling asleep while I am writing this.  So it will be short.

Just a reminder, that if you are over 40 talk with your doctor about booster shots.  This is especially true for the Whooping Cough vaccination since the one we got as kids has worn off by now.  Whooping cough is very hard on the young and disabled.  Also with measles cases on the rise make sure you and your kids are up to.  You are protecting kids like Eric who can not have some or all of the shots.  

It finally quiet so I am going to call it a knight.  

Wow

Who would have guessed that the solution to Tendinitis of the Achilles Heel was 2 inch heels. Yes, that is right 2 inch heels. After I went to the orthopedic foot surgeon, John and I went shoe shopping. I left the store in one of the pairs of shoes.  I walked to the car without any pain.  The first time in about 9 months. I was pain free until I put on my 1 inch heel house slippers. I guess that I need new house slippers too.

My question is why don't any of the medical advice sites have this information?Also if you live in the Tucson area and are in need of a bright, well mannered orthopedic surgeon, with good patient side manners, who likes to try therapy first to avoid surgery give me a call.  I don't think it is my place to publicly recommend a doctor since I am not a medical professional.

Being pain free had a lot of plusses. Even though I am still at the tail end of the cold that Eric gave me, I had a lot of energy to get things done. I hope that this helps me play catch up this week as I am so far behind.

I did manage to weave almost 2 feet of a scarf tonight. I knit 3/4's of a hat today. Well it is time to make sure Eric is ready for bed so that I can call it a night,

Around the House

I am feeling better. I just have this nasty cough left. So I am slowly getting things done around the house. John has really done a great job picking up my slack while I had the cold.  My major accomplishment of the week was filling the recycle bin to the top. There was no more space so I have started a recycling bag for next week's recycling pick up already. I found another area to zen. So far most is being recycled or or sent to Goodwill. Very few items are finding a new home.

As usual when I miss a day of laundry, the laundry room was knee deep.  I stopped after four loads and left the rest for later. Since I got all of Eric's laundry done this should not come back to get me. The other four plus whatever Eric makes tomorrow can wait for tomorrow.

I also gave up trying to figure out where a can be added to my blog. I guess I will have to ask my techie about that or do a whole lot of reading. I really need to learn some basic coding. 

Hat number 31 was finished today. I have 1 hat that I need to weave the ends in. I also have 2 hats on the knitting needles. I am adding some rolled brim hats to the mix to shake things up a bit.  I think that I will get my bedtime snack and do a little more knitting tonight.