Mandatory Down Time

 My arthritis flare up is being quite stubborn. Instead of getting better with lots of rest, the inflammation is getting worse.  So for the next few days I will slowly put everything away. I will rest more, which to me equals major boredom.  I will try to catch up on my reading. Nothing but the bare minimum will get done. I am down one hand, thankfully it is my right hand up to the elbow. I can usually get by with just my left hand.  I will also see what my doctor thinks.  

On the bright side, I did manage to fill 2 boxes for Goodwill today. John will drop it off when he has a chance.  

This too shall pass.  

O-Rings and Yeti Tumblers

 I have 3 Yeti 30 ounce tumblers that I rotate through, using a new one every day. I have noticed that over the years the o- rings on the lids all die with in a few days of each other.  It’s like they are talking to each other saying it’s time to annoy Sheri.  It always seems to happen during a flare up, when my hands are all but useless.  I have to ask for help to get the new one on.   I pretty sure that this is the 4th set of o-rings that this has happened to.  

John would probably say that this is just the life cycle of the o-ring. That they wear out because you use them so much.  Silicone has a limited lifespan. Since you use the same cups every day it’s bound to happen that they wear out together.

Me on the other hand is just think that the o-rings get tired of me and the constant work, so they all decided to quit together. Quitting In mass seems to be a thing these days.  

I am sure John’s logical answer is correct, but mine is more fun.  What is your take on the o-ring issue?

These are my personal Yeti cups. I bought one to try and liked it so much that I bought a second one.  The third was a gift from John and the kids. No endorsement money was accepted. We paid for every cup and replacement o-ring.  This is my personal opinion.

How Do I Know When to do Laundry?

 The biggest constant chore that I do is laundry.

 I don't like to do laundry everyday.

 Sometimes I do laundry everyday. 

When do I know that it past time to do laundry?

1. I am out of sponges. I use a fresh sponge every day. There are studies that say you need a fresh sponge everyday. The sponges build up bacteria fast. When that happens I do whites because I wash the whites in hot water. 

1a. Maybe I just need more sponges.  Just a thought. 

2. I have too many empty hangers in the closet. We hang up our empty hangers together by type, John's, mine and pant / skirt hangers. For the last 1 1/2 years this is how I know I need to do laundry. We never fill the baskets to overflowing anymore. 

3. It has been 3 weeks since I did towels. It takes 3 weeks worth of towels to fill the washer.

4. When we run out of something.

4a. Just buy more of the item we run out of  frequently. More than just a thought. 

5. Company is coming and I need to clean the 3rd bathroom for guests to use. 

5a.  Where else am I suppose to put the laundry baskets to keep them out of the way. I swear that our laundry room was just an afterthought. It is barley big enough for the newer larger washers and dryers. I can't have the dryer door and the back yard door open at the same time. 

The trouble with modern life in the first world.

The Ugly Side of Spinning

 Don’t get me wrong, I love spinning.I find spinning very tactical and relaxing.  I love that I can have yarn that no one in the world but me can have.  I generally love playing with fleeces and carding them into batts.  I did have to give up spinning from the lock for a large project.  Although I am happy to teach people how to spin from the lock.  It’s just an arthritis thing.  I try to figure out how to do things that won’t get my hands tired super fast.  I have modified how I spin too, but it works for me.  I can still spin cob web, lace, fingering, worsted and larger weight art yarns.  It’s my play time.  So this is all good. 

This is the ugly side of spinning.  A fiber producer who won’t skirt their fleeces.  To skirt a fleece you basically take out as much vegetable matter as possible.  You also take out short cuts, the oops of shearing.  You take off the ragged ends. It’s like cleaning house, you get rid of the yuck.  Below is an example of an ugly fleece. Now it should not be an ugly fleece because it’s kid mohair from the first or second shearing of the goat.  See how the fiber is all matted, twisted and knotty…

 I actually had to get my combs out to get through this mess.  I can’t tell you how much feed I had to pull out. A lot of the knots were caused by short cuts of 1/2 inch or so.  There was also more barnyard stuff like hay then most producers allow in their dyed locks.  The combs are very sharp, think of nails. They come in pairs so the fiber can be gently combed out. It actually did not look that bad in the bag, but the store owner in the metro Phoenix area did not let anyone open the bags to check the fiber out.  I now now that this is a sign to leave the store and not look back. 

From what I combed today I filled this little blue basket. Then I decided to stop for the day so that I could weave or knit tonight. 

This is after combing.  It looks pretty good. Combing did not correct all the problems.  This small basket made one batt.  

You can see how little fiber that over flowing basket had.  This was all I could make from that one basket.

The above picture shows how much was not carded into the batt do to short cuts.  

 The above picture shows how much was unusable do to short cut of fiber. That is a business card on the side so you can see how much waste there is. From a good supplier you would not even get 25% of that mess of short cuts.   

This is not to scare you off from making your own batts, but rather a lesson in buying from business people who know what they are doing. Yes, raising goats and sheep for fiber is a business.  

The first business that I would like to recommend is WithersWool. Kathy is the lovely person who taught me to spin and lead me down the fiber rabbit hole farther then knitting alone could.  Kathy raises her own flock of Merino Sheep and Angora Goats.  She is very picky about who stays and who goes.  So she has wonderful fiber. Kathy has very love art yarn , hand spun yarn, weaving, patterns, roving and locks. Kathy even makes rug yarn bumps for those who want to weave their own rugs.  

The second business that I would like to recommend is Grandma’s Spinning Wheel. Vicky is the grandma behind Grandma’s Spinning Wheel. Vicky carries a wide range of fiber and spinning supplies. Vicky personally skirts, washes and sometimes cards each fleece that comes into her store.  Being a spinner herself she is very picky, making sure each fleece is skirted and washed properly before it is put on the sales floor.  Vicky does take special orders and can even order an Ashford Drum Carder for you.  Just for your information I use the Wild Drum Carder, which might be a special order.  Whether you order online or shop in person I’m sure you will be happy with everything that Vicky carries.

I know this is a rather long post. So I will let you go now.

I forgot to add that this is my own personal opinion. I have not been paid or given items to review.  My wonderful husband John paid for all the supplies used in this blog.  I hope that this enough for all the regulators worldwide. 

This and that.

 I caught the cold du jour, the fever, runny nose and sore throat.  The cold was gone by mid day, however my arthritis kicked in.  I slept for a lot of the day and am still tired.  My limbs did their best interpretation of 2 x 4 lumber.  My hands were to tired to knit or weave. So I will have a few more unplanned down days.  

We still do not have a roofer for the leaky roof and we are supposed to have another week of rain starting today.  The tarp is in place. The pan is strategically placed. We are hoping for the best.  The 8 inches of rain in July put us  just one notch above the worst drought conditions.  I wish there was a way to bring the excesses water from the east coast out west.  We could really use some help filling up our Reservoirs. A nice early snow pack on the Serria Neveda range would be nice too. Somewhere between 20 and 50 feet would be perfect.  Just as long as it was a slow snow melt come spring.   

Still Going Batty

 We did our usual Sunday chores today. I am also trying to add a clean a once in a blue moon items.  That way I can tackle the boring stuff a little bit at a time.  We also had a great call with the now grown up kids.  They are doing great.  

Then I went on a carding spree and made 11 mini batts this afternoon.  I am almost done with this round of carding.  I will have a lot of yarn to spin and weave.  I will also get some sewing projects done too.  

Going Batty

 This afternoon I carded over a dozen batts form bits and pieces of fiber. Some were just the leftovers from other spinning projects. Some were samples of various fibers. The only things that they will now have in common are they are one of a kind batts and once they are spun up they will be going into handwoven scarfs for the children’s clothing bank in the Flowing Wells School District here in Tucson.  

I am very thankful that Vicky from Grandma’s Spinning Wheel in Tucson was able to get me new drive bands for my Louet Victoria even though they were not in the catalog.  Vicky is simply amazing.  My Victoria is 2 years old and this will be the first drive band replacement.  Just remember when your drive band starts to get loose it’s time to replace them.  

Here is a very small sample of the mini batts. I think that this is box 2 or 3.  I used my Ashford Art Drum Carder.  Vicky carries those too and can ship to your house.   Another few days of carding and I will move on to spinning these.  The bits and pieces that are not relevant to any color way will go into a box to be carded later.  I will empty the last of 3 laundry baskets tomorrow. By the way a laundry basket can hold a lot of fiber.  This is a very small part of my deep cleaning projects. Make it useful or dump it.