Tour de Fleece Spinning

 The picture of the bobbins tell the next chapter in my spinning journey.  I have gotten much more comfortable with my new Hansen mini pro e-spinner.  I still occasionally turn the speed dial to off when changing to the next bobbin. Then wondering why it won’t start. I am getting much better at remembering to put the break back on after changing the bobbins.  I have found that with my arthritis using pearl cotton as the leader is much easier to see and for my hands to get the fiber settled into than sewing thread.  I might be sacrificing a few inches of yarn, but that’s OK with me. 

In the past 2 weeks, I have upped my spinning skills with the e-spinner.  The bobbin in the front left is the first bag of pencil roving for my older sister.  This bobbin is just shy of 8 ounces.  So the bobbins hold a lot of fiber.  There is one more bag of that color to be spun on a second bobbin.  I will ply them onto a third bobbin until full and then refill the bobbin until I run out of yarn. 

 The bobbin in the front right is the second third ( stages 8 to 14),of the Tour de Fleece spin from Hilltop Cloud in Mallwyd, Wales. Katie is a fabulous curator and dyer of fiber.  It is also faster to get something from Wales than from some parts of the United States. The bobbin in back is the first third of the spin of Tour de Fleece.  Stages 1 to 7. Today I received the extra fiber I ordered from the first day of the spin for the purpose of plying with stages 1 to 7.  I will show that off when I am finished plying it.  Yes, I must spin it first and fast, as I am running out of bobbins. 

For all those who are curious about my other spinning wheels, I still have not gotten the clearance from the doctor to start using them again.  I am hopeful that it will be soon; however, I am prepared to pivot if necessary. So change might be necessary. I really did not think that would happen at all. I have bought and tried 2 e-spinners that did not work well with me.  This time I tried before I bought it. E-spinners are like drop spindles and spinning wheels. There are many different types and there is a right one for each person.  You just might have to try a few to get the right fit.  

It was a wonderful way to spend part of the day. Even though it was cooler with a high of only 107 Fahrenheit or 41.66 Celsius.  Verses yesterday’s 112 Fahrenheit or 44.44 degrees Celsius. This is summer in Tucson.  Although as the population grows, I think Tucson is turning into a heat island with too many paved surfaces and buildings. With not enough desert landscape. The nights are not cooling down much either and I worry about our cactus. That is my personal opinion and as of yet has not been back up by the science people. 

Still Working on My Summer Shawl

 I have got to love my long time knitting friends. When I complained today that my current shawl project was taking much too long to finish.  I am on the third section of four sections. Today they gently pointed out that if I am using lace weight yarn with U.S. size 4 or 2.5mm knitting needles it is going to take forever.  Below is my current progress on the shawl.  The pattern is 2 of 3 A Shawl Study, one of my knitting patterns, using 2 skeins of  Zooey by Juniper Moon Farm.  I divided each skein in approximately half.  It is a cotton / linen blend.  The yardage is approximately 568 yards for both skeins together. 

You might notice that I did not use the yarn called for in the pattern.  I always like encourage people to use what ever yarn they like. All you have to do is use the knitting needles that the yarn calls for.  Then follow the pattern. The size of the finished project and the gauge will not match the pattern, but that’s ok it’s your creation. 

The pattern 2 of 3 A Shawl Study by Sheri Karobonik Designs is available on Ravelry.com, Love Knitting.com or your local yarn store.  If you buy my pattern, I will get a share of the purchase price.  

I Need A Do Over on Monday

 My body was not particularly useful today.  I started off the day by dropping and spilling half a bottle of Excedrin.  The bottle just slipped out of my hands.  All I was left with was the cap in my hand and a huge mess on the floor. First I tried the Dyson stick vacuum. That only broke up the pills and sent the debris flying all over the place. So, I do not recommend the stick vacuum for spilled pills.  Then I got the big vacuum out.  I used the hand held wand which did a pretty good job.  John was very kind and reassembled the larger vacuum for me. We followed up with the robotic vacuum to get the broken bits that flew across 2 rooms.  I really don’t recommend dropping a bottle of aspirin on the floor first thing in the morning.  It just gives off bad vibes for hours.  Not to mention that it delayed my breakfast.

Next I went to package yarn for the Christmas in July event at you guessed it, the July Old Pueblo Knitting Guild meeting.  My electronic scale needed to be changed. It took me 30 minutes to find the charging parts.  The converter was in the silverware drawer with the soup spoons.  The charging cord was in the towel drawer near the bottom of the drawer.  I could have sworn that I stored all 3 items together to make things easier to find.  So the scale is now charged and waiting for me to find some time.  This I really can’t blame on my body.  

I tried to nap but could not get comfortable in the cooler rooms of the house.  It was 112F today in Tucson.  Which brings up the question of why my sinuses have not cleared up for summer. Usually 3 days of 100+ degree weather is enough to give me a few months of relief.  I am still waiting for that to happen.  

I did start my older sister’s spinning project.  The first package of pencil roving is almost finished.  I will spin the second package and ply them together.  Then I will go on to the next thing in the basket.  We sometimes trade off different craft projects.  

TTFN

Another Sunday in Summer

 Apparently it was not hot enough today for my freshly washed and thwacked yarn to dry in the garage.  At 108F or about 42C the yarn that was put out before lunch was not quite dry by bedtime. Maybe a high humidity of 18% is to blame.  It should be dry by morning.  

I almost caught up on my Tour de Fleece spin.  Instead of being 2 days behind, I am only 1/2 a day behind.  That is until tomorrow when I wake up to being 1 1/2 days behind.  Even with the e-spinner I have found that when I am having a difficult body day no matter how hard I try the yarn may just turn out a bit wonky.  Also I must remember to put the breaking cord on each time I change the bobbin.  Otherwise it really wonky things happen and it takes me a few minutes to figure it out.  With all that being said. I have had the e-spinner less than a month and overall it is going very well.   

I would love a change of scenery for some knitting.  However with the high at 109F I really don’t think outdoor knitting is really going to happen. It will be in the low 80’s at sunrise. Sighs.  So it will either be my audio book or watching the last episode of Geek Girl and finding another show to watch.  I really hope that they renew Geek Girl, it is cute and light television watching.   

TTFN

Adjusting for Extreme Heat

 Because of the extreme heat I have been staying at home with the exception of food shopping.  For some reason that I can’t fathom, my body is not tolerant of the heat this year.  Even a short trip to the mail box has me gulping down water and an urgent need to rest.  I am a summer person who up until this year loved the heat.  It made my body feel good.  This year not so much   I really hope that this is temporary.

So I have been getting to know my new e-spinner. I think I am up to some serious spinning now.  The learning curve was pretty flat.  The e-spinner is just starting to sing to me, which is always a good sign.  I thought that it would take about 2 dozen skeins of art yarn to get there.  I am totally floored that it took less than 6 skeins of yarn.  However, I did finish 6 skeins so that I would have another knitting kit.  

So tomorrow I am going to wash a bunch of newly finished skeins of art yarn.  None of the really fancy stuff.  Just the basic learning curve spinning.  It’s supposed to be 110f tomorrow, so if I get them washed early, they might be dry by bed time.  

TTFN

The Boomerang Effect

 Yesterday morning was very successful for me in getting some deep cleaning done.   Getting stuff ready to leave the house. All the while working on less is more.  Leavening the work space cleaner and more organized than I found it. I do strongly believe that in retrospect I used too many units of personal energy.  

All the work was done before breakfast.  After breakfast I took a very long nap, just because I had no energy left to move.  I spent the rest of yesterday dragging.  Not getting anything but resting done.  

Fast forward to today.  I woke up tired.  I had no energy for most of the day. My major accomplishment today was returning a mail order item that was too big.  John drove me across town while I napped.  I also completed stage 2 of the Tour de Fleece. I must say that the color way is working for my plan to keep adding 1 parcel a day until I an either halfway through the parcels or the bobbin is full.  Then start the next bobbin.  

I also started watching a light comedy on Netflix called Geek Girl.  The show is definitely binge worthy.  It is definitely chick lit so the guys might not want to watch it with you.  That is perfectly ok.  It is a very good show.  I really hope that we get another season or 6 more. 

I am enjoying the book Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson.  I am finding the characters interesting.  With just enough twist and turns to make it a page turner.  It is also a very good book to listen to while spinning yarn.  No pun intended.

As usual I paid for the fiber for the Tour de Fleece myself. All opinions are my own. There are no sponsorships for any of my recommendations .  TTFN.

The fiber from this Tour de Fleece spin is from Hilltop Cloud in Wales.  Today’s fiber is Cambrian, a mix of Welsh Mountain crossed with BFL.  It is a very nice spin.  

Twice in One Week

 I got up very early and hit the garage before it got too hot. I had a plan.  I had stuff and yarn that had to go.  So I now have 3 more empty boxes that I will give to John, so he can see what he has stored.  3 more large plastic tubs left the house filled with baskets that I no longer use, more yarn and jewelry display items that I no longer need. I also said goodbye to some more jewelry making supplies.  I am also sending my second drum carder to a new home because it is to big for any of my available space.   I will still keep the small carder that makes very small batts along with my hand carders. 

My end game goal is to have no more yarn or fiber in the garage at all.  In tandem I will be making a lot of new things for me so that I clear space in the house. I would ultimately like to not have fiber and yarn in the sewing / guest room either.  I know that will take some time.  It has taken me a couple of years to get to this point. So I really know it will take time.  

If anyone really wants to know. Today was all directed by me.  My family was not given a say so in what was leaving or done.  I did require some help from John, I am really not up to doing a lot of heavy lifting yet.  John did a very good job. He even got some baskets that were stored in the house out of my reach to go.  I personally suspect that he did not want me climbing to get things he can reach from the floor..

We also found things in the garage that could be recycled. So the recycling bin all 96 gallons is almost filled to the top. Somehow cleaning leads to more cleaning and organizing. 

We were out of the garage before 7:30A.M.. we were so hot we got some water and went straight to the shower before breakfast. The picture below shows what left the house today.  My friend and her daughter picked everything up after dinner.  The boxes were wider than my car.  The cardboard box had the carder in it.