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Tour de Fleece 2026 and Catching Up...

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 ...the studio has drawn my attention away from many things, including posting. Yesterday, The Husband and I took a trip to IKEA to buy some replacement drawer units for my old cube storage. I bought two Alex units, which give me a file drawer for the remaining files that I have to keep and several drawers to store the remaining supplies that I can't find space for. I put them together yesterday and today I will get them in place. The last piece of furniture (for now) that I need has been ordered and will arrive tomorrow. It is a coffee bar cabinet that will house a refrigerator, glasses, cups, and utensils. On top will be my electric teapot and a one-cup coffee maker. The refrigerator will arrive next week. In the meantime, I am arranging my books on the bookshelves on the Murphy bed, using bookends to keep the books in place and museum putty to hold photo frames and small items TdF 2026, Day 8, 7/11 Continued chain-plying Gypsy Rose Lee [ R...

Tour de Fleece, 7/8-7/10...

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 ...yeah, I'm behind in posting. I was hoping by this point that be able to get back into the studio after the Murphy bed installation, but there was a glitch. Apparently, the piano hinges either didn't get packed with the shipment or (more likely) they didn't make the final truck. In theory, the final truck was supposed to unpack the pallet when they delivered it here. Instead, they unpacked the pallet, loaded it onto the truck, and then delivered it.  It was a tedious process to check off the large number of pieces that made up the bed. The Husband and I decided not to open the sealed boxes that came with the shipment so we didn't lose any of the hardware. We had 72 hours to report any damage or missing pieces, so we felt safe in doing so since the installers were coming the following day. The installers did as much as they could without the hinges. I contacted the company and they, in turn, contacted the installer to give them the part...

WIP-it Wednesday and Tour de Fleece 2026...

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 ...and the Murphy bed is being installed in the studio today! The Murphy bed is the last big piece of furniture to install in the studio. With this installation, I can remove the final boxes from the POD and we can send it on it's way! I'm so ready for the POD to be gone.  The Husband did a stellar job of getting rid of the big box of melt-and-pour soap supplies. He posted them on Nextdoor and a woman came by yesterday and took them all. Hooray!  The last things I need for the studio are the folding room divider that will double as my quilt wall, a coffee/tea station with a mini-fridge, and blinds for the slider. The room divider is in my Amazon wish list, as are a couple of options for the coffee station. On my to-do list is a call to the samr company that did the blinds for my kitchen. Getting closer and closer to done! TdF 2026, Day 4, 7/7 I finished spinning the singles for Gypsy Rose Lee [ Ravelry ]. I'm going to hold off the plying becau...

Tour de Fleece, Days 2 and 3...

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 ...spinning away! TdF 2026, Day 2 7/5 Started spinning the singles for Gypsy Rose Lee [ Ravelry ], a merino-silk from the Yarn Wench.   TdF 2026, Day 3 7/6 Continued spinning the singles for Gypsy [ Ravelry ]. Pulled some beads that I think would look like a good addition during chain-plying.

Tour de Fleece 2026, Day 1...

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...and we're off! I started the Tour with an art yarn, like I have in many years. It was particularly important since I haven't spun in a while.  I decided to pull all Yarn Wench fiber with colors that sound like people names. This is Desiree [ Ravelry ] and the close up: Specs: Started and finished 7/4/2026 Falkland (4.0 oz.) from The Yarn Wench 37.5 yds., Super Bulky, 5.0 oz total Plied with Berroco Quest in Magenta

Eye Candy Friday...

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 ...and it's a quick one. In our garden, the gladiolas continue to pop up. This pink and yellow one is particularly lovely: In the studio, I'm still wending my way through boxes of packed tools and stash. I finally got a delivery date for our bookcase/Murphy bed combo (next week) so I know that we can soon get rid of the POD in our driveway! It's been there since the end of September. I'm tired of parking my car on the street!

WIP-it Wednesday...

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...Happy July! I'm spending part of my day photographing the fiber that I want to spin for Tour de Fleece and getting it loaded into Ravelry. TdF starts July 4th and runs through July 26th. My goal is to spin down my Yarn Wench stash, but I might throw in a Greenwood Fiberworks braid if I get tired of spinning Falkland or art yarns. One thing I haven't talked about yet is the old project that surfaced during my unpacking the studio. In 2001, a co-worker and I started a cross-stitch baby afghan. We used the Alphabet Mania Charts from Heart in Hand. We each did two or three letters at a time. The charts originally called for Weeks Dyeworks threads, but that's not the best choice for a baby afghan because the threads tend to run when washed. We switched to standard and variegated DMC colors, which are more colorfast. In addition, we weren't happy with some of the letters. We changed J from jingle bells to jack-o-lantern and K from key to to ki...