Livin' La Needle Loca

...one last spin and the final tally. Tour de Fleece Day 23 Before spinning, I ran a couple of errands and got dinner in the crock pot. Then I could concentrate on my spinning. For my last spin, I pulled Winesap [Ravelry], a Falkland top (4.1 oz) from The Yarn Wench. I wasn't sure whether I wanted it to be art yarn or a more standard spin. Once I started spinning, the fiber decided that it wanted to be a fluffy 2-ply. It took longer to spin a two ply than an art yarn, so I didn't finish until after 4pm. and the close-up: Specs: Started and finished 7/29/18 Falkland (4.1 oz) from The Yarn Wench 111.7 yds. 2-ply, 8 WPI Tour de Fleece Final Photo The final tally: The Tour ran from 7/7/18 through 7/29/18 Spun 12 new yarns (1,129.5 yards). 11 from The Yarn Wench and one from Caliope’s Fiber Finished spinning and plied a camel-silk from Greenwood Fiberworks that I started before the Tour (228.9 yards). I'll be taking a short break from spinning - ...

...it's been a very productive two days. Tour de Fleece Day 21 I started spinning Earthday [ Ravelry ], a Falkland from The Yarn Wench. I finished the singles. Tour de Fleece Day 22 Saturday is laundry day. The washer and dryer are in my studio, so I can keep the laundry going and spin between loads. I plied Earthday [ Ravelry ]: and the close up: Specs: Started 7/27/18 Finished 7/28/18 Falkland (3.9 oz) from The Yarn Wench 91.2 yds, chain-ply, 9 WPI Because I still had laundry to do, I decided to spin a batt in my stash. I spun Diamond in the Sky [ Ravelry ], a Wild Card Bling Batt (3.7 oz) from the Yarn Wench. I spun the locks separately from the main batt. and the close-up: Specs: Started and finished 7/28/18 Wild Card Bling Batt (3.7 oz) from The Yarn Wench Skein 1: 39.1 yds. plied with Luna from Trendsetter Yarns , Bulky Skein 2: 5.6 yds core spun locks, bulky Tomorrow is the last day of the tour. One more spin! .

...and we're winding down to the end of the tour. Tour de Fleece Day 20 I pulled another Yarn Wench Falkland out of the stash and found some leftover Charm eyelash yarn (Trendsetter Yarns) that kind of matched. This is Smoothie [Ravelry]: and the close-up: Specs: Started and finished 7/26/18 Falkland (4.2 oz.) from The Yarn Wench 72.5 yds plied with Charm in color 313 by Trendsetter Yarns; bulky Up this weekend: I'll spin the last three days for the tour and upload the photos. In between, I'll work on my quilt. Maybe I;ll find time to go to Michaels and get the correct frame for Mermaid of the Pearls. While I love spinning, I'm glad the tour is ending. I am so ready to work on something else! .

...and another finished object! Tour de Fleece Day 19 I plied Black Cherry [ Ravelry ] last night. and the close up: Specs: Started 7/22/18 Finished 7/25/18 Merino-silk (3.9 oz) from The Yarn Wench 171.2 yds. chain-ply, 11 WPI My plan tonight is to work on another art yarn. We'll see how far I get! .

...my knees are sore from all of the spinning, but I should make it to the end of the tour on Sunday. Tour de Fleece Day 18 I finished spinning the singles for Black Cherry [ Ravelry ] , a merino-silk from The Yarn Wench. I plan on starting the plying tonight. My hope is to get at least half of it plied in the short time I have, We'll see! The quilt is coming along. Here's a look at where it's at as of this morning: There are at least 3 more squares to add for Tour de Fleece, San Jose State mascot, and one for our last name. There might be a couple of others, but I have nothing specific planned at the moment. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Attic Windows quilt for me (quilting) Printed the TdF and last name features. Still working on the appliqué pop-outs for the squares. Charred Teal Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Finished contrast color #3 and started contrast color #4. Queued Renaissance Mermaid (cross stitch) Kitted and ready to start; pressed...

...and my vacation is over. Sigh. I went back to work yesterday, which means my spinning time is reduced again. Tour de Fleece Day 13 I spun Beachcomber [ Ravelry ]. and the close up: Specs: Started and finished 7/19/18 Falkland (4.1 oz) from The Yarn Wench Skein 1: 27.9 yds, coreless core-spun, Bulky Skein 2: 50.25 yds thread-plied with Sulky Blendable 12wt thread in Sun and Sea, Bulky Tour de Fleece Day 14 I wanted to spin something fun, so I spun Frida [ Ravelry ] and plied it with a funky yarn from Crystal Palace. and the close up: Specs: Started and finished 7/20/18 Falkland (4.4 oz) from The Yarn Wench Skein 1: 72.6 yds, 2 ply Frida and 1ply Little Flowers yarn in Chocolate Almonds, Bulky Skein 2: 29.8 yds 2-ply, 7 WPI Tour de Fleece Day 15 I used this as my rest day (instead of Monday 7/23). I took a field trip to the California State Fair with some of the members of our spinning team. Our team, Spinnity Spinners, placed 2nd in Divisio...

...a little late, but better than missing it! Tour de Fleece Day 12 I finished spinning Plumgolden [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Started 7/16/18 Finished 7/18/18 Merino-silk (3.9 oz) from The Yarn Wench 182.4 yds. chain-ply, 12 WPI I also worked on my attic windows quilt. I assembled a few more blocks and worked on the blocks that needed appliqué work. Here's an example of one of the appliquéd blocks. This is the Creature from the Black Lagoon block. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Attic Windows quilt for me (quilting) Added a few more squares. Still working on the appliqué pop-outs for the squares. Charred Teal Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Added a couple of rows. Queued Renaissance Mermaid (cross stitch) Kitted and ready to start; pressed the fabric Works In Progress, Did Not Work On This Week: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Finishing work (Shepherd's Bush Christmas ornament.) Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Rosew...

...I've been too busy spinning to post! Tour de Fleece Day 6 Started spinning Summertime [ Ravelry ], a Falkland top from The Yarn Wench. Tour de Fleece Day 7 I finished spinning the singles for Summertime, a Falkland fiber from The Yarn Wench. Tour de Fleece Day 8 I chain-plied the Summertime singles with matching beads, until I ran out of beads. The rest of the singles I chain-plied. and the close-up: Specs: Started 7/12/18 Finished 7/14/18 Falkland (3.8 oz) from The Yarn Wench Skein 1: 67 yds. chain-ply with beads, Bulky Skein 2: 44.7 chain-ply, 9 WPI Tour de Fleece Day 9 I spun Lizard Queen [ Ravelry ], a Falkland top from The Yarn Wench. and the close-up Specs: Started and finished 7/15/18 Falkland (4.1 oz.) from The Yarn Wench Skein 1: 39.1 yds, thread-plied with 1 strand green and 1 strand purple rayon thread, Bulky Skein 2: 48.4 yds chain-ply, 8 WPI Tour de Fleece Day 10 This was a make-up day for me. I started spinnin...

...and I'm getting back in the groove. I finished plying the Hawaii handspun [ Ravelry ]. and the close-up: Specs: Started 6/2/18 Finished 7/11/18 4.0 Camel-Silk from Greenwood Fiberworks 228.9 yds. chain-ply, 16 WPI I haven't decided what to work on tonight. I think I'll only do an hour of spinning so I can get to bed at a decent hour. I don't get home from work until 7pm, so my time is limited. The good news is that I start my craft-cation tomorrow! I have about 5 days before The Husband comes back and I plan to spend most of it in the studio! I am so looking forward to this!! .

...and I already got side-tracked. Tour de Fleece Day 3 I woke up super early with a massive headache. I don't know if it was the heat, or what. I felt off all day. By the time I got home, I only had enough energy to have dinner and zone out. No spinning for me. I'll take this as an early rest day and then spin on one of the official rest days later in the Tour. Tour de Fleece Day 4 I started plying the Hawaii singles [ Ravelry ]. Here's a dark photo of last night's progress: I'll continue plying this tonight. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Attic Windows quilt for me (quilting) Finished sewing on all of the sashings. Working on the appliqué pop-outs for the squares. Hawaii handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Finished the singles. Started chain-plying. Queued Renaissance Mermaid (cross stitch) Kitted and ready to start; pressed the fabric Works In Progress, Did Not Work On This Week: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Charred Teal Shawl (k...

...and I'm off to a good start! Tour de Fleece Day 1 I finished spinning the singles for Hawaii handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ]. I wanted to change to the jumbo (plying) head on my wheel and I decided to finish the singles first. For my Tour spinning, I chose a bunch of fiber that reminded me of Summer, either by name or by color. First up, was Orchid-Orange Sunglo. I knew I wanted to do an art yarn, but I hadn't planned well enough to have something ready to ply it with. Given that I don't often spin something with orange in it, I wasn't too hopeful that I'd have something in the stash. Big surprise! I found some leftover Dream in Color Classy that I used in a knit baby sweater. The color is called Cool Fire and it's very close to the color range in the fiber. This is Cool Sunglo handspun [ Ravelry ]: and a close up: Specs:  Started and finished 7/7/18 4.4 oz. Falkland in Orchid-Orange Sunglo from the Yarn Wench 61.4 yds. 2-ply; plied with...

...hooray! First, a look at this morning's clouds: The acidanthera is blooming in our backyard: And our Spider Woman dahlia has bloomed, as attracted a spider of its very own: Up this weekend: Tour de Fleece begins tomorrow! I need to clean and prep my wheel today to be ready to start. Since my spinning is limited during the work week, I might try for art yarn this weekend and do a standard yarn during the week. We'll see. The other thing I'd like to do this weekend is printout two of the quilt squares. I have one for Tour de Fleece and another for our last name. I'll print these on fabric on our ink-jet printer. I need to hit the cross-stitch fabric stash to find a piece that will work for the cross-stitched version of my college's mascot. I need to check my floss stash to see if I have enough for that piece or if I need to buy more. When my knees get tried of spinning, I can work on this square. So much crafting, so little time! .

...yesterday, I chose crafting! And a little photography. Here is Apricot Orchid [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Started 6/10/18 Finished 6/23/18 Falkland (4.1 oz) from The Yarn Wench 106.1 chain-ply, 11 WPI I spent most of my day reorganizing my fiber stash. My intent was to pull out a bunch of fiber to queue up for Tour de Fleece. Now, I keep all of my fiber in ziplock bags and put a lot of cedar blocks and bags in each container. I do the same thing for my animal-based yarn. Occasionally, I fail to put an item back in a plastic bag, usually when I'm really tired. You know where this is going... I found two loose yarn cakes that had been munched. ACK! That required checking every plastic bag for the possibility of a breach. Nothing else had been attacked, thankfully, but I need to keep a better eye on things. After cleaning out the storage container where I found the cakes, I added fresh cedar and put everything away. I vacuumed the room and dumped anyth...

...in which a lot of reading was accomplished and a few crafts. Finished: 6/23 Apricot Orchid 1 (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Falkland (4.1 oz) from the Yarn Wench 106.1 yds. chain-ply, 11 WPI 6/16 Mola Head Scarf (sewing) Books: Dark Queen, Faith Hunter Born in Fire, KF Breene Raised in Fire, KF Breene Year One, Nora Roberts  Jinn's Dominion, Shannon Mayer Shelter in Place, Nora Roberts Venom in the Veins, Jennifer Estep Fused in Fire, KF Breene Natural Witch, KF Breene Natural Mage, KF Breene The High Tide Club, Mary Kay Andrews Started: 6/10 Apricot Orchid 1 (spinning) [ Ravelry ]  6/16 Mola Head Scarf (sewing) Works In Progress: 4-shaft sampler (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Attic Windows quilt for me (quilting) Charred Teal Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ]  Finishing work (Shepherd's Bush Christmas ornament) Mother of Dragons shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Rosewood Wrap (weaving) [ Ravelry ] St. Charles (needlepoint) Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler...

...I honestly can't tell you why, other than not having enough hours in the day to do what I want to do. Since I missed Eye Candy Friday, I offer an orange dahlia as an apology: Weekend report: I finally skeined the Apricot Orchid 1 handspun [ Ravelry ], but I haven't taken any photos yet. I'm making headway on the Hawaii handspun [ Ravelry ]. I have about half an ounce left to spin on the singles. I did a little knitting on the Charred Teal Shawl [ Ravelry ] The majority of my weekend was spent working on my quilt.  Finished sewing the rest of the first (dark color) sashing on all the squares that were cut out.  Sewed on the second (light color) sashing on the same squares.  Sewed the miter seam on 50% of the blocks. This is going a bit slower because I'm doing them one at a time, as opposed to the chain sewing I did on the sashings. We picked the apricots from one of our trees. We froze a bunch of them, gave a big bag of them to the Husband's br...