Livin' La Needle Loca

 ...last one of July. The garden is producing edibles as well as flowers. We have Japanese eggplant regular eggplant baby pomegrartes tomatillos and Asiatic pears. I've been knitting along with the Olympics and have made great progress on the Marionberry Shawl [ Ravelry ]. I hope to finish this in the next couple of days.

 ...and I'm having a little trouble getting motivated. I started another small cross stitch project. This is Summer Stroll by Just Nan, so far: I'm trying to work on machine quilting the coffee quilt. Ir's slow going because I need to change thread colors frequently. I'm plugging away... WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Bean Me Up quilt (quilting) Started machine quilting Marionberry Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Working on the last repeat for the final sand stitch section/   Summer Stroll mini (cross stitch) Completed roughly 60% of the chart No Work This Week: Illusion hexagons [ Ravelry ] Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting)  Malachite (needlepoint)  Mermaid and the Sea (cross stitch) Pacific Waters tapestry (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Pure Comfort Cardigan (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Queued Ready to machine quilt: - Mermaid Songs (quilting) - Noche de lo...

 ...I know, I know. It's very late. Finished: 6/9 Mermaid Heart (cross stitch)  6/14 Phat Fiber Anniversary Sampler (spinning) [ Ravelry ] 6/23 Beach Roses mini (cross stitch) 6/26 Rusted Violet handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Falkland top (4.1 oz.) from The Yarn Wench 57 yds. 2-ply, super-bulky, yarn plied 6/27 Ramillete de Flores handspun [ Ravelry ] Bamboo-Wool top (4 oz.) from Creatively Dyed in RMB7 colorway 196.3 yds. chain-ply, 13 WPI 6/29 Spring Buds handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Falkland (4.0 oz.) from The Yarn Wench 88.7 yds. chain ply, 8 WPI 6/30 Ripe Plum handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Falkland (4.4 oz.) from The Yarn Wench 69.2 yds, super-bulky, yarn-plied Books Quiet in Her Bones, Nalini nSingh The Noose of a New Moon, Helen Harper The Stepsisters, Susan Mallery Choose Me, Tess Gerritsen Slouch Witch, Helen Harper Star Witch, Helen...

 ...and another week has whipped on by. It was nice to be able to rest my knees for the last few days. I've cleaned up the studio a bit, but not nearly enough to call it "clean." The Ravellenic Games started up again today. Sign. I want to participate, but I don't want to spin any more this month. Maybe I'll just enter the WIPs Wrestling event. I have a couple of knitting projects that are close to the finish line. Hmmm... In the garden, we have baby red okra Eggplant flowers And dianthus and pansies in a hanging basket

 ...and an enjoyable stitch. I finished Signs of Summer yesterday. Specs: Started 7/15/2021 Finished 7/21/2021 Design by Bent Creek The next cross stitch piece might be a mermaid or might be a sampler. I haven't decided. The Mermaid and the Sea sampler that I was working on has lost its appeal for the moment. I think I'm going to let it hibernate for a while. I need to decide whether to Stitch the whole thing when I'm feeling up to it again, or Simply finish the area that I'm working on and make it a pillow.

 ...and I still haven't finished picking up my studio.  I'm still trying to recover from Tour de Fleece, so I'm taking my time cleaning up my messes. Yesterday, I dusted and found the top of my quilt table. I'm not sure what today's focus will be. I mounted the Peacock Tapestry mini in the frame that came with the kit. This was a P.I.T.A as they intended for you to glue the piece to a cushioned piece of cardboard they supplies and then glue or tape the piece into the frame. Glue and tape deteriorate over time and they leave behind some nasty residue. Instead, I took apart the frame, laced the piece to the cardboard, placed it in the frame and used glue and binder clipe to glue the frame pieces back together. Photo will come later. I'm working on a cross stitch piece for Summer. Summer is one of the topics I enjoy stitching and I've have this piece in my stash for a while. This is Signs of Summer by Bent Creek: I've ...

 ...7/18/2021. I plied Eggplant [ Ravelry ] as my last handspun of the tour. and the close-up Specs: Started 7/16/2021 Finished 7/18/2021 4.0 oz. Merino-Silk-Bamboo from Chameleon Colorworks 139.3 yds., 10 WPI I spun 989 yds., plied another handspun that I started before the Tour (196.3 yds.), and started one on the spindle. Here is my Tour de Fleece collage: r1: Rusted Violet; Ramillete de Flores; Spring Buds; Ripe Plum r2: Violet Honey; Wild Orchid Orange; Ripe Fig; Dusk Violet r3: Black Mulberry; Bronze Violet; Grape Orchid; Vine r4: Lavender Shadows; Rose Sapphire; Eggplant; Heather, in progress Next up: Clean up my studio - it's a mess right now - and then start working on my neglected projects.

 ...7/17/21. I spun Rose Sapphire [ Ravelry ], a Falkland from The Yarn Wench. I wanted to ply it with Missions Falls 1824 Cotton yarn in a deep pink that matched the pink in the yarn. However, I ran out before the end. and the close up: I pulled a lighter pink yarn from Bernat Bamboo and plied the rest of it. and the close-up: Specs: Started and finished 7/17/2021 Falkland (4.2 oz.) from The Yarn Wench 1) 67.5 yds. 2-ply, super-bulky; plied with 1824 Cotton in color 206 from Mission Falls 2) 16.9 yds. 2-ply, super-bulky; plied with Bamboo in color 92425 from Bernat When I finished Rose Sapphire, I blasted through the rest of Eggplant [ Ravelry ].

 ...7/16/2021. I spun Lavender Shadows [ Ravelry ] and yarn-plied it: and the close-up: Specs: Started and finished 7/16/2021 Falkland (4.0 oz.) from The Yarn Wench 52.8 yds. 2-ply, 5 WPI Plied with Ritratto yarn in color 155 from S. Charles I also started spinning Eggplant [ Ravelry ], a lovely Merino-Silk-Bamboo blend: I might not finish this one by the end of the Tour, so I'll probably spin another art yard before concentrating on Eggplant.

 ...7/15/2021. I spun Vine [ Ravelry ] and plied it with an old novelty yarn from my stash. It had no label, so my best guess is that is Moonlight Mohair from Lion Brand. I have no idea what color it is and the yarn has been discontinued. and the close-up: Specs: Started and finished 7/15/2021 Falkland (4.2 oz.) from The Yarn Wench 61.2 yds. 2-ply, 5 WPI Plied with Moonlight Mohair from Lion Brand, color unknown There are many flowers blooming in the backyard. Here's one view of the backyard and here's another. I'm hoping to get at least two more handspuns done by the end of the Tour on Sunday. After that, I'm ready to work on something else!

 ...7/14/2021. I attempted to ply Grape Orchid with beads from my stash. Although I found beads that had large openings, the single was just too thick to easily add the beads. After adding beads to about 2 ounces of the singles, I swapped over to plain chain-ply. Skein 1 is plain chain-ply: and the close-up: Skein 2 is plied with a variety of beads: and the close-up: Both skeins together: Specs: Started 7/13/2021 Finished 7/14/2021 Falkland (4.2 oz.) from The Yarn Wench Skein 1: 38 yds. chain-ply, 8 WPI Skein 2: 29.6 yds. chain-ply with beads, 7 WPI

 ...WIP-it Wednesday. I decided to spin another thick single so I can chain ply it with beads. This is Grape Orchid [ Ravelry ]: As for my other crafts, most everything is on hold. By the time I'm done with spinning, I don't have a lot of energy left to do anything else. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Marionberry Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Still working on pattern number 4.  No Work This Week: Illusion hexagons [ Ravelry ] Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting)  Malachite (needlepoint)  Mermaid and the Sea (cross stitch) Pacific Waters tapestry (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Pure Comfort Cardigan (knitting) [ Ravelry ]   Queued Ready to machine quilt: - Bean Me Up quilt (quilting) - Mermaid Songs (quilting) - Noche de los Muertos quilt (quilting) Ready to start - Lilith of Labrador mermaid (cross stitch) Waiting for Finishing: Beach Roses (cross sti...

...forgot to post yesterday. Oops! Tour de Fleece, 7/11/2021 Spun the singles for Bronze Violet [ Ravelry ]: Tour de Fleece, 7/11/2021 Plied Bronze Violet [ Ravelry ]: and the close up: Specs: Started 7/11/2021 Finished  7/12/2021 Falkland (4.4 oz.) from The Yarn Wench 67.6 yds. chain-ply, 8 WPI When I finished plying that,  I swapped over to the Peacock Majesty mini that I've been cross-stitching. I finished it...yay! It is supposed to be placed in a small frame, so I folded the excess fabric to get an idea of how much I need to trim and then took the photo. Specs: Started 6/23/2021 Finished 7/12/2021 Pattern and charm by Just Nan

 ...I didn't really have time to blog while I was at mom's. TdF Day 11, 7/6/2021 Took a rest day.  Between traveling and talking to mom, I just didn't have the energy to spin. TdF Day 12, 7/7/2021 Started Heather [ Ravelry ] on the spindle. I immediately ran into drafting problems. I don't know whether it was because the fiber has been in my stash for years and was too compressed or if the cashmere component was causing issues. It was hard to get a smooth spin. TdF Day 13, 7/8/2021 Did some severe pre-drafting of the fiber and tried to spin the fiber again. TdF Day 14, 7/9/2021 Took a rest day for mom's birthday. I helped her with the phone calls that she received as she was having trouble hearing them. We had a wonderful birthday dinner at my sister's house. My mom enjoyed her day. 😀 TdF Day 15, 7/6/2021 I drove home in the morning and arrived just after lunch. After grabbing something to eat and catching up with The Hu...

 ...7/5/2021. This is Dusk Violet [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Started and finished 7/5/2021 Merino (3.9 oz.) and Firestar (2.1 oz) from The Yarn Wench 35.9 yds. 2-ply, super-bulky Plied with YLI Machine-quilting thread in Jewel Traveling to Mom's in Tuesday, so I'll be spinning with my spindle.

 ...7/4/2021. My wheel fix is still holding. Yay! I plied Ripe Fig [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Started 7/3/2021 Finished 7/4/2021 Falkland (4.4 oz.) from The Yarn Wench 61.2 yds. chain-ply, Bulky weight

 ...7/3/2021. The Husband and I went to Home Depot to look for better alternatives for my wheel's broken connector. We found 3 possibilities, only one of which fit. I used a piece of plastic tubing to replace the broken piece. So far, so good. If this breaks after a few used, I still have plenty of tubing to make another replacement. That would be a pain, but at least my wheel is working! I spun the singles for Ripe Fig [ Ravelry ], a Falkland from The Yarn Wench. I'll ply it today, if the fix holds.

 ...7/2/2021. My Lendrum spinning wheel’s footman connector snapped in the middle of plying today’s handspun.  😢 I ordered the replacement part and tried the temporary fix suggested in the Cult of Lendrum group. The fix snapped after 5 minutes. 😭 I managed to manually finish plying the yarn. I’ll try a different fix today. If that doesn’t work, I’ll break out a spindle. It will severely cut back on my production, but at least I’ll be spinning! This is Wild Orchid Orange [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Started and finished 7/2/2021 Falkland top (4.1 oz.) from The Yarn Wench 82.3 yds. 2-ply, super-bulky Plied with Luna yarn in Copper from Trendsetter  

 ...7/1/2021. I spun Violet Honey [ Ravelry ]: and the close up: Specs: Started and finished 7/1/2021 Falkland (4.3 oz.) from The Yarn Wench 82.3yds. 3 ply, super-bulky 2 plies Falkland and 1 ply Coco yarn in color 005 by Lana Grossa

 ...6/30/2021. I needed some sparkle yesterday. This is Ripe Plum [Ravelry]: and the close up: Specs: Started and finished 6/30/2021 Falkland (4.4 oz.) from The Yarn Wench 69.2 yds, super-bulky Plied with Grace yarn in Brown 7 by Trendsetter