Livin' La Needle Loca

 ...doing a little of this and a little of that. One of my WIPs is getting all of my medical and dental appointments made and organized. I've let a lot of things go since mom got sick and then dealing with her estate. With the Olympics on TV, I'm getting some knitting done while I watch the Prime Time programming. I'm actually making progress on the socks! I started a new cross stitch project, Witchy Dreams: While it's a little early to be thinking about Halloween, no other cross stitch project appealed to me. I also started a needlepoint project and immediately stalled on it. It's called Chaca II, a Susan Portra design. I usually love to stitching her designs, but I'm finding these instructions difficult to follow. There are multiple pages of instructions and charts and you need to shuffle between the pages to follow each step. After thinking about it for a couple of days, I decided to stitch things in the order that made...

 ...yeah, I missed posting yesterday. I spent the morning at Pacific International Quilt Festival. I haven't been able to go since 2018 because of vacations or family things. It felt good to get back there. Given my love for Mid-Century Modern, I was happy to see the MCM quilt exhibit. My favorite of the exhibit was "Retro Living": It won the award for Best Mid-Century Modern quilt. Love! There were lots of people for a Friday morning. I think it's the first time that I didn't buy any fabric or notions at the show. A lot of the fabric was not my style - too old fashioned - and I really couldn't think of anything else that I really needed. Oh, well! The Husband bought some flowers to refresh the courtyard. He bought more salvia: and some SuperCal petunias: In the backyard, the sunflowers are going strong: And the Blue Berries tomatoes are ripening:

 ...with a finished object. When I was finished with Tour de Fleece, I went back to my latest cross stitch WIP and finished it. This is Crystal Heart, a mini from Just Nan. Specs: Started 6/19/2024 Finished 7/23/2024 Chart from Just Nan I've added it to the pile of finishing work. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Reviewing potential; projects for Ravellenics, which starts Friday 7/26 No Work This Week: Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting) Mermaid’s Lagoon Socks (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Ocean Ripples Wrap (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Sky Lanterns Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Website (other) Queued: Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) Ready for Finishing: Finishing work for some old crewel pictures (sewing) Collector's Heart 2024 (cross stitch) Crystal Heart mini (cross stitch) Jasmine Mix mini (cross stitch) Mermaid’s Lagoon Socks (knitting) [ Ra...

 ...yeah, late on this post, too. Finished: 6/2 Collector's Heart (cross stitch) 6/15 Peridot Handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Merino-Stellino (4.0 oz.) from Greenwood Fiberworks 231.25 yds. chain-ply, WPI 14 6/17 Jasmine Mix (cross stitch) 6/29 Tidal 2 Handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] 4.3 oz. Falkland from Yarn Wench 1) 48 yds. 3-ply bulky; plied with Trendsetter Flora in color 202 and Lunatic Fringe 10/2 cotton in Blue-green 2) 20.8 yds. 3-ply bulky; plied with Lana Grossa Alessia in color 16 and Lunatic Fringe 10/2 cotton in Blue-green Books: Cocoa Beach Cabana, Cecelia Scott Familia, Lauren E Rico Easton Island, Hope Callaghan Witch Slapped, Sarah Noffke Cables and Conjurers, Nancy Warren The Curse of the Flores Women, Angelica Lopes Free as a Bird, Hailey Edwards The Ruthless Fae King, Leia Stone The Beachside Home 1-6, Hayley Summers The Forbidden Wolf King, Leia Stone ...

 ...missed it. Whoops! Finished: 5/5 Tulip Time mini (cross stitch) 5/29 Amethyst Handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Merino-Silk-Cashmere (4.0 oz) from Greenwood Fiberworks 256.25 yds. chain-ply; 13 WPI Books: Saltwater Secrets, Amelia Adler The Sleeping Girls, Rita Herron Fair Market Value, Hailey Edwards Fiendish Delight, Helen Harper The 24th Hour, James Patterson The Dressmaker on Amelia Island, Hope Holloway The Housewife, Elle Gray Whispers at the Reunion, Elle Gray On Her Watch, Melinda Leigh Summer Rose, Katie Winters Trick of the Light, Katie Winters Compulsion, Katie Winters Unspoken Secrets, Katie Winters Cocoa Beach Cottage, Cecelia Scott Cocoa Beach Sunrise, Cecelia Scott Cocoa Beach Reunion, Cecelia Scott Cocoa Beach Boardwalk, Cecelia Scott Cocoa Beach Bakery, Cecelia Scott Started: 5/5 Collector...

 ...whew!  As my last yarn for the tour, I pulled Glo-Girl 1 [ Ravelry ], a Falkland from The Yarn Wench. and the close-up: Specs: Started and finished 7/21/2024 4.0 oz. Falkland from Yarn Wench 66.7 yds. chain-ply, 9 WPI Tour de Fleece Recap Overall, it felt great to get back into the TdF mindset. I was able to spin every day of the Tour, including the rest days. I didn't want to miss out on any spinning time! Finished 12 yarns Yardage total 1,441.8 yds. of various weights Tried out spinning beehives/coils 👎 Tried spinning with a different color. 👌for the color; 👎 for the fiber.

 ...nearing the end of the Tour! Tour de Fleece, 7/19: I chain plied Horizon Handspun [ Ravelry and the close-up: Specs: Started 7/16/2024 Finished 7/19/2024 Organic Polworth-silk from Greenwood Fiberworks 254.2 yds. chain-ply, 15 WPI Tour de Fleece, 7/20: I spun two singles for Agate 2, a merino from Yarn Wench. Plied the singles with Charming from Trensetter Yarns: and the close-up: Specs: Started and finished 7/20/2024 4.2 oz. Merino from Yarn Wench 47.9 yds 3-ply, Super bulky 2 singles plied with Charming in 1001P from Trendsetter

 ...AKA F.O. Friday. Tour de Fleece, 7/17: I continued spinning the singles for Horizon Handspun [ Ravelry ] that I started 7/16. Tour de Fleece, 7/18: I finished spinning the singles for Horizon Handspun [ Ravelry ]. I'll let it rest overnight before plying. I spun an art yarn during the remainder of the day. This is Storm’s a Brewing [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Started and finished 7/18/2024 3.9 oz. Merino 56.25 yds. 3 ply Plied with Stacy Charles Mariah and blue variegated quilting thread  

 ...Tour de Fleece style. Yesterday, I participated in a challenge for one of my TdF teams. The challenge was to spin in a different or new color. After doing a deep dive in my stash, I found a ProVerbial club installment from April 2014: California Poppy Party. This club installment had two color variations in two fibers. I used the red-orange merino and started spinning it. This is California Red Poppy [ Ravelry ]: Ugh! It was a struggle drafting the fiber and was not a pleasant spin. I stopped after about 3 hours and switched over to something more pleasant to spin. This is Horizon [ Ravelry ], a Polworth-silk from Greenwood Fiberworks: WIPs Roll Call Worked On: California Red Poppy Handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Started 7/16/2024 Crystal Heart mini (cross stitch) Finished the cross stitch portion; working on the specialty stitches Horizon Handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Started 7/16/2024 No Work This Week: ...

 ...I blasted through the two handspuns in process. I finished the core spinning Plumpine [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Started 7/14/2024 Finished 7/15/2024 3.9 oz Falkland from Yarn Wench 37.5 yds 2-ply, coreless corespun, autowrappped with green and purple variegated rayon thread I plied Stanley [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Started 7/12/2024 Finished 7/15/2024 4.0 Merino-bamboo-silk from Greenwood Fiberworks 300 yds, chain-ply, 16 WPI

 ...blogging is suffering from me having too many teams that want daily posts. Tour de Fleece, 7/13: I continued to spin Stanley [ Ravelry ]. I noticed that the color was off on the last photo.  I'm having a lot of color problems with my photos, mostly due to my new monitor on my Mac Mini. I have to figure out to set up the color properly. I've switched over to editing my photos on my laptop. Tour de Fleece, 7/14: I finished spinning the singles for Stanley [ Ravelry ]: I had time left in the day, so I decided to try a technique that I haven't used in several years: coreless core spinning. After about an hour, I remembered why I don't use this method to spin art yarn: it's too fiddly. So far the yarn is too energized.   This is Plumpine [ Ravelry ], a Falkland top from Yarn Wench. I'll finish it off today and then start plying Stanley Handspun.

 ...too hot to post yesterday. Today is not much better! Tour de Fleece, 7/11: I spun the singles for Rose Sapphire [ Ravelry ], a Falkland top from Yarn Wench: Tour de Fleece, 7/12: I plied Rose Sapphire [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: I also started Stanley [ Ravelry ], a merino-bamboo-stellina from Greenwood Fiberworks. >

 ...moving right along. I plied Copper Hills [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Started 7/3/2024 Finished 7/10/2024 4.0 Merino superfine from Greenwood Fiberworks 241.7 yds, chain-ply; 13 WPI

 ...and it's mom's birthday. Tonight we'll toast her with her favorite beverage, Corona beer. Sadly, at the end of her life she was not allowed to have alcohol so Coronas were out. She finally got used to non-alcoholic beer. I decided that I wanted to finish something after several days of minimal spinning.  This is Sheen [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Started and finished 7/9/2024 4.1 oz. BFL from Yarn Wench 89.6 yds., super-bulky Plied with Facets in 106 from Loops & Threads I'll ply Copper Hills [ Ravelry ] tomorrow.

 ...one without a photo, one with a photo. Tour de Fleece, 7/7: I was only able to spin 15 minutes because I had to pack up my wheel to travel home. Tour de Fleece, 7/8: I drove home in the morning and spent my afternoon finishing the singles for Copper Hills [ Ravelry ]:

 ...still not able to get much more than an hour on my spinning. I'm continuing to add to the Copper Hills bobbin: Can't wait to get home on Monday!

 ...too busy to be able to spin a lot each day.  Tour de Fleece, 7/3: This was a travel day for me. I set up my wheel in my hotel room and spun a little to make sure that it was working correctly. I started Copper Hills [ Ravelry ], a superfine merino for Greenwood Fiberworks. No photo. Tour de Fleece, 7/4: It was a long, tiring day at mom's. However, I managed to spin Copper Hills [ Ravelry ] for an hour when I got back to my room. Tour de Fleece, 7/5: Another long day. I spun Copper Hills [ Ravelry ] for a little over an hour. It doesn't look significantly different, but it is. :)

 ...making more progress. This will probably be the last finish for a few days while I'm traveling. This is Techno: and the close-up: Specs: Started and finished 7/2/2024 4.1 oz. Falkland from Yarn Wench 120.8 yds, Bulky Plied with Trendsetter Dune in 123 and auto wrapped with turquoise rayon thread

 ...making progress! Tour de Fleece, 7/1: I plied Copperhead 1 [ Ravelry ]. and the close-up: Specs: Started 6/30/2024 Finished 7/1/2024 4.4 oz. Falkland from Yarn Wench 81.25 yds. chain-ply, 9 WPI