Livin' La Needle Loca

...can you believe that tomorrow is August! This year is flying! And since tomorrow is August, that means I need to pull a recap together. I'll post one over the weekend sometime. I've been posting Eye Candy Friday pictures for a couple of years now. It's getting harder and harder to find new and interesting things to photograph in my little world. I mean, I've taken pictures of every flower, vegetable, and fruit in our garden at every stage of growth; pictures of stuff in the neighborhood; pictures of the cats; pictures of my stash and projects; and 50,000 pictures of sky. I've run out of ideas. Got any suggestions? So today you get a picture of the Loopy Ewe Anniversary kit that I received yesterday: I love the shape and color of the cup; the yarn color is eerily similar to the Rockin' Sock Club installment for July. I'm not sure what I'll do with the yarn...it could make an interesting woven scarf for someone who loves these colors. Hmmmm... Up this ...

...cuz it's no where around here! I keep trying to finish any of my knitting WIPs—two rows in and I'm bored. Needless to say, there are no updated photos of these projects. Maybe it's time to start quilting again. As promised, here are pictures of the finished Deep Blue Sea shawl, cleverly positioned so you don't see the places that really irk me: and here's a close-up: Specs: Started 7/16/09 Finished 7/25/09 Warp: Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Socks That Rock Lightweight in Narikama; 10 epi Weft: Handspun Seawool yarn (top from Creatively Dyed); 7-8 ppi 95"L x 18"W; Loom: Ashford 20" Knitters Loom I really want to love this shawl, but the best I can manage is "like." The colors are nice and I really enjoyed spinning the seawool, but the misbehaving warp really irritates me. The next weaving project should be better!

...and I spun more than I thought I would. Still not as much as I could have if I didn't have vacation and illness thrown into the mix. Here is my final finished yarn (I made the collage for the Ravelry Tour de Fleece group): Some of the specs are in the collage, but are all of them: Started 7/21/09 Finished 7/26/09 Merino top from Yarn Wench in Sea Nymph 2 Spun and plied on Lendrum DT folding wheel 2 singles plied with Sulky Rayon thread Yield: 229.5 yards; 14 WPI Maybe next year I'll get to spin more for the Tour... I also finished weaving the Deep Blue Sea shawl. I haven't taken any pictures of it yet, so you'll have to wait until Wednesday. I have to say that I was not as thrilled with this shawl as I wanted to be. While I normally love Socks That Rock Lightweight yarn, I was not in love with the skeins I used for the warp. There were knots in both skeins, lots off unattractive over-spun sections, and one weak area that resulted in a frayed and split warp thread th...

...and I have a couple of pictures, and they are not sky pictures! (Don't go into shock now...) First, is the Sea Nymph yarn (Merino top from Yarn Wench ) that I am spinning: I love the colors, but I really don't like spinning Merino. For me, it's never as smooth a process as spinning other fibers. I much prefer Falkland or Merino blended with something. Also, as promised, a picture of the July installment of the Rockin' Sock Club from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Click the spoiler picture to see it: This picture shows the contents of the package except for the sticker, which went up on my wall at work. It says " No Coffee, No Workee "...yup, they somehow knew that it's all about the coffee for me! LOL! Up this weekend: Finish spinning Sea Nymph. Since Tour de Fleece ends Sunday, I don't know whether I'll be able to crank out another yarn after that, but we'll see. I also want to finish weaving the shawl on the loom, and do what whatever else I ca...

...I had to be in the office earlier than normal, so I didn't get to take any pictures before I left. I am continuing to work on my new shawl. I've woven another 10 inches and it's looking pretty good. Last night I started spinning another yarn for Tour de Fleece . I want to finish at least one more yarn before Tour de France is over. (One of these years, I'll actually spin every day of the Tour!) I started spinning Sea Nymph , a merino top by the Yarn Wench (who else?! LOL!). I'm trying an experiment with this one in that I am not pre-drafting. I've split the top length-wise into 8 pieces and will spin them onto two bobbins. I haven't quite decided whether it will be a two-ply or 3-ply yarn. (Or maybe I'll spin it with some ray0n thread. Hmmm...) I still haven't had a chance to upload the reunion pictures yet. But I did get these two pictures up there. The reunion was held at the Fiscalini Ranch, the lovely home of a classmate and her husband. The...

...and the last day of my vacation. Boo! Tomorrow it's back to work. This morning I was in Morro Bay, all fogged in. I drove home to sunshine and warm temperatures. The cats really missed us and they've been whining all about how alone they were. LOL! We had fun at the class reunion...it was great seeing classmates and reconnecting. I have several pictures to upload to Flickr over the next few days. We took a little side trip to my high school just to see how much it had changed. I realized how much I loved the area and being in a small town--the rolling hills, the ocean, and the fog were all things I missed. However, I wasn't very happy about having no cell reception and limited wireless connection. Yes, I am spoiled by living in Silicon Valley! HA! I didn't do much craft-wise. However, when I got home, I started some laundry and picked up the loom to do a little weaving on the new shawl: The warp is Socks That Rock Lightweight from Blue Moon Fiber Arts in "Narika...

...I'm on the way to my hotel after a nice visit with Mom. No eye candy today because there wasn't a whole lot of interesting on Hiway 101...sorry! I'll try to make it up to you!