Question--Why

Why is it, I can type up a posting, quickly skim it and find everything in order, only then to see typos, spelling and formatting errors when I look at the actual post?
Fat fingers cannot explain it.
However, now that I have polished up the last post, let me just say--I typed that at 11:30, Sunday evening, with Hubby talking to me the whole while.
The defense rests.

End of the Tour

How did I do? Well, let this picture tell you.
And no, I'm not quite sure how that happened. I was winding away in my skeinwinder and all of a sudden I had this mess and I have no idea how. I did finally have to cut off the batch already wound, and spent the next couple hours untangling this.
So---While I did ply everything on bobbins that I had at the beginning of the tour, and I spun an extra 4 ounces of hand-paint and at least another 28 ounces of the brown/white blend for the two pound total. But, I still had 3 bobbins left to ply when this happened.
Close but no cigar.

So here is the brown/white. There is a bit left I can spin, and there are 3 bobbins in the back needing plied.
And here is the Tour total. The shiny white is what I plied, along with the pink/green in the foreground, after spinning half of that. And the brown/white. Notice the handwound ball in the front of the brown/white? That was what I had to untangle. And there was nearly a full bobbin of my Lorna's Lace Red Rover, that is tucked away in my Joy for guild tomorrow. That was also spun during the tour.

Now that the spinning bug has bit, I hope to finish up that bag of brown white and maybe make a vest or sweater.

Tomatoes

Loook what I have growing on my hanging basket holder, outside the back door.
Cherry Tomatoes!
While they don't work for Tomato Mayo sandwiches, they sure are good. Especially after the blight killed most of our tomatoes last year.

Yummy.

Knitting, Spinning and Heat

I know my last few post have been heavy on the spinning, with the Tour de Fleece. But I have been knitting here and there as well. The Cherry Leaf Shoulder Shawl edging is coming along, and I am almost to the point, probably 5 or 6 repeats away at the most.

I also have 5 brown/white bobbins, and with the Spunky club bobbin, that gives me a total of 6. A little over 2 more bobbins should put me over the top. Especially since I am not counting the bobbin of Lorna's Lace that will be over half done since the Tour by end of Guild tomorrow in that total.

As that isn't enough to keep me busy, the beans are ripe. Thats them, above between the 7 + foot corn and the sweet potatoes, with all the quack grass. With the heat and humidity it has been terrible trying to pick. At least this year, Hubby is coming out to pick them with me. We have picked them twice so far. Ugh! Each time we got a little more than two ice cream buckets full.

I hate the pickin'. Love the eatin' though.

Tour Update

I have been spinning every day. And like Melanie on the Pink Lemon Twist blog noted the other day, I am in the black hole stage of spinning. I am continuing to work on the brown/white blend and am almost done with the 4th bobbin. I have weighed an empty bobbin as well as a couple finished ones. They are coming in at just a wee bit under 4 ounces each. So when I finish this bobbin, I will have about 15 ounces.
The bag of roving still looks nearly as full as when I started spinning. I may get a good amount of yarn out of this bag yet. Maybe a sweater! Or at least a vest.
I have been getting pictures, but to busy spinning to take the time to post them.
Hey--I can only do so much!

TDF Thru Sunday July 11

The spinning juices are flowing.
After the plying I showed that I finished last week, I dug out a bag of roving that has been calling my name.

I plopped it on the scale and determined I had about 2 and a half pounds or so. It is a blend of brown shetland surrounded with white lambs wool that was given to me by a friend after she bought it at the 4H fair a couple years ago.
I rather like the way it spins up. It has a tweedy appearance.

Some areas have more white than others, but I think once this is plied it will be splendid.

Since I started this bag on Thursday, I have spun 2 full bobbins and almost another. Of course tomorrow at Spin Guild I will be back to spinning Red Rover. I don't want to spin it on 2 different wheels, so it will match better.

In the meantime, here is the bobbin I finished Sunday, and the one I started. These are all being spun on my Ashford Traditional and will be plied on the Louet.

What Do You Get?

Take one old farm boy, a tractor and a brush hog.

Boys and their toys? Well, put them together, trimming a little closer to the house than need be, and what do you get?

Well for one thing, a tangled up extension cord, and a lot of chopped grass.

Its time like this that I understand why women usually outlive men.

Hay and Wood

I don't believe I shared the pictures of our haying and our winters wood. (I thought I had, but can't find them on the blog,)
Hubby was waiting for dry weather after we got our new culvert so he could get in and out of the driveway better with the haybine. The week before the Fourth of July we managed to get all the hay baled. The first two fields were rained on, but just after cut, so they were still okay.
Then from Monday on it was nice and dry so by Wednesday, our neighbor came by and whipped his big baler around the hay fields. You can see the bale in the background from the first field.
Here Randy is just getting started with the rolled hay in the foreground. We had 108 bales this year, over twenty more than last year.

After the hay was off the field, (and Hubby had a high old time spearing and moving all the bales, carefully placing each on a pallet behind the barn) it was time to call "The Wood Guy." By the weekend he was here with his big truck.
Once the metal posts and chains are removed, the wood is pushed to the ground. Ready for Hubby to start cutting it up.

I think Hubby has his work cut out for him.

Tour de Fleece Progress.

I can't manage to post pictures on Ravelry, so I will post my Spinning progress here.
This is the Spunky Club November 2008 that I finished spinning on Saturday and Sunday. The bobbin standing up was spun last year and the one lying down is the one I spun this past weekend.

At our Independence Day Spin Guild Spin and Munch day Monday, I plied these skeins from two big bobbins of my Liesister I got last year at the Allegan Fiber Festival.

Tuesday, after I came home from Knit Night, I plied all but a bit left on on bobbin of the Leisister. With the 2 large skeins I spun previously I have a good bit of it.

Here is the bit I had left over. I wrapped it on my plying tool and spun that today, along with the two bobbins at the top of the post.

So this is what I plied today. Next, I dug out a bag of roving that I had processed a couple years ago. I had some brown shetland, and a friend (Thanks Katie!) gave me a lambs fleece she bought at the fair. It is layered, white and brown side by side. Should be nice spun up. I have 2 and a half pounds, so since I want to spin another 28 ounces (2 lbs total) as well as ply everything, I will have plenty to keep me busy.

I may not update this daily with pictutes, but I will show pictures eventually of what I am doing.

And oh yes, I still have the shoulder shawl border. Still plugging away.

Family Moments

I made a quick trip to my brother's this weekend. And I got the chance to meet two of my favorite sweater recipients.That's my baby brother holding Levi and sister in law holding Luke. I love knitting for small people.
Here is my newest little snuggle-bug meeting Auntie. Isn't he a cutie? Sound asleep.

His momma, brother and especially daddy, look like they could use some sleep too!

Spin In Update

I managed to ply about 8 ounces, most of it into one humungus skein. I have 2 more bobbins of my white Leicester (Border, English, Blue-Face) to finish and back to more spinning at home. I want to get at least two pounds spun during the challenge, not counting the plying. Four ounces of my Spunky Club done, in addition to the previously mentioned plying. Not bad.
I didn't get pictures of my plying because I was busy snapping pictures of people and food. (Will post them later.) We had a great turn out for our Spin Guild Holiday Edition. Several Monday workers made it and most of our regulars. Mary can be forgiven for not bringing baby pictures, as she spent the previous night sleeping in a Colorado airport, trying to get home.
We even got to tour the Old Farm Girl's store. Got to see the new wheels she has in--the Louet Victoria is so CUTE! Also found a book I had been meaning to get for some time. And ditto on some purple Corridale roving.
Now I can't wait for my loom--I have some funky fibers just waiting for a try-out.

Spin and Spin Again

The Tour de Fleece is on and running.
I believe this is my third running of this challenge. The first two times I spun and plied pile of shetland. THis year I will be plying already spun fiber, as well as finishing 2 bobbins of some Spunky Clup shetland, and some icelanding. I have the first bobbin of each that have been done for at least a year, and have finished the second bobbin of the shetland over my Saturday and Sunday sprints.
Luckily, today Spin Guild is having a holiday session--4 hours instead of just 2, and hopefully some of our members who can't usually come will be able to make it. I am considering bringing my Louet wheel for a change and all the full bobbins and plying up a storm.
I also need to consider what I start next for my home spinning, for the rest of the Tour.
I do have several bags that would go well with the shetland for when I start the sweater with that. I have great plans for an entirely handspun sweater. So far I have very light grey, medium gray and a couple skeins of black shetland.

Shoulder Shawl--Preliminary Pictures

I mentioned the shawl is not done; there is a lot of border to knit.
But I tried it on Gertrude as soon as I finished binding off. I found a different bind off, a yarn over bind off that is nice and stretchy for a top edge. It looks a little small, but there is about 2 inches of border that will be added along each side.

And see the size of this triangle? Up and down?

Well that is how much more I have to go. This border is knit on sideways and I have 3 repeats done here.

Only eleventy thousand yet to go.

Happy Fourth of July

And thanks who all who have fought to preserve our nation, both now and in the 1700's.

Off But Not Finished

Just a quick post. The cherry leaf shoulder shawl has been cast off and pictures taken. I will post them later.  Now, off to start the lace border.

Almost Time to Spin

The Tour De Fleece is almost upon me and I still have not decided what I want to concentrate on for my challenge.  I think I will continue to use the Lorna's Lace roving I am spinning for the sweater to work on during spin guild.  But I only want to use the Joy on that to keep it somewhat consistent. 
I probably should ply up the last of my Leicester, I have several bobbins of that to go.  Maybe I could pack my Louet in the car and work on that for a few weeks.  Heck, the Tour is just three weeks. 
Maybe I will plan on plying that, and then finishing about a half pound of Icelandic and a half pound of my Spunky club roving I started about a year ago, and put away for the Tour then.  I can use the Traditional to spin them at home.  Or........I do have a few bags of wool scattered around the wool room.  Must decide.  
Since the Tour starts tomorrow, I better decide quick.

Shawl Progress

I have been busy knitting, after having finished the weaving last week. I am happy to report that there is progress on the Cherry Leave Shoulder Shawl.

I have, after this picture was taken, finished the last leaf repeat and am on the top garter border.

Next up, cast off along the top and then start the lace edging that runs down the side, around the tip and up the other side. And then the dreaded the crochet picot along the top.

But progress is being made. Once this is finished, I hope to hit the marl yoke cardi next and finish that. I will need to make a decision on the button band for that soon.