Tour de Fleece - Day 13

I didn't do anything else last night, after spinning the 2oz. I was too worried about Happy. We were considering driving to the emergency clinic with him. You could not touch his back, or even breath on it, he would cry out in pain. I knew it was from swimming, and standing in the pool on his hind leg for so long. He seemed to have fun doing it. He would just stand around, looking tired, but it must have hurt to ly down. He did not climb on the sofa, or the bed later on. During the night about every couple of hours I would wake to his cry, when he was shifting, of he would stand beside my bed (kind of creepy, to open your eyes, and he's there). We were ready to go to the Vet if he did not improve until the morning, but he did! I could see that he was still sore, but I could gently run my hand along his back, without him crying out. Needless to say he'll be banned from swimming the next three days to recover. His swimming time after that will be shorter too. Cheez, there's always something!
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So, after all was well again, I relaxed and finished off the last 2oz of Esther in the morning.



In the afternoon, I chain plied it.


and now it's drying in a gently summer breeze.



I'm not sure what fiber will be next. Have to have a look in the box, to see what's left, but at least I'll be preparing for spinning tonight.
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I found the time to bake some cookies too.


They turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself! I like throwing indredients into a bowl, without having to use a recipe. Measurement in "cup" makes that possible. During the last few month, I've been on the hunt for the perfect cookie. I made a few patches which were rather nasty, well you could still eat them, but with a shudder (ask my son).

These are oatmeal cookies, with brown sugar, and some kind of trail mix I had on hand. There are dried blueberries, cranberries (which I LOVE), cashews, and almonds, plus white, and dark chocolate chips in there. For me they are perfect! I made them smaller too, didn't use the ice cream scoop like the last few times.
Denny of course stole one raw cookie from the baking sheet, while I was not paying attention. He's banned from the kitchen for a while, and Happy can keep me company while I'm cooking. That's a big punishment for Denny, since he knows there's always something yummy falling of the counter.
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Yesterday we made a short car ride with all THREE of the dogs. So far we just never got around to it. No problem whatsoever.


Denny usually feels car sick, and curls up in the back, that is after he got a face full of cold air. The White ones just love sightseeing. (That's not MY hairy arm!) Maggie is pushing through, to get some of the cool air.

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Tour de Fleece - Day 12

Rest days are never good for me. They take the wind out of me, and it's even harder to get back in the saddle. Last night, after I finished my Esther yarn, I prepared the next braid for spinning, but could not for the life of me, sit at the wheel and spin. So I didn't. I finished my test knit instead, and it felt really good.

Here's the yarn from yesterday: Esther on BFL, 3-ply, 259yds. I had left over singles on two bobbins, that explains the lower yardage.






and the real color is between the photos above, and this one.


Today I only got 2oz of my second braid of Esther spun. I might do a little more later on, but I certainly will not finish it today.


While I'm writing this blog post, the pups are here with me in my studio. They are tired, thank god!


Denny looks like he's shunned.



There is a thing like too much swimming for the dogs. Happy has some back ache today. I think it comes from him standing in the pool with his hind legs so much and playing with the hose hanging in from the side. No more hose playing for him, and reduced swimming time the next few days. I can't keep him out altogether though, he's so sneaky sometimes. The other two are fine. Maggie didn't swim at all today, just got hosed down, which she likes just fine. Denny did swim, but mostly sits his butt at the stairs, soaking, waiting for Happy to come out.

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Tour de Fleece - Day 11

Rest day only meant not looking at the wheel, not touching it, or look at fiber. Other than that, it was a busy day yesterday. I did get some knitting in in the evening, but did not finish what I wanted to, only two rows, and the bind off row to go. So close.

I didn't get as much done today, as I would have liked either. In the morning I spun the last of the three bobbins. In the afternoon I plied it. Now it's hanging out to dry, but not fast enough for a photo shoot of finished yarn later.







I did get started on my second braid of Esther. I'm going to chain ply it, instead of 3-ply. I'm getting tired of 3-ply. It's my fault for not choosing my Tour de Fleece fiber more wisely. Next time ...

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The pups and I spent a LOT of time outside, until we were exhausted from the heat, and the fun.


It's cool inside, and when you are wet you want to be comfy. This mat Denny is lying on is supposed to be under my desk. We recently put it there, so Happy would be more comfortable, and not look so much like an abandoned dog. Of course ALL the pups love it, and it's pretty crowded underneath my desk some times.



So Denny dragged it out and into the middle of the room, while I was plying, no hands free, or a foot, to keep him from doing so. My voice alone didn't do it. He knew he was winning, so I let it go.



Keeping his wet, cold nose warm.



They always wake up as soon as my wheel stops spinning, and look at me, trying to guess what we'll do next.

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Tour de Fleece - Day 10

Today is rest day. I'll be knitting.

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Tour de Fleece - Day 9

I didn't ply Henry last night. I didn't do anything fibery, after I filled the bobbin, and it felt good. This morning I plied Henry, and finished the yarn the usual way.
Here it is: Henry, Falkland, chain plied, 305yds. This was my second batch of 4oz.



Sorry about the mass of pictures. I'm just so darn happy with how this turned out. I can't wait to knit this one up. It might just hop on my needles, once Tour de Fleece is over, and turn into my July socks.





Here are both skeins. The left one was the first one with 282yds, and the right one is the new one, with 305yds.



I've started spinning Esther, but got only one bobbin done out of three. I'm still working on it though, and might get the second one done today. It will have to wait for finishing on Tuesday, since tomorrow is the long awaited rest day. It's going to be a 3-ply yarn. Right now I'm not sure I like this colorway or not.



I'll leave you with the boys. They enjoy weird positions, and seem comfortable with it.



Happy was tired earlier today, after a lot of running, and swimming in this humid, and hot weather.



I don't have to explain Denny.

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PS Thanks for letting me know about my PURL question. It's interesting to know that people actually DO that.
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Tour de Fleece - Day 8

I only managed to spin 1 1/2oz of Henry yesterday, and finished it off today. But that's it for today. That's all I've got. I need to give my fingers, and elbows a break. Who knows though, I might start plying Henry tonight, if I feel up to it.
I made an interesting observation today. I pinch the fiber with my thumb, and index finger of my right hand, and draft out the fiber with my left hand. Since I've worked a groove into my index finger, which hurts (it's like a cut made with fiber, slowly but surely), I thought I'd try changing what I do from right hand to left hand. Oh boy, I laughed out loud, because I could have hung two wet gloves there, and had the same result. I could not do it at all!



That's 4oz on the bobbin, and it's not even full to the maximum, which means I've spun it thin. I also have the feeling it's thinner than the first 4oz. I will chain ply it, and we'll see.



I have decided on my next fiber. It's FatCatKnits Esther on BFL. This is a stock colorway, which you can get on all the base fibers Ginny has to offer. I bought mine some time ago, but it's this month fiber of the month of July.
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The following is something which happens often, but I only got some photographic evidence yesterday afternoon. While Happy is swimming happily with his beloved rubber bone between his teeth, Denny waits for him to come out so he can grab it and run. Of course Happy does not want that, so he swims around in circles, until Denny loses his patience.


That's when he decides to swim over to get it. That makes Happy start flapping his paws, and give Denny (to his annoyance),



a good dunking. After that both race to the stairs, just to start it all over again later.



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I almost forgot again. I have a question for all knitters who read this blog. I got into an argument about garter stitch knitting. It's a long story, but the one question I have is, does anybody knit garter stitch purling each row, just for fun and giggles (or because they love purling so much?). I said, I don't think anybody would do that, but what do I know?
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Tour de Fleece - Day 7

I MISS knitting! I tried knitting on my test knit last night, but boy did my hands hurt. I've only got a few very long rows to go there, so I might do that on the day's of rest. I'm so looking forward to both of them. I think day 9 and 15 are there to rest, but I have to check that again. (checking) O.K. so July 11, and July 18 there will be NO spinning for me. I don't know how the cyclists motivate themselves to get back on that tiny saddle every day!



This morning, I had to spin the third bobbin of Toadstool. I just couldn't do it last night. Around noon I plied, and for the rest of the afternoon the yarn was drying. It still was a little damp in some spots when I took the photos, but I didn't want to lose the sunlight.



I seem to have gotten used to spinning merino, because this turned out a little thinner than the first one.


The left one was the first finished skein, the right one I finished today.


After this was off my wheel, I grabbed the second half of Henry, and started spinning. I had to stop after about an ounce, and I think I'll give it a rest for today. I don't think I'll have a finished yarn tomorrow, since I'm going to spin it thin again, to match (hopefully) the first skein, and chain ply it. Since I want the yarn to have wide stripes I only broke the fiber into thirds. That's why I was pre-drafting it, for easier spinning.



This is the one and only photo of Maggie in the pool. She still does not go in there on her own, so we help her in, once a day. This time I took the camera with me, to try and get a picture of her. We let her in at the deep end. She's still splashing big, but she's fast. I got off this shot, the second shot was already blurry, and the third shot was of my foot, because she was out of the pool by then. Stupid slow camera. ;o) Twice I thought she's going for the edge to hold on to, but she thought better of it, and kept going to finally climb out at the stairs. Now I'm not worried anymore, if she accidentally falls in.



And I'll end for today with this hilarious shot. Denny and Maggie were trying to get the rubber bone away from Happy, but he's good in evading (it's his most favorite toy). It's like a dance with them.

Tour de Fleece - Day 6

I knew early in the morning, that I would not have a lot of time for spinning today. I did get yesterdays singles plied.


After I wound it on the niddy noddy, it had a nice hot bath,



and a lovely time drying in the sunshine.


For a 100% merino yarn this could be softer. It also gave me a hard time spinning it, but I guess it was just that I'm not used to spinning merino fiber. I don't like it much. I like Polwarth or Targhee much better.







This is 3-ply, 232yds.
Today I've only filled one bobbin so far, that is 1/3 of 4oz. I decided to spin the second 4oz right away, so basically I'm doing the same thing I did yesterday and this morning. This fiber has been in my stash long enough.
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While I was spinning, the pups had a great time, trying to eat the camera. Denny got really close.


Close but no dice. I'm glad Maggie made it into the pictures for once.


Happy is resting under the table, after a fine swim. Oh, and here's me, spinning, right behind Maggie's big head. Actually, she's got a small head, and she's a little googly eyed again today.
She does NOT like the camera.


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Tour de Fleece - Day 5

Sooooooo, I passed the point of this being fun last night. I was ready to just not finish the 4oz of Henry, but I'm stubborn, plus my son kept cheering me on. So I finished it in good time, which means before 10PM.




This is FatCatKnits Henry on Falkland. Yes, I know, I have a lot of Falkland, but I think it's good sock material. I chain plied it, and got 282yds. I still have another 4oz to spin. This is so much softer than the old Falkland from 5 years ago. Ginny sure learned a lot about handling fiber, and dyeing it, plus she said she has a different supplier now too. I could spin Falkland all day long, wait, I did that already.


It's hot out again today, in the morning we had some rain, but now it's searing hot. This little skein was dry in no time at all. I did have to ply it this morning, so I started on my today's fiber in the afternoon.



I've got two bobbins done. It's going to be another 3-ply yarn. It's another old fiber from 2007, but it's 100% merino combed top. Ripping it into strips helped counter that it's compacted from hiding under all the other fiber. It's a lovely colorway, called Toadstool. I think I'm going to finish the third bobbin tonight, and ply again tomorrow morning. I haven't made up my mind yet, whether I'm going to spin the second 4oz of this colorway right away, or not.



With all this spinning, the pups are bored. Not even the smell of pork chops sizzling in the pan helped lighten their mood. They can't be swimming all day, can they? Well, I know they think they can, but they are not on vacation! I could really need some cheering, instead of making me feel guilty. They are really good at THAT!



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