Summer Wool

I really thought I would post several times during the Tour de Fleece. Clearly, that did not pan out.  I had a pretty successful first Tour--started out like gangbusters, had a minor flame out in the middle, but recovered and finished strong.

The final tally was five skeins and over 1200 yards. 

Successes:  Spinning over one pound of fiber.  Learning to navajo ply.

Where I came up short:  I did not spin every day of the Tour (those flame out days).  I did not even come close to finishing the skein I was spinning with my spindle.  I did not finish a laceweight skein.  

That just means I already have goals for next year.

I really did enjoy the Tour, and I'm still loving my wheel.  After three weeks of spinning almost daily, I do need a little bit of a break.  Luckily several knitting projects are scattered about the house to keep me busy.  Only one of them, however, is getting attention--the Oranje sweater. 
   

 

I flew through the sleeves on a road trip a couple of weeks ago, and I've continued to work steadily along since then.  I'm surprised that despite several 100-degree days, I'm still knitting along on a wool sweater instead of turning to a cotton tank top or something, but I'm not going to question productive knitting.

What I am going to do is go play with the puppy who keeps pawing the keyboard.  Either Juno really wants to contribute to the blog or she needs a little attention.  I'm guessing the latter.

One Year Later

Exactly one year ago, I wrote my first post for this wee little blog.  At the top of my to-do list today was to work on redesigning things a bit (I started a bit last night, so excuse the mess) and finalize some renaming ideas that have been bouncing around my head.  I ended up scrapping the to-do list to enjoy the holiday with my family.

I spent the afternoon at Patapsco Valley State Park with Mike and the puppies.  We did a little hiking, but the highlight of the trip was the river.

Rugby loves to swim, but Juno, not so much.  She will wade in and splash happily, but that's always been about it for her.  Today watching Rugby was too much to take, and she eventually followed us out.

Despite the picture, she did venture out far enough to need to paddle.  It was her first voluntary swim.  I'm so proud.

I think they had a good day. 

 

The only bad thing about swimming in the river?  Bath time.

But now I have happy and clean dogs.  Just no time to spend playing with the blog.  I made the right decision.

Happy 4th of July!

Ready. Set. Spin!

On Saturday, the Tour de France began and right along with it, a fiber-enthusiast accompanying event--the Tour de Fleece. Every day the cyclists ride, you spin.  For the past couple years, I've seen bloggers write about the Tour de Fleece.  I admired the full bobbins and piles of skeins they produced, but I never thought I would participate.  I seem to be saying things like that a lot lately.

So on Saturday, I started spinning with the Tour.  Finished about 2 ounces the first day. 

Today was plying day.  Singles had already been spun, but 310 yards of 2-ply later:



I have high expectations for the Tour.  I probably have about a pound of fiber set aside that I've convinced myself I'll be able to finish in the next few weeks.  I'm planning on my first navajo-ply skeins, some spindle time, and maybe even trying to go as thin as laceweight.  As I said, lofty goals.  We'll see what happens.