Bragging Rights

  Remember me?

 I was that Gulf Coast fleece that caused a lot of fuss during the Tour.

There was a lot of me but I was in too many colors to be useful.

 Then one day I got torn up into strips...

 ...and spun into stripes....

 ....and by some miracle chain plied into a pretty nice little skein. I do believe there's hope for the rest of me after all.

 And speaking of bragging, here is the sum total of the entire Tour. It didn't seem like I got much done this year but it looks like I actually did.

That's:

3.75 ounces of Merino

2.70 ounces of Shetland

2.00 and 2.25 ounces of chain plied Gulf Coast

1.25 ounces of lime Gulf Coast 

2.00 ounces of turquoise Gulf Coast

Plus assorted bobbins of spindle spun singles.

WHEW!

Little Luna

I bought myself a present. A big present-and it has nothing to do with fiber or yarn.

It came in a very big box stuffed with a lot of paper.

Way down in the bottom was a smaller box.

Now you can tell what it is.

 It's my new guitar.

It still looks like a mummy even after the case is open.

Isn't she pretty? I bet you're wondering why I never said anything about playing the guitar. It's because I don't. I took lessons when I was a teen and then tried again about 15 years ago without much luck.

I had bought a used guitar off ebay for about $30. It was so smelly and moldy I had to throw the case out. It took months to air the guitar out.

It turned out that the old nasty guitar was actually a very good quality classical guitar made in Spain. Now that it is aired out and clean I love it but......

...learning on it has been difficult. My hands are too small to get where they need to go.

Luna guitars are made for little hands. Look at the difference.

She is so pretty. I am so happy The Mister talked me into the fancy one.

If you are wondering what sparked this sudden re-interest in stringed things look here. It seems knitters and ukeleles go hand in hand. Everyone has one these days.  I thought about getting a uke but fell in complete love with the whole Luna Guitar thing when I visited their site. I'll probably never be able to really play but now it's going to be more fun trying.

Monogamy

 My crochet project has gotten out of hand. I have become obsessed with finishing it. I put the mosaic afghan away for the time being so I could concentrate on getting something around here finished before the summer is over.

I started this project in 2010. It's been pretty much gathering dust since then but suddenly I am having lots of fun with it. I love making these little piles of hexies. I've even got a crazy voice in my head urging me to make another one in pastel cotton for summer napping.

I am adding one more lengthwise row and one more row for width and then I am calling it a day. It's only supposed to be a little nap blanket and I think it's almost there. Now I have to figure out an edging.

Post World Cup Selfies

My World Cup project is done but I was too busy with the TdF to get it blocked. Sadly, even after the re-do, my ruffles are still dud spuds. It is still too floppy to pleat. I even pinned all of them up during blocking to try to convince them to show some definition.

 That's just pitiful.

I am happy with the new improved size but the official mugshot left much to be desired. It's a rather ratty looking thing, I'm afraid.

 I spent an hour in the bathroom trying to show how it fits.

 Either I looked presentable or the scarf did.

I gave up and just got silly. What else are you going to do when knitting attacks? This certainly turned out to be an ugh...

TdF 2014: The End of the Road

 I don't have a lot to show in the way of finished things for this year's Tour but I did do a lot of things.

 These are the collages I posted from time to time in the Tour de Fleece group on Ravelery. You can only post one photo a day on the stage thread so collages are all the rage.

 The most obvious thing I learned this year was how to make more interesting collages. They look kind of squished on Blogger. They look better on Ravelry.

These are from Fotor Photo Collage which is free and can be found here. 

 Those 21 days sure went fast. It's going to take that long or longer for me to clean up the fiber mess I've got all over the house.

 Well, this is it for another year. I've got the Shetland, Merino and Gulf Coast all plied. I've still got tons of this fiber left so when I find a project for them, I'll be back at it again until I get the yardage I need. As for all those spindle projects....there's always next year.

À la prochaine!

It's Always Something

 Considering I have only one thing on the needles at this time, I haven't had much luck in the knitting department. These two balls of sock yarn I recently spun already have an issue that I discovered when I used it to cast on. This ball is lime greenish.....

 ....and this one is more olive. I used the same fiber out of the same bag to spin it so I'm not sure I know what's going on here.

 I'm just glad I noticed it before I started knitting with it or I would have had socks of two different colors and that would have made me crazy. What I am doing to remedy this is to knit one row with one ball and one row with the other. It's a real pain in the patootie and gives you that jog thing up the back. Yes, I know there is a remedy for that but I'm too lazy to do anything about it but complain. Grrr....

I do like the little stripes I added from the leftover singles but I can tell you that all in all, I am disappointed at how the colors are turning out. Who knew that when you mix lime green singles with rainbow colored singles that you would get a harvest gold, avocado and burnt orange effect right out of a vintage 70's kitchen? Bummer.

Running Out of Road

 The announcers on the Tour de France said that the riders are "running out of road". So am I. I've been frantic all week because it looks like I won't have much to show off on Sunday when it's all said and done.

 I did get some plying done yesterday. I took that bobbin of neon green and wound it on the winder and them plied from both ends to use it up. It's always risky with a ball that big but this time it worked like a charm.

 Now I have a lime skein to go with the turquoise. Nice.

 I also washed the last of the Gulf Coast and dyed it navy. I used a new method. I plopped it into a big baggy and sat it up in some Rubbermaid then gave it a few spins in the microwave.

 Perfect. Not a speck of dye left in the water.

 In this humidity it's not drying fast enough. I don't have time to wait, I need that dry now.

 Back inside I've been tearing up the batts into strips.

 I'm going to randomly spin them into one bobbin of singles for some crazy stripes.

I'm going across the five hooks and then switching colors. This should give me some big color repeats but more importantly it's going to give me something fun to do for the remainder of the Tour. Everything else has become a big yawn.

Good Times

 Last Sunday we had the rare opportunity to gather as a family to celebrate a big accomplishment.

 Middle Sister's son graduated from college.

 Little Sister hosted the event and along with her dear Daughter in Law came up with all the creative touches that made the day so special. We had diploma napkins....

 ...and graduation caps with stars hanging everywhere along with plenty of pennants, balloons and streamers.

 Even dessert was in his school colors. The day was perfect. Except for the part where I emailed a gift certificate to the new graduate the morning of the party-the surprise party. Surprise!