Send In the Clowns

 

It was too hot to manage the Farmer's Market again yesterday so Pup and I waited in the shade while The Mister picked up some things. 

The last time I went with The Mister to the Farmer's Market I had tried out a new sunscreen. I had seen a report on the weather channel about the difference between chemical and mineral sunscreen so I had ordered some mineral ones after hearing that they are safer. I slathered it all over and off we went. It was a particularly nice morning and every one seemed to be very jolly. I was getting lots of smiles. The Mister who is usually a few steps ahead of me turned around and looked at me in horror. "You look like a clown", he whispered. It seems my new sunscreen had dried in a way that made me look an awful lot like...

...this guy. I hid behind a tree and used Pup's water bottle and a cooling scarf that I carry with me to wipe it all off my face. Needless to say, I've gone back to my chemical sunscreen. I didn't particularly like having my face feeling like a baby's butt covered in diaper rash ointment anyway.

These Crocs are Made for Walking

 

I'm happy to report that I was able to take a brisk knit walk around the kitchen last night for thirty whole minutes to some peppy music. Plantar Facitis has kept me on the couch for what seems like an eternity but now I'm pretty much pain free-for walking. Dancing....hmmm. Maybe not yet. 

Friday Fluff: TdF Week 1

 

The big babysitting adventure takes a couple of days out of my Tour quota but I did take my spindles along and managed to get a bit more of that Merino that I've been working on done. My goal is to finish it this year and I'm getting close. 

The Merino I spun from the little nests I make on the drum carder is ready for plying. 

I've got one more nest to spin of the chinook fiber and then it will be ready for plying too.

I've made all these little nests out of some Merino pencil roving to spin on the support spindle. I'm getting close to needing a wind off. 

My poor little Spindolyn doesn't see a lot of action. I pick it up every time I sit down to watch the Tour but spinning cotton is tedious and slow so I don't get very far. It's the spinning equivalent of cycling up a steep hill I suppose. 

The Corriedale I had planned to card and spin this year is still sitting here waiting for me to fix the drum carder. I'm waiting on the poly cord I need. I've ordered two different ones from two different vendors since I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to working on these things. The one that looks most like the one I'm replacing will be the winner-I hope.

Baby Talk

 

We got home late last night from our latest babysitting adventure so I don't have much to share today. We also had to hide downstairs for a bit after arriving home because we were just in time for a whopper of a thunderstorm. No damage, thank goodness, just lots of rain. As for the baby, he's sitting up nicely on his own right now which is a change from just last week. They grow up so fast.

Big Grand was all fired up after watching the Tour. He got out his trike and finally figured out how to peddle it. He rode it all over the house. 

He's still working on his bird house. The bottom got painted purple this week. Next week he'll put some finishing touches on the windows and then it will be done. Daughter got him some little canvases to use up the leftover paint on which should be fun. 

If MIL returns from Bali healthy, we will only have two more weeks of this left. I know someone who will be very happy NOT to have to do all this traveling back and forth anymore. Those kids wear her out. 

Wednesday WIPs

 

During the TdF I try to spend most of my time working with my handspun yarn. Since this is the Summer of Socks I cast on a pair with some ancient handspun. On the right is the swatch I made after I washed and dyed....

....a bag of fleece from this lady. Her name is Cari and she's a Corriedale. I was always tickled when the shepherds would include a photo and a bio of the sheep in the bag of fleece. I've got quite a collection of pretty ladies and gentlemen out in the fleece shed.

I'm still working on the Pi Shawl. I'm only two rows away from where I need to end it according to EZ. I want to do a lace border so I'm going to have to do some serious mathing when I get back from babysitting. EZ has one in her book but I can't figure it out. I need a chart.

I've also pulled out this old project. The Garter Squish needs to come to an end and it might as well be this year. I think one more color band should do it. It didn't eat up nearly as much handspun as I had hoped even though I doubled the yarn.

And....I've made a decision regarding the Barbie Dreamhouse squares. I just started the new ball that I finished spinning a few weeks ago so I'm going to keep making granny squares until I run out. The pattern I had thought to make only needed 13 and I'm going to end up with more than that so if I want to make a bag out of them, I'm going to have to figure it out when I see how many squares I end up with. Bigger might be better.

Tiny Needle Tuesday

 

That mess on my sewing table is where all my tiny needle projects are living at the moment. I had to put them all away for the holiday weekend. 

I did unpack the Garden to finish up those last two blocks in the bottom row yesterday thanks to a very rainy day that kept me indoors. We're off again this morning for another two day babysitting gig but I hope when I get back I can start to work on filling in all the background white in that row.

Too Much of a Good Thing

 

Someone commented about the gift box that I'm always shoving my finished socks in. I hadn't looked in it for a while so I did. I found that I hadn't been labeling them very well.

I've been  throwing all the ball bands in with the socks so I can stuff the finished socks into them. This is two year's worth of socks which isn't much tbh but I have had a couple of failures due to knot issues. They go in my drawer. I only gift them anymore if someone asks for a pair because I'm pretty sure that over the years I've saturated the market for them. That doesn't keep me from making more. I figure that my survivors can figure out what to do with them when the time comes. 

Thanks to the Tour, there's not much else going on here craft wise. I do all my fiber stuff in the morning while watching the riders and then in the afternoon we take the dog out and do errands. We found a Tesla that apparently self-immolated in the parking lot of the grocery store yesterday morning. There's not much left on the driver's side. Scary.

Benched

 

I was too tired to do the rounds at the Farmer's Market yesterday morning so I sent The Mister over and Pup and I stayed on a shady bench at the koi pond across the street. I knit. She kept watch for The Mister and strange dogs. Then it was back home to finish watching the Tour that I had started watching at 6:30 am. I'd like to blame my fatigue on all the baby wrangling and cleaning I did last week but truth be told, it was staying up until 2 am binge watching Department Q on Netflix that did the damage. A bit gory but highly recommended. 

Le Grand Depart

 

At 6:30 am ET the riders take off from Lille France to begin this year's Tour. I spent yesterday cleaning up my wheels and taking stock of what I need to finish up.

Ditto for my spindles. The only time they see the light of day anymore is during the Tour. I've got several of them with projects still in progress from last year. 

There was a casualty. My drum carder is all out of whack. The poly cord that turns the wheels wasn't working and when I tried to re-align it, the whole thing went wonky on me. I've got the directions to take it apart and put it back together correctly but I need the time to do it. It's been a very busy few days.

Somebody and his baby brother came to spend the day yesterday while The Mister and SIL played golf. We painted until it was time to do other things on the table.

At three years old he's becoming a master crab picker. Just like his mama. 

A Declaration

 If you haven't recently read that piece of paper we're supposed to be celebrating today, you might want to do so, paying careful attention to the 27 colonial grievances that started a revolution. They may look familiar.

Happy 4th ya'll.

News From the Homefront

 

Every week when we take the trip up to sit the Grands I pack a big bag of my knitting. I barely touch it. We do work on puzzles....

...and make Cootie Catchers. We also had a visit from my sister and her two Grands. Toddler Grand was thrilled to have the company of someone that wasn't old or grumpy.

Baby Grand is still a handful. He's decided napping is not his thing. He's working hard at figuring how to get around to see what everyone else is doing. I see a playpen in his future. 

And progress was made with the elusive kitty. What a glorious chunk she is when she's out in full view.

I was even allowed a tentative scritch or two. We're not exactly friends but at least she's allowing me to know she exists. 

Wednesday WIPs

I said this was going to be the summer of socks and voila, here is my second finished pair of the season. 

I've still got plenty more socks to work on. I cast on some man sized socks with another ball of Regia that I had in the stash. I'm also still working on my two-on-the-same needle Regia socks. I wish I could say this has put a dent in my Regia stash but...nope. 

And...I'm still working on that dishcloth. I spend more time thinking about what I'm supposed to be doing than I do actually doing it but it's a nice challenge when I'm in the mood for one. I think this thing is going to have to go in my knitting Hall of Fame when it's done. It will never be just a dishcloth. I will have to find it a special purpose. 

Tiny Needle Tuesday

 

I'm closing in on finishing the next to the last row of the Garden. I've still got all the background white to do before I head down to the very last row so it will still be awhile before this is a FO. 

I had an aha moment with the needlepoint project this week. It wasn't with the front.

It was with the back. See how the stitches lie differently? Some are shaggy and some are neat. You actually want the shaggy back stitches in order to get good coverage but I'm more worried about running out of this vintage yarn so I wanted the smaller stitches but I couldn't figure out what I was doing to get them. They seemed random. I googled it and found a Reddit group discussing this very thing and now I have it figured out. In needlepoint speak it's going from Arizona to Maine when you go right and going from Maine to Arizona when you go left. I had to make myself a little sign on an index card to remind myself. 

Block E2 of Dear Jane is in progress but it's not very interesting at the moment. I'm coming down the homestretch with the Patchwork of the Crosses quilt but I ran out of the smaller honeycomb shapes so I'm waiting for a delivery. I really should start putting all these pieces together but truth be told, I'm a little nervous about them working out the way I've planned. I think the math is mathing but you never really know until you get those pieces sewn together. 

Unplugged

 

We spent almost the entire day yesterday without any internet or cable. All we had for company was my little radio. I have to say it was weird being cut off from the outside world. You don't realize how much you depend on it until it's not there. 

I had wanted to tackle that knot bag that's been waiting for me to finish but I couldn't access the video I used for directions so I decided to work on Taylor Barbie's new dress instead. This Mattel pattern that 57 Pumpkin just sent me is just what I needed. The directions are written for the average 9 year old. That's about where my skill level is for sewing tbh. 

I told myself I'm going to take it nice and slow. I putter a few minutes here and there with all my other projects but when I sit down to sew something I rush through to get it done and that's been a recipe for disaster. Today I cut out the pieces, tomorrow I'll figure out how to put them together. 

I figured I had to up my game after my sister sent me this photo of the dress her youngest granddaughter made for her American Girl doll last week. How cute is that? 

Tying One On

 

I cut the towel off the loom on Friday. I said I was going to do it when the weather took a turn for the better and we had a glorious 24 hour window of downright chilly weather that day. It was cool and rainy and I loved it. The heat and humidity returned yesterday. Booo....

I even sat down at the machine and hemmed it.

After washing it looked better. A few more washings will shrink it up even more and tighten the fabric. 

The Mister helped me move that dreary fall warp onto the loom but that's as far as I got because....

....I ate one of those sprinkle donuts instead of lunch and that was it for me energy-wise. I should have known better but those sprinkles were irresistible. They are covered on both sides for Pride Month and they sure pack a sugar wallop. No regrets.