Herringbone Twill

 The loom is still packed away. I needed its space for all three wheels during the TdF. Then I got busy with clearing out Daddio's house so it's been gathering dust.

 It's coming back out soon, very soon and I've got the perfect project all lined up.

The cool fall colors are just what I need after this blistering summer.

I'm also going to try warping using this over the door rack instead of propping it up. I don't have a place to put wall hooks up for it so it was either falling over and hitting me in the head or killing my back from having to stoop over. That's what I get for having a house that doesn't have many walls. Open floor plans are not all they are cracked up to be. Don't get me started on the lack of closets. That's a whole other rant.

Nobody Likes Goodbyes Part 2

 It all comes down to this.

 There is no money to be left behind, just debt. There is no jewelry or bonds to be divided. The family fortune consists of a bunch of old glassware and ratty furniture covered in cigarette burns.

My inheritance consists of a dirty plastic box that had been stored in the eaves of an unheated garage since Mom died thirteen years ago. Daddio couldn't bear looking at her stuff so he crammed it away out of sight and mind.

 For all the toil and trouble, I'm walking away with a handful of pink Depression glass that Mom had collected for me.

 It's not really worth anything. It's chipped and scratched but I know Mom wanted me to have it and that means a lot. She'd have killed Dad if she knew what he had done with it.

I can't complain. I don't have much better to pass along to my kids when I'm gone. I collected spinning wheels and looms not diamonds and gold. If yarn becomes a commodity, my kids will be well set. Ha.
Mom and Dad didn't have much but they did have a life worth living while they were living it-and that's as it should be.

Nobody Likes Goodbyes Part 1

 When it was clear that Daddio would never be leaving the nursing home, I had to put his house on the market to pay for his long term care.

 The place is a wreck after years of neglect and has been sitting without much attention, but low and behold-we have a buyer.

Now the rush is on to clear the place out as the buyers want to move in by the 20th, or sooner if they can get a settlement date.

Mom's beachy themed things are still all over the place. It feels wrong to move them. Hopefully they will find a good home.

 Daddio's clothes have all been donated. I had no idea he was such a clotheshorse until I had to pack all his stuff and haul it away.

The room where he quilted is now emptied of his projects.

 The greenhouse is empty.

 The garden that kept us so busy every summer has been abandoned to the weeds.

 Look at that. That's my fig tree. Once again I gave it up for dead and once again it proved me wrong. But it's not my fig tree anymore and it breaks my heart.

 The plants are always the hardest things to say goodbye to. Who knows what their fate will be.

I was very tempted to drop Mom's ashes in her little ceramic boat that sits overlooking the bay. I thought better of it. Trying to figure out what to do with her now that her little house is gone has been a tough one. She's been waiting patiently for Daddio to join her for their final trip to the bay but it doesn't look like he's going anywhere soon. Sigh......

Call Me Yeti

 I had to drag out the dye pots once again when I ran out of Jacob for the vest that is now called the Yeti Vest.

 The further I get on the body, the more it looks like something that should still be alive.

 The last yarn I spun for it was so naughty in the skein that I couldn't get it on the swift. It ended up being a ball instead of a cake.

Soon I am going to have to figure out how to use these up as a border that's not going to make the raggedy thing look even worse. All together now: Good luck with that.

Knee Deep in Sheep

The Unicorn barf is spinning nicely. I am thinking the yarn may actually end up being less barfy than I thought because there is a lot of white left in the fiber.

 Dyeing the barf gave me dye fever. I had to drag the dye pots out again for this Knit Picks Bare wool and nylon sock fiber. It's a bit less barfy, but still in the barf ballpark, I'm afraid. Sigh. Three colors. From now on I'm only allowed to use three colors at a time.

When I went to split the sock fiber braid it did something weird. It wanted to divide into lots of thin segments.

 I got lots of long, skinny lengths of roving which is actually great for spinning thin sock singles.

I  dyed it while it was in a braid so the colors are doing some crazy things. I can't even imagine how this is going to turn out.

Sunday Soap: Cured

This is the state of the tub. Not only am I trying out all the melt and pour I just made, I also have cured cold process that needs testing.

The goat's milk and peppermint soap recipe that Delighted Hands shared with me was a big success not only with me but with The Mister. We've gone through two bars already.

The tussah silk and kaolin clay recipe that I made up on my own is nice. Very nice. I've been using it for a week and so far all my skin is still on.

The calendula and chamomile soap was also finally safe to use.

This one smells so good that I cut one in half so my four bars will last longer. I used some cannabis fragrance oil with a little red currant and cinnamon. It's yummy.

 In a couple of days the Clean Linen bars will be ready to use. I'm not wild about this fragrance but it was a free sample and free is free.

 The Juicy Pear will be cured at the end of the week. This one has no fragrance left but sometimes as soon as the bars get wet the fragrance returns. I hope so because the fragrance oil smells great in the bottle.

 As much as I love the feel of the cold process bars on my body, I still prefer my unscented melt and pour with clays and charcoal for my face. In this humidity my poor face doesn't need any extra moisturizing. Maybe in the winter.

I went ahead and shrink wrapped it all up to protect it from the dust and critter cooties. You leave the ends open so the soap can continue to cure which really means to shed its excess water. This type of soap has about a year shelf life if you keep it cool and dry. Now my curing shelves are practically empty which makes me sad. I'd do something about it but it's just too darn hot. Putting on smocks, gloves and goggles is not my idea of a good time in August. I'm taking a nap instead.

August

Statistically, August is supposed to be cooler than July but it never feels that way to me.

 Even though I've been stuck in the house during one heat wave after another, I didn't get much done this month. I think I said the same thing last month.

On your mark, get set......let's go August. No TdF. No baby sampler. No soap to make. No excuses.