Woe is Me

 I had a migraine yesterday. A terrible wear-your-knit-hat-to-bed kind of headache that wouldn't give up. But I had a lot of errands to run so out the door I went as soon as the Tour was over.  Before I left the house I cleaned out my bag to lighten the load. I took out the knitting and the spinning I carry because it was the kind of day when I needed to keep moving.

First up was to take Mini through emissions. Notice she is not in the line to go through the bay doors. Oh, no. She is sitting in the parking lot smoking away. She overheated in line and boiled up all her fluids. What a mess. Of all places. How embarrassing. 

 I had an hour or so to sit there on the wet (it was raining and the car was filled with smokey fumes) curb until The Mister came to rescue me. I was out in Annapolis combining my errands with a trip to see Daddio and I HAD NO KNITTING WHILE I WAS STUCK. I panicked for the longest time and then I remembered the new project I keep in Daddio's visit bag.

 Ahhhhh......I will survive.

 Lucky for me Annapolis is where the Mini dealer is so when The Mister got there he filled her with antifreeze and we inched our way to the service department where unfortunately we are a familiar sight.

Bye Mini...I hate to leave you once again. I hate the idea that you are going to cost me hundreds of dollars after I just spent $500 on your AC not a month ago. You are a very expensive toy. If you weren't so darn cute I'd be saying my goodbyes for good. The Mister tried to tempt me with a new one to replace you but I am not ready to part ways. Not yet. Not today.

Fleeced

 That little package I got in the mail on Saturday exploded when I opened it. I have no idea how anyone shoved that much fiber into such a small bag.

 It was these folks actually. That's supposed to be only 18 ounces. It looks like a whole sheep to me. Or at least half.

I have never washed Polwarth before. I spin it a lot. It's very soft so I suppose it's going to be fragile during the washing process.

 It doesn't have clearly defined locks like some other sheep but I was able to pull off chunks. I am going to wash them one by one like I wash Merino.

 I bagged up some odds and ends to see what would happen in a mass scouring.

 The locks got the basin bit. See the bobby pins? I used those to hold the locks intact while they got their dunking.

 This particular batch washed up nicely.

The bag I washed is so so. I think it may be too fine for the carder. Combs maybe? I need to do some homework.

 My plan is to do the washing during the Tour and put them away for spinning later.  I hope to have a bag full by Paris.

Etsy just told me that the fancy fiber I had bought for the Tour hasn't even left California yet so I had to go stash diving once again for something to put on the sad little Ladybug that has been sitting empty all week. I picked this up at the MDSW in May. I should have just spun it in the first place.

Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny

 The July card kit is here. I know I said I was done with them but I wanted this one.

 That's a bikini die. The theme is Summer Hello. I can't remember the last time I was in a bathing suit not to mention a bikini but I thought the idea was fun.

 Instead of the lollipop we usually get, we got bubble gum. I love bubble gum.

The videos and tutorials are interesting this month.

Especially this one. Cute, huh?

 For Grand #2's birthday this month I also bought this outer space stamp and die set.

 I spent a rare quiet evening listening to Bowie and making little spacemen.

Ground control to Major Tom....I am going to have lots of fun with this set.

Happy 4th!

 If it's the 4th, we've got crabs.

And corn.

 We went to Daughter's house to celebrate on Sunday. #2 Son and his lady friend flew down from Detroit for the weekend. It was nice to see them.

We had beer. It tickled me to see that #1 Son brought Rolling Rock because Mom, the Queen of Crabs, always drank it when she picked the crabs she had caught for us. It's nice that my kids think of her.

 It was also a special day for the Baby Grand, our Star Spangled Baby. Where does the time go? He isn't a baby anymore.

 Off he goes with his bag of junk I bought him for his birthday. He has a beach towel, a light up bug box filled with plastic bugs and some squirt guns which were a big hit and some sand toys. I also bought him and the Big Grand harmonicas (!) for their road trip to the Carolina beach in September.

Pup was worn out. She's not too fond of kids so trying to keep out of their way was exhausting for her.

 The fireworks are over and done with in our little town. They were also on Sunday night. Tonight I am going to curl up in my comfy chair with one of these and watch Independence Day-the original. I love that movie. It gets me everytime.

And for my last bit of the red, white and blue-the Welcome Quilt top is finished. Now begins the scary part of quilting it. It's going to be walking foot only. I am definitely taking the easy way out.
Happy 4th!!!

Off to a Slow Start

 Saturday morning I got up at 5:30 to handle the critters so The Mister could go off to a golf tournament. By nine my Etsy bundle had showed up but it was too hectic to do anything with it.

The Tour was just background noise as I took care of the daily chores and then met with the chimney guy who was supposed to come on Friday afternoon but showed up Saturday morning instead. Fleece washing will have to wait. And now the holiday is upon us. Jeesh.

 I did pick this out of the stash to spin when I get time to spin. It's something new to me.

Well, hello big guy. That's a Manx Loaghtan and in this fiber his fleece has been mixed with some Shetland and some flax. It's not very soft so it will have to be something for the house I think. It may be weaving. A table runner or something? I dunno. I can't think that far ahead. I keep waiting for that rut I've been wanting to fall into since I retired. Everyday it's go, go, go and I don't seem to be getting anywhere.

Summer Soap

 It seems like it's been a long time since I have made soap. Six weeks, in fact. It's been hard to clear out a few hours all to myself and at the same time have an empty kitchen but it all came together last Sunday.  Thank you Game of Thrones. The Mister spent the day in the man cave catching up. Meet Vanilla Lavender. I love this one. It smells just like you would think it would and it's heavenly.

This batch finished up the bottle of Afternoon Tea scent that I really liked last fall. It smells a bit like Earl Gray.

 Jackfruit Kiwi is strong. I had trouble with some of the earlier fruit scented bars losing their scent so I went a bit overboard with this one. I was in the FDA safe zone but erred with the stronger percentage. It may cure out. It may not. If it doesn't it will make a nice, fruity hand soap. The Mister loves a strong soap so a bar will certainly find it's way into his shower.

I learned my lesson from the Jackfruit soap and only added drops of Aloe Water and Cactus fragrance to this one. It was very strong out of the bottle so I didn't think it would take much. It turned out very lightly scented. I'm afraid it may end up being unscented as it cures. Oh, well...it is pretty.

 Speaking of fruity, Blackberry and Lemon from the last batch are wrapped.

As is Island Nectar and Pinkberry. I've been using them for over a week now and love them all. What I am missing is some good ole tingly peppermint for my itchy summer skin. I might have to find the time to get on that one soon. I think The Mister still has a season or two of GOTs to go. Hurray for that.

For the Love of Wool

 Today is the first day of the 2017 Tour de Fleece and I've been peddling like mad all week to have three empty wheels by this morning in anticipation of new projects. The Traveller was already empty thanks to the ill fated Jacob adventure of last week, thank goodness.

 The Ladybug still had a lot of this Gail's Art Merino in the colorway Woodlands on it.

It took forever to spin and I really lost interest along the way but it didn't turn out too shabby. I chain plied it to keep the colors and took my time and checked the plies along the way. It makes a difference.

Remember these?

 They became this.

 And then became that.

It's Merino from a fleece I washed that was on the Traditional.  It's not terribly soft and rather wonky I am sad to say but I do love the colors. In spite of it being a rather sad little thing, picking up a lumpy little rolag a day and adding a new color to the bobbin was fun.

Now I have three empty wheels that need cleaning and oiling. I've also got some adjustments to make. The wheel on the Traveller won't stay put and I'm not sure what's up with that.

Unfortunately, only my new orifice hook showed up in the mail in time for today's start. I've got some raw fleece on the way and a gradient fiber set both from Etsy that are taking their sweet time. I'll have to go dig around in the stash and see what I can come up with because..well, just because. It's the Tour, you know? I need to be spinning something today.

In the meantime I'll just go have fun with the big surprise that just came in the mail. Thanks Liana for the adorable coloring postcard book and holiday stitching pattern! I have a friend in Latvia that sends me postcards all the time so they will be put to very good use. He's going to be very surprised when he gets one of these from me!