A Race to the Finish

 

I've got a lot of things that are almost ready to come off the needles this week. Number 10 for instance. 

The Lofoten twins and Undine are getting closer to their toes. 

That's a good thing because my box of needles has shown up which means I can cast on the Bitty Spruce.

I've been doing a lot of cleaning, unboxing and organizing this week and look what I found. I really can't be tempted to start any dishcloths but those balls of cotton are so darn pretty it's going to be hard to resist.

Lots of you asked about Pup yesterday so here she is doing her best to stop me from spinning. As you can see she is up and around more these days but still limping pretty badly. We do her therapy several times a day even though she hates it. She did get her bath-thank goodness. What she needs is a hair cut so her bare back end matches her shaggy front but I think she's still too skittish for that. She's still pretty traumatized by the whole disaster-as are we. The good news is that the pillow fort is gone. We're slowly getting back to normal-though still making a lot of adjustments for her limitations. 

Wild and Woolly

 

Tucked. 

Untucked. 

Every thrum row makes me think of this. I've still got one around here somewhere. 

The thrums aren't the only TdF knitting going on. I started these mitts right after the Tour last year using a freshly spun skein. Somehow they got lost in the shuffle but they are getting plenty of attention this year. Pup is still hating on the wheel but she will let me knit all day long....so I do. 

Tiny Needle Tuesday

 

I've got something new. Many of you have suggested that I get one of those magnifying lamps and until now I've put it off not wanting to admit that I am blind as a bat. 

The last straw was having to sit in my dark living room with Pup when I really needed to get this baby sampler done so I ordered one and......wow. What a game changer. I wish I had listened sooner. 

I've been flying through the sampler now and my stitches looks so much better. Maybe my last project wouldn't have taken me 12 years if I had only been able to see what I was doing. 

Three Strikes

 

Yes, I know it's the 4th of July but there is nothing going on here this year. I'm still floor sitting with a gimpy Pup who needs a bath like nobody's business. We are waiting for the surgeon to get back to us on when she can get wet. We had to email her a photo on Friday of the incision and now we wait for her decision. I'm betting she's on vacation and won't get back to us until Tuesday. Meanwhile, I've been collecting bad yarn. Lots of bad yarn.

The box that holds my Audun squares is getting full so I wanted to start joining them but that meant deciding on a color. I thought a dark gray would work so I started ordering. 

The first one had the right texture but it was too dark. It looks like black to me and I didn't want black. Strike one. 

My second try was closer to the color I wanted but I hated the shiny texture. It doesn't work with the acrylic the blocks are made of at all. Strike two.

The third try was pure and absolute insanity. I didn't notice that the yarn was a gradient. I just saw it was gray and bought four whole skeins. Strike three.

I thought I would save money and time by going the Amazon route instead of the Knit Picks route but I ended up ordering some gray Brava after all....AND it turned out that the Brava was on sale making it cheaper than any of these. Go figure. 

Seeing Red

 

Since Pup is making it hard for me to sit and spin on the wheel, I got out last year's spindle projects that I can sit on the floor and work on. The first thing I needed to do was to wind this spindle off. It's some lovely red Merino that I started spinning last year for a shawl I was hoping to wear to the MDSW this year. Thanks to The Big Itch I didn't quite make it. Maybe next year.

My last year's plans also included making some red thrummed mitts but I didn't get very far with that either.

I had some trouble finding the right shade of red fiber for the thrums so it went on the back burner but I'm back in business now. It may not be spinning but it's playing with fiber so in my TdF world it counts.

Stage One

 

How it started.

How it ended. I didn't get much done.

This is why.

It wasn't just the first stage of the Tour de France it was also Pup Liberation Day. I removed the pillow fort and covered the floor with some non-slip mats I found on Amazon and tried to adjust Pup back into normal life but she wasn't having it. I have to admit I was also weirded out by all that empty floor space and sitting on the couch just felt wrong. I was afraid she would fall off and hurt herself. By noon the pillow fort was back. We're not ready. 

Le Grand Depart

 

Well hello July. For one brief happy moment yesterday I felt like my old self. I got to dig through my fiber stash to find something to spin for this year's Tour and that weird feeling I had that I almost couldn't identify was....happiness. The old me would feel this way all day long as I moved from project to project but the new me that's been stuck in this never ending nightmare rarely feels excitement about anything anymore. As brief as the feeling was, I was glad to know it still exists.

Digging out the Ladybug wasn't much fun. The poor thing was filthy. I don't think I cleaned her after last year's Tour which was when I packed her away again. She got a good scrubbing along with an oiling. She's ready.

I usually get out all three of my wheels but they are in pieces at the moment. I trip over them all the time when piling junk in the sewing room. Poor things need some love but not this year. 

This year's spin will be some Merino and silk in the Cat Wing colorway from Hobbledehoy. I've got a lot of happy rainbow fiber that I could have chosen from but for some reason this rather somber colorway called out to me. I've got no plans for it. It will most likely be just another skein in one of the two huge handspun bins. I had to give myself a good talking to yesterday about not feeling guilty about all those unused balls of handspun. So what if I never knit anything with them. Spinning is my therapy and boy....do I need some therapy.