Sunday is not my day of rest

So far today I have cleaned the bathroom, washed 4 loads of laundry and hung all of them on the line to dry, helped DH to empty the old oil out of the (bottom half of the) boat motor*, cleaned the water filter and done some wheel and spindle spinning. It is not quite 1:30 PM.

The best part was ..... you guessed it - the spinning. ; )

On the wheel I am spinning the end of a 4 oz. braid of Rambouillet in the color way Wood Violet. I may be able to finish spinning that today. On the spindle I am spinning Wensleydale in the perfect Storm colorway. It is amazing how different the two wools are from each other and yet they are both enjoyable to spin. The Wensleydale is so smooth that it almost feels slick. The staple length is much longer than the other fiber so it take more thought on my part (I am used to shorter staple lengths, apparently) but that's kid of fun, too. It's a change of pace. The Rambouillet is softer, fluffier (I suppose I should say more loft or something like that) and shorter staple length - more like what I am used to spinning.

I think I've given up on my cabled with black merino idea for the Wensleydale - the fibers are too disparate. I will try that technique on some other fiber I own. (there's no lack of fiber in my stash) I am going to search the web to see if I can find someone who will dye some Wensleydale for me in one of the colors included in the Perfect Storm colorway. I will spin that and ply it with the original fiber so that I can have enough yarn to make a small shawl.

I've been ignoring my spiral stole in favor of my other two sweaters. Both sweaters are easier knitting than the stole and I just haven't been able to handle lace this week. Sometimes lace helps - I have to concentrate on it enough that other problems go out of my head. That hasn't worked this week and I am not interested in creating a disaster. So, simpler knitting is happening. Stockinette (back and forth, not in the round) with occasional decreases (for the V neck cardigan) and ribbing in the round (for Slinky Ribs) has been happening.

I did cast on yesterday. Our friends Steve and Cheryl were meeting us for a day of touristy things in Harve de Grace. My son had borrowed my car for work and my travel socks were in there. I had to have a small take along project, had nothing around that would fit the bill and cast on for a sock. I am testing the square DPNs I picked up recently with a ball of Zauberball in purples and magenta. I like knitting with it, but I did have a problem with it. I had to knit from the outside of the ball (couldn't find the other end) and when a "clump" comes off at once, it gets twisted around itself. If you don't untwist carefully and right away, the fuzz on the yarn makes untwisting it a little more difficult than it should be (IMHO). I think I am going to love the colors of this sock, but since I have my car and my knitting back, I'll just finish up those other socks (the ones I am knitting from the self dyed sock blank) first. I have put the new little project bag away and it will stay there until it is needed again. The toe is knitted and I am about 2 inches up the foot, BTW. The needles - nice to knit with but I bought the short length and they are not as comfortable as longer needles would be in my hands. The tip opposite the knitting irritates the palm of my hand.

We weren't out as long as I thought because of the heat and humidity. It was about 90 degrees and 90 % humidity yesterday. We did manage to visit the Concord Point Lighthouse and keepers house and we walked around the marina and daydreamed about owning some of the larger boats there. We had a little snack that we picked up at Bomboy's candy - chocolate covered strawberries! Yum! We got back onto the air conditioned car, drove around town for a while, looking at the older house and then headed back to our house. We relaxed on our deck for a while (where I knitted on my V neck cardigan) and drank lots of water to catch up on our fluids, then headed out to eat dinner. All in all it was a nice day.

* It's only the bottom half of the motor because when we tried to use the boat on Tuesday, the motor over heated and we had to take it apart to replace the water pump. We don't know that the water pump is the problem, mind you, but apparently that's how you do things on boat motors. You replace the least expensive part of what you think might be the problem and hope. If not successful, you move on to the next most expensive thing. And so on. Lovely. I had really been looking forward to that little break - dinner on the water with DH. I am becoming quite adept at reading and interpreting the service manual (not always easy - they include little phrases like "on most models" or "some steps listed here may not apply to your motor" ) for the motor and even better at taking dirty and greasy things apart and putting them together again. Is that good or bad, I wonder?

I am going to wait until the sun is a little lower (and allows the house to provide some shade) and go into the garden to do some weeding. Meanwhile I will wash more clothes and spin. Have a good day.