What a weekend!

This is Polwarth, from Erica at Desigknit. I started spinning this on Saturday (finally! I have been wanting to spin it for a while, but couldn't get to it). The main goal was to sample and decide what I wanted to do with it. This is a sample of the singles I tried, thinking that it would make a nice, fluffy soft singles for fulling and knitting a cowl, maybe.

It would be fluffy and make a nice cowl, I think, but I was afraid that the deep colors wouldn't show this way. I don't really have enough to spin, full and knit a sample and still have enough for a project (if the sample didn't work) so I went with the gut and tried thinner, planning to ply. This is a two ply sample, and I decided that I like that, and would try to add a bit more fiber and twist so I would end up with a nice worsted weight yarn.

Then I tried a 3 ply and I like that a lot, too. so, I am spinning (trying, at any rate) thicker than my default and planning on either a 2 or 3 ply.

I may decide to spin the other braid as a single (I think the colors are better for that) or I may decide to spin them the same and ply them together. I have time and I want to be happy with the look of this yarn, since I am so pleased with the hand.

I had a very productive day at home on Saturday: laundry, vacuuming, neatening up, spinning and knitting. I finally picked up the stitches for the first sleeve on Rob's sweater. Yippee!

Sunday was a boating day. I was not thrilled to be up at 6 AM on a day off, but the forecast was good .... and I am so glad I got up early. We had an awesome day on the water.  The sun was shining (after the first couple of hours) and the winds were calm. We found birds (they frequently show you where the fish are) and the fish were biting. The fact that they were all little babies and had to be thrown back didn't bother us at all. We only caught one bird. I am becoming an expert as disentangling them from the line without getting bit. (I think they should be more thankful, but they don't agree. LOL) I knitted on Rob's sleeve, swatched for Bob's sweater and worked on a hat (that I think is too big and has to be frogged. Again.)

We returned to the dock a bit before 5:30 PM, in plenty of time to get home to watch the Ravens game. I backed the trailer to the ramp without too much back and forth, and got out so Bob could get his waders on to retrieve the boat. When Bob got in the Expediton to back the trailer further into the water  it would. not. move. at. all.
The engine was running but no movement. No amount of troubleshooting regarding brakes, emergency brake, 4WD etc. was helping. I climbed under the vehicle and saw that something major and metal was rusted and twisted, obviously broken beyond a simple repair. It was connected to the rear axle which had moved to a position it was not supposed to be in. Gulp!

We contacted Boat US because we have a trailer tow package with them. Thank goodness! We had to wait for 3 hours but a tow truck came and put the Expediton on the flatbed. We then disconnected the trailer from our vehicle, put the trailer on the tow truck and backed it down to the water, because the boat was still in the water. We had prepped for travel while waiting, so we slipped the boat onto the trailer (thank goodness it went smoothly) and out it came. We went home in the tow truck, with the Expedition on the flatbed and the boat being trailered behind. The Expediton is sitting at Pep Boys waiting for parts (two control arms, a U joint and a yoke, for anyone who knows about such things) and repair. We hope they find nothing else broken when they go to repair the bleeping thing. Grrr.

We made it home just in time to watch the last 8 minutes or so of the Ravens' game. GO RAVENS!!!!!!
   

Fleece Scouring

I have been a busy girl, scouring my fleeces so that I can get to play with them. Both are actually now washed and are either dry or drying on racks in my house (the weather didn't cooperate for outdoor drying). Clematis, the Black Welsh Mountain fleece, is in pretty good shape, I think. I still have some scurf to deal with but it is otherwise a clean fleece. Madeline, the Jacob fleece, is another story.

The Jacob fleece is full of vm. I don't mean just hay or grass, which I could pretty easily pick out. It is the seeds and other tiny bits in there that have me worried. I plan to try to shake the fleece out, in sections, outdoors and get rid of what I can in that way. I have been reading, and I think that combs are the way to go to clean fiber like this, but I don't own any and can't really afford to buy them. I found plans on line to make a set of combs, but DH is busy right now and won't be able to get to that for a while. I read about someone putting a dry alpaca fleece in the dryer on air and getting rid of vm that way, but I am not sure about that plan. I can certainly try a small bit to see if it works. I will not buy another fleece that has not been coated.

Thursday last, I went into work but came home early due to not feeling well. I had planned to work from home on Friday and it's good thing. If I had to make the drive, I would have stayed home sick anyway. I wasn't deathly ill, just headachy, slightly nauseated and feeling washed out and weak. I stayed home from knitting night at the LYS too.

Saturday we got some stuff done in the morning and then headed down to Silver Spring to have dinner with friends. They treated us to a wonderful meal, good wine and great conversation. It was also our wedding anniversary - 34 years! On Sunday we decided to try going out on the boat. The forecast was for possible thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening, so we weren't sure how long we could be out, but decided to give it a try. We were home in plenty of time - the boat motor overheated and we actually spent the day at the marina working on the motor. Oh, well. It was a beautiful day and we were together. It appears to have been a pretty inexpensive and easy thing to fix, so that's good news, too. I finished scouring the Jacob fleece once we returned home, and watched the thunderstorms roll over us from the safety of the house.

The sleeves for the leaf and picot cardigan are about half complete, maybe a little less, and I am enjoying the knitting. I wove in some of the ends on the vest last night, in preparation for blocking and sewing the shoulder seams, too, before getting to sleep.

All in all, not a bad weekend at all.  Friday evening will be a spinning gathering at my house and, hopefully, a trip on the boat.

I hope you enjoyed your Easter.

A day on the water is not always the best way to spend a day

One of Mom's water lilies with a koi nearby.

We were really looking forward to spending yesterday n the water. The winds were forecast to be 5 to 10 out of the south. We packed up food and drink (non-alcoholic) and spare clothes and bedding (we were going to spend the night). We headed south. The ride was rough. The winds were stronger (as usual) than the forecast predicted and the tide was flowing against the wind, which makes for bigger waves. It was a rough ride.

I was knitting. I had cast on with my hand spun for the wrap/lap robe I've mentioned before. The f******ing KnitPicks cable came apart and my stitches ended up all over (not for the first time). I am sending them a nasty note and possibly the needles and never using them again. I am done with KnitPicks.

We moved around a few times, did some fishing, then later found a nice place to sit and have supper. soon, though, we had to move - we were sitting over someone's trotline for crabbing and didn't know that or that we were required to get out of their way even though we were drifting. The guy was a real PIA about it, too, coming way too close to our boat before saying anything. Anyway, we ate, then decided where to go next and headed in that direction. The wind decided to pick up at that point (instead of the predicted 10 knots, it was about 15) , and things became rather uncomfortable. We ended up heading in to the marina instead of staying on the boat and had a rather uncomfortable trip back, too. I felt like I wanted to escape my skin, I was so sticky and uncomfortable. Ugh. Altogether not a day to go in the records as a great day. I plan to spend as little time outdoors today as possible.

I spun for over an hour on the wheel this morning and this is my progress to date on this merino fiber, dyed with natural dyes and purchased at MD S & W this year.


Most of the week I spun on my spindles - here's the Perfect Storm Wensleydale.



And here is the silk. I have to admit, it's been getting most of my attention.




Here is a poor view (I just couldn't get a better shot) of the V neck cardigan I have been working on. I am on the bottom seed stitch edging.


The travel sock is shorter than it was. The foot was too long.



The Slinky Ribs top hasn't changed this week. I haven't had the time to concentrate on the instructions for the sleeve cap.

On the boat, as I mentioned, I cast on with my hand spun for a new project. There's not much to show, but here it is. The next color to be used will be a solid blue.


Mom seems to be doing well. She feels better each day though she still gets dizzy occasionally. I'll be glad when she gets checked out by the cardiologist. I'll share more photos of our visit there another day. Have a good Sunday and try to stay cool.

Tour de Fleece

I started this morning after making my selections last night.

I'll be spinning 4 oz. blended wool top in champagne, 4 oz. superwash BFL in Lame duck Mallard and 4 oz. black merino wool, then plying them together for a 3 ply.

If I get this finished before the end of the TdF, I will spun some superwash BFL, undyed, that I was gifted last year of choose another 4 oz. bump from my Spunky Eclectic fiber club.

On the spindle I am working on my Wensleydale Perfect storm. I have some blue merino/silk on another spindle that I would like to finish and I want to finish spinning and plying the llama top that I was working on at MD S & W. I also have some silk hankies that need to be finished up, but I won't commit to that at this point since I don't know how much time I'll have for each kind of spinning.

We're heading out on the water today to enjoy a day on the water and to see some firework displays from there later on. I plan some spindle spinning, of course, and knitting on Slinky Ribs and the V neck cardigan, maybe the lace scarf I started a while ago for mom. It should be an enjoyable day.

Tomorrow we will clean and prep for guests coming later in the day for our own fireworks display. Good food, good company (I hope for no migraine - it would be a nice change of pace) - another good day.

Today is robin flying day. I saw one leave and will post pictures tomorrow or Monday. I'm going to check on them now. Have a great Independence Day

Awesome Saturday

We had such a good day on the boat yesterday. With the temps predicted to be in the mid 90's, I was a little concerned about the heat, but we had a wonderful, relaxing time. We were on the water before 2 PM (we enjoy going out later and staying on the water until sunset) and headed out. We motored south for a while, heading to a place DH had in mind to try fishing. We saw a lot of sails on the water - more than is usual, even for the Chesapeake Bay, which is known for sailing. Further investigation revealed that there was a regatta in progress.


























I love the colorful sails, but the white or light ones are beautiful, too. Some of these are catamarans, some are single hull boats. Some sliced through the water, heeling sharply while others moved a little slower, but gracefully. It was fun to watch.


On the way to the fishing spot, I spotted some birds working the water. We tracked them and found an area of water disturbed by the action of a whole lot of small bait fish. That was the first time this season that we spotted such an area. We fished it without luck, but had fun watching the fish darting and jumping to escape what ever it was that was chasing them from below. I forgot to get pictures. : )

We headed further south, fished for a while, catching lots of small perch. By that time, I was feeling the heat and we headed to an area close to shore that we knew had a sandy bottom. We jumped right in - even me (I usually inch in) - and had fun in the water, cooling off and relaxing as well as getting a little exercise swimming. We did a little more fishing, had our picnic meal, relaxed and drifted for a while, and tried more fishing. We spotted another of those areas where the bait fish were churning up the water and caught a whole lot of perch. I think I alone caught about 20 of them!

I had some fun taking pictures of cloud formations. At one point, I thought "Wow! those look like rolags!". What does that say about my mind?


I knitted, spun, ate, fished, took photos (I am so glad that I had the camera along yesterday. Many times I leave it behind), and just enjoyed the day.












Flower, garden and baby bird photos soon.

Rainbows (lots of photos)

Karen and I just got back from walking. We almost didn't go - I am not thrilled with walking in the rain. Recently, though, there have been a few times when we didn't walk due to rain and then found that it only drizzled so we could have. Tonight I was not going to let that happen. We did get wet, though it was on the tail end of the walk and actually felt good by that time (it helped cool us off a little). Near the end of the walk we got our reward. We saw a beautiful rainbow in the sky - very faint at first, then deepening colors, and then we saw another, just offset from the first one! 

We made our own rainbows over the weekend. I had a few friends over and we dyed yarn and fiber. Everyone had a different method of working but the results were great no matter how it was done.  

We dyed fiber:

And we dyed yarn:





and we dyed sock blanks. We are all anxious to see how the sock blank looks when it is knitted up. I'll try to get a photo of the one I painted when it is dry.

We knitted and ate and chatted and steamed in the warm, humid weather. At the end of the day we had beautiful fiber and multi-colored hands. LOL.

On Saturday DH and I went out on the boat. We had great weather. The mid to late afternoon into the evening is our favorite time of day to be on the water and the weather cooperated and did not send any thunderstorms our way. No fish were caught but we enjoyed the evening, dinner and I enjoyed knitting.

This morning it was back to work. I have another monitor visit this week - hopefully that will go smoothly. It will be too busy for me to work from home any day this week, but my first experiment with that went well, so I do believe it will happen again. Have a great week.

It's my birthday!

It's my BD today. DH fixed pancakes and bacon this morning, and cleaned up after himself! What a prince! He'll be cooking dinner later, too. I walked with Karen, who was the second person (after DH) to give me BD wishes for the day. We did our 4.5 miles in 1 hour and 4 minutes. My plans for the day include talking with Mom to settle on the dates for me to go visit her this week, taking a hot bath and lots of knitting and spinning. Other than the weather it should be a great day. It is just grey and cloudy out there, not bright and sunny, which would be my choice. If I were given a choice. Which I wasn't.

I had to frog most of what I had knit on the test sock last night. I started with size 1 needles because that's what I usually use for sock knitting. It just barely made it over my heel and up my leg when I tried it on after 1 inch of ribbing and one pattern repeat. I went up a needle size and will be ready to try again in 2 more rows. I love this yarn and the pattern is easily memorized but not boring. Pictures soon - I need more than one pattern repeat to show you. I also finished frogging the Cables and O's section that I didn't like and I am ready to pick that up again. I would like to spin today, also. Busy day....

Moving on....



This is our boat with new canvas and side curtains on it. The side curtains will keep us safe and warm in inclement weather and allow us to use the boat later into the year without me being bundled up as if I lived in the far northern area of Alaska. LOL. We will be able to sleep on board, fully protected if we need to be (weather-wise) and still be able to have good visibility all around because of the window in the back curtain.

Another thing (in addition to boats) that you see a lot of on the Chesapeake (most other bodies of water, also) is buoys. They serve to show the way from point to point and also to show you where the safe water (as compared to shallow water) is so there is less chance of running aground. I like buoys. They seem so stable and enduring. They are out there in good weather and bad, year after year. There are red buoys.



The little antennae thingies on top are to keep the birds off there, otherwise they would be nesting and ... doing other things all over the buoy.



And there are green buoys. In this photo, if you enlarge it, you can see the light on at the top of the more distant buoy. At night they each light up in a particular pattern and frequency to aid with navigation. It's difficult to read the buoy number at night, so this way you can look at the chart and it will tell you that, for instance, a particular number buoy will flash one long and two short flashes. If you coordinate the chart information with the buoy lights you can see, you can find out where you are and how to get to where you need to go.




We've come to the end of my boating trip for this week. I will leave you with this final image. This is the peaceful, relaxing Chesapeake Bay at the end of a wonderful spring day.