I’ve Got You Covered

I’ve Got You Covered

by | Aug 26, 2016 | General

Last night I achieved a goal I really never imagined I could reach – I finished reading Knitlandia, and with it completed my Summer BOTNS Book Bingo card.

Book Bingo Card

A cover all, people! Twenty-five books read in eighty-seven days!

There were good books, great books, amazing books, and some books that were not any of the above. In no particular order, I present my summer reading:

  1. Knitlandia – 4 stars (With a one-word title)
  2. To Kill a Mocking Bird – 5 stars (Published the year you were born)
  3. 81 Famous Poems – 4 stars (Poetry Collection
  4. She Stoops to Conquer – 4 stars (From the Harvard Classics 5-foot shelf)
  5. Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls – 4 stars (By or about a member of the LGBTQ community)
  6. It Itches: A Stash of Knitting Cartoons – 5 stars (BOTNS BOOK BINGO free square)
  7. Emma, Vol. 01 – 2 stars (Manga)
  8. Shear Spirit: Ten Fiber Farms, Twenty Patterns and Miles of Yarn – 4 stars (From the top shelf of one of your bookcases)
  9. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry – 3 stars (With a family member (wife, son, uncle, etc.) in the title)
  10. The Book Thief – 5 stars (Told by a child narrator)
  11. My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes That Saved My Life – 5 stars (With food as the theme)
  12. The Inner Circle – 1 star (Hated by someone you know)
  13. Charlotte’s Web – 5 stars (A non-human main character)
  14. Doc – 3 stars (Western)
  15. The Summer Before the War – 4 stars (Most recently added to your TBR)
  16. Blue Lightning – 4 stars (Read another book by an author already used for this Bingo card)
  17. A Man Called Ove – 5 stars (Borrowed from the library)
  18. Hamilton: The Revolution – 4 stars (Nonfiction in graphic novel format)
  19. The Redbreast – 4 stars (A classic mystery)
  20. Still Life – 5 stars (Recommended by a librarian or bookseller)
  21. The Paris Architect – 5 stars (That you think you will dislike)
  22. The Goldfinch – 5 stars (With an animal on the cover on in the title)
  23. Written in My Own Heart’s Blood – 2 stars (Six words or more in the title)
  24. White Nights – 4 stars (Set in another country)
  25. The New Yorker – 5 stars (A literary magazine or journal of any genre)

This was a colossal undertaking for me. I have not been the most voracious reader in recent years, but this has truly brought my love for reading back to life! A huge thank you to Carole for talking about this all those many weeks ago – I would not have even known such a thing existed! It was a throwback to my youth and my local library summer reading programs!

And speaking of colossal – while nothing much looks fab in the gardens right now with much of it looking worn, weary, and burned out. Not so with the Coleus and the White Salvia we planted this year!! It is the King of the Garden right now and even the bees are paying homage!

That brings us to the linky portion of this post, enter at your own risk! You have been warned!

I will close with some incredible bloggy goodness, thanks to Kate Davies (who ALWAYS has the most phenomenal photos ever!) However, recently she shared some really incredible things:

That is all I have for you this week, the knitting continues – and last night I sat at my spinning wheel for the first time in almost a week! Have a fantastic weekend and I will see you back here on Monday!

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Fiber Friday – August 12, 2016

Fiber Friday – August 12, 2016

by | Aug 12, 2016 | General

This installment of the Sheepspot Fiber Club is a lovely Shetland top and, I have been doing some sampling to see what it can do and it is interesting what I am learning, thus far.

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I spun my first samples on my Schacht Matchless using the largest whorl I have (10.5:1) and I slowed my treadling way down and I increased my take up. My single ended up with about 3 TPI (twists per inch), my twist angle is 65-degrees, but I think that might be a bit too much twist. I’d like it at about 2 TPI, but I don’t think I can do that on my wheel with the whorl I have. I just am not certain I can treadle any slower! (The bottom skeinlet is the singles yarn)

I then spun up a sample that I plied. I did not change the whorl or my treadling for the singles, although I spun them a bit finer and decreased my take up significantly. I plied the yarn with a 40-degree twist angle and 3 TPI. I like this yarn very much before finishing. (The top skeinlet is the plied yarn) It is very interesting how different the two samples are in color as well.

I then sampled using spindles.

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I spun the same amount of fiber on my Ann Grout Acorn Spindle – my goal was to create a low twist single. I got much better and more controlled results using a spindle – 1.5 TPI, a 25-degree twist angle, and it is a cohesive yarn. I have yet to wash and set the yarn, but I will full it a bit to help it stay together. (The skeinlet on the left is the singles yarn)

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I spun a much finer single on my Jenkins Kuchulu Turkish Spindle. I wound the singles off into a plying ball and plied them on the same spindle. My twist angle was 50 degrees in the plied yarn and I got 4.5 TPI before finishing.

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Now, here is the shocker – I like the yarns spun on the spindle much more than I like the yarns spun on my Matchless. I know. I am stunned!

My next step will be to finish the yarns and knit up swatches. I will be interested to see what my thoughts are once I have done that.

Stay tuned, swatches will be next Friday’s post!

Now for some linkage to usher in the weekend:

That’s all I have this week, Gentle Reader. May your weekend be much cooler than it is forecast to be here!

Sock Spinning

Sock Spinning

by | Jul 29, 2016 | General

I learned quite a bit during the 20+ days of Tour de Fleece – and one of the things I really honed in on was how to produce a 3-ply fingering weight sock yarn.

Actual fingering weight – not heavy fingering weight. But, fingering weight that will knit to gauge on a 1.5mm needle!

So, I had this Perendale from Sheepspot hanging around. Only one bump, so I divided the fiber in half and split each half into 3 sections – one for each ply. I almost have ½ of it spun up – so it is going fairly quickly. I am not spinning more than an hour or so in the evenings.

 

My goal with spin a more “striped” sock yarn – keeping the colorways intact and hopefully very little barber pole effect. I am not sure how much yardage I will get – I might have to figure out toe up socks!

I am also cruising along on Tales from the Isle of Purbeck. I am into the third chart and should be done with this very soon.

Friday Links:

(FYI: there are only 77 days until Rhinebeck, sweater weather is coming…)

Now for a bit of political bragging…feel free to skip if you are so inclined. However, no matter your political leanings, the fact that we have a woman nominated for the highest office in the land is something that we should all be proud of. Bravo America!!

That is all I have for this week – have a fantastic weekend!

A High Fiber Diet

A High Fiber Diet

by | Jul 22, 2016 | General

I am in the home stretch of TdF2016 and I have had a fantastic time. The spinning has been varied and educational. While I have not spun that many yards (3570 yds to date, i.e. 2.02 miles) I have spun a variety of yarns. From worsted to woolen, including about 2100 yards of fingering weigh sock yarn!

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I am finishing up a nice lofty Coopworth currently, which will be done sometime tomorrow. I have decided that this will complete my tour and I will move back to my regularly scheduled knitting, which I have been largely ignoring over the past couple of weeks!

I need to get myself back on track for my Summer Knit Along because we are about to enter the home stretch for that as well!

I still have the following items that I need to complete:

  • 2 Jen Lucas Mystery Shawls
  • Triticum
  • Nahant
  • Pincha
  • Tales from the Isle of Purbeck
  • Puskinia sock mates for 2 bachelorette socks.

As you can see, there is quite a bit of knitting left to do! Panic might be setting in, but apparently I am easily distracted. I saw this stunning beauty and all I wanted to do was to drop everything and cast on. FYI, I have looked at yarn and I am strongly considering ordering something. I keep telling myself this will be the perfect prize knitting to start when I have completed the above list…

Friday Links:

That’s it, Gentle Reader, another week in the books – have a fantastic weekend and see you back here on Monday!

Fiber Friday – Stage 13

Fiber Friday – Stage 13

by | Jul 15, 2016 | General

Tour de Fleece continues to be in the forefront for me this week, today is Stage 13 for le Tour and it is the first time-trial, for those that are following along with the riders.

As such, I am pacing through my Montadale singles, having 2 bobbins spun – I will start today on the third so I can begin plying this weekend. My goal is to finish the bobbin today, and I have Doc queued up on Audiobooks, so I have no excuses!

Then, I can begin my second bump of fiber…No worries though, with over 18 hours of Doc to listen too and rain in the forecast, I should get a good bit of spinning done this weekend!

Now for the Friday Links:

As I spin today, my thoughts will be centered on the citizens of France – especially after last nights horrific tragedy.

Have a safe weekend, Gentle Reader.

 

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