She’s fine!

A little sore and tired, but all went well. She even drove me around to do the errands yesterday, and came in the grocery store with me. Though, that might have been too much, she was pretty tired when we got home.

I skipped knitting group yesterday to do the chores, but still found plenty of time to sit and knit. Nothing I have pictures of, but A’s Christmas mittens just need thumbs. They feel a little snug on me, I am worried they will shrink too much. I did them two at a time and I know that fighting all those needles and yarn ends affected gauge. So, I am prepared to redo them if necessary after Christmas.

I worked on mom’s sweater, too. Almost to the sleeve divide. Won’t finish it by Christmas, but she won’t mind opening a wip on Christmas morning.

And I worked on the rhinebeck hat. I’ll get pictures of that today if I can. I am about 1/3 done on that. It’s going much better now that I drew vertical lines on the chart to help me count.

And a few little presents got finished today as well. Still more to do but I am getting there!

Today I have to clean the pellet stove, then hit the craft room. I have some Christmas sewing to do, and I want to do some more weaving. Haven’t done any of that all week, with all the commotion. Nor have I spun! I’d like to find time for both of those things.

So a busy day, but with fun things. Once I clean that stove, that is!

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Not Friday

But I am off today, it just made sense.

It started with an 11 o’clock doctor’s appointment in Bangor. I could work around that, not an issue.

But then we got word that one of A’s favorite aunts passed away. Wake this afternoon in Portland. That meant leave work at 10 for the MD, be gone the rest of the day.

Since I had some errands to do, I just took the whole day.

So my list today is BORING!

Vote.

Return damaged pellet bags.

Doctor visit.

Lunch.

Meet A in Bangor, ride to Portland.

Knit on ride.

Aunt Betty’s wake.

Ride back to Bangor, knitting all the way.

Get my car, drive home.

The end.

See how I snuck knitting in?

Productive in pajamas!

This has been such a nice weekend!

Friday I got a lot done, almost the whole list and never did get dressed for public viewing. 😉

Because A had to go to work we were up at our normal time. By 9 o’clock the bathrooms were clean, laundry was washing and drying, breakfast was eaten and cleaned up, the bed was stripped and knitting was happening.

I finished the knitting on Down the Road and Back Again. Sent several photos of it posing with various buttons so the future owner could choose one. This is the one she chose. She will be home again next week, and so can tell me exactly where she would like it. 😉. I think it is a good choice!

Then I started spinning. This is Deere Season colorway by Purple Fleece, on a base of merino, bamboo and nylon. I am thinking socks, and it is spinning nice and thin for me. It feels a lot like silk as it slips through my fingers. 😊

I also got up into the craft room and cut out the dress and skirt. No photos yet, but they will happen eventually.

Because I finished the shawl, I had to cast something new on this weekend. I was torn. Durrow languishes, ready for the 5th square to be cast on. I have newly spun yarn that wants to join some scraps and be a shawl. And I have yarn I spun this summer that wants to be a scarf for step brother J. I really couldn’t decide.

So I did it all.

and worked on them all on Saturday.

Sunday was about cooking. I had some butternut squash a friend gave us, so I tried a new soup recipe.

And then I made smashed potatoes ( look it up if you don’t know about them, yummy!) and pork chops for supper, using another new recipe.

So I was in the kitchen all day but it was worth the effort. I’ll have soup for lunch all week. And I made enough pork chops for another dinner. 😉

I feel like I was pretty productive, even the day I was in jammies all day.

Of course I did no yard work. Carrots are still in the ground, garlic is not. Someday…

Ye ha! Friday off!

It really has been a crazy couple of weeks at work, but eventually it had to mean a day off – yea! I worked enough hours this week that I am getting Friday off with only an hour or two of vacation time. I can live with that!

So that means you get one of my Friday lists!

There are household chores on it, of course. Last weekend A did them all, so I will be making it up to her this weekend.

There is knitting – bound and determined to finish the Down the Road and Back Again shawl.

And sewing- I started laying out the fabric for a simple dress a couple of weeks ago, and haven’t been able to get back to it. I’d like to finish laying it out and cutting it out.

Spinning. The fiber is prepped. The bobbins are empty. It is time to start it.

Someone needs to start putting the gardens to bed, and planting the garlic. I guess that will be me. But maybe not on Friday.

Another thing I am going to do is stay in bed until 6 am, at the earliest. I am exhausted.

What are you doing to celebrate Friday?

ooh la la I am off on Friday!

At least, I think I am.  Worst case scenario is that I have to work for a couple of hours, if the big project doesn’t go as planned.  But if it does, I will use vacation time to cover those few hours and take the day.  Yes, that means I worked a ton of late and long days this week.  Sigh.

Only two more weekends until vacation and the visiting knitters!  So we have lots of chores lined up to do, hopefully getting enough done that Labor Day weekend isn’t spent scrubbing floors.

I have given up the thought that the book cases will be finished, but I do plan to have some of the shelves finished.  There are 5 that should be done tonight, so books can be put on them in a day or two, and there are 5 more that are nearly done getting their first coat of finish paint.  I figured out that each shelf gets worked on 6 times. I can’t do the whole thing in one sitting, so for the primer and two coats of paint, I touch them 6 times.  And then they have to dry thoroughly, get sanded between coats.  No wonder this is taking forever.  I can fit 8 on my painting table at a time. This could take all winter. And there is still the trim to do.

A had me make a list of all that needs doing so that she can help. I wasted no time! So there will be chores amongst the knitting and spinning this weekend. Hope you will be having more fun than this!

It’s been a long time!

Sorry to be away so long, I have no excuse.  Just lazy!

Last week I wound up the TDF (tour de fleece, for you non-spinners).  I was pretty sure I was done on Friday, finished all the Three Waters Farm fiber I had, and as I was on their team, what we spun was to be at least 50% their fiber.  But I was having such fun spinning that I just kept going and spun one more braid, not TWF, so not in my official count, but still fun and pretty. I tried a traditional 4 ply.  Never did that before. It is an interesting yarn, quite firm and dense.

So here is all my spinning.  I figured up the yardage, and it is about .9 miles spun in just about three weeks.

And the blue that I finished up on Sunday – sorry for the poorly lit photo – not sure what the phone was doing with colors…the blues are brighter than that, and the counter is gray. Go figure.

I picked out a few more braids to spin up, but haven’t started them, time to get back to knitting.  Durrow has been sadly neglected, so I am plugging away at it.  I love how the medium purple is looking with the navy.  Can’t wait to link it to the squares done with the darker purple.

That is really is for crafting since I have seen you last.  finished but haven’t blocked the frieze cowl.  I missed my window of dry days this week, we are back to the muggies now.

I have been trying to work in the yard a bit here and there, but the weather has been so awful to work with, I just do five minutes some times and can’t see for the sweat pouring off my head.  I did manage to get this to happen, with very little effort on my part – put the plant on the porch and water it now and then, and voila – a bright summery miracle!

I planted sweet peas and morning glories beneath the trellis that you can see, and one on the other side of the porch.  On this side, that gets morning and mid day sun, they are literally 2 inches high and haven’t budged in weeks.  I water them, truly I do.

On the other side of the porch they did the same thing until about a week ago, now they are growing like mad, and have started climbing the trellis.  That side gets afternoon sun.  I am hopeful for some pretty, sweet smelling flowers there soon.

In front, I am working on clearing weeds and putting down soil and mulch along the outside of the new path.  I have literally gotten about 4 feet done. Many more feet to go.  Sigh.

The pool effort comes along.  I feel like I am finally making progress, though there is still al lot of sediment in the bottom that stirs up when ever it is touched, I think the amount is being reduced each time I get in and stir it up, them run the filter. I do that about twice a week, though with the weather so awful and hot again, I might do it more this week. It should be clean by September!  I am definitely getting the bigger, more powerful filter and vacuum for next year.

Other than that, I have been working. A lot again this week, enough that with only 2 hours of vacation time, I have Friday completely off.  I love when that happens, as you know! A is taking classes all week, culminating with a certification test Friday, so she is studying all of her waking hours.  We are not very exciting!

Last weekend we had a visit from nephew D and his wife A, they have recently relocated from Colorado to Vermont, and are taking advantage of the summer good weather to come to Maine fairly often to visit family while the traveling is easy. He is a teacher, so has been enjoying his summer vacation. It was great to see them and hear more about their lives and work.

This weekend looks to be a nice one – Whorls and Purls on Saturday, and then we are meeting Mom and B for supper on Saturday night.  We will go to a local seafood place and they will all have lobster.  I am not sure if I will have crabs or scallops, but I won’t have lobster, that is for sure.  🙂

And with Friday off, you know you get a bit of a list!

• Laundry  – I will get it rolling, I am sure A will wind up finishing it Sunday.
• Bathrooms – the darned things need cleaning every week and it is annoying.
• Grocery shopping – I usually go on Saturday after knitting, but it has been really awful there the past few weeks, so I am hoping that Friday will be better. Maybe the morning?
• Hair cut if there is no line.
• Post office – while I am out, what is one more stop?
• As much front yard gardening as I can get done before the sun is overhead and too hot.

That should be enough chores to get me hot and cranky, so I will jump in the pool to cool off, then come inside for knitting and spinning on the porch for the rest of the day. I want to make good progress on the Durrow square, and then start spinning the next thing. I should go upstairs and start cleaning and organizing in the craft room, but not sure I will have the energy.  Between work and the heat, I find that we are both just drained and don’t have a lot of energy for anything that doesn’t absolutely have to be done.  But maybe I will do as my friend Deb suggests and tackle one small section at a time.

Also, I have to think of something fun and celebratory to do for A after her test. She will be tired, it is 8 hours long, so the celebration can’t require expending energy.  Maybe I will bake her a cake or something.  Got any good ideas?

What are you guys doing to celebrate summer this weekend?

 

 

Mostly I spun

I didn’t do so well on the list.

I let the bugman in and learned the ants we were seeing are carpenter ants, so good I called! No signs that they have moved in, they likely were exploring. He refilled the critter bait stations which were empty after one month! Yikes. No wonder we hear creatures in the walls.

I did change the bed and towels and get most of the laundry done.

But really I just spun.

Finished foggy fall morning on bfl/silk, and got 564 yards before it’s bath. Just under 4 ounces. I had quite a bit left on one bobbin, I could have made a small skein, but just added it to my 2018 frankenbobbin, which is almost full! Not sure how I will finish that…Maybe cake it and make a 2 ply? Or chain ply? It will be interesting to see all that is on it!

I did no yard work, so will pay for that today and tomorrow.

Today is continue to work on the list, go to whorls and Purls followed by the grocery store. Exciting stuff!