In other news

There has been knitting...

the latest Kidney Kozy of Lurve
(shawl for dialysis patient)

My own...er...pattern. Something like this: Open Stitchionary to any random page, flip to another random page since that one has a weird edge, keep flipping until you find something relatively straight, add garter stitch border and knit to your required dimensions. Voila!

Speaking of shawls, I never shared a non-stretched to hell and back pic of the Print o'the Finally Done




Why, yes, my neighbors do think me quite eccentric.

On the spinning front, I joined Tour de Fleece again this year. I have no idea why (peer pressure...all the ZPDK spinners wanted a team of our own). Last year, while spinning the yak, I decided I really don't like spinning against a deadline. I want to spin when I want to spin. Plus, I have a huge amount of work going on right now (spindles going to Sock Summit with Yarn Hollow, Rita needs them next week in order to ship them with her stuff...and then there's MI Fiber Fest right after she gets back).

Anyway, Em dyed up a pile o'fluff in shades of blue and split it three ways for her, Crystal and I to spin up for the latest (Grand Rapids, MI) Hope Lodge blanket project.



And here's where I am on day 3 of Tour de Fleece.


Yeah, not very far. I'm busy. It's all good.

Tracy: One end of the fiber had deeper blues than the other. I split the whole thing in half lengthwise and then each half in half again. I spun one strip from the first half, lighter end first, then wound off to the tp roll (leaving the lighter end on the outside). Then I flipped the other half of that one to spin darker end first, joined the light end to the light end of what was on the tp roll. Then I did the opposite with the two strips from the other half.

So, no, I didn't have it all on the spindle at once, only a quarter. I could get it all on the spindle but I don't like to spin with a lot of weight hanging off my hand/arm. There's really no reason to, since it's so easy to wind off and join new lengths. I'm too lazy to go up and ask Em how much (weightwise) I started with. Maybe 3.5 ounces? I will ply it all onto the spindle at the same time though.