What a great spin! 6 oz. of camel/merino/silk blend from BMFA. It’s gorgeous stuff, and I decided to mix up the colors really well.

I spun the singles extremely thin, so that I have a 3 ply laceweight now. 620 yards. It’s really quite gorgeous!

I was going to take today as my only rest day, since I didn’t take the others even though we were so busy during the tour. After all, 3 new skeins of handspun during a very busy time while I haven’t been overly inspired about crafting? It’s a total win no matter what.

But, I tossed my fiber stash and reorganized. And then decided I needed to start something new anyhow.

This is, again, BMFA. It’s 4 oz of black BFL and a little over 3 oz of merino/silk. Same colorway. I thought I should spin them and then ply them together, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it might be even more fun to spin them separately and then knit them together.

So I decided to start with the BFL. I put a larger whorl on so I couldn’t spin so thin this time around, and of course that makes the project feel like it is flying already.

But, today is a day if motorbike riding. Not much more spinning will be had. And I can’t wait!

One of the things that most attracted me to Mr. Ink originally was how he always seemed to be trying to live the best possible life, in the present, with the resources he has. It matched how I try to go about life, and since our best lives matched, it makes for a very connected couple.

This year, thus far, we have not been living our best lives. We’ve been living the lives we had to in the circumstances, and doing what needed to be done. But, it hasn’t been our best lives. So, this weekend commenced with the albatross gone, and it really feels like we are back to our best lives.

Last night we made chimichangas, rice and beans, and margaritas. We hung out and enjoyed each other’s company and had a grand old time. This morning we puttered around the house, took the dog on a walk through the neighborhood, and went over to a local trail for a mountain bike ride. It began pouring on us, so we were unable to complete the ride. But we still felt like we were enjoying our best lives again, and that was SUCH a relief. The rest of the weekend is more of the same. Enjoying our home together, enjoying our activities, and doing that which we love to do.

In my spare moments at home, I’ve been plying. I’ve got my first bobbin done, and it looks great!

Now on to the next bit. Hopefully I’ll get this done today, when Mr. Ink is working on one of the motorcycles. I might even drag the wheel into the garage for a bit and hang out there.

The yard needs some attention as well, I hope to do some of that tomorrow morning. However, our very large and well established rose of sharon is blooming. So beautiful!

I think I need to try for a better picture later on. Hard to get a photo of blooms that are happening well over your head!

Mr. Ink’s old house has been sold. For $7K more than listing price, cash offer. That’s really about as good as it’s going to get, and it means we can get out from under that house very quickly now. Mr. Ink picked up the last few things that needed to be taken out of the house yesterday, old batteries for recycling, and things we didn’t want to leave the new owners with. So, we actually do not ever have to go back there. It is done.

In other wonderful news, our little elderly dog bounced for his supper last evening. And in fact, he ate both suppers. He was also super affectionate, and wanted to be where the people were. It’s so good to see him truly feeling better. All better.

And, I seem to be reclaiming my life. If anything, this summer will go down in my memory as the summer we didn’t get to participate in. Mr. Ink and I both are active people with tons of various adventures happening on a regular basis. But, with so much hanging over our heads, we were unable to participate in life as we generally would. I partly think that it feels like we lost out on our summer, but I also try to remember that we did get to do a couple fun things, we took care of our responsibilities, and we had the opportunity to spend time with various family members while working on the old house. It’s not a loss, but we’ll be eager to get back to planning and enjoying next year.

In the meantime, I finished the singles I was working on last evening as I sat outside enjoying the patio and the backyard.

It was about the time we were to meet with our agents to hear the house offers, so I had to stop there, but I did get a very small start on plying late last night.

It’s 6 oz. of singles so it’s likely to take me FOREVER to finish. But, I am absolutely thrilled to have it started and in a place I can just sit with it every now and then and make a little progress.

So, between the dog being sick, and the clean out of the old house, it started to feel like my life was a pressure cooker, and the pressure just kept building. But, with the house on the market, and the dog finally improving a bit, someone let the steam out.

The great news is that the house had 5 showings yesterday and has 7 scheduled today!

Last evening I decided what we really needed was a night off from life. Yes, we’ve still got obligations. Yes, the lawn needs to be mowed. But, instead we did the things that we like to do together. We made a nice dinner, and I got the vacuuming and laundry done while Mr. Ink went grocery shopping. I did a tiny bit of spinning, but it was minimal, as spinning has been since Friday.

So, since there hasn’t been much of an update, and I am only working on one project, I figured I’d post where I am on that project.

On the wheel:

On the spindles:

In all honesty, there’s not much left. I’ll be plying by the weekend for certain. However, I suspect this will be my last TdF yarn. I might start another, but I don’t see it being completed before the end of the tour.

TdF rolls on, and I think it’s day 13 but I am not positive. In the end, it matters little, as long as spinning time is to be had.

Things at Chez Shells continue to be rather crazy and stressful. Now, along with the deadline of the old house clean out, we have a sick old dog.

He’d been sick on Monday, but seemed to be recovering. Wednesday morning though, all went south again. Last night he went to the vet. Upon discovering he had a fever, he got anti nausea meds and a shot of antibiotics to start him off while we waited for his test results. In addition to an infection, he’s got pancreatitis, so he’s a pretty sad old dog at the moment. Mr. Ink and I were instructed to cook him a special diet, which we did last evening, and he goes on meds tonight. So, hopefully we’ll see an increase in comfort and energy levels soon. That being said, it really feels like my mind and attentions are being pulled in all sorts of directions.

As for the old house update, we didn’t have much time to work on it yesterday due to regular Wednesday evening obligations and the vet trip. But, Mr. Ink got a small bit of sorting done while we waited on a couple to come pick up the futon and frame they purchased off us. One more large item we don’t have to move, a win for us!

There was one other bonus that happened. Mr. Ink has a chair in the new house that’s lovely and colorful, but it needs a set of feet on it. It sits too low as is, and is scratching the floor. We’ve looked at hardware stores but not found anything that works. Well, as I was sitting in the basement with the junk that needs to go in the dumpster, I realized that I was looking at an ottoman, completely torn up and unusable, but with 4 perfect feet. I asked Mr. Ink if they’d work, and upon investigation, it seemed that they would. And just in case they would not, we grabbed the feet off another chair headed to the dumpster as well. Recycling for the win!

I did get some spinning done last night though, TdF wasn’t completely neglected! And I also managed to get out and do some garden weeding and flower deadheading. There were certainly some plusses to an exhausting evening.

I started a second bobbin (sorry for the blurry pic, it was very early morning and not a lot of light.) And, I’ll get more time at lunch today to do some spindle spinning of this same project. It really is a beautiful one!

No new old house clean out pictures. I took some before shots, but after hasn’t really happened yet. I worked on those sections but they need to be properly sorted, and I am not one to do the sorting. So, I got another load to goodwill, did as much sorting as I possibly could on my own, and let it at that. Mr. Ink has worked very hard at prepping the yard for impending sale, but he’ll have to move inside pretty quick now for the actual sorting of the stuff.

Meanwhile, I have tonight “off” from the old house. Which means I get to concentrate on MY house, and then get some very pleasant downtime and spinning in. Mr. Ink is already planning what meal he can cook, as we’ve had to eat out the past 4 nights and I can tell he’s very sick of it.

Yesterday I did manage to fill another spindle full of singles and start a third spindle. There’s a tiny bit on a second bobbin on my wheel as well. My project feels slow, but it is moving along, and I bet if I actually had significant time to donate to it, I’d have it completed this weekend. Alas, that’s not to be. But, enjoy a picture of spindle singles anyhow!

An evening off from the old house means that a picture of wheel singles will be forthcoming tomorrow.

TdF has been so so good to me already this year! It took me from not touching my wheel at all to actively sitting down at it every chance I get. While the chances are fewer than they have been in the past, I am still getting quite a bit done.

This skein is 270 yards of 3 ply fingering weight yarn. The fiber was Malabrigo Nube, colorway Arco Iris. I pulled thin strips off the bump and spun them without paying any attention to what the colors would do, which scattered them quite nicely. It left me with a skein that is overall green, but with lots of wonderful depth.

I immediately thought about putting a new project on my wheel, but then realized I’d actually rather keep working on what I’ve already started. So, I had brought my work project home for the weekend, and I began to put some of that on the wheel as well as the spindles.

This is camel/merino/silk and I was having a terrible time spinning it on my spindles. But it spins like a dream on the wheel. I am afraid my TdF will be a little boring now, as I’ve 6 oz. of the stuff and it’s all basically going to look just like this for awhile.

I am not taking a rest day today, I am saving my rest day for this weekend when we have Mr. Ink’s sister in law in town to help with the old house clean out. We got quite a bit done over there yesterday, but the deadline looms as does the work.

I am writing nice and early because I am hoping I won’t have an opportunity at the middle of the day. You see, we REALLY need to work on Mr. Ink’s old house. And he doesn’t want to. I don’t blame him, but we are working with a one week deadline now, so it must be done. We got a big load to the dump yesterday, but I am pretty sure we’ll be renting a dumpster for next weekend. I do suspect, however, that this entire week will be a broken record of my nagging. And helping.

So, then a few pictures from yesterday. I think I mentioned I had a lot to get done yesterday as well. I did! It even included time at the shop getting my oil changed, and spinning during that too.

Here’s a plying picture of the malabrigo nube I’d been working on. I do have a full skein of this now, but it’s still wet so no pics until tomorrow. It turned out quite lovely, and now I am on to my next project, the camel/merino/silk combo I worked on during my work breaks last week.

Another chore I tackled last night was eliminating a wasp nest from my garage door. I’ve never done such a thing before, so I was a bit nervous. Miss Bug asked me how I was going to do it, and I told her I was going to use protection.

Despite the high heat index, I was fully covered. And it ended up being anticlimactic, those wasps didn’t move at all. Tonight we have to remove the nest itself.

And then one cute picture of an elderly dog who slept so hard he fell out of bed.

I wish I had slept equally as well!

Happy TdF spinning my friends!

Mr. Ink and I had time to watch a movie last night! This basically never happens. Or rather, we MADE time to watch a movie. We’d been out of the house all week busy with various activities, or entertaining at the house. So Thursday evening I’d asked him while we were out what we were doing on Friday, and he said in a pleading voice “Nothing?!?”  Done deal, that’s generally my preference anyhow.

So, we found a movie to watch, and that gave me more spinning time. I got another bobbin full of singles on the malabrigo nube done, and once I got bored of that, I put more singles on a support spindle.

I’ve got just a bit more to spin before I can start plying. Mr. Ink works this morning, and while you’d think that means it’s prime time to work on my crafts, I more enjoy using that time to clean up around the house. Dishes are started, laundry is started, and I really want to scrub the tub now that the caulking has been done. So, my reward for getting all that done will be a little bit of spinning time, IF there is time.

But, I am enjoying a cold coffee, the day is bright, my home is comfortable, and my first task is to write out a to do list for the weekend. (Mr. Ink asked for one.) So I’d say we are off to a very good start!

Happy Saturday friends, I hope you are all having a very pleasant day. With slightly less mugginess than we are having.

Because I am not actually paying any attention whatsoever to the actual tour, someone better tell me when it’s over, or I’ll just keep spinning.

Here’s my progress on the camel/merino/silk project I have at work:

It’s moving on pretty well considering I’ve only spent 5 hours on it total. I think I will be bringing it home this weekend in hopes that I can work on it if my Malabrigo Nube project either bores me or gets completed.

However, that’s probably wishful thinking. This weekend promises to be another one full of old house clean out work, and the new house will need it’s own attention as well.

Have a great weekend friends!

Last evening I had a rare evening where I was actually AT HOME. Not only at home, but Mr. Ink had a lot to do out of the house, so I was home and alone. I admit, I was pretty excited about the opportunity to get some things done around the house, and the opportunity to get a little spinning time in.

The kitchen was a royal mess as we’d been entertaining, but not actually home long enough to clean it all up. It took two loads of dishes in the dishwasher in one evening, plus handwashing all the pots and pans to finish up. But, I felt quite accomplished once I was done.

It’s funny, as you look to purchase a home, you think you have a pretty good idea of what is wrong with the home, and what is in good shape. But, once you move in, the cracks start to show. You begin to figure out what was cleverly covered up, as you unexpectedly uncover it. Thankfully, that which I’ve uncovered, so far, hasn’t been a big deal. But, those projects still must be dealt with, as leaving them alone isn’t going to make them go away.

Our home was built in 1962 and it retains all the mid century modern flair of the original build, except for the kitchen which was redone in the ’80s. (It’s my dream to redo the kitchen at some point, in an updated mid century modern flavor, in hopes that whomever purchases the home in the future loves it’s style as much as I do.)

The bathroom, in particular, has this wonderful original blue tile that I love. And I was impressed with just how good a shape that tile was in.

(You can just see the blue tile here.)

One thing my mom taught us was how to clean. Really well. And, I have been very motivated to keep that tile clean because I love it so much. Unfortunately, as I continued to attack the tile, there were entire sections where the grout just fell out of the wall. So disappointing! And as I looked closer, I could see that the grout had been caulked over in order to appear perfect, and my scrubbing had both removed the caulk cover up and dislodged the already crumbling grout.

After consulting with a coworker on what I should do in this case, he advised that rather than regrouting it, I could remove the crumbling grout and recaulk with a silicone based caulk. So, last evening, I decided to give it a try. There were just two main sections, problematic areas, and I decided that I certainly couldn’t make the problem worse by trying to fix those areas. So, all on my own, (And even without telling Mr. Ink!) I decided to take a leap of faith in my own abilities, and do the work myself.

I am very proud to say that the improvement is immediate! I watched a bunch of youtube videos on caulking, and felt like I really had some good advice. It was far easier than I expected, just as long as I took it slow and didn’t rush any part of the job. My reward is ’60s tile that looks like I WANT it to look! I expect that I may have a little more work to do, but I no longer fear that work and can do it as the problems come up.

By 8:30 I was done with all my chores, and could spend some time spinning while waiting for Mr. Ink to get home. I think I got about 2 hours of spinning in for Tour de Fleece. I decided that even though I’d been spinning the malabrigo nube on a support spindle, those two hours would be better spent on my wheel. So, I began spinning some of that malabrigo nube on the wheel. The results are beautiful and I am now far more inspired about the project!

I have an all evening bike ride planned tonight, so the only time I’ll get an opportunity to spin is during lunch at work. That’s ok, I am now onto my second spindle of my work project, so that too is moving along at a decent rate. I am enjoying both projects immensely, and I am enjoying the excuse to concentrate on my spinning a bit! It’s quite pleasant.

I’ve got finished yarn! I actually had finished yarn on Monday, but it just didn’t dry very quickly.

Fiber is Dyeabolical’s BFL colorway Wit Beyond Measure. I absolutely LOVE it. The color is beautiful and rich and absolutely the type of color that thrills me.

I ended up with 550 yards of 2 ply yarn. I’d say it’s a very light fingering to laceweight. It has long color runs which seems to be what I go for these days, though I am trying to break out of that box a little bit with my next two fibers.

Happy spinning my friends! It’s a lovely day around here and I am hoping I’ll have the opportunity to really sit down and spend some time with my wheel tonight!

It’s slow going folks. Very slow going!

I just haven’t had much time, basically the progress of two work lunches are on that spindle. I did start another bump at home as well, it’s a remarkably similar color actually. Imagine the same theme but with white instead of brown. Hopefully I’ll have an opportunity to show that off shortly.

I’ve been missing my 3 ply yarns, or missing creating them anyhow. So, both bumps will be 3 plies, and the colors should remain quite muted.

One of the main reasons I have such trouble finding time for crafts is that when we aren’t working on the new house and yard, and we aren’t working on the old house, we are often found entertaining in our new home.

(Please excuse the water stain!)

Last evening we had a good friend over for dinner. We hadn’t seen her since before we moved and we were both missing her company. So, Mr. Ink cooked us dinner and we gabbed all evening long. It’s so nice to live in a home that lends itself well to hosting guests!

Hopefully tomorrow I’ll have a skein of yarn to show off!

I really wasn’t expecting to get so much plying done! But, I immediately got started on the dyeabolical BFL I had finished the singles of.

It ended up growing quite warm and muggy yesterday and Mr. Ink and I didn’t end up going on a bike ride after all. This gave me extra time for netflix and plying. I stayed up quite late in an attempt to finish this yarn, but in the end I just didn’t have enough time and I gave up. Maybe I’ll get the opportunity tonight.

We did manage to take a motorbike ride though. We rode into Iowa, enjoying some comfortable and pleasant back roads. I rode Mr. Ink’s bike out there, a ride I have come to prefer more than riding my own bike. Once we arrived, however, we discovered it had a fuel leak. Thankfully, Mr. Ink was able to fix it right in the parking lot.

It took a bit of time and frustration, but he managed. As you can see, the parking space next to us is clear, as was all the spaces near us. We were the only bikes there. But after, we were surrounded.

I guess it really was a good day for a ride! I got to test out my new helmet, a fancy Speed and Strength SS1500. It has a fabulous sun visor built into the helmet, eliminating my need to carry around my sun glasses or fuss with trying to figure out where to put them once the sun goes down. And, paired with that, I got to use my silver triumph jacket which fits beautifully. I’ve had both these items since the early June and this was the first opportunity I had to actually USE them.

I did pull out another bump of fiber to bring in to work.

It’s a 40% camel, 40% merino, 20% silk blend. I am intending to make it into a 3 ply yarn, as those really are my favorite. I’ve spun pure camel before, and I know it proves to be a bit of a challenge. I had hoped the addition of the silk and the merino would help that slog. Unfortunately, I was incorrect. It’s still a slog, and progress will be slow. And I’ve got an entire 6oz. of it!

Happy TdF participating friends, I am enjoying watching everyone’s progress!

We got up early this morning and rather than going on our planned bike ride, we immediately went out and mowed lawn. There was a storm bearing down on us, and even though the weather report said 0 chance of rain, we’ve been bit by that one before.

Thankfully, as we mowed, the storm veered north, so we may be able to have the rest of our day for bikes and motorcycles as originally planned.

But, I did grab a moment for spinning, as promised for my personal TdF. I finished a dyeabolical bump, called Wit Beyond Measure. It’s mixed BFL, and was an absolute joy to spin. Now I need to find time to pull out my wheel and ply. Bonus photo of some undyed and barely processed merino on a bossie. Hoping to get more of that done as well, though it’s a little less than inspiring!

After much deliberation, I have decided to participate in Tour de Fleece. I won’t join a team, and my goal will be to spin daily. Simplicity is the name of my game. With my desire to spin so low this year, I think any progress at all will be a big deal to me.

I have had some dyeabolical fiber on spindles for awhile now. I can’t remember when I started it. But, it gets left to sit for weeks at a time. I figured that finishing up a current spin should be goal one for TdF.

I’ve really only just a little bit left to spin, and then I’ll pull out my wheel for plying.

Tonight is annual Tank Wars, so I’ve been cooking all day for the party. Below are my first homemade pita at the new house. I also made a couple dips to go with it, including pesto with basil from my garden. Also up, mojitos, as I’ve now gotten some mint well established outside.

Speaking of gardens, there are new lilies in our garden. This one actually got transplanted to our back fence when I put my veggie garden in.

And this one is possibly my favorite.

It is still in with my veggies. I love the scalloped edges, the gentle color, and the yellow in the middle. Quite the stunner!

Happy Fourth friends, I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!