Random Monday and Summer Stuff

I missed Randomday on Saturday.  Friday, as the 4th of July, was very, very noisy.  "the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night" that Vancouver USA was still there.  I had to shower off from all the gunpowder smoke and the last explosions were somewhere around 1:00 a.m.

Here's a little photo essay from last week, before the noise of the 4th.

 This is not our cat.  It comes to hang out with Smudge and scrounge what food it can.  We started calling it Madeye Moody because its right eye and ear look like it's been in a nasty fight with Dark wizards.  I snapped this picture through the back door window as Madeye waited for Smudge to finish eating his food.  Madeye does not let us approach yet.

 This is Smudge.  He is an outside-only cat after repeated breaches of litterbox protocol, but he seems sleek and well-fed, with little desire for adventure.  He has been sharing his hidey-holes with Madeye lately.

Muffball is an inside-only cat, having been rescued from the life of a stray when she was a tiny kitten.  She now gazes on the drama unfolding between the outside cats.  She knows Smudge and accepts that he is allowed on the premises (because he has shared housing with the inside cats on occasion in the basement) but she most decidedly does not recognize Madeye's right to coexist in the catosphere.

Bilbo, being the cat's cat that he is, was roaming the neighborhood and not available for pictures when I took these.

On a slightly related note, the Tour de France/Fleece has begun.  I am not doing anything official on Ravelry at this point, but... I am spinning Muffball's fur again.  It is going better than the last time I tried, two years ago.  I am using the Kuchulu Turkish spindle.  Pictures when I actually get around to it.  It's summer -- the time to do crazy stuff on the blog, and to be as lazy as I can get away with.

Tour de Fleece Wrap-up and Stash Report

The Tour de Fleece is over, although my spinning isn't, quite.

I'm pretty pleased with the yarn I spun.  There on the top right is my BFL, and in the center is the hemp that I spun at the beginning of the Tour.  I have quite a bit of singles spun which can't be counted in the total until they're plied.  Top left is one of two bobbins of pure Tussah silk.  At bottom left is the Kuchulu as it was a few days ago.  I finished the spindle spinning today, just a little bit late.

I made a plateful of my Jenkins Kuchulu project.  At 12:00 is the dis-assembled spindle -- isn't she clever?  (I call her Idelette because she is made of tulipwood.  It's a geeky Calvinist joke).  1:00 is the last of the BFL/silk from Dicentra Designs in "Salt Marsh" that has been my project for the last 3 years, approximately.  At 2:30 is the other cop I spun this Tour.  Then there are four little turtle-shaped cops from the last year or year and a half.  Then the 2-ply I made with the 6 or 8 balls I spun even earlier than that.  It's a little emotional to come nearly to the end of this spinning project.  I will ply it on my wheel, probably in the next few weeks.  I have no idea what the yarn will end up as yet.

You can see my stash entry on Ravelry for the Tour de Fleece here, with more extensive photos.

I'm recycling last Monday's design wall picture because I have only sewn a very few more short seams since then.  I can't seem to do both fiber arts and quilting at the same time; I see-saw back and forth between them.  I'm looking forward to actually using some stash soon!
Stash report:

Fabric:

Fabric used this week: 0 yards

Fabric used year to date: 41 yards
Added this week: 0 yards
Added year to date: 28 yards
Net used for 2013: 13 yards

Knitting yarn:

Yarn used this week: 0 yards
Yarn used year to date: 6550 yards.
Yarn added this week: 550 yards of the finished BFL in "Atlantis"
Yarn added year to date: 5800 yards
Net used for 2013: 750 yards

Yarning Along

I keep intending to be a more serious blogger in the summer.  It's not like I don't have serious thoughts, about Issues of the Day, Philosophy, Politics, History.  What do you do with your mind while your hands are busy, if not have serious thoughts?  But does anyone ever feel like writing it all down in the summer?  And if so, does anyone feel like reading it?  So I'm blogging with the bare basics of summer fun and may slip in a serious thought or two if the mood strikes.  The Tour de Fleece is first off.  Here is my lion mascot posing with the two skeins of finished yarn I plied yesterday.  About 550 yards of light fingering BFL 2-ply dyed by Frabjous Fibers in the "Atlantis" colorway.  I like the way the teals and copper and alabaster stayed remarkably distinct during the plying.

The Country Stars quilt is coming together since last week, but I have been lazy the last few days - this is the same as Monday's photo.  And I have still not put the Farmer's Wife quilt on the frame.  But I have decided to enter Jack's Chain, Orca Bay, and Feathered Star in the Clark County fair.  All were finished this last year, even if the tops were finished before that.  I'm pleased with the fact that my tops are sitting for a shorter time before machine quilting than before I started blogging.

I am not sure which of three knitting projects I want to commit to, so I split the photo for the yarn-along between two.  (There's also a pair of socks on the needles, but no photo of them yet because they are just toes.)  If I want to knit wool, there's the Carnaby skirt on the left.  And if I want nice soft cotton, it's Rosalind on the right in Green Tea Simply Cotton.

I just finished reading The Pericles Commission, first in a series of mystery novels set in ancient Athens by Gary Corby.  Nicolaos is the middle-class son of a sculptor, but he has ambitions beyond carrying on the family business -- ambitions that may be achievable when Ephialtes, the father of the newborn Athenian democracy, falls murdered at his feet and Pericles, his would-be successor, asks him to investigate the crime.  But politics in Athens is a dangerous business.  Nico is hindered as much as helped by a large cast of real historical characters, including Diotima, priestess of Artemis, and Nico's annoyingly insightful little brother, Socrates.  It's a lighthearted romp and the author does have a gift for bringing ancient history to life.  The cover art and writing style might convince you it's designed for the middle readers that Caroline Lawrence's Roman Mysteries series is aimed at, but no, this is definitely for adults.  I look forward to reading the other two books in the series as soon as I can get them from the library.

Design Wall Monday

I wrestled with the Country Stars blocks and more than half of them are assembled.  The quilt is so large it drags on the floor underneath the design wall and there is a clump of gray Muffball fur from where she has been sleeping on the corner.

Once the body of the quilt is assembled, there will be a 1.5" black inner border and then a 6" red outer border to add.

I made blueberry jam today with the blueberries we picked Saturday.  One pesky jar didn't seal, and I have a scalded spot on the palm of my hand where the jam bubbled out of the pot.  I still need to process the rest of the blueberries - probably a couple gallons worth.  The plums are still a little too tart to harvest, but the zucchini are coming on fast.  Daniel has been scouring the white picket fence with TSP/bleach in preparation for painting.

Spinning for the "Tour de Fleece" continues but I'm going at a fairly leisurely pace and haven't added any finished yarn.  Therefore, no changes in the stash report last week.

Fabric:

Fabric used this week: 0 yards

Fabric used year to date: 41 yards
Added this week: 0 yards
Added year to date: 28 yards
Net used for 2013: 13 yards

Knitting yarn:

Yarn used this week: 0 yards
Yarn used year to date: 6550 yards.
Yarn added this week: 0 yards
Yarn added year to date: 5250 yards
Net used for 2013: 1300 yards

Randomday in blue

U-pick and barbecue for Cedar Tree in Woodland today.  I've been spindle spinning for the Tour de Fleece the last few days and have finally gotten past the acid green and into the blue.

Four gallons in the freezer, at least that much still to be processed.  But I'm tired and my back and neck are really achy.  I'm going upstairs to listen to Steve reading "The Choices of Master Samwise" to the girls.

Design Wall and Stash Report

The design wall is in heavy use right now.  It's not quite big enough for a queen-sized layout, and there are blocks pinned to the bottom of other blocks and dragging on the floor.  This is my Country Stars quilt.  The blocks are all done and I'm happy with the layout.  The fabric recipe was scrappy, country, with a dash of Civil War and cottage.  I am having a wee bit of trouble with the diagonal layout -- Mr. Pythagoras forgot to remind me to seam the sashing strips with the block strips before adding the setting triangles.  So I may have a few seams to rip and re-sew, and I am also not sure about whether the setting triangles are quite big enough to avoid cutting the cornerstone squares in half along the edge. If that even makes sense.  Maybe in a few more days Pythagoras and I will be on better terms.
Exciting times in the stash; this is a bit of a mixed bag for me, as I'd like to see my stash shrinking.  I bought 2 more yards of black fabric for the sashing of Country Stars, and have added 225 yards of hemp yarn from the Tour de Fleece, and then my friend Joyce gave me this yesterday:

1300 yards of Knit Picks Simply Cotton in "Green Tea Heather" from a project she frogged.  With buttons! I really love this shade of green and have already been on Ravelry researching possibilities.

And of course there's yarn in progress on the wheel.

She's a pretty wheel.  And my only stash consumption this week is 550 yards of yarn (including heel reinforcement) on Steve's socks, which are finally finished!  Pictures later.

Stash Report:

Fabric:

Fabric used this week: 0 yards

Fabric used year to date: 41 yards
Added this week: 2 yards
Added year to date: 28 yards
Net used for 2013: 13 yards

Knitting yarn:

Yarn used this week: 550 yards
Yarn used year to date: 6550 yards.
Yarn added this week: 1450 yards
Yarn added year to date: 5250 yards
Net used for 2013: 1300 yards

Randomday, with recipes

 The plum tree is going to have one of those years, it looks like.  You can't tell until you get right up close...

 but there are a whole lot of plums on it.  By the end of the month we'll need to have a plan.

The zucchini plants at the end of the driveway are looking very healthy, as are the volunteer potato plants.

 Quarta was supposed to help Steve cart away some of the weeds.

I made this salad - fava bean and fennel - to go with supper.  Although I had never had much of either one of these vegetables before this summer, it's very good.  I left out the parmesan cheese.  Supper was Steve Special - mac and cheese from the box, tuna, peas, and olives. 

I had plums from 2009 in the freezer, which was maybe the last year the plum tree was this productive.  So I made my version of this recipe - Cornmeal Buckle with Plums - for fellowship dinner after church tomorrow.  This was a recipe I clipped several years back and my adaptation is as follows:

Cornmeal/Plum Buckle for a Crowd

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 9x13" pan.

Topping:

1/2 cup sugar
6 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, cut into 1-tablespoon pieces
Cut butter into dry ingredients in a small bowl; set aside.  (This is the same amount as called for in the original recipe)

Buckle:

1 stick (1/2 C) butter, softened
3 cups flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 C sugar
2 eggs
1 cup milk
2 qt. size freezer bags of halved plums, defrosted and excess juice drained
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. In another large bowl, beat the butter with the sugar and eggs until it is fairly light and fluffy. Add half of the milk and beat until smooth. Gradually add the remaining milk while beating.

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until well moistened. It will be the texture of cake batter. Fold in the plum pieces. Pour the batter into the baking pan and spread evenly. Scatter the topping mixture evenly over the top. Bake until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour.

I double the recipe for the buckle itself but leave the same amount for the topping, and I bake it in a 9x13" pan for a little longer than the original recipe calls for.  I did have some spillover - I could probably have just used one package of plums, but I wanted to clear out the freezer.  I'll clean the oven next week.

The Tour de Fleece continues.  Last night I spun while Steve and I watched Snow White and the Huntsman.  Tonight we may watch some Wallace and Gromit while the boys play board games with friends.

Today I finished all the blocks needed for my Country Stars quilt.  Whee!  Now begins the fun of seaming them together with the sashing.  I think I have the layout the way I want the star blocks to be, but I need to have another look to see if there's something that jumps out at me as being too much of one thing in one place.  I have blocks pinned to other blocks because my design wall isn't quite big enough for a queen-sized quilt.

"Education is about the only thing lying around loose in the world, and it's about the only thing a fellow can have as much of as he's willing to haul away."
— George Horace Lorimer

July 4, 2013

 Daniel wished he had Instagram.

 Quarta made a fruit salad like she read about in Highlights.

Secundus was the grill chef.  Chicken tenderloins marinated in Thai-Malaysian Curry-Ginger Marinade for Tofu from Passionate Vegetarian... really good for meat too! 

 Strawberry Pretzel Dessert - an ode to my Midwest upbringing.  Pretty sure it passed for a salad at church dinners when I was growing up.

On my Grandma's china.  Grandma Maffett, not Grandma Bogue.  I don't remember Grandma Bogue ever making this, (and she was the undisputed queen of desserts) but the creamy filling is a lot like her Davy's Delight.  Which is a recipe I'll have to share sometime because it's not known to Google, apparently.

I got a tiny bit of spinning done for the Tour de Fleece today too.  We have hours to go before dark and then it will be noisy for quite awhile in our neighborhood.  The kids bought sparklers and spinners and those pathetic "glow worms" and "magic colored snakes" for later.  The best way to enjoy the snakes is to throw a whole package of them into the firebowl, according to Daniel.  We only do non-airborne fireworks, but our neighbors go all out.  Yesterday it sounded like a an entire fireworks stand went off all at once at one point.  Oh well, the country only turns 237 once.

CCXXXVII a patria condita

Randomday - Tour de Fleece!

Today is the first day of the Tour de Fleece, the spinning companion to the Tour de France.  I went all out last year and spun a sweater's worth of orange superwash, but this year I don't have any big challenges for myself.  But I will be spinning a bit, after several months of ignoring my wheel.  This is a bobbin of hemp.  I bought the top a few years ago when Woodland Woolworks was closing.  Hemp is easier to spin than flax, and it doesn't have that hay-like smell that flax does.  I'm thinking it might make some nice little knitted hand towels or dishcloths, or a market bag.

I should really look up some race coverage of the Tour de France while the spinning is going on.

21 Jokes Only Nerds Will Understand.  I found many of these hilariously funny.  There were a few I didn't get, so I guess I'm not a total nerd.  I especially like the one about the Roman who walked into a bar and asked for a martinus.  "Don't you mean a martini?" says the bartender.  And the Roman says, "If I'd wanted a double, I would have said so!" 

More proof that I'm not a true nerd: I'm not sure what will happen when Google Reader goes away on July 1, and I don't really care at this point.  Maybe I will on Monday.  I think that the Blogger dashboard, where I read my blogs, is different than Google Reader.  But I'm not sure.

It has been hot here the last few days, but not nearly so hot as in other places in the country.  More humidity than we usually have as well, but again, nothing compared to other places I've lived.  It's so nice that at night there is a cool breeze blowing.  Unfortunately, it's that time of year when the neighbors let off lots of fireworks, so I won't be able to sleep until they do.

We celebrated Daniel's birthday today with a big cookout and Triple-layer Strawberry Cake.  I'm a little tired of cooking, but we have lots of leftovers in the fridge and a few things that don't fit in the fridge.  That will resolve itself with one or two teenage midnight snacks.

I believe that all wisdom consists in caring immensely for a few right things and not caring a straw about the rest.  -- John Buchan

 

Sister Sweaters

Here at long last are the sister sweaters.  On the left is my original Rhinebeck, hand-dyed orange superwash, knit as "Miss December" in my 2009 12 sweaters dodecathon.  It's been one of my very favorite sweaters of all time ever since.  And sister Beth liked it so much, recreating it for her became my challenge for this year's Tour de Fleece and the the Ravelympics.  I put it aside to buy buttons for it and then the school year began and I just finished sewing the buttons on the first night of her short visit... but it fits and it went back to Scotland with her!  Secundus snapped this photo before she had to leave.  It may be a bit blurry but it works.  Great pattern, happy yarn (homespun is the best!) and I still love orange.  I would knit another orange sweater.

It has been weeks since I did a proper update on my stash report.  I finally have some movement in knitting and quilting to report.

Fabric used this week: .5 yards for binding log cabin, and I'm counting 16 yards as donated (or at least on long loan!)
Fabric used year to date: 74.5 yards
Added this week: 0 yards
Added year to date: 28 yards
Net used for 2012: 46.5 yards

Yarn used this week: 600 yards for camping shawl
Yarn used year to date: 6744 yards
Yarn added this week: 0 yards
Yarn added year to date: 3503 yards (all handspun, not purchased)
Net used for 2012: 3241 yards

I'm hoping to get back into both quilting and knitting now that the highest stress week of the school year is past and it's back to just ordinary stress!

Tour de Fleece - Finish Line

Aaaand... we cross the finish line!  24 skeins finished, a total of 2140 yards, about 45 ounces (not quite 3 pounds) and lots of fun.  Now, a short breathing space before the Ravelympics.

In the top half of the layout I put the 10 skeins from the first week of the Tour, all of which were 3-ply with each ply a different colorway.

These are the 12 skeins from the second week; 2 plies of one colorway mixed with one different colorway.  There is also one little N-plied skein of the leftovers from colorway 4.  No 2 skeins have the same makeup.  The 5 colorways are 1. Classical Copper, 2. Trademark Infringement Caution, 3. Olympic Flame Orange, 4. Bronze Age, 5. Ancient Embers.  Now I'll need to figure out a nice way to construct the sweater with a gradual progression of the colors.

I'm pleased with the N-plied Targhee skein.  Maybe I'll make another shawl-I-never-wear with it.  Or maybe a baby sweater, or socks that would have to be hand washed.

Here's a closeup of the "novelty" spinning.  Cat, all 15 yards of it, and the BFL/silk singles on the Kuchulu, still in progress.  I have a lot more to spin on the Kuchulu before that project's finished!

And one last shot of Bradley.  I'll probably put my spinning aside for a bit and focus on quilting and knitting.  I didn't actually start anything new on the wheel since yesterday, but I'm wondering whether my next project should be hemp or one of my wool braids.
Details on my Ravelry stash page, which has links to the other two pages I used to record the Tour de Fleece.

Randomday after the Dark Night

Marie of A Miniature Clay Pot was in the movie theater with her two daughters in Aurora early yesterday morning.  They got out safe.  She writes beautifully about the goodness of God in this tragedy:

God is always good.

Man is not.

Don't get the two confused.

But what I think is most telling are the comments.  Obviously this is a woman who has tangled with the militant atheists before, and they are willing to politicize and personalize the event even if most politicians are not.  Accusations of selfishness because she and her daughters ran to safety.  The assumption that a prayer that she doesn't even remember must have been selfish too.  Berating her for not calling 911 after she got out of the theater, or going back in to carry others out. (What, now Christians have to all be first responders too?)  Scolding her for commenting on how she and her daughters are feeling -- too inconsiderate of those who died?  She does an admirable job again, responding to the responses.  But what is it about atheists that writing a nastygram is their first response to a tragedy?

Petra Anderson is recovering well after being shot multiple times.  Her sister has set up a Facebook page.  It is a surreal feeling to realize this little girl, one who used to play Red Light Green Light with Daniel, has grown into a beautiful young woman whose life has just been so cruelly disrupted.

Okay, I need to do some lighthearted random stuff now.

Forget the U.S. Olympic Committee and the Ravelympics -- have you heard about the Creation Museum's discovery that the Smithsonian Institution stole a picture of its dinosaur?  Now that is not only a copyright infringement, but a big embarassment.  I wonder how many heads will roll at the Smithsonian?

While watching Tour de France coverage from UK commentators, I learned that St. Swithin's day, July 15, is used as a sort of predictor of weather patterns for the rest of the summer.  And it was raining her on July 15, and we've had a very... British summer here in the Northwest.  I'm hoping for a few warm days.  Today was one of them, but we've had a lot of dampness and misty cool rainy days.  I know the rest of the country is suffering from drought and heat waves, but I personally feel like our summer hasn't even begun yet, and it's more than half over.  The plums are still sour on the tree.

The New York Times had a fascinating article on the bleak future of liberal Christianity last week.  Regular attendance at the Episcopal Church has dropped an average of 23% over the last decade.  This wouldn't be such a remarkable article, if it weren't coming from the New York Times.

Have you ever pondered the irony of John Shelby Spong and R.C. Sproul being shelf-mates in the religion section of the bookstore?

The Tour de Fleece is almost over.  I won't be spinning cat anytime again soon, and I'm almost done with the final sprint.  I still need to do a finish line photo, and it would be nice to finish the cop on my Kuchulu spindle.

I've decided the lion mascot's name is Bradley, after Bradley Wiggins, who is almost certain to win the Tour de France unless something goes south in a major way.  Bradley even has sideburns like his namesake.

Speaking of whom... what if Wiggins is not his real name?

Source: google.com via Katherine on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Katherine on Pinterest

What if he's a long-lost Weasley sibling?  We always thought Fred and George were twins... what if they were actually triplets?  Probably not... Bradley is way too serious.  But you have to admit, there is a resemblance.

Like Spinning Cat

It was hubris.  I should have listened to the few posts about spinning cat I could find on Ravelry: slippery fibers, need to be blended with wool, tend to shed, felt and break.  Well, duh!  Of course cats tend to shed, that's why I had this crazy idea in the first place.  I should have taken warning that Challenge Day in the Tour de Fleece was on a Wednesday... and I've never gotten the hang of Wednesday, somehow.  I should have paid attention to my own screen name, for goodness sake.  Seize the wool!  Not the cat.  Cats don't like to be seized.  Cats are terribly, fiercely independent.  Especially Muffball.

Did I really think this creature would make a good fiber animal? If domestic longhair cats in general were a good source of fiber, don't you think we'd all be more familiar with cat yarn in the knitting world?  Don't you think maybe there would be cat farms where kitties were raised to supply fiber for the hobby spinning market?  Maybe even a reasonably priced cat-fiber sweater in the Land's End catalogue?  But I thought I would be able to do it.  Because I'm so special and talented.  I had visions of blissfully spinning a soft, fluffy laceweight yarn, maybe fine enough to make a lovely lacy "smoke ring" style cowl.  Ha!  I saved her fur for over a year.  I washed it gently.  I combed and brushed it as best I could, picking out clumps that were too matted.

Cats attack your spinning wheel when you're using it.  Apparently their fur has an aversion to being spun on the wheel.  So I tried a spindle.  A spindle is a little like a cat toy.  I think the fur tolerates that because it is curious about the toy, just like the cat would be.  I managed, with lots of clumps and lumps and breaks, to spin all the fiber up on a spindle.  Never mind that it was not the lovely fine yarn I had envisioned.  Never mind that parts of it looked like a dryer, cleaner version of the hairballs that occasionally get deposited on my floor.  I finished spinning that ugly lumpy yarn because I'm just as stubborn as any cat.

I was determined to ply it right away.  Maybe salvage what I could of the challenge and come away with enough to knit a cat toy.  Or a cat finger puppet.  So I wound the single onto my right hand to make an Andean plying bracelet.  There wasn't much; I made the bracelet before the circulation was completely cut off to my middle finger.  And then... I lost the other end.  I couldn't find it.  So I started winding the end I did have onto a bobbin.  And I discovered something.  You know how cats always land on their feet?  Well, cat yarn always breaks right about at the halfway point.  Or at least it did this time... only I didn't know that yet.  So I wound the rest of the yarn onto the other spool-like item I had handy... the handle of a cat brush.  THEN I plied the two yarns together, back onto the spindle.  It worked, kind of.  I mean, I have a little bit of cat yarn.

I wound it off.  It's about 15 yards.  That's how much yarn I got from more than a year of saving Muffball's fur.

Some cat owners will tell you their cat sheds enough to knit a whole new cat.  I'm here to tell you that's not true, even though I thought it was.

What do you think?  Enough to knit a cute little kitty finger puppet?  Maybe after my feelings have recovered a bit from the ordeal?

Humph.  I'm going to go spin some wool.

The Making of Yarn

The Tour de Fleece is when I kick into production spinning mode.  Last year and this year I estimate I made about 80% of my handspun yarn during this one 3-week stretch.  I like the idea of "spinning Tuesdays" but it hasn't worked out as a regular thing I do.  But I'm pleased to report that all 2.5 pounds of orange-dyed superwash wool has now been spun and plied.  This bowl is the final 12 skeins, about 800 yards all told.  When the Tour reaches the finish line I'll have to take some more photos.  And then I'll have just a few more days before I start knitting my Ravelympics project with it.

I started this new braid of combed Targhee top from Sweet Grass Wool.  I've never spun Targhee before.  I'm thinking I'll try to Navajo-ply this to keep the color progression in the finished yarn.  My N-plying is far from perfect yet.  I've noticed I'm not really a technically proficient spinner at all.  I just make yarn the way it feels right to make it.  Our Knit Night has had to relocate away from the local Starbucks for a few weeks while they renovate; I spun this at the Starbucks cafe of the local Barnes and Noble.  Felt awfully self-conscious dragging my Traveller into the bookstore!  But I was in good company.  I don't get a chance to spin socially that much, and I enjoy it.  I got a chance to see Patti spin on her Lendrum, Stephanie on her Hitchhiker, and Carol on her Turkish spindle.  She also had a Russian support spindle, which is beautiful.  Now I want one!

This is "challenge day" in the Tour, and here's my challenge, to be started as soon as I fill the first bobbin with a little more Targhee.  This is Muffball fur.  You remember Muffball?

She's grown some since this was taken and the above fur is combed and brushed (I don't own hand-cards) from over a year of saving her fur.  She's like one of those primitive breeds of sheep or musk ox that you have to collect the clumps of fiber from wherever they snag: the carpet, mostly, but sometimes I find them on top of a table!  Since it's summer she's been having hairball problems (she's a longhair even though in this photo, when she was a kitten, it was shorter).  She has the most adorably soft fur, like angora or cashmere.  I think the fiber is from her undercoat mostly -- it's fairly short hairs.  There was one time last week where I captured her for a much-needed brushing session and actually cut out two large felted clumps under her kitty armpits.  Poor thing!  I'm looking forward to the challenge of spinning kitty fur.

My other projects, quilting and knitting, have been taking a bit of a backseat during the Tour.  But I am in the final, beaded section of the Rose Lace Stole, a.k.a. Lady MacBeth. (Using last week's photo since I haven't been taking pictures of it).  I should really have someone take a photo of my hands after knitting for awhile: stained fuchsia with the Wilton's food coloring I used to dye the cashmere.  I'm still trying new recipes from the Madhur Jaffrey cookbook, too.





In quilting I'm laying out my July UFO challenge quilt blocks (same picture as Monday).  My machine quilting setup is back together with replacement parts, but I still haven't reconnected everything and plugged it in for a test drive.

I should have enough blocks for at least an 8x8 layout.  That will be a nice lap or wall size.  At this point I don't see making enough blocks for a bed size quilt; any extra blocks can just be saved for next year's Cedar Tree crumb signature quilt.