So many hobbies!

I forgot

I can treadle with just one foot.  No problem.  Aside from this, I have nothing to show for the weekend.  I visited my parents on Saturday and spent today half watching the Olympics (despite the whole Ravelympics debacle) and spinning.  It was a nice, low-key weekend.

I went to the doctor today

My knee has been bothering me and enough people at work badgered me to make an appointment.  So I did.  Turns out I have sustained an injury from participating in the Tour de Fleece.  Yes, I have a spinning injury.  I strained my knee.  I've been told to hold off on more spinning for at least another week.  This puts a crimp in my plans since I was planning on starting on this:

It's Corriedale pencil roving from Crown Mountain Farms.  I'm thinking I'll weave this into a table runner.  There's 8 oz. so I hope I'll have enough to complete the runner.  Hmm, this pencil roving is pretty thin...  I could weave this as it is.  I'll have to ponder this one.

I am happily without plans for this weekend, aside from a few errands.  This is my only free weekend for the next month and I plan on enjoying it.  Of course, that enjoyment was supposed to include spinning so I'll have to find something else to fill the time.

What are you plans for the weekend?  Anything fun?

I've still got it!

Years ago, I used to write for a living.  I was a technical writer and I was good at it.  Sort of.  Turns out, it's really hard to write about something you don't actually understand.  When I understood, I wrote well.  When I didn't, which was far too often, I couldn't write worth a darn.  So I changed what I did for a living.  (Turns out that, despite the unending stress, the writing was more interesting but I digress.)

I've really gotten into the whole emergency preparedness thing.  Not only is it fun to gather things I'll need in case there's an emergency, but it's comforting, too.  Anyway, the website/store I frequent most often is Emergency Essentials.  Turns out Emergency Essentials has a blog and the blog has an open invitation for anyone to write a post about an emergency you've experienced, preparing for an emergency or writing a review of one of their products.  If they publish your guest post, they give you a $20 gift card to the store.  A couple weeks ago, I wrote a post and submitted it.  Last week, I received an email stating they were going to publish it and to where did I want the gift card mailed.  I was floored that they'd responded so quickly and even more pleased when I found out they didn't edit a word in the essay.  You can read the essay here.  It had been so long since I'd done any serious writing, I was afraid I'd lost the ability.  (Yes, I know I write for my blog but that's just me messing around and having fun.)  I guess I've still got it.

(Note:  I just reread my little essay and not only did they not change anything, they didn't fix my mistake in the last sentence.  Oops!)

Blueberries

Last year, I managed to miss almost the entire blueberry season.  I wasn't able to freeze a darn thing last year.  This year I've already picked twice.  This last time - Saturday - I picked 15.5 pounds of blueberries!  I've already got 6 1.5 quart containers in the freezer and I've still got 7 pounds more to freeze.  I'm not sure if I'll pick this coming Saturday.  It depends on how many quarts I end up with in the freezer.

It doesn't look like there's going to be a peach season this year.  Most of the peaches were lost when our 2 weeks of 80's temps turned to freezing.  From what I've heard, they've also lost about 3/4 of the apple crop.  I was really looking forward to drying apples in my dehydrator this fall.  Here in northern Michigan, they also lost almost all of the cherry crop.  I feel kind of guilty for enjoying the unseasonably warm temperatures we had this past spring.  It made so many of the fruit trees bloom only to have the temps drop and kill the blossoms.  And now we're having an unusually warm summer.  Kind of makes me wonder if we'll have another warm, dry winter or if this winter is going to kick our very cold butts.

On this final day of the Tour de Fleece, I've been plying the singles I spun earlier.  I've been plying from a center-pull ball and made the mistake of leaving it alone while I picked blueberries.  When I came home from picking, the ball was on the floor, much to my dismay.  Upon picking it up, I also noticed that both singles had either been chewed in two or pulled apart.  Personally, I'm thinking it was the first one.  So, I wound what was on the bobbin onto a ballwinder and started plying the rest of the ball.

I leave you with an unusual picture of the kids.  They haven't slept together on the same blanket since they were kittens.  Galen was sleeping on the pillow and Tyr apparently decided that she wanted to have some pillow time, too:

Have a good week people!

Sparkles

Destined to become another scarf.  I like the sparkles.  They show up more here because I used the flash but they're more subtle without.  This is today's participation in the Tour de Fleece.

The Tour, Day 15

I finally finished plying he 3 ounces of Merino/bamboo singles.  The spindle was pretty heavy by the time I was done:

Here it is skeined but not washed yet:

And I finished spinning the bat I bought at Maryland:

This morning I picked about 18 pounds of blueberries.  I should have been freezing them today but instead I've been eating them by the handful.  I'll get on the freezing tomorrow.  Now, I'm putting the clothes in the dryer and going to bed.

Day 11 of the Tour (I think)

I finally finished the Merino/silk/bamboo I bought at Wooster this year.  There's a lot more than 4 ounces on that bobbin but I haven't weighed it yet:

And I started one of those gorgeous bats I bought at Maryland this year.  I had to use the flash so you can really see the sparkle:

Not much progress has been made on the spindle plying.  I couldn't wait to start on that bat.

Spindle plying for the Tour

This is about 1/2 to 2/3 of the two spindles from which I'm plying.  I'm not sure you can tell but I'm plying with a bottom-whorl spindle.  I'm almost done wheel-spinning what I'm pretty sure isn't just 4 ounces of roving.  The bobbin is so full, I'm not sure I'll be able to fit that last of the spun roving on it.  I may not be making huge progress on my spinning but I've spun every day (except the first day and I made it up by spinning on the rest day) and that was as much of a goal as I'd made anyway.

Tour update

Pretty much all I did this weekend was spin.  I finished up the Merino/bamboo roving I'm spindle spinning for a pair of socks.  Three ounces are on three spindles:

I've already started plying together the two spindles on the right and left.  Pictures later.

I also spun quite a bit of the Merino/silk/bamboo I've been working on since last Saturday.  I've been spending most of my time spindle spinning so this has come along slowly:

 

Last week was a weird, excruciating week.  I thought having a day off in the middle of the week would break things up but all it did was give me two Mondays.  Half of my group at work, the really fun people, were out all week which made time move even slower.  I hope next week's better.

Next Saturday is my guild meeting and Sunday I'm planning on my first outing to pick this year's blueberries.  Most of them will be added to the freezer. I haven't decided on whether or not to make jam.  I'm still eating the strawberry jam I made last year so I certainly have enough jam to last me until next year. 

Have a good week people!

Progress on the Tour

Spun on my new Bosworth .8 ounce spindle.  This is the same Merino/bamboo I've been spinning for a pair of socks.  I'm thinking once I get this spun and plied, I can make the socks my event for the Ravelympics.  I have no idea if I can knit a pair of socks in two weeks but I guess I'll find out.  I've also been wheel spinning but I've made better progress in my spindle.  I've been taking it to work with me and spinning during breaks and lunch.