Day 3 of Tour de Fleece...Fiber Dyeing....and Humid Summer Days

As Day 3 arrives, I'm looking at what I accomplished for Day 1 and 2 of this ongoing event I decided to participate in. So far, I've used the Sonata and spun a bobbin full of Corriedale to use to learn how to Navajo ply. The Minstrel is being used for the "Evelyn's Roses" BFL we dyed last month. So far, I've spun 3/4 of a bobbin of that. After realizing how much the BFL poofed up after it was dried from dyeing, I decided to spin it fingering weight. After I ply the matching silk single, I think it will poof again when washed and finished. I chose to use the Minstrel for this so I could have two projects going at once for the Tour de Fleece. It also made sense since I'm still getting used to the Sonata that my spinning tends to be a bit thicker than I wanted for the yellow BFL. I need to decide which will give me the better result, spindle or wheel, for the silk. If the spindle is going to be used, I have my new Golding and two from Butterflygirldesigns to pick from. It needs to be a fine, thin, laceweight for this project. I'm hoping to get enough finished product to make a nice scarf or small shoulder scarf similar in size to Swallowtail which is already on the needles in a different yarn. I don't have a pattern in mind yet. As the yarn develops, I'm going to let it "tell" me what it wants to be knit as. Definitely something lacy.

Besides spending 6 hours with the wheel yesterday, I washed half a fleece and set out the pickle jar full of KoolAde and about 3 ounces of BFL roving to sun dye. Since the sun then decided not to co operate and it became a cloudy, humid day, the jar is still out there "cooking".

Today, I plan to finish the 1/4 bobbin of yellow fiber and start a second one. This morning was also a dump in the trash morning. I tossed a couple of things I'm not planning to use, or feel are useful to anyone else. This is the only way to get a handle on some of my "stashes" other than fiber, yarn, and glass. I'm talking about clothes and odds and ends. The garbage truck just picked up the bag. :)

As I said, it's been high humidity and cloudy the last couple of days around here. The cats and dogs don't seem to mind. It's lay around and chill for them as usual. Katy has decided the big windowsill is her permanent perch and rarely leaves it. She looks so content and plump snoozing away right now. She used to be so tiny as in slinky. Since she became diabetic and went on the insulin, she has gained over 3 pounds and now weighs over 8 pounds. For the first 10 years of her life, she was never more than 5 or 6 pounds. She even has a rounder face now. The attitude is still there so her nickname of "Katitude" is still suitable.

Now we no longer have to worry about "accidents" from sweet Babs, the gate is always open and Hanna and Pooh have the run of the house, except the bedrooms. They are much happier with this than just the kitchen area. The cats have all adjusted well to the two dogs invading their turf, the living room. Megan lets Pooh know he is not allowed to bother her. lol It's funny, that now the gate is open, the cats are in the kitchen more and the dogs still prefer to sleep out there at night.