Once More Down A Rabbit Hole - Life, Love and A Bit of History

It's my "day off" and I have hats on the brain. I have one more thing and a signature to put onto the holiday cards and then they are ready to mail out, so I'm quite close to completion on that as well. It seems that things are progressing well, but it's December 2nd and I have gifts to make for the holidays. They'll be completed on time, I have no doubt, but that knitting rabbit hole is a deep one. Every question I research raises more questions and presents more projects for me to try. 

We all go down various rabbit holes in our lives, 
although we don't always admit to it. I tend to 
dive in head-first, rather than put careful steps 
down to explore. 

In looking up "mundane" things like fingerless gloves and hats and scarves, I also came across sweaters I wanted to try and stitches where I thought "I think I can figure out how to do these". The last time I got caught in a whirlpool this strong was when I dove into Tolkien when I was starting to write again. I have never regretted that particular rabbit hole, in fact I return to it every now and again. I just have to remind myself sometimes that writing is really an activity of self-satisfaction and that I'm not writing FOR anyone, I'm writing to scratch that itch. 

There are some really cute fingerless gloves
knitting patterns out there. I'm considering 
making at least one set of these for a friend 
for a holiday gift. But, I have other things I 
have to make first. 

An earlier rabbit hole that opened up in front of me was for fiber arts - spinning and making yarns of varying weights. I had to put that down when my hands betrayed me more than twenty-five years ago, but I also was in a quandry - what do I do with the yarns I've made? I do have the one shawl on the stationary pin loom, and I'm working slowly on that. I love how it's turning out, but DH is probably correct - it's going to be two years before it is off the loom. That's OK, but it is a long time. The only other option was knitting. I wasn't a knitter, so I crocheted one sweater from yarn I had spun. Although I wore it (once), it was a disaster. The yarn was too thick and the sweater was bulky enough to substitute for armor. It left me with a dilemma of how to use the yarn I was spinning. 

Among the four spinning wheels that I 
own is this one - the Rio Grande Spinning 
Wheel, invented by Rachel Brown. It's a 
gorgeous wheel, quite large, and I first fell 
in love when them when I toured Tierra 
Wools in northern New Mexico near 
Ghost Ranch (famous because of Georgia 
O'Keeffe). This spinning wheel is amazing and 
versatile and so very easy to use. I love it. 

But, life progresses and rabbit holes close, then open, then close and then open again. I'm back to fibre arts again. I haven't sat down with any of my spinning wheels yet, but I'm knitting and happy to research stitches and projects and watch lots of YouTube videos. I have patterns I want to make and sitting at the knitting machine gives me great joy. So ... this rabbit hole, a well loved and familiar place, is as comfortable for me as Badger's hole beneath the tree in "Wind in the Willows". Grab a cup of tea and tell me about your rabbit holes. I know we all have them. 

Have an excellent day, stay safe, be kind and please wear your mask. I'll be back tomorrow. 

Project Dreams - After I Learn How to Use My New Toy

It was a lovely Sunday off filled with football, some food, and lots of time spent at my loom. I think I ended the day with 8-10 threads woven in, which I know doesn't sound like a lot, but it's actually a nice chunk of time. I also worked on straightening my weft, trying to make it a totally even width - something that would have been easy on a heddle-style loom, but is much more difficult when free-handing it across a four-foot width. 

I'm peppering today's blog with photos
of several of the knitting patterns I purchased
from Interweave Press over the weekend. This
is the "Four Corners Cardigan" and I really
love the patterning. The pattern stripes 
are only two color, rather like a Fair Isle, 
so very do-able on my machine. 

DH spent the day semi-embroiled in football games, while reading a book. Dinner was Subway for take-out, something we haven't had since before lock-down, so it was a delightful treat. Since the Vikings were playing the night game, I only caught the first half, in which we were doing very well. Unfortunately, checking the score this morning, I see that we lost by a single point. What a disappointment. 

These fantastic Maghrib Vests is another design 
using two-color patterning. Having it as a vest 
makes it very easy - minimal sleeve shaping - 
although I'm pretty sure I could make sleeves 
for this if I wanted. Still, pretty pattern, and I'm 
looking forward to tackling it. 

I purchased a few on-line knitting patterns from a sale that Interweave Press was holding over the weekend. I looked specifically for patterns that would translate well from hand-knitting over to my machine, and I think I ended up with some good ones. For less than $5 each, even if I chose poorly, it won't be a disaster. They're stored in my digital folder, but I also printed out the directions for each (except for one which was a LOT of pages and I wasn't willing to spend time, paper or ink on printing it). After I get comfortable with the machine, I'll do a hat or two, then dive into some sweaters. My goal is to have at least one sweater ready for DH for next Christmas. It's a reasonable goal with a reasonable time frame. 

I thought this Mt Auburn cardigan might be a 
good choice for DH for next holiday. It's cables, 
the other thing I adore in knitwear, and it looks 
warm, but not too warm. My machine handles 
midweight yarns, but not bulky, so I can't do 
some of the bulkier sweaters. But that's OK. There 
are many yarns available in the midrange and there 
is actually a broad range of yarns that 
will work in the machine. 

If we get a lot of leaf drop over this week, I'm sure next Sunday won't be as lazy. We're waiting for our trees to shed their leaves before we start the major rake, and that's always a serious chore with all of our trees and the many yards we have (upper, side, and lower). It's getting to the end of autumn up here, and we really want those leaves up from the ground before the winter snows come. We've been caught by early unseasonable snowfalls in the past, and really would like to avoid them this year if possible. 

I liked this Cable Trimmed Jacket for myself. It 
should actually work up rather quickly for the 
body, with the only tricky parts being the cabled 
border around the front and the hood. 

On that note, I'm going to pull on a hoodie because I'm chilled, finish this up with some photos, and head up to make my oatmeal for breakfast. Have an excellent day, and please be kind, stay safe, and wear your mask. I'll be back tomorrow. 

Sharing Autumn - A Photo Blog for Today

I have to get to the bank first thing this morning, so my time is a bit tighter than usual. Therefore, I decided a photo blog for the day would be just the thing, and yesterday's amazing weather cooperated. I got done with outside errands fairly early in the morning and still had excellent light to drive around my immediate neighborhood and photograph reasons why I love autumn up here in the Frozen Northlands. When the leaves are turning and the skies are blue, there's not a more beautiful place in the universe to spend some time. Here are six photos of autumn colors, all no more than a mile from my house. 

I'm always attracted to the scarlet hues a 
bit more than the gold, but this small tree 
in a neighborhood yard was orange! 

The brilliant scarlet of this tree against the 
blue skies caught my eye. I don't know 
what type of tree it is, but the color is superb. 

The road along the front of the local 
senior complex (condominium, care 
facility and Alzheimer's facility) sports 
some lovely trees that always delight 
with their colorful visages. 

I've photographed this tall hedgerow at the local 
Medical Center before, but the colors this year are 
beautifully brilliant scarlet through the whole length. 

We're back at another side of the nursing home, with 
these lovely burnished rust to red toned trees. 

And finally, there is this orange and gold 
blaze. I keep my eyes open on this tree 
every year because it's always two-toned 
and always spectacular. 

On a different note, I thought I'd also share the progress on my silk shawl weaving. The woven portion is slowly increasing (every row at this point it taking about 35 minutes to weave and I've woven more than 100 threads so far). I'm hoping to get it completed sometime next year - it's a very slow but wonderfully fun and beautiful project. 

If you look at the photo carefully (and this photo is NOT an
edge-to-edge photo), each of the stripes across the wood 
at the bottom is actually a group of five threads that I 
untie carefully from the top and weave in, one 
thread at a time. 

I spent almost six hours cleaning Sewing Cabinet number 3. I'll share photos and talk about that project and the initial setting up and testing of my knitting machine tomorrow or later in the week. For now, though, enjoy my beautiful Autumn and have a wonderful day. Stay safe, be kind, and please, wear your mask - I'll be back tomorrow. 

Membership Recommendations and A Warm-up On the Way

My Sunday was relaxing, although I was busy all day. Sunday is my day to sleep in and I indulged in that, catching almost eleven hours before awakening. It's how I catch up on my sleep after six days of short sleeps. I also don't exercise on Sunday, it's a "catch up" day for my body too. 

For years I've been told that catching up on sleep 
on the weekends is actually not good for me. But, 
I've been in my sleep/wake schedule for years, and 
it actually works really well for me. I only get one 
day a week to "catch up", but I do love my extra 
3-4 hours on that single day. 

DH was involved with his computer and then with the football game, so I took advantage and did another five rows of looming on my shawl after breakfast. It still doesn't look like I've done a lot, but I've actually done almost 1/8th of the total threads. Of course that means that 7/8 of them remain to be woven. Last week I didn't weave very much, I tackled loose warps, tightening where I could, and I marked a couple of broken warps that I'll have to adjust when I get to that part in the weaving. I have plenty of silk still spun, so making a broken thread whole again isn't a major problem. 

DH is the Vikings fan, I support the Denver Broncos. But,
after this week's games, we both finally have one in the 
Win column, both standing at 1-3. We'll have to see 
who does better this year, his Purple People Eaters, or 
my beloved Broncos. 

I've been watching a series of classes on Craftsy.com for my knitting machine. I'm just aching to get to work on it, I want to play with my new toy. I think I've finally figured out where I will set it up, but I'll have to pull it and box it back at the end of every work session. I don't have to room to keep this "active". Still, the e-classes have been excellent and I'm excited to dive in. BTW - Craftsy (which recently purchased itself back from a different company) is offering a fabulous membership offer to anyone interested. One year for only $5 (normally $79). That would give you total access to any of their classes, and the quality of their classes is top-notch. 

I fell into Craftsy because they had a series of 
machine knitting classes by the woman who wrote 
several of the machine knitting books I have on 
order. I've been watching her classes and the 
quality is excellent - so much better than anything 
I was viewing on YouTube. It was hard to beat 
a $5 membership offer, so I nabbed it. I thought 
you might be interested, so I posted it here too. 

Another membership that I nabbed on special, was the National Sewing Circle. They currently have a one-year membership offer on tap, also for $5. Again, this allows you to access any and all classes and patterns they have available. As a note - both of these memberships are auto-renew, but you can cancel them at any time, so if you decide you like it, but not enough for the full membership cost, just mark down on your calendar that you want to cancel your membership in September next year. Viola! Problem solved. 

I learned to sew at my mother's knee, and she was a 
professional seamstress for many years. So I learned 
a lot. But I haven't done any serious sewing for more 
than two decades, so I decided to join for $5 and 
refresh my skills. I'll get my money's worth, I'm 
quite sure. 

On that crafty note, I'm putting on a hoodie, making my oatmeal, and enjoying the fact that our temperatures this week are expected to be closer to our normal - highs in the upper 60's and low 70's, and lows in the lower 40's to lower 50's. Since we actually got below freezing last week (thank goodness for those tomato covers I purchased earlier this year), it will be a nice autumn warm-up. 

A month or two ago I purchased three of
these Tomato/Plant covers from Amazon. They 
were a reasonable price, and a LOT easier to 
handle than the old mattress pads we had been 
using to protect my tomatoes in cold temps. 
We used one of them for all three of my 
tomato plants last week for several days, and 
they work really well. I'm pleased with my 
purchase. 

Have a truly excellent day, be kind to everyone you happen to meet, and spread some love and joy - we all need more love and joy in our lives. Be safe, stay healthy, and please, wear your mask. I'll be back tomorrow. 

Wrapping Up the Week - Autumn, Housecleaning and Weaving

DH is without a project, now that the woodshed is completed, so yesterday, he cleaned house. He needed to do some serious cleaning in the Den. He had started it, but there were still tools and wood that needed to be put away. When I came down for my daily 2 miles on the treadmill this morning, I looked and approved - I can almost see my spinning wheels without a lot of stuff blocking my access. Yippee! 

Fall continues at my house. I wanted to share this 
photo of the tree in our upper yard. To the left is 
an ornamental crabapple, still green, and directly 
in front is yet another maple, in glorious golden 
hues. To the far left you would find my tomato 
plants, the ferns, and the steps leading down 
to the lower yard where we have the patio and 
the castle walls. 

He also did a serious clean in the kitchen, some of the kitchen cabinets, and the pantry. I can actually see the counter! I'm totally thrilled about this, and I'm going to do my best to keep it this way for a while. It's a joy to actually see the countertop uncluttered - his open bags of coffee have a new home, he found room for my oatmeal box in the pantry, and I'll be sure to put my oranges in a bowl when I get them in a month or so. Now if I can just stop his collecting receipts on the counter, I'll be almost deliriously happy. LOL

I own some lovely bowls, so my winter oranges 
will look quite nice in one of them in a month or 
so when I start buying them for my lunches. This 
lovely picture is by Aleksey Vaynshteyn, an 
artist in New York. 

I'm continuing to work on my shawl when I have time. I was free last night for a while and got two rows woven in. It's slow progress, but I'm quite happy with how it's looking. Some of the threads are poorly spun, but I'm managing to work through that too, and I have plenty of silk still on the takli, in case I need to pull out a length to add to a thread. I know that once it's woven, tied and fulled, it will have structural integrity, so I'm not massively worried about the occasional poorly spun fiber. It's actually proving to give a bit more visual interest to the weave, so as frustrating as it sometimes is, it's actually a win/win. 

My shawl is being woven on a pin loom, a much 
larger version of this. I use a very small pin loom to 
work out patterns and try things before moving to 
a larger venue. The pin loom I made for my shawl is 
48 inches square with 900 individual warp threads. 
It's weaving up beautifully, just what I had hoped 
despite small bumps in the road. It's time consuming, 
though. Until I get past the 1/2-way point, each row 
is taking 30-40 minutes to weave across. 

All in all, when I look back over the week and what I've accomplished at work and at home, I'm quite satisfied. This week has been a good one, I can't really complain. Have a wonderful weekend and I'll be back on Monday. Stay safe, be kind, and please wear a mask. 

Growing, Autumn and Voting - It Was a Busy Wednesday

It's 5:00 am, pouring rain, and DH has already bustled into the computer room to grab the flashlight and umbrella and go outside to take a look at his drainage, trying to make sure it isn't overflowing or doesn't need tweaking in any way. Of course, he also scattered the last of this year's grass seed on the bank only two days ago, and a good rain may well sweep all of that away with the water. I'm hoping not, since we're not going to buy more grass seed until next Spring. 

We've talked about using a grass seed blanket 
on our slopes, but they're expensive. So we still 
bought grass seed to scatter instead. We might 
look at a blanket for some of the steeper slopes 
next year, but for now, we'll stick with the 
old fashioned way. 

I took the time yesterday to fill out my absentee ballot and then drove over to the Library to turn it in. The line of people waiting for early voting was quite long - it's nice to see that people are still concerned with democracy and anxious to have their say in the direction of the nation and the state. Fortunately, since my ballot was filled out, I was able to go right in, show the election official my sealed and signed ballot envelope, and deposit it into the locked bin for ballots. I picked up an "I Voted" sticker for November and headed back out. 

I've voted Absentee before and always feel pretty comfortable 
with the process. The ballot is exactly the same as the one 
I would fill out at the precinct. I filled it out, folded 
it back up, and put it into the "Secrecy Envelope" which 
then got sealed. That envelope then went into another 
envelope which identified me with a unique ID, and 
I also had to sign that and provide my ID number 
(in this case, my Driver's License number). At that point 
I could have put it into the final envelope and mailed 
it back, but I felt better about actually dropping it off. 

My grocery bill yesterday was slightly over $100. ACK! But understandable when I looked back over the invoice and realized I had spent $20 on grapes and $10 on blueberries, not counting any of the other groceries I had chosen. I do love my fruit, and this late in the season, I'll be getting my oranges soon, which will have to carry me through until April or May. I'll pay for fresh fruit when it's the good stuff, and the grapes (which are washed and in the refrigerator waiting for me to indulge) are absolutely lovely - large and sweet. I'm hoping my weekly shop will be a bit less later in the Fall and into the Winter. 

I adore fresh blueberries. I have them with my morning 
oatmeal, and often on my evening salad as well. The 
berries I got yesterday were HUGE! Soooo tasty! 

I spent the rest of my day doing boring things - housecleaning (not too much this time, I was still a bit overdosed by my marathon cleanup on my sewing closet), laundry, and grabbing the chance to weave another row when I could. I probably should have washed the kitchen floor, but gave it a solid brush instead. I was running short on time by then - needed to get the dinner into the oven and wrap things up for the day. I think I ended up getting at least five rows woven. I have a total of 900 threads for the shawl, and I finished the first 100 yesterday at some point. Progress ... LOL. 

I took this very autumnal photo of my front yard fencing 
yesterday to share with all of you. I just love the colors 
I get during this time of the year. 

Have an excellent Thursday. It sounds as if our rain has already passed over and we're back to silence once more. DH said the drainage was working well, except for pine needles, which we can't really do a lot about. He's concerned about the drip line on the back of the shed, but hopefully it will rain again during the day today and he can get a better look in the light. I hope your day is one of fulfillment and happiness. I'll be back tomorrow with another episode of "Random Thoughts". LOL 

Le Tour Is Awesome Today, and My Sewing Machine is Fixed

If you have any interest in Le Tour de France, but haven't been watching it due to life getting in the way (and the fact that it's happening in September instead of June/July), today and tomorrow are the days you want to turn on your television or watch from your computer. Today, in the Alps, we'll end on a difficult up-hill climb on a very steep slope. It's the hardest stage of the Tour this year and it's a killer of a climb. If you miss every other day, catch this one. Tomorrow it's mountain after mountain in the Alps for a serious battle on the slopes. 

Stage 17 of Le Tour de France doesn't 
have as many mountain peaks as tomorrow 
will, but just look at these peaks. Two 
beyond category peaks, with the finish at the 
summit of the second. Vicious!! 

DH spent most of yesterday working on the shingles for the third section of the woodshed. Two hours into the project he texted that he had to pull apart everything he had done because it was incorrect. That was the beginning of a messy day that only ended at almost 8:00 pm when the light was fading quickly. I'll try to get some photos of the shingling this afternoon if I can get any way to take one. Because of the location, it's hard for us to see the shingles, although out next door neighbor (a professional construction dude) told DH that his work looks very professional. Whoo-hoo! 

One-and-a-half weeks ago DH was starting work 
on the shingles. It's something he's never done 
before. He's actually learned a lot, and he's very 
meticulous in his building, but it's been very 
hard. The weather hasn't cooperated either. But 
he's almost through with the roof and this 
project is almost at an end. 

Apparently DH ran short of something he needed and did a quick hardware run in late afternoon, but he decided to just leave everything set up in the backyard and take a quick run over to Menards to get whatever it was he was short of. I have no idea what component he ran short of, but he was able to finish most of the roof yesterday and that will leave bits and pieces for Thursday or Fruday. Then he'll get the side panels on and we'll be moving wood on Sunday. Joy - I'll get filthy and far more familiar with bugs and insects of all varieties while moving logs from one part of the yard to another. Still, it's been the purpose of this structure, so I'll resign myself to getting filthy while hauling things from one place to another. 

Just a reminder of what my dear sewing machine 
looked like before I sent it off for repair (this is 
not my actual machine, but the same model). 
I'm going to be very happy to welcome it back 
home again. I'd better pick up some empty 
bobbins while I'm at the shop too, since I need some. 

My sewing machine has been returned to the shop from the factory, and I'll pick it up today. I'm absolutely thrilled that it's fixed. I still have Shelf #1 to clean, but I'll do that "en-masse" by taking everything off the shelf, then reorganizing and replacing it. I got my new wool combs in yesterday's shipping and they're in my trunk right now. They're rather dangerous, and I have to make sure I have a safe place for them, but it's one more step in returning to my spinning wheels. I hope to get at least one or two more rows woven on my shawl, too. Every chance I get, I sit down at my loom to get a bit more done. It's slow work, but I'm loving it. 

I just received my set of English wool combs yesterday. 
They are vicious and dangerous, so I need to make 
sure I have appropriate storage space for them. They're 
marvelous, something I just couldn't afford when I 
was spinning 30 years ago. But I have the funds 
now, and they are an essential tool (and they'll 
make a wonderful weapon, if needed - LOL). 

On that note, I'm heading to put the trash out and have breakfast, starting my day. Have an excellent Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow and please, be kind to one another. 

A Somewhat Lazy Sunday

DH had a very busy Sunday while I actually took a lazy day - something I don't get very often. He woke up and immediately after his shower, got dressed and went to the grocery store. He usually goes on Monday mornings, but today we're taking his truck in for a six-month servicing and there would be no time for shopping. He decided to go first thing in the morning on Sunday instead. As soon as he was home and the groceries were put away, he changed clothes and went into the backyard to work on the woodshed. 

Sunrise is my favorite time of the day. Each day starts 
out with so much promise - an unmarked slate that 
will be filled with chalk marks by the time we go to 
sleep that night. What will you write onto your chalk 
board today? 

The shingles are now on the East and West sections, but the middle section is turning out to be harder than expected. I was admonished to let him know when it was 11:30 so that he wouldn't miss the first football game of the season, and I settled down at my weaving for a few hours while he dealt with sharp knives and tar paper. By 11:30, he was putting the final strip of replacement tar paper on the center section and then we started cleaning things up. We had everything put away properly before the game started. 

There is no Tour de France today, it's a "Rest Day" for 
the fans and riders. Of course, everyone will get more 
COVID tests today too, so we'll hear tomorrow if 
anyone will have to be pulled from the race. So 
far things have gone smoothly, however, so I'm 
hoping for the best. 

This is tomorrow's stage. It looks wonderfully 
knarly. We're entering the Alps now, so the BIG 
mountains. I can hardly wait!!! 

I returned to my weaving after a while. Green Bay was offering the Vikings a football clinic and we were doing horribly. So I started another load of laundry, cleaning the mattress pads I had used to protect my tomato plants during our frost warnings a few days before, then setting the washing to self-clean after that load was in the dryer. I actually got quite a bit of weaving done in bits and pieces throughout the afternoon and early evening. 

We had hardshell tacos for dinner last 
night. So good! We haven't had them for 
at least six months, so it was a real treat. 

After a meal of tacos for dinner (very yummy), we separated again until close to 8:00 pm when we settled down to watch a new PBS show - "Van Der Valk". We found it quite good, it certainly kept our interest for the 90 minutes it was on, and I'm looking forward to next week's episode. Of course, it's on "Masterpiece Theatre", so the standard is only 3 or 4 episodes per title, but that's just about perfect. When adding the new season of "Vera" that started on Thursday, I'm a happy person, even if I sacrifice a bit of sleep over my watching them. 

I gather, from reviews, etc., that "Van der Valk" is not really 
a new show, just new to us. Either way, I really enjoyed 
watching it and I liked the cast quite a bit - they jelled 
very well together. 

On that note, I'm out of here. We're taking DH's truck in for a checkup this morning, and I still have some things to wrap up before we head out for the day. Have an excellent Monday and please, be kind to others you may meet today, wear your mask, and stay safe! I'll be back tomorrow. 

Drivers License Sucks and Le Tour de France Update

Yesterday's appointment for a new "La-di-dah" driver's license turned into a bust. Apparently the fact that I don't have a social security card (I lost mine decades ago and since I'm self-employed, have never really needed to get a replacement) shot the process dead. I had everything else of the paperwork, but without the Social Security card, a W-2 or an SSA-1099, I couldn't get the fancy license. *sigh* I'll arrange for a duplicate SS card, I probably should have one anyway, but I think I'll get a passport instead - less effort, less money and it lasts longer. 

Apparently, not having a physical social 
security card damned me from being able 
to get my "La-di-dah" drivers license. *sigh*

I was so stressed, I sat down at my loom and did another row in my shawl. I'd show you, but really, it's a project with hundreds of threads and it's going to be very time consuming to get anywhere that looks like I'm accomplishing something. Still, I think I got four rows in yesterday between other things, so I count that as good. 

I've looked at several tall, narrow book cases 
for the inside of my narrow closet, but they 
all seem too high. I have no more than 63 inches
of height and it can't be any more than 
16 inches wide. I'll probably have to make 
something, but I'm not ready to commit to 
that quite yet. 

The majority of my day was spent cleaning. DH had been complaining that I had stacked boxes of books in front of his work station. Well ... he wasn't really wrong. The books I had pulled from my sewing cabinet were in boxes blocking one bank of drawers that contains some of his art supplies. So, I decided to clean out the small closet yesterday so that I could put the books into there. After several hours of work, I ended up with three boxes of photos and four boxes of books taking up space in the closet. I want a bookcase in there for my sewing books, but I'm not ready to commit to that yet. I want to get the storage cabinet cleaned first before making a final decision. 

I had two goals yesterday, though - cleaning the small cabinet and cleaning off the first shelf in my sewing cabinet. I didn't get to that first shelf at all. But, my sewing machine hasn't been returned from the factory yet, so I'm OK on my loose schedule. I'll make it my first priority for next Wednesday instead. 

Today's stage has a lot of ups and down as we continue 
our ride towards the Alps. We'll have mountains and 
peaks for most of the rest of the race, and those are 
always glorious to watch. Things might change with 
crashes on the flats, but the mountains are more 
exciting. 

In Le Tour, today is Day 12 of racing. Yesterday Caleb Ewen came up with the stage win in a well-timed and solid performance at the finish line. Primoz Roglic held onto the Yellow for another day with a 21 second lead over the next rider. Of course, those large leads can disintegrate in the mountains in a fhash. So, on that note, I'm out of here. Have an excellent Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Bicycles, Shingles and Loom Work - A Busy Two Days

Today is a rather boring day of La Tour de France, somewhat flat as the riders begin their cross-country ride towards the Alps. Their two days in the Pyrenees were wonderful, and I hope you got an opportunity to see some of battles in those famed mountains. The big question for all right now is will the Tour go on? COVID-19 testing occurred on Sunday and on Monday. Apparently the Tour Director is testing asymptomatic, so his assistant will take his place, but the team tests have not been released yet. As of the time I write this, all teams are still in the race, but that could change with  single positive test. I give you the stage profile below before jumping into a review of my own two-day weekend. 

Today is a day for the sprinters. Look at that ridiculously flat profile!
Thank goodness we'll have mountains again by the end of the week. 

DH and I (well, mostly DH, to be fair) worked on the woodshed for most of Sunday and half of Monday until rain pushed us indoors Monday afternoon. DH actually got quite a lot done. Sunday he spent putting tarpaper and drip guards on each of the three roofs. Monday was spent on shingles. Apparently it will take 11 rows of shingles for each panel (a full pack of shingles). He'll make sure the patterns mirror each other from the two taller sections, and that the mid-section is more of a meld of pattern. He's feeling much more confident about roofing with shingles now that he's done a bit of work with the one side. 

Sunday morning, this is what the woodshed looked like. Bare pressboard
sheets for a roof, nothing more. We had tarped the roof overnight to
protect it from any moisture. Now it was time to tarpaper. 

It was cold. Sunday the temperatures started dropping and on Monday the temps were in the 40's. He wanted me to sit outside and watch him to make sure he had help if he fell off the roof (he has occasional dizzy spells), so I bundled up in my long-sleeved t-shirt, a hoodie and a blanket. I was still cold, but a nice cup of tea helped. We gave up when the rain started, and after he cooked burgers on the grill, we dried off and had a relaxing evening. 

After the day on Sunday, we had tarpaper on the rooftops and
drip guards appropriately placed on the sides and backs of
each of the units. The front and the little bits of the center
section will get flashing instead of drip guards. 

I wanted to share a project that I've resurrected. I've been getting more into fiber again. In the early 1980's I was spinning fiber a lot, and one of the fibers I loved to spin was silk on a handspindle called a Takli. It's a small, brass spindle that's made to introduce high-twist into silk or cotton. I used to use it all the time, I rather miss working with it. My goal, was spinning silk for a triangular shawl. I spun a LOT of silk and made a mini-loom to try various weaving techniques and patterns to see what I wanted for the finished project, finally deciding to weave it as a simple over/under weave. It's BIG, though. The final loom I built measures 4-foot square and the actual fabric will be 44 inches from middle-back to hand. 

On Monday DH started putting up shingles. He's never
done shingles before, but by the time the rain forced a
halt to the work, he'd done pretty well and it was looking
really nice. 

I had started weaving this when my Aunt Hedda died. My mother, who hated dealing with or acknowledging death in any form, finally let me know about the memorial service less than five days in advance (thank goodness I was able to get Bereavement Fare pricing for my flight or I wouldn't have been able to attend the memorial).  When I returned from Denver and after cleaning out my Aunt's house and dealing with family crap, it took me a while to settle down. I put the loom aside and didn't pick it up again. When we were redoing the craft room last year, DH hung the loom onto pegboard hooks, and there it stood. I hadn't picked it up for more than 30 years. 

I set my loom up on the work area I use for my
painting (you can see all of my paints in the small
white bottles behind my silk threads). Each thread
you're looking at is actually four separate threads tied
onto a single nail. The small woven part at the bottom
of the loom is what I've woven so far. The weaving
edge of the shawl will follow that white line from
bottom right to upper left. 

It's been perched in the back of my mind now that my hands are able to handle fiber once again. I picked up the loom yesterday, perched it onto my worktable (my paints are clearly visible in the background of the photo) and grabbed a tapestry needle. I analyzed what I had done and where I had left off, untied the next thread, and started weaving. Before DH called me outside to supervise him and the shingles, I had woven five threads across. I'm working on that project now, and have the time for weaving in each row down to approx 35 minutes. That's pretty darned good, and I'm so pleased with the look of the fabric. When I finish this, it will be outstanding. 

So, that was my two days off. Today it's back to the grind. We'll be in the 40's for most of today, and then slowly start warming back into the 60's and low 70's by the weekend - at least that's the promise. We'll see if that's really going to happen or not. Have a wonderful Tuesday and please, be kind to others. Everyone needs kindness and joy in their lives.