Sunday, June 26, 2016

Tour de Fleece

In less than a week the Tour de France is due to start (next Saturday to be exact) and as I have the past few years, I intend to spin in the Tour de Fleece.  The TdF was started several years ago by a member of Ravelry and has since become something of a spinning sensation.  I plan to spin a fleece I got two years ago at MDSW.  It is a Leicester Longwool cross and it is gorgeous!  I washed and scoured it myself, but I need to rewash the first two batches that I did.  There is still a lot of lanolin in them and they feel sticky.  The second two batches are much nicer.  I keep thinking that I have to finish them before the tour, but then remember that I have three weeks of the tour and about 2 lbs already washed and ready to go.  I don't know how I am going to spin all of it yet; I plan to try several different drafting and plying techniques to see what I prefer.  My goal is to spin thirty minutes each day.  I hope to have enough at the end of the tour to make a sweater during the Ravelry games in August, but how well that will work with my school schedule remains to be seen.  Here is my fleece, the bag on the right is the one that needs rewashed:



Early this year, I began bullet journaling and really like how it (somewhat) keeps me on track of things that need to be done.  If I am still having problems, it is my fault, not the journal.  I belong to a group on Ravelry that is all about planners of all kinds and after reading through the threads for most of last night at work, I decided to liven and invigorate my journal a little bit with some doodles.  I went looking for washi tape with a 4th of July theme at the local craft stores, but none had any.  I'll check again closer to the holiday.  Anyway, after all the reading I did, I got really into journaling and decided to do my July spreads a little early.  I also changed something, in that I did all my July weekly spread at once, though not with out a few mistakes (I should know better to do anything like that at the end of a 12 hour night shift.  Thank Bob for White Out!)

So, here is my July log and tasks list:

and my July habit tracker.


Also, I have been making these cool looking socks for my friend Jane, owner and operator of Loomyladi Handwovens.  She is teaching me to weave and I am making her handknit socks, its a win-win for both of us!  That will be another post, I should be finishing threading the heddles and tying on tomorrow.
Also, in an earlier post I mentioned that I was participating in the the 2016 Book Challenge and wanted to update my list:

A book based on a fairy tale
A National Book Award winner
A YA bestseller-The Hunger Games
A book you haven’t read since high school
A book set in your home state (province)
A book translated to English
A romance set in the future
A book set in Europe
A book that is under 150 pages
A New York Times bestsellers
A book that is becoming a movie this year-Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (haven't read yet)
A book recommended by someone you just met
A self improvement book
A book you can finish in a day-Charlotte's Web
A book written by a celebrity
A political memoir
A book at least 100 years older than you-Jane Eyre
A book that is more than 600 pages (will need to figure out the audiobook equivalent, thinking 45 hours).
A book from Oprah’s Book Club
A science fiction novel
A book recommended by a family member
A graphic novel
A book published in 2016
A book that has a protagonist with your occupation.
A book that takes place during summer
A book and its prequel
A murder mystery
A book written by a comedian
A dystopian novel
A book with a blue cover
A book of peotry
The first book you see in a bookstore
A classic from the 20th century
An autobiography
A book about a road trip
A book about a culture you are unfamiliar with
A satirical book
A book that takes place on an island
A book that is guaranteed to bring you joya book recommended by your local librarian or bookseller-One Thousand White Women
a book you should have read in school
a book that was banned at some point
a book you previously abandoned-Oliver Twist
a book that intimidates you
a book you have already read at least once