Welcome Fall & Weekend Shenanigans

For those that don't know me, I am OBSESSED with Halloween.  It's my favorite time of year.  Sweater weather is coming up.  Pumpkin Spice Latte's are available and this is when I pull out my Halloween decorations.  I usually take the week of Labor Day off from work.  This year, I started it a day early and took Friday off, too.  Thursday  night, I brought up my totes and on Friday morning I started decorating.  It's going to be a gradual process, but here are some of the things I have so far.

Halloween Spooky Sampler (pattern by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery)

Tony the Toybox monster knit for me by NoKnitSherlock ♥

I scored this Halloween set at a flea market a couple of years ago :D

Felt owl made by Crinoline -- Zombie Cat knit for me by baconfairy

There is so much more to do, but I want to wait until it gets a little closer to Halloween.  In the meantime, I will start watching my favorite horror movies, eat/drink as much pumpkin as I can and enjoy my favorite season.

Yesterday, I went to the annual Redneck Festival in Weissport, Pennsylvania with a good friend of mine and her 4 year old son.  I had never been there before, but our boss was telling us how much fun she had there last year and how it's a great place for people watching.  We got there around the time it opened and stayed for a couple of hours.  It was very kid-friendly.  They had a few rides, some games and a bunch of food stands.  There were different events going on all day.  We got to see part of "Rednecks Got Talent" and later on there was going to be toilet wheelbarrow racing.  We really enjoyed ourselves and decided to make it a yearly thing for us.  I don't get to hang out with work Jenn outside of work that often, so it was nice to get outside of the office and have fun.

Duck facing it up 

Toilet seat wheelbarrows

Caiden dunked the guy in the tank!

I only managed to sneak in half a round on my sock while waiting for her son to finish playing in the bounce house.

Spunday (just one day late) 7/20/14

With just one week left of Tour de Fleece I don't think I will be able to finish spinning and plying my current fiber.  When I first realized this, I was a little disappointed.  Last year I was able to spin and ply 4oz and I was pretty much a newbie at it.  It wasn't until after I looked at the little bit of leftover yarn from last year's skein that I had that "duh" moment.  Of course it will take me longer, I am able to spin much finer compared to last year.  

Jess's Tour de Fleece yarn from 2013-Gale's Art Corriedale

I finished my first single during the week and wound it on my toilet paper bobbin.  I doubled it over on itself so I could get an idea of how the yarn will look when I ply it and I think it might end up being a fingering weight, maybe even a light fingering weight.  It's neat to look back at the 3 other skeins I spun and see how my consistency keeps getting better.  The Knitmore Girls had talked about how every time you spin fiber and make a skein of yarn, it should be your favorite that you have spun.  Every time I spin, I learn something new and I improve compared to the skein before it.  I am really enjoying sitting in my rocking chair, spinning on my spindle, knowing that after I am finished, I will be able to knit with it and enjoy it all over again.

This weekend, I didn't get to spin as much as I would have liked.  Friday & Saturday were spent re-organizing the entire kitchen and creating a little coffee bar out of my Nana's old bookcase.  

Jess's coffee bar

I did spin one color change and part of another so there is some progress.

Hopefully I can get in more spinning time during my lunches and breaks this week.

I am amazed that I have been spinning at all. Between getting my house ready to put on the market and packing to move to the new house I have been BUSY.  Spinning has been a good stress relief for me, so I am glad that I have been able to keep up with it.  I have a few finished yarns to share.  I have one more plied up yarn that is still on the bobbin that will just have to wait until next week.

First I wanted to show how my Into the Whirled Polwarth looked like off the bobbin.
So this is the pic that I shared last time:

This is what it looks like after it has been soaked and snapped

Next I spun up my first 3 ply, this is Knitting Knorth 100% BFL in blues and purples

So far this Tour I have spun up all the fibers that I had planned to spin, and one extra braid. I also made sure that my fiber stash is completely up to date on Ravelry (I had to add 5 fibers....).  So now I just need to finish the yarn I plied yesterday and start something new tomorrow. I am not sure that I will have any more FOs for the Tour, but I am proud of how much I have achieved.