Tour de Fleece

For the first time I am participating in the Tour de Fleece with my Warped Weaver's group on Ravelry. This weekend I'll concentrate on finishing up the Polworth singles and getting it all plied and then it it is on to this beautiful hunk of roving.



Songs of the River. Now doesn't that just sound perfect for 23 days of July spinning? The stuff is a 60/40 blend of merino and silk. A favorite blend of mine for certain.



The colors are even more beautiful in person. Have I told you how much I love my Ashford Joy 2 wheel Amelia? We have had a quick evening date just about every night. It is likely that the Matchless DT might need a new home where he can be used and loved fully. I have the original shipping box so if someone is interested let me know.

I seem to have lost track of blogging time. You would think I was doing something important but really I'm not. I've simply been been reflecting a bit, enjoying the garden, weaving etc. and then of course last weekend into the first part of this week were the lightening strike fires to worry about. Gene was gone a good portion of Sunday evening and all day Monday as ODF (Oregon Dept. of Forestry) and the volunteer fire department scouted out and fought fires from the thunderstorms we had over the weekend. It is not quite as dry as in past years yet and the temps went from quite hot to much cooler. It all helped to keep things from raging out of control. I think Gene put up some pics of the fires being fought.

In the sewing salon, I worked on perfecting the new Cashmerette Webster pattern. Still need to bring that deep back V up just a bit more.





 I love the sleeveless version in an organic cotton  (Charley Harper ladybugs pattern), that has been in stash for a year or more and a 3/4 length sleeved version in the hot pink cotton cross weave Moda fabric. The sleeve was tweaked a bit and is a great fit now. Certainly extends the patterns usefulness, oh and side seam pockets are added in both versions.





 The cross weave fabric in a dusty grey/teal blue made it into a pair of summer pants



As much as I adore the Webster pattern, I disliked the Hot Patterns tunic pattern. The muslin and pattern are balled up and in the dog house bucket. I haven't decided yet to go back and rework it all or not. Another new pattern is on the way so more on that when it arrives.

Lastly this sleeveless modified crossover top has been in my head for a little while.



 Just a hint of gathering on the lower front under the bodice, a bit of handwoven inkle band.



 A nice easy summer top.

On Monday, while Gene was uber busy with fires, I abandoned ship and met with friend Cindie. I had a fair amount of bamboo cones from my Dad's stash that I knew I would never use. I much prefer working with cotton, hemp, silk and linen, even a bit of wool to bamboo and tencel. Cindie surprised me with a bag of linen. Some fun stuff here.



I'm plotting and planning you can be sure with the new gift booty! Thank you Cindie!

And then there was the fabric shopping at Top Stitch, who's real goal is to sell beautiful Bernina sewing
machines. They do have a wonderful cotton quilting fabric selection and it was the annual sidewalk sale. Need I say more? These followed me home.





 Woman does not live by Etsy alone and going to an actual fabric store was a treat. It was then onto lunch and Trader Joe's and home. Gene still had not made it home and the dogs, left to their own devices, can get up to much mischief if left alone too long.

This happens by the fence line too. We must be watchful.

It may look innocent enough but it is not!

Did That Just Happen?

This, this god awful WTF moment that seems to happen all too often in so many different ways. Seriously, not only do we have a mental health problem exploding in the USA, we have a gun problem.
There is some point in which we need to stop this madness. One only needs to look at gun deaths in other countries in which owning a gun is a privilege, not a right, to realize we have this one so very wrong.

Another pesky problem, the sad, sick old white guy in the oval office. Richard Wolffe is a smart, savvy
opinion writer for The Guardian.

The steady drip drip of the Russian investigation is just about a steady stream isn't it?. The WSJ has a couple of good pieces with Shane Harris as the lead. I don't have access to the WSJ any longer but here is the gist of it from The Hill.

And then of course, the voter fraud BS, which makes me think all our data will be given over to Russia so they can manipulate the bloated orange one into a second term. I hope Oregon makes that list of refusals PDQ.

Lets end with something lovely shall we? Wildlife pics, so beautiful, why must we destroy so much around us? I have no answers.

Parting shot: Scratch Please!