Spinning for the Tour de Fleece

During the month of July, there is a professional bike race in France called the Tour de France.  Wool spinners celebrate this race by participating in the Tour de Fleece.  I dusted off my Kromski spinning wheel and managed to pedal (spin) a few hundred yards of Shetland wool.I played around with some thread plying on another of my single hand spun yarn.  The type of thread made a big difference in the final look of the yarn.   The lighter color was plied with a rayon variegated thread.The darker yarn was plied with a thicker variegated cotton thread.  What a change!On a different note, we had quite a storm last week in Southern Arizona.  It’s our “monsoon” season and normally we get afternoon thunderstorms, a lot of lightning and thunder, not much rain.  This time it rained 1 3/8 inches, enough to get a stream running down the street plus about 10 minutes of pea size to marble size hail.We really can’t complain, we need every single drop.

See ya,

Sandy O’ at My Yellow Swing

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Travels

Pat and I have been on the go recently.  I went to Kentucky to visit family, Pat went to Albuquerque to bike ride with friends.  Duffy stayed home.  My visit to Kentucky started with a road trip to Bowling Green, KY, specifically Western Kentucky University to watch my youngest niece, Kaylee, graduate.The rest of the time was catching up with sisters and Mom.I did find a special place in Lebanon, KY.  Oh, yeah!

Two weeks later, Pat loaded up his bikes and headed to Albuquerque to ride the La Ruta del Rancho Rendejo 2018 with Patrick O’, Khalil S. and Herb C., internet blog buddies from Mad Dog Media.  It was a 33 mile out-and-back ride on the Paseo del Bosque, no mishaps and from the grins on the faces, a pretty good time.So everyone is back home and Duffy is happy.See you later at My Yellow Swing.

Sandy O’

Simple Pleasures

Hi All,

It’s been a strange springtime.  The weather in Southern Arizona has kept me guessing on how to dress each morning.  I start out in jeans and long sleeves and by noon, it’s still jeans, but short sleeves.  This morning, I pulled on my shorts and it finally felt good.

So, what has been happening at My Yellow Swing?  I set up my antique pin loom with some scrap yarn.  I am pleased with the final product.  It will make nice placemats or small throw pillows.  Thanks, Kay.

I’ve spun the Churro fleece from a local ranch.  I will be using it in a tapestry weaving.I knitted a neck scarf from some leftover sock yarn.And I tried some art yarn in a couple of small weavings on my Hokett loom.  I just love that little loom.I will close now with an absolutely beautiful sunrise from last week.See ya

Sandy O’ at My Yellow Swing

 

Just a Quick Note

This is a super short post to show my recent spinning session.  I bought 4 ounces of Churro wool at our local farmer’s market.   I used the drum carder to blend in the light and dark colors of the wool.  Here is the finished double plyed yarn.  I am thinking that this would make a good plain weave fabric to become a tailored vest.  My friends cannot believe that I could cut up my hand woven fabric instead of leaving it whole as a shawl.Duffy’s not so sure either.

We shall see.

Sandy at My Yellow Swing

The Beginning and the End

I had received some beautiful hand dyed indigo wool roving from Dan Wibbels,  a distant cousin in Indiana.   I used my drum carder and blended the blue with white merino wool.  It spun up wonderfully.  I knitted it along with Brown Sheep navy and light gray yarn into a long sweater vest.  There is also my light blue hand spun yarn on the cap sleeves and around the collar.  I didn’t get a picture of the knitting on the needles, but here is a picture blocking the front vestAnd a not so good picture of the back.The finished project…..  I would have modeled it for a picture, but it’s in the mid 70’s here and WAY too warm to wear it.  I will wear it IF we get some cooler weather.  If not, there’s always next winter.

Duffy was impressed.

See ya,

Sandy at My Yellow Swing

Holiday Greetings

As it gets closer to Christmas, time seems to speed up.  I mailed off all my packages to my family the first week of December, Pat and I put up our minimalist decorations and  I have attended almost all of  the Christmas parties and potlucks.  Now it’s time to relax, enjoy the warm (?????) Arizona weather and wait for Santa.   I might be on the “Naughty” list,  Pat is definitely on the “Nice” list (he still does all the shopping, cooking AND cleaning at our house) and Duffy  has high hopes up for a BIG bag of treats.  We shall see………

So, my gift to you is a sunrise in Kentucky.  May your days be bright.Merry Christmas from Sandy, Pat and Duffy at My Yellow Swing

Horsing Around

I have been around many different animals in my lifetime.  My parents had dairy and beef cattle, pigs, chickens, dogs and cats on the farm, and I learned to care for all of them.  However, cats were NEVER my favorites; my apologies to cats and cat lovers everywhere.  The one animal I didn’t have much experience with was the horse.    That said, Pat and I were invited to a “Cowboy Evening” at the ranch of Duffy’s groomer, Debbie.   It started with Debbie harnessing her horses for an old fashion wagon ride.  And I’m not talking about just any old horses, Debbie has CLYDESDALE draught horses!  BIG show quality beauties named Tory and Jewel.  I got real close to Jewel.Pat also made friends with Jewel.  These horses weight 2,000 pounds each and were super gentle.Debbie, and her husband John, had them ready for a wagon ride.Soon we were ready to go.Yes, it was a little chilly, but the wagon ride was worth it!Afterwards, we were treated to a great dinner and then live music and singing around a campfire.  It was a wonderful evening!

See ya,

Sandy at My Yellow Swing