Oh the Shame of it All...

Don't worry too much about the title of this - it's actually my view of Spud's thoughts - well the ones that can be published.  You see she was spayed on Friday - and all went well until we were told she needed an E-collar (cone of shame) to keep her from licking the incision site.  OK, not a big deal except the store was out of the plastic traditional cones.  So it was suggested we get one of the inflatables.  They look a bit like a horse collar; blow it up and velcro it around the neck.  $20.00 plus tax.  One (the last one in the store in that size) purchased and applied as directed as soon as we got home.  Spud is stumbling around like a drunken sailor on Friday.  She goes into her room and I rush to Fiber in the 'Boro to get the Spinner's Circle aka Fiber Circle going and start spinning.  (more on that later)

Saturday I was gone all day - and apparently Ms Spud slept most of the day.

Sunday she slept near me all day.  If she tried to lick the site, I'd just put my hand in the way; she'd slurp on that and go back to sleep.

Today:  It.is.alive!  Overnight that cat learned how to roll up to lick the site and opened the skin layer, removing some/a stitch(es).  So we made a trip back to the vet, got superglued and got a real cone of shame.  All instructions, from the vet and on the cone, said to make sure there was 2 fingers of space between the cone and the cat.  Done:  proof is in the photos:

 She's headed in reverse trying to back out of the cone.  Didn't seem to work.  I did some things then looked to see how she was doing.  She was in her cat box with the cone in place.  I sat down and ate lunch.

After lunch, looked for cat.  Ms Spud emerged from behind the couch... without the cone.  I began a cone search and can't find the $#@%^ thing anywhere.  I looked in and under and behind both couches.  I looked under chairs.  I looked in her room to see if I could see it in there.  It is gone.  I don't know what she did or how she did it but that stupid cone is gone.

OK back to the inflatable.  Since she can roll herself up to lick the site, I had to jury-rig something to try to keep her tongue away from the superglued incision.  Here's the result and the reason for the title.  The shaved part on her front leg is where her IV went.  She could care less about it.

So on to other things: 

Quilting:  Making progress: This one was taken 10/8
This one taken today:  It may not look like much but it is hand stitched at about 12 stitches to the inch.  That's twice as many as most garments you purchase today are sewn at.  When I worked at Levi Strauss, the jackets were sewn at 6 to the inch and I guess they still are.

I

When I finish this block (some diagonal lines to fill the white background of the feathered wreath, I'll move to the next star point that you can see on the right.  The upper half is done, but the lower half of diamonds need to be quilted with 1/4" seams.  There are 100 diamonds in each large diamond.  That means 800 diamonds, 4 triangular spaces and 4 square spaces each with feathered wreaths or portions of and stitched lines creating the background stitched from the seams between diamond patches.  OK clear as mud and sorry 'bout that.  Let me see if I can find a better photo to show what I mean.  Looking at the photo below, the left side is done except for the border.  The top white triangle and the white blocks on the right need to be done along with the outer halves of the big diamonds.  I'll take a photo of the reverse for the next entry as that fabric is the same as the border so the quilting will show up better.  

Knitting and spinning also continue.  Fiber in the 'Boro was last weekend and was the 2nd annual.  We were in a bigger barn at the Ag Center in Murfreesboro, TN.  We were also on cement rather than wood shavings which makes spinning much less of a challenge.  There seemed to be about the same or slightly more people then last year and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.     This young man is learning how to feed spoil an alpaca.  The lady alpacas seemed to love the attention.  The one being fed is named Emmy if I remember correctly and her home is Cedar Rock Ranch in Lebanon, TN.  

I was good and only made one purchase.  I'd been spinning white Corriedale fleece and just needed some color.  So I bought some silk hankies and started playing with them.

The unspun hankies are draped over the tension device for the wheel.  I'm different in that I just start at a corner and draft as I spin.  Most spinners prefer to draft the fiber first then spin.  That's too much invitation to snarl and make a huge mess in my world.  I'll ply this back on itself a few times - maybe a six-ply - to make a bow for granddaughter #2 who wants a hedgehog and a cow for Christmas.  I have a pattern for the hedgehog and her favorite color is pink...One down, 5 more to go.  I think all the boys will get hats and the other girl will get an Irish crocheted mask.  She's into costumes right now.  Hope she is still interested at Christmas.

Knitting continues with socks and more socks in process and a finished object - also for Christmas for someone.  Since they don't read this blog I'm safe to post photos.

 

From the top we have 2 measures of Joy.  I have to embroider the notes, clef and time signature then line it and it's done.

Next are a pair of socks in merino with some cashmere.  They will be bed socks for my mom as I think they are too big to wear with shoes.

Finally Spring Wings, my version of Wingspan.  This is knit with a Zauberball and I lucked out as to the way the colors fell.  Much better than I hoped.  Again, a present for someone.  

That's all for now and I go back to the salt mines and get some other work done.

Enjoy!

Catching up again

Oh what a tangled web...


Each time I think I can take the time to write a new post, life butts in.  For a while I was picking up grandkiddles #1 and #2 from their respective schools and taking them home.  For those who have not had the pleasure of this, one goes to school A about 1/2 hour before dismissal, gets in line and parks.  One has to remember to put the child's name thing on the dashboard or one cannot pick up said child.  Then come the buses and loading of the children begins.  Then the parked cars start their engines.  One teacher or other school official is in between the 2 lines of waiting cars and calls out student names as the cars roll by.  She or he has a walkie talkie to do this with.  Supposedly then the students, hearing their names, get their stuff together and line up to be escorted out to the still idling autos.  Some times this happens in a timely fashion and some times not.  Once this child is seated and seat-belted off we go to the next school.  


There, no name card is required but this line up is a bit more challenging.  Again a double row of parked cars and again, buses arrive. At this school, however, not all the buses can fit in the area designated for buses ONLY.  So when the riders (not students at this facility) are dismissed, the drivers start their engines and then are waved through between buses and cars to the area where the riders are to wait for their rides.  Now the job is to get the attention of your rider so that person can come and get in the car.  This being a facility for older kids - early teens and precocious tweens - the males are busy with display activities to impress the females.  The females are in groups watching/ignoring the males.  Apparently this activity has not changed in the decades since I was that age.  As a female you are to notice the male, but seem to not pay attention to his/their activities.  I never understood why the males participated in some of these activities as it often made them look very stupid. 


Once this rider has noticed the driver and sibling and enters the vehicle, then it is time to drive to their home.  This has a moment or two of interest as we pass the local Wal-Mart near shift change and near a local manufacturing facility with a LOT of truck traffic.  Since the trucks own the road (even 1/2 ton pickups), being in a car - not an SUV - means you are invisible.  Lane changes are necessary to keep from being flattened by a truck driver doing his/her thing.  Never had any mishaps but did have very interesting conversations with both grandkiddles.  


Not long after #1 and #2 finished their school year, I was kidnapped by my daughter and driven to the wilds of south Jersey.  There I encountered grandkiddles #3 through #6 and the newest addition to the family, the South Philly Alleycat.  I had a wonderful time spoiling kids and refereeing battles between the South Philly Alleycat and The One Who Was Here First.  


I also got to spend time knitting on my Zilver shawl which was round 1 in Camp Loopy 2012.

 Here is the completed version - somewhat blocked but not showing the true color which is a darker blue - but not quite ultramarine.  The lower photo shows the detail of the lace pattern of the shawl.  Looks good, simple to do if one can count, and since you start with one row of the fancy stuff then go to 2 and on to 5, it's pretty hard to mess up too much. That's what I needed when dealing with the daily circus of my daughter's household.

I was also able to experience the Fifths Disease in 3 of 4 children - without catching it myself and a birthday party with about 20+ kids for #4 who celebrated the first anniversary of his 8th birthday.  He did not want to be 9 this year so this is the solution for him.


Father's Day saw the daughter, her hubby, his parents and myself having a meal at a local diner.  Those who do not know what a true diner is are missing a wonderful experience.  There is usually a display case with desserts which add about 7 million calories to you per second you look at them.  The food is awesome and the memories for me are great.  


I also got to experience a phenomenon called a derecho.  It is, if I understand it, similar to a hurricane but it develops over land, not water.  Fortunately we were on the edge so didn't have any of the issues that some areas of NJ, MD, DE and Washington DC had - and maybe VA.  


On the 4th of July we all (7 of us) loaded into daughter's soccer mom vehicle and headed down to my home.  Well there was another rider too:

Meet Spud.  She is a South Jersey Feral Kitten.  Daughter found her under the above-mentioned soccer mom vehicle and captured her with a large fisherman's net.  Poor thing was skin and bones, literally.  I was not sure she would make it - her tongue was white - sure sign fleas had been feasting.  We treated for fleas but I decided we would wait on worming treatment until she gained a bit of strength and weight.  Other feral kittens I have dealt with are full of spit and hiss.  This poor girl never did that - too weak I think.
So after arrival in the home place, we, along with grandpa, went to different places to entertain the kids.  We went to the Science Adventure Center which was a hit with all and to Percy Priest Lake for swimming - also a hit with all.  The best part for me was when DH set up his hammock.  Later he came back to sit in it only to have it flip him feet over rear!  Daughter and I had quite a laugh from that!  

The highlight for me was dinner at The Aquarium Restaurant.  This is a chain which features a large (200,000+ gallon) tank in the center of the room.  Tables are situated around.  DH and I with both kids, and all 6 grandkids had dinner there.   Grandkids 3 and 4 sat closest to the tank and loved watching the fish swim past them.  Their dad was able to identify some of them and the rest of the family helped with others.  The food was good - no problems there - but service - not so.  I had made reservations for 12, with 6 kids, one needing a booster seat.  Well, no booster seat and food was delivered in shifts - and some not at all.  Manager treated us to dessert - and hopefully the server was told to ASK FOR HELP when dealing with a large group.


Spud went to the vet and was found to weigh in at 2 lbs.  She was unable to give blood for testing and did have a bacterial infection in her gut - which was successfully treated.  She is now gaining weight and growing and now, acting like a kitten - learning pounce and finally playing with her toys.  She is also now a camouflage cat, blending in with our bamboo floors and my maple spinning wheel.


So I'll leave with these photos of Spud and will be back with more spinning and knitting - and Spud - another time.

Warning -- wordy...wordy

Please note the title - this will probably be wordy and up to 18 photos if I get really froggy and show everything I took photos of this week.  Believe me I did delete some fuzzy, duplicate or just yucky photos.

 To start: Loopy Ewe made an offer I could not refuse about 2-3 weeks ago - it was if you bought a skein of Dream in Color Marvelous (50/50 silk/wool) that has 1100 yds (1005 m), you would receive for the asking the pattern Vostok, a beautiful shawl. This shawl has been in my drool, um favorites in Ravelry since I first saw it and I'd been almost holding my breath until 5/1/2012, when it would be available for purchase.  So guess what I did...

Yep, I did... The colorway is Brilliant. The colors are a bit more sea greenish but I think the silk shine is messing up the colors for the camera.


The lacy part I'm on is the part from the shoulder down in the pattern photo.  I'm doing the second of five repeats.  This is fun except the "purl three together through the back loop inserting the needle from left to right".  That stitch does cause me to mutter words under my breath that would make my mother take a bar of soap to my mouth.  The other solution would be to get into the car and drive across town in any of the compass directions about 20-25 miles to a yarn store and buy size 5 lace turbo needles by Addi.  Nope, can't do that right now.  I'll mutter and "vent my spleen" as the saying goes.


So that's my primary knitting, but there are at least 3 pairs of socks on the sidelines waiting their turns.  I have a sock in a colorway that makes slices of watermelon as it is knit; a pair of Hermione's Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder in a Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere in a greenish blue - photos later; and another in Unwind Yarn Company's Dazzle in a purple.  Again, photos later.  I thought I had posted them to Ravelry, but guess I didn't.  There are two sweaters, Evenstar (lace shawl), and some scarves sitting in the time-out box too - but some may be frogged (NOT Evenstar) and started again now that I have figured out what I'm trying to do with them - or learned a better way.


Spinning - fun time...  I've been playing with cotton and trying to re-learn how to spin the stuff.  I have to admit, 32 years ago, things were not as nice, fiber-wise, as they are now.  And I was not told you could not hold on to the cotton, that it just had to lay in your hand until it was spun or else!  I purchased the beginning to spin cotton kit from Cotton Clouds in Arizona along with 1 lb ginned cotton and 2 lbs of cotton on the seed.  I also downloaded my purchase from Interweave Press of Stephanie Gaustad teaching how to spin cotton.  Then I started... What I've trashed as being cotton-disintegrating-as-you-watch yarn, was never photographed.  Let's just say cotton needs lots of twist - and there is almost no way to over spin cotton.  Well, there probably is, but I haven't found it yet.  I do know how to under spin cotton quite well.  The Takli and I didn't get along well at first but we're learning how to play together most of the time.

Oh, I forgot to add, cotton needs to be spun quite fine and plied to get the thickness needed.  My hand, and I wear a medium in gloves.  The brown is a natural color and was sliver (sly-ver) included in the kit.  There is also a green, tan and 2 whites (I think - operating off faulty memory here).


Then I went to the wheel and tried to spin from the seed.  That's fun and fairly easy to do.  There is a YouTube video that shows how this is done and it's quite good - that's exactly what I did - watched her video and did what she did.


Then I really got brave and made my own punis.  Punis are fun, basically you card the cotton then roll the carded cotton around a dowel or chopstick.  It's rolled to be fairly tight.  Push up on one end of the stick and off pops the puni.  I did not like spinning punis.  Lumpy, bumpy, thick and thin.  It was probably my preparation, but either way, didn't like it.


Next was carding some of the ginned cotton.  Giving a bit of a history lesson here, Eli Whitney's cotton gin was just for ginning hairy seeded cotton.  Slick seeded cotton can be put on a slab with a roller just squishing out the seeds. Hairy seeded cotton has longer fibers and is what was grown in the colonies.  Eli's gin basically pulled the fibers off the seeds.  Sometimes the seeds break apart.  Often the fibers break, making them even shorter then normal.  Some vegetable matter from the bolls gets through this process too.  So ginned cotton may not be the cleanest product available.  I carded the rolags (fancy name for the cotton carded and rolled loosely into a sausage shape) and spun from them.  Much better!


Now I have singles (1 ply of yarn).  Lumpy, bumpy, but a bit more even.  Next I tried 3-ply, but I used the chain ply or Navajo ply method.  I'm not going to explain it, but if you want to see it, search YouTube for Navajo ply yarn.  So now I have this:

The whiter parts are those I spun from the seed.  The other part is from ginned cotton and looked a bit lighter when I first spun it.  Next step with this is to cable ply it with some silk hankies I've spun.  Not going to explain this either, but will post photos when it's done and when I've swatched some knit pieces with it.  I'm hoping it will work for a tee-shirt I want to knit to wear during hot weather.  Next will be plying the silk then cabling it with the cotton.  A quick rinse and thwack then let dry.  


Bobbins for the wheel are at a premium and I have a lot of stash to spin.  Next comes Koi Pond, a Polwarth (sheep) wool dyed by AllSpunUp on Etsy.  This will also be Navajo-plied to keep the colors together.  Depending on yardage, this will be a scarf or afghan...

You can see it is mostly blues with orange/white spots.  Those are the koi.  This should finish to be a nice squishy sport weight yarn when I'm done with it.


Well, that ends my fiber stuff but not my talking writing about it.  The next 2 photos are of a hat I asked someone to crochet for me.  It's not mine, but going to my 2nd granddaughter, she-who-loves-birds.  The lady who did this did an awesome job and is so very, very fast!  She did what would take me 3-5 times the amount of time.  Sorry for just calling her she, but I've not asked her if I can use her name.  Besides, I'm having one of those "senior moments" and can't remember it.

 In my opinion, this is terrific and I love it.  If she-who-loves-birds doesn't love it, well I'll take it back and wear it.  Actually one of her three brothers will probably go after it, it has 2 of the boys' favorite colors in it.


I have a job interview tomorrow - the second one I've been able to have in the year I've been unemployed.  Hopefully this one will result in a job.  That's all I'm going to say until after I hear if I'm hired or not.

The remaining photos are just that, remaining photos.  I have relatives who live where winter usually takes its job seriously and the whoosh of spring is still just thinking about doing that. So without much further ado, here are clemantis and roses from our yard.  Can't show the tomato plants yet - they will get set out over the weekend.
 

The white rose above has the most wonderful fragrance - it's a David Austin rose Duchess of Edinburgh, I think.  Winchester Cathedral is the other one I have and it's covered with buds - will get photos when it blooms.  It's fragrant too.  The red/white one is called Double Delight and it was on sale for $5.00 so DH bought it.  It's blooming heavily - more so than last year!  The clemantis are growing on netting around our garbage cans - to hide them a bit.  Some of these started blooming in March!  They bloomed 4 times last year so don't have any idea what they will do this year when they started 2 months earlier.  The lavender is outside my front door.  It started blooming in March as well.  I hope to harvest and dry some to store with my wools to try to prevent critter infestation (insect type).


So this is my wordy entry.  Love to hear/see comments from anyone who stumbles across this. 


Enjoy!

Fluff and Stuff

Wow, didn't January fly by.  Now it's February and the durn groundhog saw his shadow so we're due six more weeks of winter.  Considering how warm this winter has been, we may need some real winter to keep the mosquito population down for summer.  We have daffodils and forsythia blooming now - about five weeks too early.

I've knit - finishing a pair of socks:  Presenting Berry Moon, from the pattern Paper Moon Socks by AnneLena Mattison.  The pattern may be found at Knitty.com, Deep Fall 2011.  A nice knit and I'll probably knit the pattern again.

Made a crochet hat for DH that's a bit too small so will do another in brioche, probably 2 color, so I can figure out what I'm doing.  Also need to get 16" needles to knit it on.

I've been playing with the cotton sliver (pronounced sly-ver) and not been really pleased with the results.  Yesterday my cotton on the seed arrived from Cotton Clouds so I started playing:

The following 5 photos show the steps.
1: the cotton as received
2: straightened away from the seed (the fluff)
3: spinning
4: the remaining seed (the stuff)
5: the yarn.  

For those who sew, the thickness is about like buttonhole twist.  This will eventually be a 3 or 4 ply yarn.  Also have been

spinning some Corriedale - which I won't show as it's more white fluff.  Corriedale is a breed of sheep with a really nice wool for spinners.  This is very soft and may be a cardigan for me or the first part of an afghan or throw for the living room.  

The other fiber I've been playing with has been with my supported spindle (well one of them).  The spindle is a Tibetan style and I finished a 2-ply yarn this week.  It is about 278 yards and weighs  22 grams.  For those in the US who don't do metrics, 28 grams is equal to 1 ounce.  I've not washed this yet, will wait until all the yarn is done and

wash all at once.  The colors don't show very well in the photos but this is mostly purples with gold, cream, and various greens.  Later on there will be a couple of blue areas as well.  Sorry the spacing is all wonky on this - don't know why nor do I know how to fix it.   

 So what I have going on for this month are two pairs of socks, one for younger granddaughter and one pair for me; the cotton, the Corriedale, the support spindle and, hopefully, a new job.  I get to interview Monday afternoon so have fingers and toes crossed.  I can't cross my eyes or I would do that too - until the interview. 

   

 

Happy 2012

Wishing all of you a very Happy 2012.  

My promises to myself:
1. relearn spinning cotton, ramie and flax (linen).  I learned these decades ago and want to relearn as the raw material is easier to obtain now.
2. continue my learning curve on the support spindle.  This is a spindle that is spun while the base tip is resting in a bowl or other smooth surface.  I'm using a 6 oz custard cup.   The one shown is a Tibetan style from Lori at DeerfieldCreations I bought the spindle at Fiber in the 'Boro back in October and am enjoying it a lot.
3. not spin something I don't enjoy because I have it.  Life is too short and there are other spinners in this area who should be able to swap with me - or buy.  If not, there's a page on Ravelry that will work.
4.  Maybe learn to kayak.  DH loves this and has 2 kayaks so far and probably buying a third.  Others in less condition than I seem to be able to do this - so I may - just paddle around the edge of the lake.  Only issue - same day and time as my knitting group.  So if I do this, he and I will just have to go on Sundays or something like that.


5. continue my attempt to finish all my WIP (works in progress) and UFO's (unfinished objects).  I did finish Mystic Water in 2011 but all of the others were new things and gifted to others.  I will allow myself new things for gifting to others and socks for me (but the yarn is in the house already).  I will also frog (unravel) some partial projects to either start again or allocate the yarn to something else.  I've learned new things this past year and will apply them to improve these frogged items.


That's all for now - after I finish going through my projects, will post with photos.
Enjoy!

Back again

 I had my Saturday at Fiber in the 'Boro and I thoroughly enjoyed my day.  The day was a success and will be back next year (YES!).

I was the first at the spinner's circle and others came and left during the day.  I only stopped once to wander, buy some fibery things and a bottle of water.  I haven't taken pictures of all the stash enhancement but here come a few:

This is 10 lbs of Rambouillet fleece which was a first prize winner.  It was used for a class on selecting a fleece.  I hope to get between 6-7 lbs of cleaned fiber to spin - but we'll see.  Some people asked to see what I do, so I'll refer them here to see the whole thing.

I measured out 8 oz of dirty fleece - about all that would fit in my 5 qt dutch oven.  Heated water and a dollop of Orvus (enough to make the water feel slimy) to 140°F.  Added the fiber and let it soak for about 30 min.  Then I lifted it out of the water, and fixed new water for rinsing.  It tdirty ook 3 rinses before the water was pretty clean.  The next photo shows the fleece close up.  See that crimp?  That is awesome!  Yep, the lady is off her rocker going on about crimp in dirty smelly fleece.  Oh ye of little faith - just wait until you see what this will turn in to!

 The photo below shows the clean fiber, the 8 oz (now 5.75 oz) and then a lock of the fiber so white and soft and pretty.  Next to get photos when I spin this up.  


I'm still cleaning merino lamb's fleece for my "frog hair" spinning.  Since I doubt you have seen the hair on a frog, imagine just how fine that stuff is.  We are talking just about sewing thread here.  I have 3 lbs of fiber in the grease - so about 1 1/2 lbs when all is cleaned.

 I did get some fiber you don't have to clean first but still have to take photos.  I also got some cashmere but have to dehair it - will take pictures to explain that.  Tussah silk, a honey colored "wild" silk, came home with me along with a gorgeous merino/silk blend that just about makes my mouth water.  Two skeins of yarn came home - one is a superwash (machine washable) wool with cashmere in it and the other, a purple with some sparkle - those for socks for the younger granddaughter who loves the hand knit socks. 


The final purchase was a Tibetan style support spindle.  Support spindles have been used for thousands of years.  It sits on the ground, on a piece of wood, rock, whatever.  I'm using a custard cup.  The spinner sets the spindle spinning and drafts the fiber out.


Just imagine - until about the 1300-1500's (not sure of the dates right now) every bit of cloth was spun on a spindle then woven by hand or knit.  All your clothes, ship sails, blankets, bedding, curtains or draperies, rugs, outer wear - everything.  The spinning wheels came next in industrialized areas but the spindles were still used in many areas - and still are today.  Finally with the Industrial Revolution commercial production of fiber began to happen.  Then synthetic fibers - the nylons, polyesters and so forth until you come to today.


Time frames?  Well say I spun about 4 hours in the spinner's circle.  I was able to spin about 4 oz of singles.  I just plied those yesterday and have about 150 yards of a heavier weight yarn.  That's enough for a simple cap, wrist warmers to cover the space between jacket end and mitten beginning, or a skinny scarf.  Imagine how much is needed to weave a set of sheets, a pillowcase, even a towel to dry yourself.  An adult sweater can take 1200 to 1800 yards of yarn.  Socks are about 425 yards.  Plus the time to raise the crop (linen, cotton, hemp and those types of fibers) or animal - takes about a year to grow a fleece.


So with that I will close for now.  I'm going to double check my dates and get some other info together along with additional photos.  I'll be back after Thanksgiving in the US.


For those who celebrate - have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Enjoy the blessings of family and friends.

Updates

One of my original thoughts about this blog was to help me finish my UFO's (unfinished objects) in the various crafts I do.  Knitting, spinning, counted cross stitch, embroidery and quilting.  I also do crochet but don't have any UFO's there.  There are some hardanger projects too.  Anyway, my oldest is a project of embroidery - placemats and napkins to embroider and then finish the edges.  That is still the oldest.  #2 is a quilt.  I bought the kit for the Lone Star (star pieces only) when traveling through Colorado in the late 70's.  We went to Quilts and Other Comforts in Lakeland.  This is hand pieced with a little machine work attaching the filler pieces and border.  I'm hand quilting this in one of those pvc frames.  So here's where I am:

 What you may not be able to see is how far I am.  The diamond pointing upper left is about half quilted, going around clockwise  to the one on the bottom right - all of that has to be quilted and then the blue border.  I can only work on this during the winter/colder months as it is too warm to have this draped on my lap the rest of the year.
DH is going to his kayaking group's final blast today and camping overnight (well that's the plan).  That means I can sit and quilt all day long and see what I can finish on this.  
I do want to mention that this is very well traveled.  Colorado through Yellowstone to Washington then AR, TN, AR, TN plus moves within those places.  During all that time, 2 diamond pieces were lost and they have been replaced with a pale yellow.  You might be able to see them on that upper left diamond, on the left side.  One replaced a dark blue piece and the other replaced the wedgewood colored block.
When the quilting is done, I'll have to get some material to make the bias binding then sew it on - by machine on the front side, hand on the back.  I'll get it cleaned and it will be finished.

I'm watching DH getting stuff out to his truck - you'd think he was going away for months rather than overnight - about 15 miles from here.  I was amazed that he has never been camping.  I thought someone raised in a rural setting would have done something like that.  I was in Brownies and Girl Scouts and our troop leader was a very outdoors person.  We canoed and camped - even in winter when we ended up being snowed in.  Today's equipment is so much nicer than what we used.

 In other fiber news, I finished some more yarn and got it all washed.  I took photos of it outside.  To the left is ASU colorway Enchanted.  It's alpaca, merino and silk.  The sparkle is the silk.  This is a 2-ply.
Below is the Down To Earth colorway - also ASU.  It's a 3-ply and is all wool.
Next one down is a shot of all the fiber I washed and dried.  The one on the very left is 100% Polwarth (wool) and is Navajo plied or chain plied.  To do that, you start with a loop and pull the free end through then ply those three strands to make one.  It sounds strange but is a nice way to preserve the color changes.

 The greenish is also one with a lot of silk in it.  That is also a 2-ply.  It's a lace weight so can be a small shawl or something like that.

Another shot showing the chain plied yarns.

Next Saturday is Fiber in the Boro in Murfreesboro.  I'm so going to enjoy myself.  I plan to stay all day and spin.  I'll also have a chance to visit with a friend from Chattanooga, Craftygirl83, who owns Unwind Yarns.  She'll have a booth and it will be nice to see what she has now.  I've knit with one of her hand-dyed yarns before and it was great.  She's had to change suppliers so I'll probably get a skein to try out the new bases.  I hope to get some silk bricks as I love spinning them.  I hope to take photos too and will post those afterwards.
Until then, enjoy!