Another Tour comes to the end. This has been good fun, and a great motivator to do a bit more spinning and blogging. I have made a start sorting out photographs so hopefully I shall be filling you in shortly on the knitting things I have been up to over the last few months, although not as frequently as during the last three weeks!

Today was City and Guilds class, hopefully I didn’t annoy them all too badly with my sniffing. I am ready for this cold to just get better now, the novelty has definitely worn off. My project is coming along well, it is really enjoyable to knit, I just need to find some more hours in the day 🙂

I finished off my last skein of alpaca/merino this evening, but I haven’t caught up with the cycle race yet. I shall hopefully watch that tomorrow.

The last skein is 136g and 270m, so I have a grand total of 616g and 1173m. It feels lovely and squishy and I am looking forward to knitting with it, though I still haven’t made the final decision what it is going to be.

No post yesterday because we went to see the in-laws and then went out to the theatre with them to help celebrate their birthdays. In the afternoon we got to watch Le Tour in HD, which we don’t have here. Very impressive scenery! In the evening we went up to Stratford to see the Merchant of Venice. The RSC productions are always innovative and interesting, and encourage you to look at Shakespeare in a new way. For this production they set it in modern Las Vegas and drew out the parallels between Shakespeare’s Venetian merchants and modern gamblers and the recent banking crisis. The bit where Portia’s suitors have to choose which casket contains her image was done as a TV games show and was absolutely hilarious. Some bits were a little weird, but all in all a fun evening out, and very thought provoking.

We came home this afternoon and watched the time trial which we had recorded and I finished the plying and finishing on my second skein of alpaca/merino:

Skein number two has 245g and 477m.

One more load of plying to go. It is looking increasingly unlikely that I will have enough yardage (metreage?) for the Sleeves in Your Pi shawl/cardi. So I think these are my options:

1. Change the pattern so it uses fewer metres
2. Use a contrasting yarn for the edging (or somehow combine another yarn)
3. See if I can get hold of more of the same fibre, unfortunately John Arbon has sold out
4. Choose another pattern for this yarn and find another yarn to make the Sleeves in Your Pi, preferably one which is actually the weight that the pattern calls for this time

I shall think on it.

I’ve still got a cold, sniffy and stuffed up and achey, though at least it is just annoying rather than seriously debilitating. I think Joanne is right that I probably picked it up either at Knit Nation last weekend, or on the train going and coming.

Disappointingly I think I am coming down with a cold. I have been sniffy and stuffed up with a sore throat since last night. I am hoping that ignoring it will make it go away, not sure how successful that has been so far.

Today has been a day of stocking up here, I went and did the supermarket shop this morning, so we are unlikely to starve for some time. This afternoon Paul had a half day holiday so he has made a big batch of chilli for the freezer, thus staving off even further the likelihood of starvation.

Then while the chilli cooked we watched today’s stage of Le Tour and I washed and measured and weighed my first skein of alpaca/merino. The racing was very exciting, I think it is going to be very close right up to the end.

I am very pleased with how the yarn has come out:

This is 70% alpaca, 30% merino, in Cappuccino (a blend of natural colours of alpaca with white merino) from John Arbon. It is a 2ply construction and about a DK weight in thickness. My first skein has 235g and 426m.

I have been toying with using this for the Sleeves in Your Pi pattern, which is sort of a cross between a shawl and a cardigan. The original pattern uses a slightly heavier yarn, but hopefully shouldn’t be too hard to adjust. However I am a bit concerned that I am not going to have enough yarn. I shall have to see how it goes once I have finished the plying.

Today’s coin is a New Jersey state quarter. Paul worked there for a few months many years ago, so my first visit to the US was to NJ to see him.

I plied up my first bobbin of alpaca/merino today:

I love how this is coming out. It isn’t totally even, I spun it rather quickly, and without as much attention to detail as I used on my previous yarn, but it was good fun 🙂 Even if I did have to spin it straight out of the plastic bag to avoid becoming covered in it.

Today’s coin is a New York state quarter, the other half has a collection of US state quarters so you might be seeing a few more of them over the coming days.

Tomorrow I shall skein this bobbin up and measure it, and hopefully if I have time get started on plying the next.

Still catching up with the cycling (I am part way through Sunday now), and my email, and my sleep. I have been having more fun today cramming as much yarn as possible on my bobbin, I think I may have reached the limit.

I am looking forward to starting plying it all tomorrow.

No posts on Friday or Saturday (and no spinning progress either) because I was out at Knit Nation, attending some fantastic classes and generally having a great time. My last class was this morning, and I got home just in time for tea, I am now absolutely shattered! I will do a proper post about it soon when I have recovered.

We recorded all the cycling so I have quite a lot of that to catch up with. I have made a start on that and made a good start with my second bobbin of alpaca/merino.

Today’s coin is a South African 1 Rand.

I think I shall have a very early night tonight.

Bastille day and the cyclists ride into the Pyrenees for the start of the serious mountains. Slightly surprising in who did well and who did badly today, it looked hard work for all concerned.

I have had fun cramming as much yarn as possible onto my bobbin 🙂

Today’s coin is a £2 celebrating the Commonwealth Games.

More beautiful scenery as the cyclists go through the Tarn region, although rotten weather for the finish. It has been cold and grey here but luckily not wet. I haven’t been to this area of France but it looks lovely, another place to add to the list of nice places to visit.

It was spinning group at Seale today so the spinning progressed well. We spin in the Manor Farm Craft Centre Tea Room which was not quite as busy today as it sometimes is. They make lovely homemade soups and cakes so I had tomato, celery and lentil soup for lunch and carrot cake and tea for a treat afterwards 🙂

In amongst all that eating I did manage to spin a bit more on the alpaca/merino:

I think the colour is growing on me.

Today’s coin is a Japanese 100 yen.

Tomorrow I get to play the fun game where I see how much yarn I can pack onto the bobbin (its a game that never gets old 🙂 ).