Yopping Update 35 - Dropping expectations

On the knitting front I am working on my Wingspan and I am on the fifth triangle.  It is good evening knitting as I listen to podcasts or netflix if the wifi is cooperating.

Mostly this week I have been playing with my drop spindle, and I think I am getting the hang of it.

Here is attempt number one:

 which I am calling Pacifica Sunset:

Number two:

 which is called San Francisco Mist

Number three:

myYukon fleece that is full of lanolin and much easier to spin on this drop spindle than my sipnning wheel.

I have these two ready to go - Agate Beach and Pacific Ocean:

Our truck is suppose to be fixed and ready to go on Tuesday - and then we will head....somewhere.

Yes, beside dropping my drop spindle I am also dropping expectations.  This holiday is unfolding as it wishes and I have a warm camper to sleep in, good food to eat, knitting and spinning to do, and a pool and hot tub at my disposal.  Also the views are amazing.

See you all next week.  I wonder where I will be then?

Arggg

Really?   Really.

Day seven into our trip and the f***ing mil light came on (Malfunction indicator light).  No message on the console, just the light, but we know from too many other times that this can be an expensive and time consuming fix.  The last two times this happened the truck was under warranty, but now we are on our own.  Truck is at the dealer since yesterday morning and no word yet.  Hopefully we will here something before the end of today.

ARG!!!

On the plus side we have the camper off the truck and in a nice rv park just outside of San Francisco.  We are on the ocean and although it is breezy it is sunny and they have all the amenities including an outdoor pool and ho tub.  So there is that.

We have rental car so getting around to see stuff is a bit easier than it would have been with our truck - glass half full part two.

But, geez, this truck has not been reliable on long trips - and we are only into week two of our eight week journey.  So ya.  Really??

I woke up this morning very teary.  I have been brave since Sunday - and despite the light we did make it to our reservation in San Francisco.  We have crossed the Golden Gate twice and the Bay Bridge once, and we did drive around Chinatown yesterday (in rush hour!).

But this morning it just seems all too much.  I just wanted to go home (which obviously I can't because see above about truck.)

So I put on my big girl panties and got dressed, did the dishes and swept out the camper.  The sun is out so we are going to head to the pier to watch the fisherfolk and have a latte.  Then we have to find an rv place because somehow we have lost our sewer hose.  Ewww.  I know, too much information.

I know it will be all right in the end.  If it isn't all right it isn't the end.

I also know that I have very close friends and family dealing with much worse things than a check engine light.

"So suck it up buttercup" I say to myself  - and time to get on with my day.

Update 34 - I never knit alone

As promised I am on the road for the next two months.  We have camped for a week now through Washington and Oregon states and we made it to California Saturday evening.  Yay us! 

I realized on Wednesday that my test knit socks were due Saturday and I wasn't yet at the heel turn.   Ack!  I knit knit knit and finished them today.   I can't show you any pictures yet, but I do have a story to tell. 

I realized while I was knitting that I am never knitting alone.  My friend Sandy made the project bag I am using, and my stitch marker is a little spinning wheel I received from participating in Spinzilla two years ago with the Aloha spinners from Hawaii.  The yarn I am using for these socks came from my sister, my friend Marjorie, and my friend Betty.  The yarn from my sister she purchased from my children's handwork teacher at the school where I taught.  I knit the socks with nine inch circulars which I use because my friend Cait got me to try them and now they are my favourite needles for sock knitting. I won the needles I was using from a Ravelry challenge.  

So when I knit I always have friends and family with me.  

Now the test knit is done I can get back to my Zodiac KAL.  My sister and I are about at the same place - triangle two!

Posting pictures is sketchy with random wifi, but here are a few holiday scenes.  

Until next week!

Update 33 - mystery revealed

The test knit is now live.  This is a wonderful shawl called Midnight Sunset - so warm and cuddly.  Thank you to Ruth for such a wonderful design.

I should have worn a nicer shirt underneath, but I want to show you how the stripes would line up in the front.

I gave this to an elderly soul who needs to feel warm and cozy when she goes out in her wheel chair.  I will definitely knit another one for me in the near future.

I have finished the first sock for Ruth's other test knit and I am taking the second sock on the road with me.  I think it will go live sometime the end of February.

Also with me on my travels is my peace cowl, my cotton tee and some spinning.

My sister gave me this fantastic yarn - It is in the colourway Libra (which I am) and she bought one in Aquarius (which she is).  We are going to do a KAL together - Wingspan which we have both knit before and LOVE.  So that is coming too.

I finished my scappy bias shawl during the SuperBowl (yay Eagles) and I LOVE it!

 Here is my scrap basket before and after pictures so I think I did quite well.

And still no clue as to what I did with that cowl....I will have to leave this mystery unsolved for the time being. 

We are leaving today on our two month camping trip so next week I will be updating from the road.  

Update 32 - Lost and broken things

For the past twenty four hours I have been trying to remember who I gave a peace cowl to, or if I didn't give it to someone where is it?  It started with another cowl I made a couple of years ago. 

It was a lovely black and white brioche cowl I made with some yarn that was called border collie.  I made the cowl in remembrance of my dear border collie who was my companion for 16 years. 

The thing with the cowl was if I snagged it on something a long long piece of yarn would be pulled out and for the life of me I couldn't figure how to work it back it. 

So a few days ago I decided to frog it and knit a different cowl so I could wear it more often. (The errant loops made me crazy, plus I was never happy with the join of the cowl. 

I searched on Ravelry for an appropriate cowl pattern, and then decided to make the Peace Project Cowl from 2016.  I had made four of them and I love the pattern.  Here is my progress so far:

Well, that took me down a rabbit hole because I know I had given away three of the cowls as presents and I always add the recipient's name to my ravelry project page - but for some reason this cowl didn't have a name.

Did I keep it? 

So I have been searching my house, and wracking my brain - and I even dreamt about the cowl last night but still I have no idea where or who it went to. 

Why does it matter? 
-
It doesn't.  At least not to a normal person, but for me this kind of thing can send me into a loop for a number of days until the mystery is solved. 

Sigh. 

Enough of that.

This week I have been working on my test knit socks - I am up to the heel turn, and a little on my scrappy bias shawl - but it doesn't look that different from last week. 

I did mend a knitted blanket my aunt made at least 30 years ago - It is almost as good as new. 

I have been spinning some very lanolin rich yarn. It is Fresian wool from a homestead my son lived on in the Yukon. It is so full of lanolin that it sticks as it is pulled onto the spool so I am going to rewash the fleece with soap and hot water to try to reduce the lanolin. 

Here is some carding progress:

and here is some spun. I am becoming happier with the thickness of my spinning.  It needs to be thick and over spun for the sweater jacket I want to knit. 

and another plus to this wool - my hands are very soft!

I am up to the neckline on side one of my cotton tee. Should be ready to start side two by the start of the Super Bowl today. 

I cast on Oceans of Time -another Knitterarium delight. 

I have been working hard on my Croatian language lessons, and we have been getting the camper ready for our long trip south.  I have to get away from this rain!   Hopefully next week's update will be from on the road.  I am taking my drop spindle,

 and my wips

and of course I am hoping to find some fantastic yarn shops on my travels.  Maybe even one that will let me borrow their spinning wheel for an afternoon.  (So I better pack some fibre).

To follow other yoppers go here. 

And, of ya, if you know where the missing cowl is I would appreciate the info.