Summer.....

has officially arrived in Iowa!  It's been in the 90's the last few days, but fortunately we are still receiving rain fairly often.  So, the garden, flowers and grass are loving it!  I imagine the corn in the farmer's fields are quite happy with the high temps too.  I'm not a farm girl, but as I understand, corn needs the heat to really thrive.  For the next week or so, those little corn plants should be quite happy!

As for me.....it's nice staying inside with the AC on.  Good time to craft and plan for what's to come.

Which is:  Tour De Fleece!  I imagine most folks know, but just in case.....  It's a spinning "event" that runs parallel to the Tour de France biking event.  You are supposed to self challenge yourself to spin while the bikers are racing, and rest on their rest days.  Goals are to be set, with challenges.  Groups are aplenty on Ravelry, with prizes to be won!!!

So, my plans are basically to spin each day, a minimum of one hour.  To spin fiber from FatCatKnits.  That's it.  No lofty goals for me.  I've joined two teams.  Team FCK's and Team Schacht.  I will be spinning on my Schacht wheel - hence the team.  I suppose I could join the Lendrum team also, as I plan to ply on my Lendrum.  Hmmm....I'll have to think about that.

Here are some of the braids of fiber that I plan to attack:

I'm thinking about breaking this braid apart and spinning seperate colors - for colorwork:

My fear is that I will want to knit then, and not spin.  I'll have to decide later. 

To muddy the waters, the Mystery Mitten KAL also starts on July 1st, and I know I'll want to get started on that project.  So, I'm sure I will be torn.  Hopefully I'll get some spinning in each day.

On the knitting front, I finished the Mystery Shawl KAL.  It's a design by Wendy Johnson.  It's just now drying:

It's ok - I guess.  I wish there was a little more variation in the stitch pattern.  It got a little boring before I managed to complete it.  But it's just for me, to wrap up in this fall/winter when it's NOT 90 degrees outside.  It's alpaca, which is supposed to be extremely warm.  I've never had an alpaca shawl.  I know it's soft!  I'll take a glamor shot of it once it's dry.  I'm sure it will look nicer when it's in a more relaxed state.

I spun up another braid of fiber this week.  I'm thinking colorwork mittens.

These to be exact.  I've knit that pattern several times before, and it's a ton of fun.

Sofee's "hot spot" is still a bit of a concern, but she's adjusting to her toothless (or almost) lifestyle quite nicely.  She returns to see her doctor on July 2nd.  We may have to make a trip sooner though.  I'm taking it day by day.  She's not in any distress or discomfort, so not to worry. 

I leave you with a photo of a little plant that I have growing on my patio.  I call it the Candy Corn plant, although I'm sure there is a more dignified name for it.   It's a climbing vine, a happy little plant.  It's growing quite rapidly.

BG enjoys checking on it each time he comes to grandma's.  Last time he was here, we discovered a little baby cardinal that was obviously out for his first outing precariously balanced on one of the cross beams of the trellace.  I wish I'd snaped a photo, but I didn't want to disturb the little guy. 

Oh - and the hubbs came in the other day telling me there were deer tracks in his garden!  We are city dwellers, with a fenced in back yard.  Apparently, he could see where the deer had jumped over the fence and landed (hard) in the soft soil of the garden, ran across and jumped the other fence out of our yard.  Wish I would have seen that.  We did see a deer in the backyard several years ago, but it is a rare event.

Have a great week - hopefully you can enjoy your weather, be it rain or shine.  k