Day 7: Surprises, and Another Spinarellarama

I woke up this morning and found out that the strawberry jam I made late last night really had turned into jam, instead of the thickened fruit syrup I usually get when I mess around with the summer fruit. So that was good. What makes it even better is that 50% of the strawberries in the jam came out of my very own garden. The rest came from the local farmers' market (the first booth, not the second) and I can state with authority that the nice people at Smuckers will not be involved in my peanut butter sandwiches this year. I am, however, entirely beholden to whoever makes my sugar, because I tossed 6 cups of that stuff into the pot with my 5 cups of smashed berries and now I understand why everyone likes jam so much.



After gloating over (and photographing) the jam, I made myself some oatmeal and took it outside so I could eat it in the beautiful morning sunshine. This is what I found:



I'm pretty sure there's something wrong with that table. For example, I'm dead certain that last night when we ate dinner at that table (and for the last 15 years, if memory serves), there was just one large piece of glass, not one thousand itty bitty glass crumbs. Furthermore, I firmly believe that the piece of glass in question was, in fact, located on top of the table legs, whereas these little bits of glass very clearly are scattered under the legs. We are at a loss to explain the change that has come over our poor table. I suppose we'll have to chalk it up to "glass fatigue" and get on with replacing it. The funny thing is that we thought last year about replacing it, but made do instead with replacing the seat cushions on the theory that it was pointless to throw out a perfectly good (if unfashionably green) table. Hah!

It was much too beautiful to stay inside today, but also too hot to stay in the sun for very long. I set up my wheel on the front patio because it has the best morning shade and, at least today, a nice breeze. Pretty soon El Husbando joined me. And then Isabel. And then Nate. And then Matty. And then the sun made it's way over the top of the house and infiltrated our little brick paradise. By 12:30, we looked like this, all crowded into the last shady corner:






See us waving?

Ah, family time.

The Tour de Fleece is upon us again. I spun this bobbin today, and another one just like it yesterday. The fiber is 8 ounces of a wool/soy silk blend from Louet and I have no idea why I bought it. It was fun to spin, but I have no clue what I will make with the finished yarn.




I spun two more bobbins of it last month and I'm guessing that it will take me two days to ply everything. After that, I have all of this stuff from Spinner's Hill.



For ease of spinning, I much prefer to spin from top, but I seem to lose my head every time I see the colors in the Spinner's Hill batts. Once again, I have no idea what I want to make with the finished yarn, which puts me miles behind last year's TdF goals. At least then I had some idea of what I was spinning the yarn for, not that I have actually used any of that yarn either. Oh well. Pictures of the plied stuff tomorrow.

P.s. Every time I start thinking that the weather is too hot for me, I imagine what it must be like to be a fur baby in the summer: