Tour & More

My July was spent watching the Tour de France, and spinning for the Tour de Fleece. I really enjoy watching the TdF - it's a lovely snapshot of France, and I find the logistics and endurance of the cycling to be fascinating. And with the Tour de FLEECE, I actually get a ton of spinning done:



This year's goal was to tackle a lot of the long wools that have been piling up. I managed to get a few sweater lots of Romney and Wensleydale spun up, with some breaks for shorter wools and smaller quantities. I'm pleased as punch with my progress this year: 8 pounds, 1.5 ounces - 7889 yards total.

I've also been working on getting these things printed up and out of the house:



I picked up an L Letterpress for invitation printing. I don't have the floor space, money, or structural beams to have a true letterpress here, but this seemed to be just the right size for making up these invitations. I had some plates made through Boxcar Press (from paper cuts that I made) and read some of their reviews and hints for using the L Letterpress. The printing went fairly well - that little machine is pretty cool and I do see myself making more things with it. The plates from Boxcar were crisp and easy to clean. Registration was easy and smooth, and the imprint was fine on the 160gsm cotton rag I used.

Envelopes are addressed and these are heading out the door!

Busy-ness, assorted.

Things have been a hodge-podge of busy over here. We got a new couch, which involved getting rid of the old couch (and chairs), taking down a ton of shelves, and basically re-configuring the entire living room. Behold, comfort:

...and excessive shelf space:


It totally opens up the room and makes everything fabulous.

Of course, this was just one stage of numerous home-repair projects. A month or two ago we helped a friend move, and managed to score 6 new-to-us dining room chairs. They're comfortable, and fit wonderfully in our dining room, but the seats were a blase beige (and dirty!) microsuede. Not so much. Off to IKEA! A staple gun, some fabric, and a half hour later, and we've got stellar new chairs:



I love that they are each a little bit different from one another but all play well together.

There was also some smaller crafting going on (the quilt is on hold for a bit as it's been a bit too warm to work on the hand-quilting) - these shoes:



Someone pinned these a few months ago and I haven't stopped thinking about them. The originals were Marc Jacobs for Vans, but they seemed easy enough to replicate, no? Air-erase marker, fabric marker, and a half hour later.....I have awesome new summer shoes! Hooray!

There's also been some paper-cutting:


These were sent out to have plates made in order to letterpress invitations and miscellany. The plates came out WONDERFULLY and I can't wait to get printing. Oh! Also in paper-cutting news, the Ignite presentation I gave a few months ago is now up online. It's all those 80s papercuts.....

There's been some knitting too:

Saartje's Booties, HelloYarn Fat Sock leftovers.


Damask, handspun HY "Winter Storage" singles spun by the most delightful Sparkcrafted. I'm knitting this up for her.

And thinking about knitting a Stripe Study with these:

That's Malabrigo Lace on the left, and Spunky Eclectic "Orchard" Romney handspun singles on the right. The mal lace is....felty and pilly. ALREADY! Grumble.