You've Come A Long Way Bethy

No, it's not Christmas. I am doing a little comparison. I'm sick of this diet. I've lost virtually no weight this entire summer. BUT! I have maintained and that is something to be proud of. Between adult children returning home, illnesses and deaths and stress it's been pretty stressful. Three weeks of the summer were spent in cheesesteak and hoagie heaven. I love Wawa Italian hoagies. For those of you not from the Philadelphia area you won't know what I'm talking about and the only way I can explain it is good hard rolls, great quality Italian lunch meats and round it off with some Salt and Vinegar chips and it is LUNCH. Then there are the little mom and pop places with their delicious cheesesteaks, pizza steaks, cheesesteak hoagies.... I could go on and on. And I did eat them all complete with mega fries (french fries smothered in cheese, bacon, and bunches of other yummy things and dipped in ranch dressing). Now I did not mean to turn this into a food log. My point is, I maintained my weight.
Here I am this past Sunday ready for church. It's a very blurry picture but look at the difference in my jaw line and neck. I think my mom is right. I lost all of the weight in my neck! The real point is, I'm trying to decide whether or not to add more weeks to the weight loss portion of the plan or just go into stabilization and maintenance. I can always decide to take off a few pounds once in a while over the maintenance year. In the top picture I am wearing about a size 18 in the bottom picture I am in a size 10. It's a big loss but a size 8 would be good too. I have a week to decide.
Anyway, I was at Erika's on Wednesday night. We warped her big Leclerc loom. Well, we didn't get it all warped but it is all wound on and the heddles need to be threaded. She wound warp for about 800 towels so if you're reading this you're probably on her Christmas list and now I've spoiled the surprise.
Here are some plastic bags full of some custom dyed merino I bought for the shop. The colors are beautiful and the dyeing is fabulous. This girl has quite an eye for color. I've started with the merino but will be adding some of her medium wools and hopefully some other stuff she can come up with. I've been looking for a local supplier of dyed top and roving and I have found her! If you're in the area come in and see this in person. If not, I'll be adding pictures to my website and I'll be happy to ship some to you.
This is some undyed merino plyed with a strand of silk. It was an experiment in plying and so there are some irregularities but once it's used in a project it will be beautiful. I don't know the wraps per inch but it's a little heavier than Zephyr.
Here's some - ready for the surprise - Wensleydale. I know, I spin it all of the time. I love longwools. Yes, I know you prefer the softer stuff but there's the weight and drape and luster that I just can't stay away from. I really was a raccoon in my past life. Anything shiny, I'm for it. This is a light fingering weight or heavy laceweight. Again, I didn't measure the wraps per inch. My plan for this is the Highland Triangle Shawl. Oh, yeah, I told you about that pattern before but when I spun and plyed this yarn I knew it was the one. It's going to be perfect. Swatch you say? WE don need no stinking swatches! It will be perfect and I don't want to hear another word about it! Well, maybe a swatch would be good. I'll consider it but... It just has to work.

Here are the Wensleydale singles on the bobbin. I'm spinning it with a modified long draw on my Schacht Reeves 24" Saxony with the 15:1 ratio.

Remember a little while ago I was talking about my love of the Jensen 30"? I still do love it but I spent this week going back to the Schacht Reeves and I've fallen in love again. I really had been spending so much time with all of the other wheels in the shop that Minerva (that's her name) has been quite neglected. After a good oiling we are back to turning out that beautiful yarn again. Now, I'm curious about the 30" Schacht Reeves so if anybody is looking to order one maybe you could do it through me. If I buy another wheel I think I'll get shot - or maybe I just need one in stock;-).

I've got some other things I wanted to discuss but now the kids need some lunch so it will have to wait for another time. It has to do with what I'm doing and how to go about it. Maybe you'll all give me some opinions. I'll be back soon. That's a promise, not a threat.