TUSAL, Gifted Gorgeousness and it's IHSW

 So far my blogging and stitching plans are working of course I have now cursed both of them.  I am making progress on both but not stressing myself out.  I think my brain has finally settled into this "new" and I'm not thinking too hard on "what happens when I have to go back to the office".  Based on an email from the Secretary (of Agriculture) my "when" sounds like it's still a ways off and even when we reach that point, it will be very different than before.  He is reinstating our old telework policy that allowed for up to four days of telework per week and they're doing position reviews to see which ones can be done virtually (obviously the majority can as we've been doing it for a year now).  My direct manager is all on with the four days of telework, and hopefully upper management will be too I did hear that our Director said that managers had better have a very good reason for not allowing maximum telework so it sounds promising.  

Looking back at my stitching  "journal",   was March 13th.  TUSAL is hosted by Sharon at It's Daffycat and is a just-for-fun collecting SAL.  What do you have to collect?  All those little snips of thread or yarn or what-have-you that you normally have hanging on your pants leg  throw away.  Instead of throwing them away, put them in a decorative jar and on the new moon, post a picture.  I'm a little late but fortunately, this isn't a high stress SAL.  Here's what's in my jar right now:

I added quite a bit of frog fuzz this month. It really is leaning towards darker/earth tone colors right now, except for that splash of blue Kreinik, isn't it?

check-in is the 15th of each month, but our lovely hostess, Jo at Serendipitous Stitching keeps the check-in open until the end of the month.  What is Gifted Gorgeousness?  It's our chance to thank everyone that has given us stitching gifts, or to show things we're stitching as gifts or anything else you can shoehorn into the theme of "gift".  I have two focus pieces that fit perfectly in this SAL as they are both gifts.

Goldie is charted by Heaven and Earth Designs and is a gift for my MIL and her husband.  I was coming to the tail end of her rotation time in my last post but will show from the beginning of her rotation time.

She started here the 1st of March and when her 10 days were up, she was here: LOTS of blue was filled in, there was some frogging and restitching, lots of body stitching and all that brown in her face.  EXCEPT the majority of the "brown" is DMC 934 which is actually a green, "Black Avocado Green" according to the DMC website.  It is things like that color choice that lead me to ask no questions when stitching a HaED pattern.  Should a green work, not in my mind, but it does.

After Goldie came off the frame, Japanese Zen Moss Garden went on.  This one is a gift for my son.  It was here at the start of its 10 days:  

and today it's here:    I finished the Buddah - that took the better part of a weekend, I'm not sure why it gave me so much trouble - added some of the "stones" in the water section, and started the fill-in of the center - lots of Rhodes stitches and Algerian eyelets.  It will be on the frame today and tomorrow and I am aiming to finish the center fill-in and maybe add some beads.  Chatelaines can be very heavily beaded, like all those swirls around the sandy center, so I add the Delica beads as I go, so I'm not facing days or weeks of beading at the end.  I'll roll a piece of quilt batting or sometimes a tea towel into the top scroll bar to keep them from damaging the fabric - if I use a tea towel it also provides a nice dust cover for my stitching.

This weekend is also March's   What is IHSW?  It happens on the third full weekend of each month and is permission for you to take time for yourself and stitch while knowing stitchers around the world are doing the same thing.  No set amount of time, no minimum or maximum number of stitches, no specific project, just stitch when you can from your Friday to your Sunday night. You can participate in blogland or the Facebook group.  As I mentioned, Zen will be on the frame today and tomorrow.  Sunday I'll fill in leaves on Temperature Tree and then work on my secret stitching piece.  Once that piece is done, I'll spin the "what next" wheel for my rest of the month stitch.

I have also been knitting and crocheting but I keep forgetting to take pictures.  While I'm not working on it right now, I did rip out what I had on my Heavy Metal Shawl.  I just wasn't happy with how it was working up - I did get a new needle - a Hiya Hiya Sharp (my favorites) - so am hoping that will make some difference when I start it again.

Hope everyone is well and has a chance to hermit and stitch this weekend.

Well, that was rougher than I thought

As a just-in-case, if you can, take at least the day after your second COVID vaccine off from work  housework just being human - I sailed through my first one with a sore arm and about a week later very swollen lymph nodes on the shot side lemme tell ya', that scared the pants off me!  Got to the CDC's website to see if it was a side effect of the vaccine - yes in about 11% of the cases (and mostly women report it - I wonder if that's because we're so attuned due to self-exams and mammograms or if it really is more common in women) and can take two to six weeks to go away.  PHEW!!!.  Anyway, figured the same for the second.  HAH! Within hours, arm pain.  Then the flu-like symptoms hit - for me body/joint aches, fatigue and a fever.  Suffice it to say I was fully down for the count for one day and just so "blah" on the second as to have been useless.  I woke up this morning feeling just fine and yes, the last two days were worth it.  None of the stories should keep you from having the vaccine because your mileage will vary - the nurse that did my shot said she had a slight headache and The Hubs had a sore arm - just be prepared for the possibility of side effects.  

So stitching:

Japanese Zen Garden from Chatelaine was at the very end of its rotation time when I last posted.  When I put it away it was here:

I finished the stitching in the lower right corner and some of the backstitching in both corners and, fixed a Kreinik error in the upper corner - used the wrong color - and started the Buddha representation in the right center.  I'm doing it one over one so it really doesn't look like much right now.  All in all, not bad progress during the rotation.

I then pulled out Temperature Tree by Stitchin' Mommy and got it to here:

It is done through February 22nd.  The January 31st leaf used a color that didn't show up in 2020's tree at all - for the 32 to 35 F range - and it was used in four leaves in February.  The next three leaves in February will show the end of winter at my house.  We may get a cold day or two, like this weekend, but we won't have any more extended cold snaps.

After I finished working on the tree, I started a new piece, but as it's a gift and I'm not sure if the person it's for reads this, so I'll hold off showing it until it's been gifted.  I will say, it's a small, I'm about half done, there's an awful lot of stitching for a small, and I have thoroughly enjoyed working on it.

Goldie went back on the frame Monday of this week and I put in 362 stitches that evening.  I was watching a lecture series put on by the Oxford University Museum of Natural History on early life and was not paying as much attention to my stitching as I should have been because Tuesday, I spent most of my stitching time frogging...  For her, I'll show a before and after...

Before

Today

You can see the ghost of some of the ripping in the lower right.  The ghost area and the stitching to the immediate left of it in the "Before" picture is what was ripped.  There's still a bit to put back and I hope to get that done today.  As I missed three evenings of stitching, there won't be as much progress as previous month's.

I almost forgot - I have a check-in for .  WIPocalypse provides us with some incentive to finish up those WIPs we might have hanging around.  Melissa at Measi's Musings is our host and all the information can be found here.  Zen and Goldie are my WIPocalypse pieces this year, but it's a flexible SAL so I can add as I need.  There's a one-month challenge going on this month, but as I missed three days of stitching, I'll wait for the next one.  Also, if you're participating in other focus SALs, you can count all of that towards your WIPocalypse month challenge.  Melissa also gives us writing cues each month and February's was:  What SALs are you participating in this year?  I loosely participate in several.  I say loosely as I seldom make the posting deadline like this one or forget about it but do it anyway like IHSW - International Hermit and Stitch Weekend but I am trying to get better at each of those things.  So this year, I am trying to keep up with WIPocalypse, Gifted Gorgeousness hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching, and International Hermit and Stitch Weekend. I'm also trying to keep up with TUSAL (Totally Useless SAL).  I would love to join other SALs but it's still so up in the air as to when they'll start wanting us back in the office, I hate to commit to more and then fall flat as that is totally demoralizing.

I had more to show than I thought, hopefully that keeps up.

See you in a couple weeks.

Start of winter

 So, in my last post, I said February was either the end of winter or just the start - this year it's just the start.  Like most of you, storms have lined up with little respite in between.  Unlike many of you, it hasn't been Arctic cold (although much colder than average) and we haven't yet lost power (although we were as prepared as we could be in case we did).  The latest winter storm warning has been lifted and it looks like we'll warm up into the high 30s F for the next couple of days so the ice should all melt off before the next storm hits on Monday.

The birds have been mobbing the feeders all week.  Most of them are seed eaters and the ice has covered all the grasses they rely on through the winter.  No unusual sightings this week, but a couple of robins (American robins are in the thrush family while European robins are in the flycatcher family so same name/different birds) are hopping around in the yard right now.  They will appreciate a bit of a thaw.

Before we get to the making, I have been very remiss in showing pictures of this young lady:

Cassie is almost 8 months old now and is a very happy, smiley little girl.  She is also very much a little night owl.  Although today she seemed to be much more of a morning lark - I guess there's just too much going on for her to miss any of it.  

Sooo, making happened and it all aligns with the two SALs that I'm also doing check-ins for.  

First, the easiest SAL you'll ever participate in   TUSAL is hosted by Sharon at It's Daffycat (clicking there should take you to February's post).  If you want a no stress event, this one's for you.  If you craft there are always little bits of leftovers.  Save them up in a container rather than tossing them (or wearing them to work on your pants) and every month on the new moon (I said "full moon" in my last post - sorry for any confusion), post a picture and then link over to the check-in post.  Here's the bits I've generated since the beginning of the year:

My actual stitching fits perfectly into  Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.  It is the perfect way to say "thank you" to people that have given you stitching goodness or to highlight gifts you are stitching or show stitching that you can shoehorn into the theme.  Stitch, take a picture and post around the 15th of each month.  Jo said she keeps the check-in open through the end of the month so plenty of time to get your check-in done.  My two focus pieces fit the SAL perfectly Goldie and Japanese Zen Garden.

Goldie was charted by Heaven and Earth Designs from a picture my SIL took of my in-law's dog and will be a Christmas gift some year for the in-laws.

In my last post she was here and now she's here

I decided that as there was miles and miles of blue stitching once her head was finished that I would complete one color in the head and then do one or two lengths of blue.  I am afraid that if all I have left is all that blue, I'll stall out and I really would like to get this finished sooner than later.  She's done on 28-count antique white Monaco with DMC - 1 over 1 with full crosses.

The next piece is Japanese Zen Moss Garden by Chatelaine.  This will be my son's when it's done.  When I finished in January, it was here  and today it's here

I'm stitching this on 32-count Summer Sky Jobelan with Martina's DMC conversion (except for a couple of threads that didn't have a good substitute) and the called for PTB and beads.  I was making very slow progress on this one.  I thought it was just a lighting issue, but it ended up being a magnification issue (guess 32-count is now my limit with my current glasses).  I moved my magnifier over and things are now moving along nicely (after I fixed all the miscounts).  Zen is on the frame through tomorrow.  

Even my knitting falls into Gifted Gorgeousness as this is for Baby W.  I was not happy with the way the blanket was looking so I ripped it out and started again.  I am much happier now.  Here is the whole blanket and here is a closer look    I have some work to do on uniformity but I suppose an individual bubble won't show up in the hundreds (thousands?) that will be in the finished blanket. This is three full repeats of the pattern, so only 20 more to go.

As I mentioned, Zen is on the frame until tomorrow.  I hope to finish the corner bit and maybe do some of the specialty stitches in the center before it goes away until next month.  Temperature Tree by Stitchin' Mommy will be going on the frame Sunday.  I hope to finish the branches and get caught up with the leaves fairly early in the "leftover" days in February.  I'll spin the wheel of projects to fill in the rest of the time.

Hope you are all well, safe and warm.

A tree grows in Virginia

 January certainly flew by and February has fully taken hold.  February in central Virginia is a very iffy month.  It's either the end of winter or just the start of it.  This year it seems like it's just the start.  We had snow last week, the forecast is for snow on Sunday and then for it to get cold (well cold for here).  February is also "that" month - even though it's short it's terribly long BUT now we have a bright note. This guy.  Doesn't seem possible but Grady celebrated his first birthday this week.  He began his celebration by starting to walk and topped it off with a delicious mess  .  Hopefully we can get things under control and I can get over to see him in person soon.  I didn't get to visit but I did make him a "card":

When you take off the roof you see:   and in the center another dog - which is a vague approximation of his dog Winston.

With our move into late winter/early spring (maybe) we've had another shift in the birds.  The goldfinches have returned in droves.  I had almost 40 of them on the feeders the other day.  There are also several pairs of cowbirds that came in last week - they are really early as I don't usually see them until late March.  This morning there were two surprise visitors to the feeders They're hard to see, but it is two male Evening Grosbeak(click the name to go to the Audubon Field Guide entry).  They visited the feeders when I lived in New Hampshire but have never seen them here. In looking at various maps, I am in the "nonbreeding scarce" area which explains why my Merlin bird app didn't bring them up as a choice when I tried to enter seeing them. Not sure if these two are just on a road trip or if it's a statement about the weather in southern Canada and the northern US.

I don't suppose you stopped by to read about birds or birthdays or cards did you?  So my post title - Rather than spin the wheel of projects, I decided to start my 2021 Temperature Tree for the last January rotation slot.  There is nothing to show as a start but I did get to here:

I probably could have finished the tree but I had a couple of nights when stitching was not lighting any fires.  I'm very happy with the progress I made and will make this my February rotation project too.  It won't take the entire ten days so will spin the wheel of projects once this is done.  This is done on 18-count Fiddler's Aida in Lite Oatmeal with DMCs.  The fabric is MUCH lighter than shown. I can't wait to get to the leaves and compare them to last year's.

On those nights when stitching didn't call to me, knitting did and I started the baby blanket for the expected addition.

This is the first row of actual pattern (I have done a second set of the bobbles but forgot to take a picture). I made a counting error in this row so the bobbles didn't line up for the second set of bobbles, but I think they will line up after that.  The pattern is Puffed Baby Blanket.  It's a freebie from Plymouth Yarns.  The yarn is Baby Soft DK from Lion Brand in the Twinkle Print colorway.  This is the most stereotypically baby of the baby blankets I've made but I really like it.

After Temperature Tree came off the frame, it was time for Goldie to go back on.  She's gone from here:

to here:

She's done on 28-count Monaco one over one with the called for DMC.  She's on the frame until Wednesday the 10th so I am hoping to finish her head.  

Now that I have figured out the pattern repeats, I have been working on Habitation throw during Teams meetings and webinars. I have used three full 10 gram skeins and a bit of a fourth so far.  

Colors from right to left:

 Smeagol, Real Elvish Rope, Don't Follow the Lights and a little bit of What Do Your Elf Eyes See?

from Bumblebee Acres' 2020 Lord of the Rings Advent Calendar.  All in their squishy sock base.

Those two padlock looking things are holding dropped stitches - of course they're in the border and it's an i-cord border so I will have to do some work to figure out how to fix them - and also marking the front of the throw.

I'm off to do some housework, order groceries and then spend some quality time with Goldie.

Hope you are all doing well. 

Early for some, late for others

 The one thing I didn't take into account when I came up with my brilliant blogging plan was SAL check-ins.  In an effort to get back into regular blogging, I decided to keep my schedule and just be okay with being late for some check-ins and early for others.  Once I get myself back into a blogging routine, I'll think about working in the check-ins on, or at least close to, their actual dates.

We had another small Christmas celebration yesterday - the box from my mom reached it's destination safe and sound (and it only took a month - those ponies are getting faster every year!).  It was actually rather nice to open the gifts outside of the hustle and bustle that seems to define Christmas anymore.  As usual I was spoiled - thanks Mom!! - with a cute shirt and necklace, yummy candy, a very generous gift card and two very nice additions to my stash:

These are For Ewe from Teresa Kogut (isn't that sheep adorable?) and Stained Glass Christmas from Ink Circles.  And yes, those are the threads and fabric (there is enough fabric to do all four ornaments in addition to the sheep).  Looking at the picture makes me want to start them all.

The first SAL check-in that I'm late for is 

TUSAL is hosted by Sharon at It's Daffycat (clicking there should take you to January's post).  If you want a no stress event, this one's for you.  If you craft there are always little bits of leftovers that you normally just bin, well, save them up in a container - it doesn't have to be pretty I use a repurposed Yankee Candle jar - and every month on the full moon, post a picture and then link over to the check-in post.  Here's my jar on December 31st:

and here's where it was last night:

Not a bad start, unfortunately, the majority is frog fuzz from a really silly counting error.

The other two check-ins I'm late for are:     and 

I didn't officially participate in IHSW, so am just mentioning this one in case you're interested in participating.  Clicking Hermie up top there will take you to description of the SAL, but essentially on the third full weekend of the month, clear your calendar of everything else and stitch! or clear a few minutes and stitch or stitch while you're doing something else.  Basically take a little me time and enjoy your favorite hobby and post about either on Facebook or on your blog and then link up on the IHSW post at Serendipitous Stitching.

My two focus  pieces fit perfectly into and are also on my    list so a two-fer check-in.  Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching and is a way to thank people that have given us stitching goodness by using the things they have given, show stitchy things that we're giving as gifts, or anything else you can shoehorn, no matter how loosely, into the theme.  Stitch and post on the 15th or thereabouts of each month.  WIPocalypse is hosted by Melissa at Measi's Musings and is a reminder that no matter how bright and shiny the new things are, your WIPs are just as bright and shiny and deserve attention too. Another stitch and post, but this time on the last Sunday of each month.

As I mentioned, I have two focus pieces and they fit into both of these SALs perfectly:

The first is Goldie.  It is charted by Heaven and Earth Designs from a photograph taken by my SIL and will be a gift for my in-laws.  She was here at the start of my rotation time:

and at the end of her ten days, she was here:

I don't anticipate this much progress in future rotations, but there were holidays and days off so lots of extra stitching time.  She's stitched on 28-count Antique White Monaco, 1 over 1 in DMC.

The next piece is Japanese Zen Garden by Chatelaine.  I was just looking back through my posts and the last time I posted an update on this was July of 2018!  Fortunately, my son is a patient person...  Which is right at the midst of wedding stitching and right before baby stitching.  I had a very hard time getting back into the rhythm of Chatelaine stitching, so not as much progress as I'd hoped but now that I've got it again, hopefully next month will be smoother and more productive.  It was here when I picked it up again:  

and here at the end of its ten days:

I started the specialty stitches in the center - I'd forgotten how much she loved her Jessica stitches - and worked on the water in the lower right corner.  While I seldom question Martina's directions, the stone colored Rhodes stitches in the center are supposed to be backstitched "to provide definition", as they are stitched in a perle weight thread, it was just not an attractive look to me, so I left that out. This is on 32-count Summer Sky Jobelan using Martina's DMC conversion except for a couple of threads that didn't convert well and the called for beads and petite treasure braids.

Melissa always provides writing cues for WIPocalypse posts and this month's is:  Tell us about a WIP on which you’ve really struggled to make progress. Explain its history. What appears to be the reason you’re struggling?

That's an easy question, I struggle with all my WIPs.  I still love every single one of them and will finish every single one of them.  The main reasons for struggling are:  I LOVE big projects, the bigger the better: I do NOT stitch as fast as I think I do so I always underestimate how long something is going to take; this last year excepted, I don't have as much stitching time as I used to; and designers have really stepped their games up the last few years and I want all the new things and I want to start them all when I get them. Can you tell I've thought about this before? :-)  I don't see any of these things changing soon so while I am focusing on finishing things, I've decided to be okay with having lots of WIPs right now.  They will all be finished in their time and I am enjoying the journey with each of them.

I hope you are all well.  Now I'm off to start something new....

Trying something new

Two posts in less than a week?  Who does this blog belong to?  In an effort to settle myself and maybe feel just a little bit in control of something, anything,  I am trying some new things.  First is the blog, I have every other Friday off, so I am going to make that my blog day - hopefully earlier than I'm getting to it today, but things got in the way.  So, fingers crossed, I will be posting twice a month.

The second is my rotation.  I had a crazy rotation set up and I wasn't following it - at all.  It worked a bit for the commuting me, but it wasn't working so well for the working-from-home me. I'd been mulling over a change, but couldn't come up with anything, so while listening to Just Keep Stitching over on YouTube, I heard Stephanie discuss her rotation and my ears perked right up and my brain yelled "THAT'S IT!!!" and then I thought, "That's not a revolutionary rotation, why haven't you thought of it before" but anyway...  So instead of the crazily convoluted rotation I had, I am now going to work on Goldie for 10 days, Zen Garden for 10 days and a randomly chosen WIP or whatever I'm feeling at the time for the rest of the month.  Simple and easy to remember.  My wheel is all set up in Decision Roulette for the random WIP pick and even though I didn't put any knitting or crocheting on the wheel, I do try to get a few rows in each night.

Two simple changes and I am feeling energized about my making again and a little settled.  The changes pull me away from "then" and put me in a mindset of now and now has got to be better.  It's not going to make for real exciting blogs as I'll only have one or maybe a few days of a second project, but everything is flexible and maybe this will get me back into weekly blog postings.

I can FINALLY show the making I did for Christmas this year.  I think everyone has received their card and the last of the boxes arrived at my sister's Tuesday.  

Here's my 2020 Christmas card:

The stamp is the Hydranea/Poinsetta PUNCH-INS stamp from Make an Impression.  I did a search for the company but it looks like they are out of business (my papercrafting stash is only about 10 years younger than my stitching stash).  Lots of punching, cutting and some watercoloring but I like how it turned out. 

And here are all the things I made for Christmas:

The four bags on the left were used instead of wrapping paper (I really don't like wrapping so being able to put the gift in the bag and zip it shut more than made up for the additional time it took to make them).  There are also a couple there in the background in different sizes.

There were two more hats (this is before blocking and prettying up) finished after the main picture the hats are knit in SplashOfColorYarnsUS's colorway Smoke on the Water:

And here is a close up of the finishing of the ornaments I showed a while ago:

The little bit of Spam fabric you can see is a mask for DSon.

and here's a closer look at the shawls.  It was one of the few VERY sunny days we've had so the colors are blown out.  The front one is deep greens and blues, the middles is teal and berry and the back one is rich, fall colors.

Now on to more recent making.

Before I started my new rotation, I worked on By the Bay Needleart's Time for Seasons.  It was here when I put it away last:

and it's here now:

This is a full-coverage piece - well, in the areas that are stitched - so it's going to be a long while before it's done.

Goldie (as a reminder since it's been ages since this was out - Goldie is my in-law's dog and I had HaED convert a picture into this Christmas stocking pattern that I hope to give to them this Christmas) was the first of my focus pieces in my new rotation.  She started here:

and today she's here:

I am still working on how to tone down that blue in her nose - I'll finish stitching before I do it just to see if it suddenly just works which happens a lot with HaED charting.  If it doesn't, I do have dyes that I can dilute and strategically place.  I'm very happy with my progress and will be working on her through Sunday.

I also started a throw and a shawl.

This is my version of the Habitation Throw by Helen Stewart (the pattern is available on Ravelry).  I say my version as I have already used a fair bit of "artistic license" especially on the edge as it's an i-cord edge and it is, at times, getting the best of me.  I'm using the Tour de Tolkien 2020 Advent calendar (although it's really a countdown to Christmas not an Advent) yarns from Bumblebee Acres Farm & Fiber Shop.  I was fortunate enough to snag one at their "we have a few left sale" in November.  This year's colors were based on the The Two Towers.  This is the colorway Smeagol.  I waited until they were all unwrapped and then made three yarn cakes with 8 days on each (my baller wouldn't handle all of them).  This is their Squishy Sock base (75% SW Merino/25% nylon).  They didn't have any on their Coquette base (75% SW Corridale/25% nylon) which is what I usually buy from them but this is a nice yarn and I'm enjoying trying something different.

Next up is my version Heavy Metal shawl by Shireen Nadir.  The pattern is available on Ravelry and from The Blue Brick shop.  

Again, my interpretation as I could not get the "slip with yarn in front, yarn over, knit" to look right, so I changed it (and you can see where on that left edge) to "with yarn in back" so I didn't drive myself crazy. I'm using the Winter Berry colorway -

- from WendysWonders127LLC on Etsy - gotta love Christmas money.  She does amazing gradients and offers large skeins - the one I bought is 600 yards and that's a medium.  The yarn is a wool/silk blend and hopefully I can do it justice.  

I also had an issue, with both of these projects, with the circular needles.  I'm used to a 9" circular for socks but not the 24" and 40" these use, so had cables in the way, yarn tangled around cables, etc.  I finally decided to start them on double pointed needles and once they're too long for them, transfer to the circulars. That seems to be working, but I am still having an issue with the yarn tangling.  I suppose some of it just comes with experience.

Speaking of yarn - I placed an order with Ravenswood Fibre Co and was expecting to wait forever as they are in Nova Scotia, Canada.  The other day I received a 9" x 13"manila envelope in the mail.  I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out what it is as I hadn't ordered any patterns or books from Canada.  I open the envelope and it's my yarn!!!  To reduce shipping costs, they vacuum pack it!

That's a full 100g skein!!

I don't know how long I can keep it in the bag, but I am tempted to do this with the rest of my yarn.  Keeps it clean and sure makes storage easy.  This also shows how much air yarn fibers trap.

Thanks for reading this longer than anticipated post.  Hope everyone is well and see you in a couple weeks.