Sweetness

I'm by no means what anyone would consider a gardener. Several years ago, I bought a few peony bulbs at Costco and plunked them into the ground with only a vague idea of the proper method. To my astonishment, we actually had peonies a few months later. I realize that's the whole point of planting perennials--- but it never ceases to amaze me when they return every Spring, without the slightest bit of effort or thought on my part. Sweet! Now that's my kind of gardening.


Maybe because I've been taking photos lately of my knitted works-in-progress, I suddenly felt the urge this morning to snap a few pics of these plants in-progress too. Aren't the buds just as exciting as the flowers themselves? And isn't it bittersweet when the peonies finally bloom, since they won't again for another year?



I had a major breakthrough in spinning this weekend thanks to a couple of ladies at the Eastside Spinners group. Stephanie saw me struggling with 'The Beast' (my Louet S10) and took it upon herself to assist. She gave me lots of roving (that she'd dyed herself) and taught me how to pre-draft it. It turns out that the wheel that I use is known for having tons of torque, so it really pulls against your drafting efforts (the process of smoothing and pulling the wool fiber to a desirable density just as it's twisted into yarn.) One of my fellow Ravelers recently told me that spinning on his S15 was like wrestling a bunch of squirrels! I like my wheel, but I completely concur. Pre-drafting was the solution though, and I began spinning like crazy.
After noting my progress, my friend Tara sat down next to me and taught me how to ply my yarn! So guess what I was doing the rest of the weekend?

One spindle...


Two spindles...



Two-ply yarn! Copperwood:


Here's my second 4 oz. hank of merino top: Pearl Drop


There's been a slight problem, though. I've been using my kitchen scale to weigh exact amounts of roving for each spindle. Even so, one spindle has been consistently running out before the other when I ply. I'm not able to spin evenly enough to balance the yardage yet.

So I guess I'll need to figure out what I can do with my leftover one-ply yarn:



Here's a one-ply Ocean for my half-finished Nemo fish. What do you think?
Uh-oh. Now I've really gone off the deep end...



And finally, the wonky yarn that started it all. Tara helped me ply this with the stuff I made from Stephanie's colorful roving.


I think I'll call it, Kid in a Candy Store. *Wink-wink!*