I am a spinner...

At least, that's what I'm trying to tell myself... er, again. My poor wheel. She's been pretty well ignored for the last couple months. Covered in dust and pining in the corner for some oil and usage.

Well, this past Friday, youngest daughter dragged out the frame for the canopy from the basement. We took out the shell, shook it out, hosed it down and laid it on the driveway to dry. Then we put the shell on the frame and I immediately went in and saved my poor little wheel from her abandoned corner. I dusted her off, every cranny with love and affection, and brought her outside to enjoy the fresh air with the rest of us.

Okay, so youngest daughter looked at me with a horrified glance. After all, the neighbors could sit and watch me spin. Was I really going to indulge my little hobby where everyone could see me? Yup, get over it, girl. I am a spinner.

And I have a TON... well, okay, let's be realistic. A half-TON of fiber that's waiting to be spun and plied. Yes, ladies, I hate to admit it, but my fiber was so lonely in it's box that it began cloning and reproducing when I wasn't looking. I know I had a couple of pounds sitting there, but I think it doubled in weight while I was off ignoring it.

So I've got my work cut out for me. Lots of fiber to spin and ply. Lots of yarn to make. And then what to do with it? Well, I always knit something for my Mom and my mother-in-law and my aunt-in-law for Christmas. What if I spend my summer making up the yarn and then knit it into various Moebius' for all of them? And I have enough fiber that I can also make yarn and then knit Moebius' for both my girls also. I have a lovely "Blueberries 'N' Cream" fiber that I know oldest daughter will like a lot. And I have another bunch of fiber in a colorway called "Orchid Petals" that younger daughter will simply love. Both fibers are from Stone Barn Fibers and hand-dyed by Cathi, a true master at mixing her colors.

I'm thinking that might be an excellent plan. Yes, I was also planning on working on wedding shawls for the daughters for use someday, but I'm sure I'll want something that's different and simple when I need a break from lacework. Not only hand-knit, but hand-spun, would be excellent for this Christmas, don't you think?

I'm still trying to get my singles fine and even enough to spin my own sock yarn and I'm getting close. Very close. But I'm not quite there yet. I'm down to about a sport weight in my plied yarn. That's pretty good, but not good enough yet to knit socks with. So I'll keep practicing this summer and make Moebius' out of the final products.

Lord knows, I have enough fiber to achieve that goal.

Let's see.... what else? The yard is taking shape. I have seven out of ten beds weeded and pretty well planted. (I think I've claimed more flower beds in my yard, but I did a quick recount and there's only ten of them.) I do promise some pics of the beds. Some are quite small. But one is HUGE. I already plan to take a pic of that one with me sitting on the boulder in the center. That will give some perspective to just how huge. This is the one that I spent last summer digging out by hand. Approximately 6 days a week, 6 hours a day and it took me just about 6 weeks to get that thing dug out and properly mulched. Believe it or not, we used about 2.5 yds of mulch to bury it once I'd dug it out. I had some of the plants last year, I added a few more this year and I have a LOT more to add, but I want to do it slowly so it doesn't appear haphazard.

The plants I've been sticking in the ground are small. I can't afford to buy well-established plants, so I start with younglings and hope they grow up to fill in. It'll probably take another year or so to finish planting the area and at least 3-4 years for it to mature. But once it's all done, it should be fairly maintenance free. A bit of weeding. A new topping of much. Sit and enjoy.

BTW, all three of my purple smoke trees survived the winter. That was my biggest fear. The trees were SO young when I planted them and one is stuck in very heavy soil. So I worried that the heavy soil and winter chill might kill it. But they've all survived and doing well. It'll be another 5 years before they really come into their glory, but they'll be beautiful once they really grow up. I trimmed the new growth at the bottom this week to enourage top growth. (The grasses surrounding them are topping out and a couple of the grasses were taller than the trees... /g/)

But a note on the grasses. I planted "Strawberries & Cream" grasses around the base of each tree. A ring of 5 grasses. Well, life can be strange at times. I lost 3 of the 5 at each tree. So I only had two grasses that survived. Needless to say, it looked quite strange. So I contacted the nursery I'd gotten the grasses from but they're not even carrying those grasses this year. Yes, I could divide them, but I didn't want to divide one into two and the other into three. But I lucked out. Last weekend, I found a local nusery that had them. I bought three new grasses. Then, after I'd trimmed the new growth at the base of the trees, I divided the established grasses into two and planted the new one. So each tree now has 5 grasses around the base.

I was really worried that I'd have to move the grasses and start over, but now I don't have to. These grasses should fill in to create a full ring around the base of the tree and give a lovely contrast to the dark purple of the leaves. Give them all a few more years to mature and I'll find out if my plan will really work... LOL!

Anyway, off to the shower and then Mom's house to collect my seedlings. Both girls are at work until mid-afternoon and Mark is still away at his "boys' weekend". He won't be home until later. I hope I have time to get the plants before the rain comes in. It's supposed to downpour today. I really don't mind. We've had showers every evening this week. Nice sunny days and rain at night. I won't complain. It means I don't have to go out and water... LOL!

Have a wonderful week and drop me a comment.