Spring Is Here, and It Brought Friends.

Amorous ones even.

Nothing like some lady bug beetle loving to get you moving in the morning, is there? And with the sudden arrival of lady bugs all over the maple I got to looking at it closer to discover we have aphids. But then that is what fresh leaves and hot dry weather does. But luckily for us we started getting rain yesterday and I woke to still falling rain this morning. Many are irritated by this, but just like the snow, I love it. The only worry is with our soil here, if we don't get a break between rains it floods easily.

But this is one of those lovely steady, rain all day kind of rains. Makes me think of home. And between dog walks I found things to do inside. Such as spin.

This was my first disastrous foray into spinning with beads. The Corriedale fiber felted a bit and the beads just kind of hang there. pulling away from the fiber on the polyester thread they were threaded on. It's hard to see here but it was a very unsuccessful attempt. I will in the future try placing them on a finely spun single instead.

And since it was already kind of a crap shoot. I threw the finished yarn in the dye pot.

And considering how rarely I actually dye, it was kind of amazing as to how close I came to lavender I wanted. It was just a packet and a half of grape Kool-Aid and vinegar thrown in to a crock pot for a bit.

You can kind of see here the beads just kind of hanging from the yarn instead of laying in the yarn.

So, with all that said, last night before bed I dove back into some knitting. I swear I will get the autumn leaves stole done at some point but I can tell you, my mind is done with this pattern. As soon as I pick it up I start to fall asleep and I am only just over half way done. I have a lot of knitting left to do on it. Someone want to finish it up for me?