the gilt

The next stage for the mermaid scales yarn is, of course, plying. However, when I think of mermaids (my imagination is wild and influenced by cartoons, bear with me) they're bursting from a wave, glittering with bits of shiny seaweed, and garlanded with gold and silver from shipwrecks.

So, I tried plying in bits of lighter green boucle thread, silver and gold glitzy thread, and a dark and light green cotton thread, to give the right effect. It looks really cool, which you can't tell from these photos. For spinners among us, you might sense that plying from this many cones at once was, uhh, complicated. You can see Sally has given up any interest in the process, and positioned herself right near the air conditioning vent. It took a while.

Here's a close-up of the yarn, which of course doesn't show all the glittery bits I worked so hard to put in. (it figures) I'll shoot more photos of this skein another time, so fibery people will appreciate the efforts. This effort is probably a one time deal. The rest of the mermaid scales may just have to go gilt-free.

Today I took a brief break from holiday preparations (Passover starts tomorrow night) and sat outside to spin more mermaid scales. The sneezy professor joined me and we appreciated our vastly accelerated spring weather. We've already hit the high 80's here and blasted through the daffodils and most of the tulips. Our yard is featuring wisteria, wood hyacinths, and bluebells...and the irises look like they'll bloom soon. Global warming, anyone?

As a good natured farewell to all bread products, rice, and other fare that isn't K for P, I told the professor that if he did 35 sit ups, we'd go out for fast food. (it was a joke.) He took me seriously, got on the floor, and I held his feet. Harry the dog got very excited that we were all playing on the floor..but-- not with him. So excited, in fact, that we think he decided to water a very large indoor houseplant in retribution! However, since he's tried to dig in the houseplant before to hide nylabones, it's up on a chair. Imagine our surprise when we quizzed each other--uhh, did you water this plant today? did you? It was an enormous puddle--under the chair. We're accusing Harry, although maybe Sally could have done it.

The joke was on us. We headed to Fat Moe's. This is a local chain that only recently made it north to Bowling Green from Nashville. I say, "I bet it's not open on Sunday!" and the professor insists it is. It looks empty. There are no cars in the parking lot, but even so, the professor marches up to the door. He will not be denied his burger. He tries the door.

It opens.

That fast food joint is empty. Completely empty. No cashier, nothing. Air conditioned, dead silence. The professor ushers me out to the car, (we're both a little spooked) and says, "How about sushi?" --As far as we can tell, Fat Moe's isn't open on Sundays. Maybe they just forgot to lock the door?!!

The sushi (the healthy sushi, complete with salad) was lovely. 35 sit ups and a healthy dinner I preferred? Aside from the large puddle in the dining room, I won.