Finally getting back to some spinning

[I tried making this post through Picasa and I'm not happy with the lack of control over the formatting, so please bear with me!]

Almost two months ago I got this luscious roving from Heartknits Handpainted, and I'm finally getting around to spinning it up.

Here's half of it so far:

The color is a little more accurate in the bottom photo, but they're both pretty close.

I'm planning to spin up the rest of it all onto the same bobbin, then wind a center-pull ball and make a two-ply yarn from both ends of the ball. I'm shooting for something heavier than sport/fingering, but lighter than worsted. It'll be whatever it is, which will probably vary between sport and worsted.

I've been spinning so much lace-weight yarn lately that this feels like it's just flying onto the wheel!

Hopefully I'll manage to actually start using the yarn I've spun up. I pulled it out the other day and I was a little surprised by how much I have. (Not that I have much, I'd just forgotten about some of it! Out of sight, out of mind these days....)

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The fence is almost finished! Greg just has the boards to put up on the gate and it's done! I am TOTALLY in love with how it changes the back yard. Ryan and I spent a wonderful hour or two out there this afternoon, and it felt like a private retreat. Wonderful!!

Here are some pictures, although it's not terribly easy to see exactly what a difference it's made.


Here are the double gates-to-be:


These just need the pickets put on them and they'll be finished! Greg worked so hard this weekend! When he ran out of nails and had to start using screws, we decided to quit for the weekend and finish it next weekend. With the time change, it's too dark to work when he gets home.

Here's the side fence. It's hard to see in this picture, but that fence runs about 100' along the diagonal line between the lots. Since the house sits on a cul-de-sac, our lot is more pie-shaped than rectangular so that's one long fence! I *love* not being on display to the neighborhood any more.


And here's the fence on the other side of the house. The bottom of the gate looks uneven but it's not--the concrete slopes at quite an angle right there! We'll probably end up taking out that bit of concrete and re-pouring it to be wider so that we don't twist an ankle! (That's the royal "we" which really means "Greg.")

I'm so impressed with the wonderful job Greg did, and I'm already loving having the fence up.

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While Greg was working on the fence Saturday morning the kids raked up a pile of leaves and took turns jumping into it.

Here's an action shot of Gillian:

And then Ryan:

They must've jumped about a dozen times each.
(Greg is working on that side fence in the pic above.)

After the kids got bored with jumping into the pile, Ryan burrowed into it until you could just barely see his head and feet:


They had a great time!

As I was taking pictures of the fence this afternoon I managed to catch a picture of this small butterfly resting on the mums:


This is truly an amazing mum. Karen gave it to us five years ago and it's come back again and again! It's a beautiful big plant.

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Tomorrow is the big day to vote, so don't forget to get out there are cast your vote! I, for one, will be happy to have the hoopla over with.