My stock tank garden really is a frog haven, with the little pond (old dish), shade (melon vines and basil), food (bugs that eat my melons), and rest areas (branches to lead the vines to the fence). I thought these two were quite cute.
I bought some beautifully dyed yarn from a hand dyer. In the dying process, the yarn is left in skein form, which is basically a large circle secured in several places with twists of yarn. To store the skein it is twisted and one end tucked into the other. The skein form is beautiful, and shows off the dye, but is not friendly for direct use. It must first be wound into a ball or cake to be nice for crochet or knitting. You can have one person hold the skein open on their hands, and hand wind a ball, if you have someone with extra patience. Or a swift does the job of holding the skein open, and there are many types. I have an umbrella swift (named thus because it opens like an umbrella). I also have a ball winder (sometimes called a new wool winder), that has a rotating handle and makes center-pull yarn cakes. The sound of the Swift and ball winder turning makes a nice swoosh and clickty clack I find soothing.
There are melons setting on the vine!
And as I was photographing the mini globes, I saw the pollinators: tiny skippers going from flower to flower.
I have downloaded the free 3D modeling software called Blender. The first thing I decided to build is a drop spindle of my own design. I know a local company that does 3D printing and I’ve been itching to create something. The 3D print came out exactly like my model (after I had some help with sizing), which is very exciting. The printer used an ABS like resin, which is less brittle than regular resin, which I appreciate.
I tried out the spindle with some alpaca yarn.
It works! But, the design could use some tweaking. The head, that looked so big in the software, was too small to securely hold the newly spun yarn, and the resin is more dense than I anticipated, so I need to address that. The possibilities of this kind of design are intoxicating. I could be dangerous.
Happy Fourth of July! Here is a picture of spent Texas Star flowers after their glorious colored blooms. These natural and native flashy displays won’t set your county on fire or flip out your dog. And the empty casings are biodegradable. You’re welcome.
I thought the balls developing at the end of the stems of the Texas Star plant were seeds. I was leaving it be to do what it will do since it was a volunteer in the first place. If the conditions were favorable for this plant, I hope the seeds will also find it a good place to thrive.
Then I saw one ball was missing and another was cracked, so in the name of science I examined the cracked ball, broke it open and hundreds of tiny flecks poured out into the palm of my hand. An avalanche of what I hope are minuscule seeds came from what I now assume is the flower’s fruit. I thought thyme seeds were tiny, but these are at least a quarter that size. It was like opening up a new firework tube. I spread the flecks along the area I hope they will grow. The plan now is to wait until the fruit cracks, and spread the pin prick seeds along the flower bed.
Now I see how the first seed could have arrived in my flower bed. I wouldn’t take much for these microscopic vessels to hitch a ride on the leg or feather of a bird. Hm. I hope they don’t have to pass through a digestive tract to germinate. And I hope it doesn’t depend on the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow.
Critters and Craft 