a round and green friday

Here is the second yarn! I probably won't keep numbering them, and will just start to show you yarn creations occasionally, but for now the yarn feels like such a new fun unexpected creation that I feel like new parents do when they tell you exactly how old their child is down to the exact number of months and days (they could probably tell you minutes as well). This is an ounce of wool in a yummy chartreuse green color spun to a 2-ply fingering weight. I have no idea how many yards I have. Hmmm, probably enough for a decorative detail somewhere, not enough to make anything except for a doll sweater. This green is one of my favorite colors as it has a interesting tendency to make all other colors look great. I can't explain its unique power but I know it to be so.

For some strange and entirely enjoyable reason it continues to be about 60 degrees during the day out here in western mass. This makes me and my small collection of succulent plants out on the porch very happy, and they can be tricked into not realizing that this is not their climate.

I've always enjoyed plants, but about 6 years ago I was visiting a friend from California, and got my introduction to succulents. My friend is a ceramic artist and at that time was making whimsical ceramic containers for the most interesting plants I had ever seen - most of them in the succulent family. Talk about beautiful sculptural shapes and sophisticated colors! These plants had it all. On my way home, my friend loaded up my car with a few flats of these plants and assured me I could take care of them, they would "let me know what they needed". I was rather dubious and worried about killing them all, but in a way she was right. They have a way of letting me know what they need, whether it be water or light. Thankfully they generally thrive on neglect. We've had some disasters together, me and the plants, the dreadful sunburning incident of 2001 and the below-freezing holocaust decimation of 2004, but we've had some good moments too, some flowerings, new babies being offset and given away to friends, and plants busting right out of their pots. I have a pretty good sense now of which ones do better in this climate, and even have some of the original batch still with me.

Here are some photos of the succulents enjoying the fabulous day: