"I Believe It's Time for Me to PLY....."

     My apologies to REO Speedwagon.

     I finished plying the last of the merino-silk. It was a punishment; I was a bad girl, and the punishment I chose was to sit at my wheel and spin 230 yards of this gorgeousness and then ply it as soon as I got home the next day. No excuses, no stopping for anything except bathroom breaks and coffee.

     See, I promised myself I wouldn't purchase any more yarn or roving until I used up some of what I have in my stash. The promise lasted three days ... I fell off the wagon while browsing Ravelry, found myself on Etsy, purchasing 4 oz of brown Suri alpaca and 4 oz of plum Suri alpaca (imagining a plum-colored alpaca makes me happy enough to giggle). I was so irritated with myself for giving in so quickly -- not even a week! -- especially since I was halfway through the merino-silk I swore I was going to finish before doing anything else. So, as penalty for promise-breaking, I told myself sternly I was going to sit down and finish that darned merino-silk before I did another thing. Harsh punishment, I know. Brutal. I learned it from a friend of mine, an Air Force Master Sergeant, a master disciplinarian. For privacy's sake, we'll call him "Jeff."

     "Jeff" and his wife have three sons and a daughter. The daughter is currently the baby (I say currently because I'm betting there'll be a fifth baby in the making before the year is out). "Jeff" easily keeps his sons in line, but when it comes to his daughter ... well, let me post a picture of her, and you'll see the difficulty:

     What kind of heartless monster would speak harshly to that adorable child?!

     Jeff -- er, I mean, "Jeff" doesn't speak harshly to her. When she misbehaves, he says "no-no!" in a very tender tone of voice. It actually does make her scrunch her face up and fling her arms over her head in a most dramatic fashion, as if he had really hollered at her. So, in punishing myself for breaking my no-new-purchases rule, I chose a tough-but-tender approach. Spin the merino-silk before so much as thinking about spinning the new Suri. Free up them bobbins!

     Oh, and I stopped on the way home from work and bought a bottle of Chambord. I love Chambord, but I hate to spend $30 on a bottle of liquor ... so it was truly a terrible punishment. That'll learn me!