Bees and Yarn

Yesterday was Earth Day. So, of course, I had to plant something … anything. I chose to plant my new Columbine flower seeds. My original plan was to plant them underneath Henry’s tree (an Eastern Red bud tree given to the woman who used to live here by her son Henry).

While uprooting the few weeds, I noticed that there were several holes in the ground. My first thought was that a mole had taken refuge underneath the tree.

Miffed with his/her real estate choices, I started to fill a hole in next to the hosta plant, since the tunnel was causing it to lean over. That is when I realized it wasn’t a mole’s tunnel. Instead of frantic digging, I heard buzzing. Then, I saw a bee enter one of the other tunnels. I admit, I started to get a bit nervous. Normally, if you tamper with a bee’s hive, it gets a bit irritable. Yet, these bees did not.

It seems poignant that on Earth Day I learned something new about Mother Nature. Ground bees or mining bees are solitary. They are harmless to humans and extremely beneficial to the environment (my garden). So, I plan to do absolutely nothing about them. Even Dan, who is deathly allergic to bees, asked me if I knew how to invite them back next year. Alas, I don’t.

Rather than spend the day eradicating bees from my yard, I finished a new lace design instead.

The design is based upon the picture. I translated the Chinese symbol, which means ‘happy marriage’ to the best of my knowledge, into yarnovers and decreases.

My only problem is that I can’t decide what yarn to use to try out my new design. I have pulled out almost everything from my stash. I narrowed it down to the two skeins you see sitting on the red table. The vibrant red is sheep’s wool by Briggs n Little. This truly reflects the color used in the picture. My devil’s advocate would note that the feel of the red yarn is a bit course. The other skein was given to me by my wonderful MIL. She purchased the yarn at a fair in Maine. It is hand dyed and hand spun. It’s softer than Jake’s lovely fur. So, naturally, I am leaning toward using the sumptuous yarn. I hesitate because my MIL instructed me to use the yarn to make something wonderful. A lace pattern that I will probably never use, except as a centerpiece for our dining room, doesn’t constitute as “something wonderful”.

Fine, you talked me out of it. I’ll cast on with the true-red.

PS. Doesn’t everybody keep a Tigger on their work desk?