Adventures in plying singles, and winding my own center-pull cakes

My latest spinning project is done and finished, and it's currently hanging up to dry in the bathroom! It's two-ply, made from polwarth hand-painted in an ombre from magenta to black. This is my first time plying, and I really wanted to try fractal plying so that's what I did. Here are some photos:

   

 I was afraid it was slightly over-plied, but when I hung it to dry under its own weight after wet-finishing, it didn't curl up at all so it must not be too bad.

Another fiber-related development is that I bought a cheap ball winder and a handmade Amish-style swift. I've already used it to wind up all the yarn for my mom's cardigan, and a couple of skeins of handspun yarn. I'll have more to wind up in a day or two when the rest of the handspun is dry. I have to say, winding it is pretty fun. I almost want to volunteer to wind stuff for other people just so I can use the swift!

My next planned purchases to further my spinning journey are acid dyes and a jumbo kit for my wheel. I would really like to paint my own fibers in large enough quantities to spin and ply skeins of a decent yardage. My poor little standard bobbin only holds 4-5 ounces, which isn't that much when it's two-ply and something like sport weight. Alas I'm a bit broke at the moment, so I'll just go back to knitting for a while. I need to finish that cardigan, and I'd like to go ahead and make something with my magenta beauty (pictured above) when it's ready.

I also need to weed the garden beds around the house sometime soon, so that's another way to keep busy until I can afford more fiber and hopefully start playing with dyes. I missed the best time to plant stuff, but empty beds are better than beds full of weeds. Also the boyfriend promised to make me a raised garden bed for the backyard :)