Fine Martial Fiber: My Next Trick

Monday, May 04, 2026

My Next Trick

Apparently, it was scarf weekend this past weekend here in the Fine Martial household, as both of these scarves finally got a bit of desperately needed attention.

On the left:

Yarn: Life DK by Stylecraft

Colorway: Teal

Pattern: Trekking Is For Necking

Needles: US 6 / 4mm

On the right:

Yarn: Red Heart Supersaver

Colorway: Hunter Green

Pattern: Seaman's Scarf from the Seaman's Church Institute

Needles: US 7 / 4.5mm

They each got about an inch longer, but hey, it's better than nothing.

And now for my next trick, I decided to make an earthworm tower. Now, all the videos I've seen said to use a piece of 4" PVC pipe, but I didn't have any. My first inclination was to go into one of the local groups and ask if anyone had a scrap piece they'd give me, but before I could do that, I found this old cotton candy container that I'd been saving for ages now.

I'd kept it with the intention of making a yarn barn out of it, but never got around to it, so it's been getting moved around the junk room for probably a decade now. As of yesterday afternoon, it has a new lease on life.

I drilled a bunch of holes into it, then buried it in my tomato bed.

Next, I filled it with vegetation -- mostly weeds from my yard -- and as it decays, it'll attract earthworms, which will then leave their castings in the bed. That's the best fertilizer in the world, or so I'm told. And I was able to get it almost smack dab in the middle of the bed.

I have no doubt the worms will find it. After all, they found their way into my raised planter. How they got up there -- , since the thing is 3' off the ground -- I have no idea, but they're there.

Later that evening, I went back outside and planted the three biggest tomatoes into their forever home.

I felt like I had to. They were running out of room under their protective cloches, and I wasn't quite ready to throw them to the wolves just yet -- so to speak. When they get to the top next time, I'll take the cloches off and put the tomato cages around them. I've also been saving my 1 liter water bottles to make a drip irrigation system for them. There will be posts...

This little baby is still struggling, but hanging in there.

I think that cold spell may have set it back a bit, because when I got home from work this afternoon, it seemed a bit perked up. Except for watering it, I'm going to leave it alone, which is probably the best thing for it. I hope it lives, but if it doesn't, I'm going to just buy one. If I try to plant from seed a fourth time, that plant will be so far behind the others, there would really be no point.

Before we leave the garden, look at this!