Yet More "Life" Thoughts

Today we celebrated our youngest grand daughters first birthday (which was actually yesterday). As I stood there holding her and listening to her laugh and take her first steps, I remembered back 2 months ago when we didn't know if she would see this day. As she was being flown to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, basically on life support, I remember thinking that we could actually NOT see her 1st birthday without the Lords intervention. I for one am humbled that He saw fit to answer our prayers for healing and that we have the joy of celebrating the first of MANY birthdays with her. I realize yet again that there's nothing like a major crisis to put things in perspective!

TA-DA!

Proof that there is actual progress in the matching sweater project. This is the "test batt" that we carded on the Super Carder and since its rolled up nice and neat, I don't want to unroll it to get a measurement. The carder managed the 2 ounces of blended fiber without as much as a hiccup so I would say that my math appears to be correct....so far. The next step will be for Susie to start spinning and then do a test swatch to test for both gauge and drape. Assuming that the test swatch works fine, I will then start weighing out fibers into small bags and the carding of the next 100 batts will begin in earnest.

Sweater Update

Way back "when" we posted a picture of our pile of gray wool that we were amassing for a "His and Hers" sweater project. (Remember that?) Today I FINALLY finished weighing all the individual fibers for a total weight and started doing the math to figure out the blending ratios. After cleaning out the so-called sun room a few weeks ago and setting up a table our daughter salvaged from the library, I now have a place to work other than the dinning room table. We ended up with 6 different fiber sources going into this project and I gave myself a headache working the percentages of each to go into the blended batts. We now have the test bags weighed out (4.6, 5.7, 7.0, 8.3, 13.1, & 18.1 grams) and ready to put through the drum carder. The final fiber content is going to be a 50/50 blend of wool and alpaca....unless we see something in the blending, spinning, and swatch knitting process we don't like. If my calculations are correct, we will end up making 101 blended batts that Susie will then get to spin and ply before starting the knitting. And believe it or not, we actually have the pattern picked out already too!

Things here remain the same. The weather is calling for a freeze warning tonight so we went and picked the Muscadine grapes, the rest of the tomatoes and peppers and covered the Pima cotton in preparation. I am REALLY praying that the cotton manages to survive through this since as of now, we have managed an entire harvest of 4 whole bolls! The cotton on these 4 has been WONDERFUL and has a much longer staple length than the colored cotton we grew last year so we'd really like to get more than a Q tips worth. Other than the weather, work continues to be a "challenge" ...and I will leave it at that! Our granddaughter is doing very well after the ordeal with being Life Flighted but our son and his family were in an accident right after getting back from spending 10 days with Liberty in the hospital. This wreck put 4 of the 5 of them in the ER and totaled their car....so life continues to be interesting.

Cotton Bolls

Proof that our Pima cotton is growing and producing bolls. If the weather holds out, the next step in the process will be the bolls opening to reveal the white Pima fibers inside. The problem we usually have is the weather turns cold and we have to attempt to cover the rows to give the plants every day of growing possible. What we HAVE learned though is that unless the fiber matures ON the plant, they don't develop completely and the fiber strength is severely compromised. In years past, we usually wait till the plants can't survive any longer outside, then cut the woody branches, remove the leaves, and bring them into the house to hang and dry. The "thought" was that they would continue to somewhat develop but after ginning all the brown and green cotton from last year, I think that what doesn't fully mature, isn't worth the effort. (But that's just MY opinion!)

Our Old House

While up in Illinois, we HAD to drive by our old house just to see what it looked like. This was the house we bought back in 1983 and I would give my eye teeth for this house again! I for one was rather disappointed that they owners have repainted it a green since we had heat stripped the house from roof peak to foundation and had it painted a 2 tone brown with the same colors of trim. Also, the fence has now been removed on 3 sides and even though I love plantings, the place now has a rather over grown look to it. Oh well, it IS their house now but still.....I'd change things back if I could own it again!

Road Trip!

This past weekend, we made a road trip back to Illinois to attend a wedding and I FINALLY remembered to take my camera to get a picture of this sign. We have seen this sign on I-65 in Kentucky a few miles past Cave City for years and I've always wanted a picture of it since most people don't believe me when I tell them about it. Having grown up in the mid-west in a small farming community, this has always tickled me and I even though I understand the meaning of the sign, I have to wonder how many people look at it and wonder what they were used FOR! (Don't forget to kick the hooves before buying!)

New Discovery

During the time our youngest grand daughter was hospitalized, Susie and I were able to care for our other 2 grand kids here at the farm. One of the nice things about being out here instead of in the "city" is discovering weird critters! I have to admit that when they found this thing, I didn't have a clue what this was. We were able to do a little investigation and found that this is actually the caterpillar for the Luna moth. The Luna moths are one of the summer times great pleasures for me. I don't remember ever seeing them growing up in Illinois and the first time we saw one down here I kinda freaked out! They are a BEAUTIFUL large green moth with cool wings that love to fly around our windows at night. One of these days I will attempt to get a picture of one and post it. Until then, just imagine this flying around gracefully!