Summer Update!

Here you go....the 2011 Pima Cotton Crop to date! Susie counted and I think we have 33 plants (out of several hundred we planted!). Not what I would call a very good result but at least we have SOMETHING to look forward to! As of this date, they are still small but looking very healthy so only time will tell if they will mature enough to make bolls. Actually everything in the garden is still small so I'm not real sure just what the problem is but I'm guessing that it's time to apply a few tons of compost and fertilizer to the beds again and dream about large crops NEXT year!

Maybe a year ago....I can't remember when...I posted about a project we were working on that included a number of gray fleeces we've purchased. The project is a pair of matching sweaters for which we are blending 2 Shetland fleeces....1 mix breed fleece and 2 alpaca fleeces along with several pounds of alpaca top that I bought pre-processed into top. I'm glad to say that by the time the weekend is over, I will be down to only ONE alpaca fleece to work on before we start the math end of the project where we weigh out each separate fiber then figure the blend percentages...then start carding samples on the Super Carder for Susie to spin and once we hit upon a blend we like and works well on the knitting needles, the carding process will begin! This has been a much bigger project than I realized but hopefully we will be able to wear these sweaters before we retire!