Monday with eggplant and fleece

It's Monday and we have eggplant! These are the first that I have grown. The large one at left is about 3" long. We are also growing tomatoes, peppers, runner beans and strawberries. Something keeps eating the strawberries as they ripen, but only half. Could be a bird or a chipmunk. The garden is enclosed with chicken wire, not sure what else could get in and out easily.

I also transplanted some bear berries and a highbush cranberry that have been waiting in pots for about a month. I had put them in the ground and then we had some arborvitae put in and had to dig them back up so they wouldn't get run over during the install. While planting I noticed a deer track on the hill. First I have seen on the property in the year we have lived here. We have seen deer in the neighboring cornfield and across the brook. I thought that they pretty much stuck to the woods. Our property is a pretty open space.

As you can see, I should have weeded today. Instead I washed fleece. I am reading "In Sheep's Clothing" by Nola and Jane Fournier. Tried their method of washing the Rambouillet. It works very well but is terribly time consuming if you have a fleece as dirty as the one I purchased. Note to self: Sign up for a fleece evaluating class and no more sight unseen purchases unless they are from a hand spinner. Missed the MA Sheep Show in Cummington again this year. I've bought several lovely fleeces there. Filled one mesh bag with clean rambo and filled the other with targhee or I would still be at it.

I finally finished filling the first bobbin of Australian merino for the tour de fleece. Took me several days but it is dreamy spinning. The fiber is very soft and lovely. It's spun pretty thinly so I am thinking 500 yds of more.

Tomorrow I will be spinning ingeo and going for thinness and consistency.

Friday I visited with Sue at Valley Vogue. We are going to be participating in the Glendi Festival and Mattoon Street Arts Fair in Springfield the first weekend in September. She is weaving some silk for shrugs and making woven rag totes.

I plyed the silk for her and decided to bite the bullet and buy an electric spinner. Since I tend toward the more traditional, this is a new and exciting prospect for me. Don't get me wrong, I love my Baynes. It just isn't very fast at plying and I would love to try very fine spinning at some point. I am hoping for speed and fineness with the electric.