It all started with cotton and a comment from Ginny

First of all, let me say, ladies....I just loved all of your comments on your special creating space from my last post! It is always so wonderful to hear and to take a look at others working places. Just loved hearing from all of you!

Last week, I posted some pictures of life around the farm on my country blog, Eggs In My Pocket. One of those pictures was this....

Fresh field cotton lying on the road from being blown out of the cotton haulers on the way to the gin. Ginny..at Gingerbreads House http://gingerbreadshouse.blogspot.com/ commented that she would be gathering a bag of that to spin on her spinning wheel. Now let me tell you about Ginny. She seems to have walked straight out of the pages of a history book....full of knowledge and wisdom on cooking, frugal living.. and the lost art of weaving and spinning on the spinning wheel. Go visit her, you will just love her! I have always wanted to raise sheep so that I could spin and dye my own yarn. Well, Ginny got me to thinking.... cotton yarn is also wonderful!
Even though the fields have been harvested, there is still quite a lot of cotton left on plants and on the ground that the machine did not pick up. It will soon be ruined by wet weather, blown away in the west Texas winds, and plowed under by the farmers to get their fields ready for next planting season. So with Sophie at my side, out to the cotton field behind our home, we went. I gathered a small amount to play with and a small amount to mail to Ginny. The cotton is full of seeds and leaves, which needs to be removed before spinning.


I do not own a spinning wheel, so a girl's gotta do, what a girl's gotta do.... I started pulling and spinning with my hands. This is the result.

I emailed Ginny the pictures and asked for her expertise if I was doing this wrong...she was very encouraging and even though this step might work, it would be better and much faster to have a spinning tool. She is anxious for her box of cotton to arrive. We have typed our fingers away talking about farm living, cooking, spinning and dying yarns. I wish Ginny lived next door, she would be so much fun to learn from. Ginny, if you read this, bless you!