Tour de Fleece 2008
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Thursday 3rd July
Le Tour De Fleece 2008
I signed up for Le Tour De Fleece! This year is a "spin from your stash" event, and purely by chance, I just enhanced my stash with some Wensleydale and Gotland from Copper Moose and some Lincoln locks from sheepsandpeeps on Etsy, both of which are still en route. But I think I'll work on the 3oz of Polwarth I got from A Verb For Keeping Warm.
The challenge runs July 5th to July 27th, and there's a Tour De Fleece Blog where you can sign up.
My challenge won't be to complete the Polwarth, though that would be nice. It's in lock form, which requires a little flick carding first, and I've never spun locks before. My challenge is to spin a bit every day. That means I'll have to have a spindle with me at least one day a week. Co-workers are used to seeing me knitting in the office, but they've never seen me spin...
Tuesday 8th July
Four days of La Tour de Fleece
My goal for La Tour De Fleece is to spin a little every day, and I'm counting fibre preparation as spinning time. It's been fun cruising the participant list to see who's doing what. I'm going to save up my rest days for later in the month.
Saturday 5th July
Flick carded some Polwarth locks and managed to do it without drawing blood, I'm counting that a big success after last time. Found a bunch of second cuts in the locks but the remainder seems like a solid block of fleece. Packed some Wensleydale in the spindle box, the fibre feels dense and a bit hairy. Included a tulipwood wrist distaff from Greensleeves Spindles to marshall the fibre when I'm spinning, and because the wood is so pretty.
Sunday 6th July
A little spindle spinning before church, the Wensleydale from Copper Moose is very nice, drafts easily and I have a thin single. Took the spindle to post-NaNo writing group and spun there ("it's really not difficult" "no, that looks hard to me"). Wrist distaff didn't work as well as I'd hoped with undrafted fibre.
Monday 7th July
Wheel spinning some white Cormo, brought the wheel downstairs and watched Stargate SG-1 on DVD. Also spun some more of the Wensleydale on my spindle, the texture is interesting.
Tuesday 8th July
Planned to use the wheel, but the spindle got me again. Love the Wensleydale!
Monday 14th July
Consecutive spinning
Progress reports on my Tour de Fleece. I'm still in the running for that yellow badge because I've spun every day so far.
Wednesday 9th July
Spun up some of the flick carded Polwarth on the wheel and got a new appreciation for combed top! It's not so easy when you're preparing the fibre yourself with a dog brush. Picked out a pile of second cuts and spun through an episode of Stargate Atlantis. I have enough fleece locks to keep me and my dog brush happy for a while: grey Polwarth, grey CVM, dark grey Romney, and white Lincoln.
Thursday 10th July
Spindle spinning Wensleydale after work. Thursday is carpooling day and I finish work three hours before Hubby does. Camped out in Borders cafe and spun, no-one commented, or stared. Did get a fair amount of fibre on myself, I'm definitely considering sewing up some kind of lap blanket, especially when I'm spinning silk because it get everywhere.
Friday 11th July
Seven consecutive days of spinning! Still gravitating to the spindle, it's probably about half full now. Ordered some Cotswold roving from Etsy.
Saturday 12th July
Almost dropped the ball, hard to make myself pick up the spindle again. Golding did an excellent job with the Tudor Rose spindle, I let it go until it touched the floor while I was standing up and it was still going. Planning to Navajo ply this with the wheel.
Sunday 13th July
Spindle spinning while Hubby napped. Carving out a chunk of time to spin isn't easy. I happily knit a sock in church before the service starts, but I'm more self-conscious about spinning in public. Went through the fibre stash and put together a sample pack of Cormo, Polwarth, Gotland, CVM, and Wensleydale, the wools are very different when you put them next to each other.
Friday 18th July
Spin, spin, spin, and rest
Still spinning for La Tour De Fleece 2008. What do you make with a micro-skein of yarn? I have two 30 yard skeins of spindle-spun yarn and little idea of what to make beyond a glasses cleaning cloth. One is beige baby camel down, the other is cream Wensleydale. I have a silk glasses cleaning cloth in my handbag that gets used a lot, but nothing in my work bag.
Monday 14th July
How do you know when a spindle is full? Mine has more on it than I've ever put on a spindle and it's getting harder to do the joins between chunks of fibre. It might be time to ply this and start over. I've never done Navajo plying on a spindle before.
Tuesday 15th July
Slid the cop of Wensleydale onto a straw and stuck that on my Katie-a-go-go. Navajo plied it on the wheel and got about 30yds of three-ply that's drying in the bathroom and still somewhat twisty. Started spinning some Gotland but it wants to be spun thicker than the spindle wants and I was having trouble with the staple length after the Wensleydale. I think my Tour de Fleece is about sampling fibres.
Wednesday 16th July
I call this "Still Life with Cat and Wool." Quantum was dangling over the edge of the bed and deigned to be snapped with my micro-skein and the CVM fibre.
Started spinning some fawn CVM from Little Barn on the spindle, switched to Shetland locks, then Romney locks, finally settled on grey alpaca from Spunky Eclectic. Soft as fog as just as beautiful. I've never spun any yarn from alpaca and this fibre would look great as a light lacy scarf.
Thursday 17th July
Carpooling day, spinning in Borders after work. I'm way more self conscious about spinning in public than knitting in public. Probably because I feel confident of my knitting skills, I can knit lace, colourwork, and socks, whereas with spinning I'm not nearly so proficient. Got a couple of surreptitious glances and a smile while I was spinning in the Borders cafe. Love the alpaca to spin with, very soft and easy.
Friday 18th July
Day off work, but up at o'dark thirty as usual, cats need feeding. More alpaca on the spindle, there's some darker grey hairs in it, so the singles look almost tweedy.
Saturday 19th July
I'm taking this as a rest day, no spinning.
Wednesday 23rd July 2008
Lanterne Rouge
The Tour de Fleece ends on July 27th, and right now I'm definitely feeling in last place, which makes me the Lanterne Rouge. Here's the latest progress, or lack thereof...
Sunday 20th July
Another rest day, friends don't let friends spin while on industrial grade painkillers. Could have interesting results though.
Monday 21st July
A little alpaca spinning, not much. Cotswold roving arrived by mail today, interesting feel.
Tuesday 22nd July
Teeny amount of spinning on the spindle.
Wednesday 23rd July
Spindle spining again. Having way too much trouble with the joins.
Tuesday 29th July
Limping over the finish line
The Tour de Fleece is over. I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped, but having surgery partway through will do that for you. I did finish a mini-skein of Navajo-plied, spindle spun, Wensleydale yarn that I'm pleased with. I took three rest days instead of two, so I'm giving myself the red jersey of the "Prix de la Combativité", I tried hard and almost made it, but not quite.
Thursday 24th July
Did some more alpaca, but I think I've done enough spindle spinning, left index finger feels prickly. Switched to the wheel and spun the Cormo for a bit.
Friday 25th July
The wonderful thing about Tiggers being ambidextrous is you can just put the fibre in the other hand... Stitches out, more alpaca on the spindle, it's a good day.
Saturday 26th July
Lazy start to the day, but no spinning. Rest day.
Sunday 27th July
Some afternoon alpaca spinning, and we're over the finish line. See that gorgeous grey?
I'm definitely doing this again next year.