Part Deux - Tour de Fleece 2010

Here tis, the end of the race. All in all, the challenge to myself was incredibly helpful and fulfilling as I really concentrated on my consistency and learned to chain ply (Navajo Ply) better. My last two skeins of two ply yarns also were more balanced they my two plies have been in the past. So little by slow, I am getting better at this still new to me pleasure. I have only be spinning with this wheel for little over a year.

There are a few stray pictures that need to be rounded up as yet to complete the collection of what I did spin-wise this month during the Tour de France. There are also 2 skeins of 80/20 merino/silk drying and therefore still setting twist that I need to photograph as well.

I also have started spinning some cinnamon alpaca. This may be the last alpaca I ever spin as it is the grubbiest fiber I have ever spun. Not as dirty as the last alpaca I spun back in the Fall, but full of vegetable matter (VM) and foxtails. It's going to take me ages to get it all out before I can spin it, if I continue to hand card it. Going to check into borrowing a drum carder tomorrow in hopes of speeding that process up.

Tour de Fleece 2010

Every year fellow Ravelers do various projects for the Tour de Fleece. The goal is to spin every day during the Tour de France bicycle race. We get to rest on the rider's rest days and spin more or challenge ourselves on the hard mountain days.

I have been spinning everyday and my challenge has been to learn to be a better spinner and also to get better at plying my resultant singles. I am practicing chain plying, which is also called Navajo plying and also double plying with more balance to the twist.

This is the result of spinning a henna hand dyed Corridale and a natural coloured Corri and then plying them together. This yarn is called Fort Yellowstone in honour of the natural single being spun at Fort Lupton, CO during Heritage Days and the dyed single being spun at the Yellowstone Highland Games in Billings, MT.

This is a Corridale sheep in Natural. This other one is a Blue Face.

More shall be revealed. I am waiting on a chain plied dyed Blue Face Leicester to dry as well as some custom dyed pink merino.

#42 of 365 - I Almost Forgot and I Did Misplace

Whoops, what was I thinking? I nearly forgot to post today and I have been doing this for 42 days, one would think it would be automatic... I even commented on Rebecca's picture a day, which should have reminded me already.

I went out today to get the green Wild Foote yarn from Brown Sheep for Kevin's kilt stockings that came in at Shuttles in Boulder. I also stopped in at Gypsy Wools , sadly nothing jumped off the shelf and had to come home with me. Then I ran by the library for a DVD. the last stop was at Big Lots to pick up a pair of readers, as I have both broken one pair and misplaced another pair in the last 4 days. How sad is that?


So, what do you think?

#10 of 365 - Distaff/Roc Day

We had quite the turn out for our first ever personal celebration of Distaff/Roc Day. What a variety of wheel styles there were, even an electric one that Tam brought.

So many lovely spindles were there too, including some made by Darla and one made by Sue. I brought along my Ren Scot produced spindle as well. Schelli brought her Navajo style spindle and Darla brought her new one from Gypsy Wools in Boulder. Katte had her first experience with a drop spindle, I believe that she will be way more successful at spinning then I will ever be at tatting which I tried to learn today. Sigh. I went back to my lace knitting as that makes more sense to me...