Tour de Fleece is a spin along started by blogger Star Athena in 2006. Last year it straddled Blogger and Ravelry and this year it has pretty much moved over to Ravelry entirely. Participation has soared with the move to Ravelry, going from 400 spinners last year to 1150 spinners this year. Yikes! That's a lot of spinners!
Basically, every day that the Tour de France rides (July 4 - July 26), we spin. There are some standard teams that are just a part of the tour itself, then a whole host of wildcard teams, most of which are sponsored by dyers / fiber suppliers. Everyone sets their goals at the start of the tour and works towards them throughout the month.
My primary goal was to work on the woolen spinning techniques I learned at NwRSA Conference this year. Of course, after BSG I am also yearning to play with some silk and/or silk blends, but woolen spinning comes first, or actually, second...
Day 1
Grinding away on the third and final bobbin of Briar Rose BFL "Ply by Night" (sock) singles. So close! Quit at 11:30pm to take pictures, with about 24 inches of roving remaining.
Day 2
I was away from the house (and the wheel) for most of the day, so this was a spindle day. Spun up some Shetland/Alpaca roving on my Bosworth Featherweight.
Day 3
Woo hoo! Finally finished the Briar Rose singles...
...and moved on to the Enchanted Knoll Farm "Gold Dust Woman" batts!
The batts from EKF are farm-raised and contain Cotswold, Merino-Targhee X and Tussah Silk with Sari Silk & Angelina accents. I am spinning them long draw, semi-woolen and shooting for a heathered 3-ply DK to Light Worsted weight yarn suitable for a hat, mittens or a scarf.
I only got a chance to spin up about 1/8 of the first bobbin of singles today, so I am not sure yet if I am spinning fine enough to do a 3-ply or if I will have to back down to a 2-ply. I need to sample tomorrow and check.
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