Still Spinning Daily

The daily spinning for the Tour de Fleece continues. This 50/50 merino/tencel blend, hand dyed by Jude of Ewesful Creations, is on my EEW6 right now. I'm almost finished spinning the last of three 4 oz braids of it and then will likely get to the plying this afternoon. 

When that is complete I'll dive into this huge pile of fluffy batts. Both the white and the green were carded on my Patrick Green "Deb's Delicate Deluxe" drum carder from Superwash mill ends I purchased many years ago. I'll likely start with the green since there is less of it to get through and then I can recycle the cardboard box I have it stored in.

Somehow I totally skipped posting these two completed spinning projects. Both are BFL hand dyed by Jude. 8 oz of the green, 4 oz of the yellow. I love the vibrant colours!

Day 2

The second day of the Tour de Fleece was quite productive. The family was hiding out from extremely hot temperatures by staying indoors in air conditioned comfort. I spun through a movie and then a long visit with family and got quite a bit done.

I finished the first braid, all of it on bobbin one, and I'm now about 1/2 way through the second braid. 

Even with central air conditioning running constantly it is 80°F (26.67°C) in our house this evening! I feel so sorry for those suffering through this extreme heat without air conditioning! We've only had it ourselves for the past few years. 

The Tour de Fleece 2021 Begins

I began the Tour de Fleece 2021 at 10am, spinning outdoors in the (hot) shade, but by noon I had to retreat indoors to air conditioned comfort. It's 40°C, (104°F) out there and will be getting hotter as the day progresses! 

My goals for the 23 day tour are to spin every day, and to finish up with enough handspun of this colourway to make something worthwhile. 

I have six of these vibrant BFL braids, all dyed by Jude Pilote of Ewesful Creations.

2020 Tour de Fleece

Spinning outside on our first really nice day this summer. Not too hot, not too cold, not too windy, nor raining. The mosquitoes weren't even too bad.

I'm participating in the "Tour de Fleece" this year. For about three weeks spinners spin along, most years while watching the Tour de France bicycle races. The actual races were postponed until August this year but the Tour de Fleece will go ahead now, since for this event social distancing is entirely doable. 

I'm spinning wool and wool blends on my Majacraft Little Gem and cotton on my Mahatma Gandhi Centennial Charkha.  

Day Eight

For Day 8 of the Tour de Fleece I spun the second half of the vibrant pink Superwash Merino and Tencel blend that I was working on yesterday, then made a 2ply of it.

The photo is before washing it to set it. It's in the sink now for its beauty bath.

Tour de Fleece

This year I'm participating in the "Tour de Fleece", a spinner's event that parallels the Tour de France bike race.  Spinners choose a personal spinning related challenge and spin throughout the 21 day time frame of the Tour de France. For some it's to spin as much as possible. For others is might be to learn a new spinning style, try a new fibre, or spin using a spindle when they have been primarily a wheel spinner.

My chosen challenge is to spin for a minimum of 15 minutes for each of the 21 days of the tour. It might not seem like much to dedicated spinners, but I normally only spin 2 or 3 times per year. To spin 21 days in a row is really something. Now that I've started I have found that for 2 out of 3 of those days I have spun considerably more than that. This is my accomplishments so far.

Day One I spun for only 17 or so minutes and got this bobbin of singles:

On Day Two I added a bit to the bobbin of singles and then decided to ply it as well.

On Day Three I spun the singles for this small skein and then decided to go ahead and ply it as well.

It's photographed sitting on top of the HUGE reel of thread I purchased specifically for this type of plying. I found it for only a dollar at a thrift store.

Today I'm spinning from a bag full of fibre that I won as a door prize at a spin in last year.