Tour de Fleece, Fin

Today ends the Tour de France, and therefore the Tour de Fleece.  My goal was to spin the first bit of merino and tencel, which I did.  I then decide I wanted to also spin up the Island of Misfit Toys roving as well.  I am nearly done, but still plying since it decided it wanted to be a fine fingering weight 2- ply.  I couldn't be happier with the way this yarn is coming out though!  Nice and even, and it comes across as a striped tweed.

  So would I consider this TDF a success?  Absolutely.  My goals were to improve my spindling and to spindle every day.  I worked on a new technique (pseudorolagging) and then simply enjoyed the process of spindling.  I got a lot of interesting looks and had the chance to educate people on the process of making yarn by hand.  So yes, absolutely a success and I look forward to next year!

Tour de Fleece, Days 18 and 19

I didn't get a whole lot of spinning done yesterday (day 18), but I did get my full cop wound off onto a storage bobbin.  I've only just started spinning today on the last of the "Island of Misfit Toys" roving, and since we're in Ohio for my cousin's wedding, I should have time tonight for more spinning.

Tour de Fleece, Days 14 and 15

Since I spent most of yesterday at the Doctor's office (first patient visit and a physical - I check out fine!) I didn't get a ton of spindling done, but I did get my cop wound off onto a storage bobbin.  I decided to use some old Ashford bobbins for storage since they'll allow me to actually tension my lazy kate while I'm plying.  Here's the bobbin plus what I've spun so far this morning!








I also was greatly enjoying the hummingbirds this morning on the back porch.  Their wings buzzing and their cute little "deek deek" chirp.  I was able to catch this one at the feeder.  There's also a gorgeous ruby throated fellow who comes by every so often, but I wasn't  able to nab him on the camera.

Tour de Fleece, Day 13

Spindling laceweight merino is taking a bit, but I am spindling every day.  I'm greatly enjoying the yarn this is making though!  It will be well worth all of the work when I am finished!

I also made up a few spindles for the Yarn Tree Studio

Including some rather unique designs!

Day 12

Tour De Fleece day 12 was more spindling, and the second class with my spindling students.  They did wonderfully.  They were so proud (and rightly so) of their yarn.  I also made good progress on my spinning, despite a busy day at Yarn Tree Studio. 

I love that store, and have a great time working there.  The customers are friendly and it's a great chance to continue to spread the love of kniting and spinning.  We're getting in some new spinning stuff, including new drop spindles made by yours truly!  Pictures of those will be coming shortly.

Tour de Fleece, Day 11

This time, with pictures!

Here is today's spinning, superwash Merino

I love this roving

It makes for a fantastic yarn with long repeats

Mama, take a picture of me instead!

 Cute greyhound aside, my spindling is coming along well.  This top wants to be spun super fine, so I may ply it into a light fingering weight yarn.

I also made a bunch of drop spindles, and once they're all dry I'll post another picture.

For those reading on a RSS feed, I added pictures to yesterday's post as well.

Tour de Fleece Days 6-10

Pictures will be coming, but since we were at a friend's house this weekend, it was hard to post updates.

I finished spinning and plying that multi colored roving, and then on the day of rest (day 10) I made a new set of drop spindles.  I have 16 new wheel spindles and four new designs!  I had fun playing around with geometric shapes and came up with some pretty darn clever spindles, if I do say so myself!

Since I finished my first set of roving I"ve decided to simply continue to spindle spin throughout the remainder of TDF.  Every day, except for the rest days.  So today I start on  some superwash merino in a colorway called "Island of Misfit Toys"  It's really pretty, and I plan to spin this in a more traditional worsted prep, though I'll leave it as singles and knit a cowl, I think.  I'll see how it spins up!

As promised, a picture!

This yarn is not completely finished, as I will be using it as a demonstration of why you need to wet-finish yarn.

The skein on the left has been wet finished and hung to dry.  The skein on the right has not.  YOu can see how the plies even out and the yarn becomes much more round and happy.  I'll finish Righty after my class tomorrow evening.

Speaking of teaching spinning, I had the fun of plying yarn in front of my friends' 2-year-old, who of coursed asked what I was doing.  She then repeated "drop spindling, drop spindling" in a singsong 2-year-old voice.  Adorable.

Then when we left I got a call from her Daddy telling us that she'd taken a lacing card, and was spinning it by the yarn.  When asked what she was doing the reply was, "Playing Drop Spindle!"

Tour de Fleece, Day 5

Today, I did spin on my spindle and I'm almost done with the fiber.  Then plying!


But the bigger thing I did was pass it on.  I taught two new students how to make yarn on drop spindles.  They did fantastically well!

Tour de Fleece, Day 4

Day 4 looks much like day 1-3, but more.

I have a third bobbin full and a partially full cop.  My coworkers were extremely bemused by my spinning.  I caught one watching intently while I wasn't looking, but looking away any time I looked up at him!

Tour de Fleece, Day 3

Day three and I'm still trucking.  Amazing what having days off does for productivity!  We'll see if I can keep this up while traveling.

I'm starting to think that I may run out of roving though, so I may add something to the challenge!

Here I have two full cones and a full cop.  Tonight I'm going to make a bunch more pseudorolags and take my spindle with me to work to spin at lunch.  That'll get an interesting reaction out of my coworkers for sure!

Tour de Fleece, Day 2

Day 2 and I've made a ton of progress on my spindling.  The pseudorolags are a dream to spin and I've filled one cone so far.  Since this is a tweedy blend, my plan is a DK to worsted 2-ply.  What I'm currently debating is if I will do my plying on the spindle or on the wheel.  Tensioning the cones will be a challenge, but if I go slower with a spindle, I may be able to get more control out of it.

Now, a picture of my pseudorolags and the yarn I've made so far!

Tour de Fleece, Day 1

I've decided this Tour de Fleece to work on my spindling.  I want to be better to be able to help out students!

So all of this roving will be pulled into pseudorolags and spun on a drop spindlie!