Tour de Fleece has ended for another year

Well I am totally disappointed with my achievement (or rather lack of) in this years TdF.

On race days my aim was to spin as much as possible of a BL cross fleece.  But even such a vague goal was set to disappoint.  I have had a very busy few weeks with work, website updates for my local church including photo shoots of the local area, trying to complete an online course (final assessment due this weekend :-o) and organising a teenage birthday party.  All I could manage was two small bobbins even though I spun a little just about every day and prepared fibre on rest days!

My challenge days weren’t too bad with about half of the cotton branch prepped and spun.

What do I think of spinning cotton?
Ugh!!  Cotton is so NOT my favourite fibre.  I know some spinners love spinning cotton but unfortunately I just do not understand them.  Despite the number of YouTube instructional videos I watched I found my fingers sore and my shoulders tense.

• I tried spinning slowly but extra peddles before I let it draw in.
• I tried spinning fast and found I had a death grip on the fibre.
• I ended up spinning 14:1 ratio with about a second per peddle (double peddle wheel).  At least I succeeded in spinning continuously with few fibre breaks.

I will finish the cotton I have but won’t be rushing out to buy more and don’t plan to grow it (I once dreamt of growing my own little patch of cotton).  Then to decide what to do with it.  Perhaps I will ply some of it with the BL cross that I have spun.  It might make an interesting yarn for a toddler beanie or two.  Cotton plus 25 micron BL fibre… sounds like a plan.

Where to from here?

• 2017 TdF – yes definitely and try not to enrol in an online course at the same time!
• Just like the cyclists and other spinners do, I will prepare for the race so I have a mini stash of fibre at the ready with the objective to complete the stash during the race.
• What about the BL fleece? – of course I need to finish spinning this fleece.  There are only another dozen or so fleeces in the shed to spin and I have a further 6 fleeces on their way back from the mill soon.  I will never admit to a fleece overload but storage is becoming a little challenging. 

Until next time,

Happy Spinning

 

 

2016 Tour de Fleece

So many things to do and places to be and so little time to do it all... :-(

I am currently trying to spin up a storm as part of the 2016 Tour de Fleece.  If you don't know what this is about, check out the SpinFoolish team (http://www.spinfoolish.com/tour-de-fleece/).  I think we are one of the biggest TdF teams with people from all over the world.

Basically the Tour de Fleece runs along the same lines as the Tour de France (the famous cycling race).  We have race days, challenge days and rest days (which are usually spent preparing fibre for the next day).  We don't' compete to spin more than the next person, it is rather about personal challenge and commitment.

This year the Tour de Fleece runs from 2 July to 24 July.  My goal is to spin as much as possible from one of my Border Leicester cross fleeces (left).  This is from Charlie and about 24 micron.

The fleece is unwashed, very clean and not a lot of grease. There is about 3-4 kilos.  In reality, I doubt I will get through it all but hey, that is part of the challenge.


On the challenge days I have started spinning cotton from the bolls.  I picked up a branch like the one on the right from a florist in the city.  They are using them in rustic flower arrangements.

I am lightly carding them into small punis which makes the small staple length easier to spin.

So pop back and visit soon and I will try to post some updates on how much I actually succeeded in spinning.

Happy Spinning :-)

I finally finished the Tour!

Well it is far too long since I posted a blog and I really have no other excuse than not moving it up enough on my priority list.  I didn't quite finish what I aimed for in the 'Tour de Fleece' but I enjoyed the experience.  (Perhaps embarrassment at not finishing assisted the procrastination that stopped me posting!!)

I finished the ‘Tour de Fleece’ not quite achieving what I set out to but still feeling OK by the end.  I did spin mostly every day even if it was for only a few minutes.  I didn’t get through my 4oz of fibre by the end of the race period, but I did finish it eventually (with a little help from my wheel).

 

Now just what to do with it I’m not sure.  My family suggested I knit or crochet myself a new winter beanie since I seem to have lost my favourite one.  Now just to find that perfect pattern.....

It wont be as long between posts (she boldly says).  I have done some preparation and hope to craft a small series for you on Spinning Tools.  So until next time...

Happy Spinning :-)

Tour de Fleece

I’m sure most of you have heard of the Tour de France.  The cycling race in July each year through towns and mountains and across many countries ending in France.  Well for us fibre focused people there is a Tour de Fleece.  So I teamed up with a bunch of like-minded spinners via the Crazy Sheep Ladies (Spinfoolish) 

I’m sure there were many other groups to join for TdF fun but hey, my kids call me the Crazy Sheep Lady (when they aren’t calling me the Crazy Cat Lady!!) so you can see what I mean by like-minded!!. ;-)  Different groups have different rules, but just like the comment in my plying post, they are more like 'guidelines'.

As a TdF participant we are asked to,

• Challenge yourself.
• Spin.
• Have fun.

So we are now well underway for our Tour de Fleece.  Among other things, we are asked to challenge ourselves.  Some do a challenge on certain days, others like myself have decided on a challenge for the whole Tour.  I am trying to spindle spin 4oz of MissBabs Hand Dyed.  80% BFL & 20% Tussah silk.  I bought this in the USA while on holidays a couple of years ago. 

It is my first Turkish spindle.  Just a beginner one, not fancy, but I do love it and am really pleased with how fine I have been able to spin on it.  Everyone has a spindle preference (well those who spindle spin do I guess!) and mine is bottom whorl.  The Turkish is just that bit more convenient as you end up with a ball ready to ply.

So a bit more on the TdF.  According to my new friends at Spinfoolish, the Tour de Fleece was started on a blog by Star Athena in 2006 as a way of connecting with other spinners, and by the sounds of it, to incorporate her other passion of cycling.  (Check out Ready to get on your bike for the full story.) The relationship is definitely there.  Just type ‘spinning’ into your favourite search engine and you will get plenty of cycling hits.  You usually need to add ‘wool’ to focus your search on fibre things.

From 4 July to 26 July.  We spin, or try to, everyday except the two rest days just like in the actual tour.

So happy spinning peoples and if you hadn’t heard of the Tour de Fleece before then perhaps you can join us in 2016 for a fun ride ;-)

Now back to that spindle.