tour de fleece

The 2011 Tour de Fleece wrapped up on Sunday.  You already know that I finished this:

600 yards of handspun fingering weight tussah silk – started in last year’s Tour, finished during this one.  I had also started this:

My Tussah Shawlette – the pattern is Stephen West’s Blue Whale.  This is the one I still have the delusion goal of finishing during my week off.

And I kept spinning -

I spun about 2 ounces of merino/silk from Gale’s Art on my Lendrum.  Heavenly stuff – I have about another 1/2 ounce to go before I finish the 4 ounces I bought at Rhinebeck.

In the end, I spun every day, except one of the rest days and exceeded the goal I set.  I used my often-neglected wheel and spindles and got back into the habit of spinning regularly.  Another very successful Tour!

We’re now 10 days in and I am cruising right along on the Corgi Hill Farm Tussah Silk.  First up, I finished spinning the 1/2 ounce that I’ve been working on:

Then I wound it off onto my nostepinne, with a very classy toilet paper roll core for easier plying:

And then, I set to work on the next ounce:

Before Sunday’s spinning, I had already spun 1/4 ounce, which means I more than halfway through my goal spinning 10 days into the Tour.  It looks like I’m going to have to add to the goal and spin up some more Corgi Hill (sticking with Team Corgi, of course) from the stash.  There’s some gorgeous BFL-Silk in Shrooms in there – I think that one may be next on the list.

I’ve spun every day and am making good progress on finishing this silk, a year after I started – I’d say its been a successful, not mention fun, Tour so far.

Today is the start of the Tour de France, which for spinners of a different variety means its time for the annual Tour de Fleece!  I’m playing along again this year, again on Team Corgi (Corgi Hill Farm fans).  Along with the usual goal of spinning every day that the Tour de France rides, I’m going to finish this:

If it looks familiar, its because it is.  I spun up part of this during last year’s Tour.  Its Corgi Hill Farm Tussah Silk in Pretty Petals.  I started with 2 ounces, then bought another 2 mid-tour last year.  The spindle is my Two Tails Coffee Burl.  If I remember right (I’m far too lazy to check blog posts), I spun up an ounce last year, then spun another ounce and half in the fall, then put it aside.  I’ve got 1.5 ounces in that braid to finish this year.  Then, I’m going to ply it on my wheel into 2 skeins.

And I’ve got 3 weeks to do it.  Play time has begun!

My Tour de Fleece 2010 spinning – Corgi Hill Farm merino/camel/tussah blend in Crimson Lipstick (top left), CHF BFL fiber bite spun and plied on my Two Tails coffee burl spindle (top right), CHF Tussah Silk in Pretty Petals, also spun on my Two Tails coffee burl spindle (bottom left) and CHF merino/cashmere fiber bite spun and plied on my Bosworth Moosie (bottom right).

Detail of the merino blend.  I spun this fine – finished yarn was about 18 wpi, a lace weight.

Detail of the tussah silk – one ounce of singles spindle spun, then wound off onto a nostepinne and core.

This year’s TdF was a huge success for me.  I’ve tried to participate twice before and failed miserably.  This year, I met both of my goals, to spin 2 ounces of the merino blend and an ounce of the tussah.  I spun every day of the Tour, except the rest days.  It was a great skill builder too.  I worked on spinning finer than I have before on my wheel and really boosted my confidence about how fine I can go.  I’m not much of a spindle spinner (spindle collector being another story).  I got a whole lot more comfortable spinning on my spindles, along with finally learning to use my nostepinne.  More than anything – I had fun!  I’m really glad I jumped in this year.

Next up?  Finish the merino blend and then ply it.  I’m itching to knit with that one.  The tussah will take a while.  It mysteriously multiplied during the Tour.  I started with 2 ounces and ended up with 4 ounces.  Odd, since I only went to Anna’s Etsy shop once   I’d like to finish that over the course of the summer.  There’s another spin along starting up too – a 4 Ounce Challenge, to spin 4 ounces of Spunky Eclectic, Hello Yarn or Southern Cross Fibre, design and knit an original project with it by September 30.  This one’s got the wheels turning already…

Thursday was the Tour de France’s most challenging day and therefore, challenge day for the Tour de Fleece.  My challenge – to finish spinning the first ounce of the Corgi Hill Tussah Silk – pictured above with the 2nd ounce waiting to be spun up, then wind it off onto a nostepinne – middle picture of the beautiful ball wound onto a duct taped toilet paper core (all class, that’s me) and to spin and ply a merino/cashmere “fiber bite” from Corgi Hill – last picture.

I’ve now met both goals and on to the really fun part – exceeding them

Three weeks in and still spinning daily.  That’s an accomplishment in and of itself.  Progress to date:

Two full bobbins of Corgi Hill Farm merino/camel/tussah, 4.5 ounces total.

3/8 of an ounce of the Corgi Hill tussah silk on my Two Tails coffee burl spindle

I’m way ahead of one goal and way behind on the other.  My original goals were to spin 2 ounces of the merino blend and an ounce of the tussah silk.  I finished the first 4.5 ounces of the merino blend.  I was thinking about up-ing it again – it would be nice to spin the other 4.5 ounces.  Then I realized the tour ends in a week.  I think I’ll shoot for spinning some more of it – that kind of covers me no matter what.  As for the silk, I need to get in gear.  5/8 of an ounce more to go and 8 days to do it in.  That’s going to be a challenge.

supervising Mom’s spinning for 11 days has been exhausting

Just like the Tour de France, Tour de Fleece takes a little break today for a day of rest.  Completely optional, of course, its a good time to regroup, focus on another project or rest those sore muscles.  I do intend to take a break today -  give the elbow a little extra rest.  Time, I suppose, to curl up in my A/C with a good book, since all other fiber projects are still out of the question.

And speaking of books, there have been a few great suggestions in the comments recently.  I spent some time at Barnes and Noble yesterday checking out some of those suggestions.  At the moment, I’m flying through Still Alice.  While its a great read, its very intense and even chilling at times.  I needed something a little less heavy to follow it up.  I went with The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club.  I can’t knit, so I’ll read about it instead, right?  I think it’ll be just right for when I’m done with my current book (so unlike my fiber projects, I can only read one book at a time).  No doubt it’ll be a quick, light read – just right.

Back to the spinning tomorrow and if all goes well, I’ll try again with the knitting on Wednesday morning.  Fingers crossed!

I’ve finished up my first TDF goal, just a week in.  Saturday morning, I finished spinning 2 ounces of the Corgi Hill Farm merino/camel/tussah blend.

Time to up my goal – I’m going for the first bag, 4.5 ounces by the end of the tour.  I can’t keep my hands off this lovely stuff.

Tour de Fleece goal 1 – spin 2 ounces of the Corgi Hill Farm merino/camel/tussah blend into a laceweight – coming along beautifully.  The singles are about 36 to 38 wpi, so I’ll have a finished yarn of about 18 wpi.  I’ve spun about 1.5 ounces of it so far.

TDF goal 2 – spin 1 ounce of Corgi Hill Farm tussah silk on my Two Tails coffee burl spindle.  Also coming along nicely, with about a 1/4 ounce done.  I can’t decide which I love more – the incredible fiber or the spindle that spins and spins and spins.