Friday, July 02, 2010

Tour De Fleece 2010 - eve


Here it is, the eve of the Tour de Fleece 2010.


The Tour de France begins tomorrow at around 8am local time (or so the TV says) and that is the time I start spinning.

The challenge is to spin every day the Tour de France rides, which is most of the month of June. On top of that we set personal challenges for ourselves. I hope to spin an entire Shetland fleece during the tour. The plan is to spin it as a true worsted (which involves hand combing the fibre as part of the prep) singles which will one day be used for weaving. Perhaps even as warp.

Singles for warp?!? Gasp.

On top of that, I have recently agreed to spin some silk thread for tatting. Note, that's thread, not yarn. I just need to do two or three hundred yards of the stuff, but it is three ply. I am wondering if I can get away with Navajo plying it. That would make my life so much easier. This needs to be accomplished in the next week or less, so let's add that to my Tour de France challenge.

Since we can join more than one team, I joined Team Sprinters, Team Climbers, and Team Hopelessly Over Committed. I've also joined Team Raw Power which is a team where the participants process and spin at least one pound of raw fibre for the tour. I have 4.5 lb. and that's not including the parts of the fleece I don't want.

I suspect I won't win any of the prizes as I am not spinning any of the vibrant coloured fibres that photograph so well. But that's not why I'm doing this. I'm spinning because I have so much fibre insulating the house that I really need to get my fleece stash under control. This is great motivation.


So, on the eve of the Tour de Fleece, I wish good luck to all you spinners out there who are participating. And good luck to the riders on the Tour de France.

1 comment:

Josiane said...

Good luck to you! Looking forward to your updates along the way. :)