Happy Independence Day all you Americans.
If it’s July, then it’s time for the Tour de Fleece!
Time to get out those spinning wheels and spindles, raid the fiber stash and spin every day the Tour de France boys ride their bikes (and did you see all those crashes this morning? Oy!)
If you’re in to group activities and prizes, you can join a TdF team on Ravelry. By posting pictures of your completed handspun in various threads you’re eligible to win beautimous prizes at the end of the tour. Just writing about this makes it seem all official and rulesy but it’s not. It’s a bunch of like-minded people having a virtual spinning bee.
Just spinning every day is a challenge for me, but I hope to be improved enough by the end of the month to have tackled some of the “special” fiber in my stash. I picked up the Guild rental wheel on Thursday, an older single treadle Louet S10 which is just now settling into its new home. I had a bias against single treadle wheels even though I’d never used one. Turns out, I sort of like it. At least until I got up this morning and found out my right hip wouldn’t go. Must remember to switch legs if I’m going to spin for long periods of time.
To bond with it, I spun this:
About 3.5 oz. of a generic wool. The spinning was done Thursday & Friday. The plying I did Saturday to kick off TdF. It’s been soaked, thwacked and dried and there’s about 100 yards sport to worsted weight two-ply.
I feel like I’m getting some control over my spinning, so decided to kick it up a notch and moved on to this bump:
2 ounces of cormo roving from Strawberry Moon Farms bought at Shepherd’s Harvest in Minnesota this spring. It looks like strawberries with just a hint of yellow in it. So far it’s spinning up to a light fingering/heavy lace weight and it’s a pleasure to work with.
Meanwhile, the poor Minimalist cardigan sits with just a fourth of a sleeve left to knit! I’m adding a challenge for July to get this finished.
But right now, it’s time for a nap.
Ciao chickadees. Hope your holiday is fun and sparkly!
So pretty. Love the pink and the strawberry cormo looks luscious!
You’ve snuggled up quite nicely with that rental wheel. I love the colors of both of the fibers you’ve chosen.
xo
I haven’t spun a lick, yet = it’s been way too hot and sticky…
When I first read the sentence about Minimalist, I read it as just needing a fourth sleeve. Umm…