Tour de Fleece 09 – Week 1

So, I’m participating in this challenge called “Tour de Fleece” — the idea is to spin every day of the Tour de France & share progress. There are awesome prizes, too, but I doubt I will win anything unless it’s in the random drawing. The TdF runs from July 4-26 with resting days July 13 & July 20 (just like the real Tour). I was actually feeling it a little bit in my calves yesterday… couldn’t believe it.

Here’s my progress for week 1:

Day 1 (July 4)

Spun in public in the morning at the Corvallis Artisan’s Market. That was fun, I’d like to go join those ladies in their booth again sometime. I started spinning the New Hue Handspuns, merino/angora that I got at Black Sheep Gathering.

Days 2 – 4 (July 5-7)

I set aside the singles from day 1 and spun this 100% Tussah silk that I found at the Rose & Ram knit shop in Independence. This is a gift for someone… I hope they like it. It is most definitely not perfect. In fact, I broke the strand a couple of times, so there are two knots. Boo.

Days 5-7 (July 8-10)

Started in on this superwash Merino from I’Did’A'Twist & spun two bobbins of singles to ply together. LOVE the color:

On day 7, I also spun a little more of the fiber I started on day 1.

Day 8  (July 11)

Done plying! Very happy with this.

I also spun the bobbin on the right in this photo. That lovely plummy-purple comes from Bellwether Wool & I’m pretty sure it’s a Wensleydale/Mohair blend. (I’d spun the other one a while ago — it’s from a batt I put together myself on my drum carder.)

And then plied those together — the result is just okay. The blending in the single from my carded batt really doesn’t show up, it’s just overwhelmed by the solid color of the Wensleydale.

Day 9 (July 12)

Yesterday I started on this & got one bobbin of singles done. This is a Shetland/Merino blend from Sporfarm:

I feel like I want to make a 3-ply out of this and use a thin midnight-blue velvet ribbon for the 3rd ply. But I can’t decide if that would actually look good or not…

So, there’s week 1. Back next week with another update!