Tour de Fleece

Each year during the Tour de France a bunch of us fiber freaks get together for the Tour de Fleece. Basically, you commit to spinning or working with fiber (not finished yarn) every day that the tour is run. Many people set yardage or weight goals, some choose to work with new techniques or fibers they've never used before. Some try to just spin every day without worrying about amount of time or fiber.

This year for the tour I didn't have any goals, really. I knew I wanted to finish the two projects I'd been working on last year for the tour, but other than that it was just a matter of choosing the fiber that appealed to me the most and going with it.

First up is the BFL/Silk I got at MDSW this year. This was a bag of pencil roving, some of it really felted but pretty nice for the most part. It was around 8 oz of fiber, and it ended up as a worsted-ish weight two-ply (spun on my wheel):

Progress shot. So shiny!

Finished yarn

Next is one of the projects from last year, the purple and gray alpaca from last year's MDSW. This one is roughly a sport to DK weight two-ply and will probably be a shawl to take advantage of the drape of the alpaca. I tried not to overspin when I plied so it's pretty relaxed (scroll down to last year's post for the progress shot). It was spun on one of my Golding spindles and the rest was done on the Forrester I got at Rhinebeck last year.

The singles in a center-pull ball to make it easier to ply.

All done!

Third is a merino/alpaca blend from Bitsy Knits that I got at SVFF in 2008. Again, roughly sport-DK weight two ply. I'm not sure what it's going to be, but I love the subtle color changes.

Blurry shot of the singles on a spare bobbin for storage.

The singles broke when I was plying, so I have two skeins.

Finally, the laceweight merino from Spritely Goods that I was working on last year. Scroll down for progress shots of that one. By the end of the tour I'd finished the singles, just barely, but wasn't able to start plying. I also don't have updated pictures of that yet.

I started two additional projects during the tour, one on my wheel and another on my awesome Tabacheck spindle from Rhinebeck 09, but I didn't make any decent progress on either, so look for those in a future post. I'll have to prattle on about the yarn I spun while I was practicing on my wheel.

Radio Silence

Crap, a year? Really? More than, even. If anyone reads my ramblings, you know by now that I suck at blogging. Either I don't find myself or my life interesting enough to share with other people, or I'm just lazy. It's probably a combination of both. Want a brief summary of the last year? Well, tough, you're getting it anyway.

• Last July I moved into my house and the unpacking began. It's still not quite finished and there are a number of projects I still need to do. Whatever, it's not like it's going anywhere.

• Last October I went to two fiber festivals - NY Sheep and Wool ("Rhinebeck") and the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival - with people I met online. Out of both trips came some new great friends, ones I'm always excited to see again.

• In January I turned 29.
  
• In the winter MD got hit hard by two blizzards and I was trapped in my house for over a week. I was lucky for the ability to work from home and not have to take time off for those days. My basement is freezing in the winter and I discovered the joy of wool socks. I'm going to have to go back on my vow and knit some for myself.

• In March I had bronchitis for the first time in my life. It was awful.
• In May I went to Maryland Sheep and Wool with my online fiber buddies. One of my best friends and her two little girls also came to stay with me for a week. It was amazingly fun having kids around the house.

• In June I started having shortness of breath, which after many tests, doesn't yet have an answer. I'm also dealing with some mystery abdominal pain and digestive issues (don't worry, I'll keep the details to myself). So far all the various scans and tests show that I'm healthy.
  

So that's the past year. In that time I also did a lot of knitting and spinning. I've gotten the hang of my spinning wheel, and I even bought my first fleece at MDSW this year.

Right now I'm just as busy as ever at work. I'm working on a surprise afghan for my brother for either his birthday or xmas, depending on how long it takes:

I'm looking forward to going to Rhinebeck again this year and helping a friend with her booth at SVFF. Hopefully one day soon I'll know something more about what's going on with me so I can have the necessary procedure/treatment and start feeling myself again. (yes, I'm immature and snerked at that last line.)