Tour de Fleece starts this weekend! It’s an annual event that the Official Tour de Fleece group on Ravelry hosts. For spinners around the world, it’s a wonderful event to connect with other spinners, as well as to challenge yourself, even with goals as simple as to spin each day. July 4th marks the start and the following days are key to mark on your calendar (they coincide with what the riders of Tour de France are doing):
- July 4th – Start your wheels/spindles/charkas/etc!
- July 11th – Challenge Day
- July 13th – Rest Day
- July 21st – Rest Day
- July 23rd – Challenge Day
- July 26th – Finish line! Wear yellow to support your fellow spinners and bikers.
I am co-captaining the Lendrum team in the Cult of Lendrum group – we’d love to have you if you spin on a Lendrum wheel!
My goals for this year are larger than last year but ’lax none-the-less. Last year, my goal was to spin everyday, including Rest Days, which I accomplished. I spun some great braids of fibre that had been languishing in my stash for a long time. I had recently just started spinning again and the Tour seemed like a great way to keep myself accountable to spinning each day to practice my newly remembered techniques.
This year, I am spinning for three (yup, you read that right, 3) sweaters:
Clockwise from top right :: 2lbs of Local Perendale dyed a lovely Navy Blue roving, batts of the local Clun Forest fleece that Chrissy and I have been processing together, and 2lbs of a local (and exquisite) natural BFL top.
Last night, I was able to get on my wheel and do my sample spinning for the Tour. I have these with me when I spin larger quantities of fibre to remain consistent. On index cards I write my whorl ratio, wrap some of the singles off and keep notes of anything I might need to remember.
Clockwise from the bottom :: 2-ply natural BFL, 2-ply navy Perendale and lastly, a 2-ply sample of Edgewood Garden Studios’ Wensleydale which I am planning to spin on the Challenge Days.
Are you participating in Tour de Fleece this year? If so, what are your goals for the Tour?
Good luck to everyone who is participating this year – it was quite challenging by the end due to the length of the Tour. Lots of support for one another helps to keep the momentum going.
Happy Spinning :)
