Dear Spinning Circle,
Tour de Fleece/ Fleece Femmes has started! The tour runs from July 5 to July 27 and then de Fleece Femmes (TdFF) starts July 26 to August 3. The Ravelry thread for our team is here. Jump in, grab your Ravatar for your profile photo & start preparing to spin!
Live: Tuesday, July 8 @ 11am Pacific / 1pm Central / 2pm Eastern / 7pm BST / 8pm Europe
Direct YouTube Link
***
There is a lot going on in the community at the moment – please take a moment to read over the Ketchup & Pickles (Housekeeping) post for this month. Please leave comments with questions so that I can help you navigate! Remember that the On-boarding call this month will be Wednesday, June 30 @ 12noon Pacific.
***
SKEINED!
New Zealand Corriedale (Anne Grafton) ‘Mocha’ – 3.5-4.5″ staple, ~20 micron, crimpy/soft hand {Ravelry Project Page here}
Sampling / Spinning
Westcoast Colour CVM – ram’s fleece from 2020 – 2.5-3.5″ staple, fine micron {Ravelry Project Page here}
- Picking open, carding afterwards
- Initial sampling = long draw & singles spun for
- Added in 20% Muga silk for sampling
MellyKnits Sommelier – Origins – June 2025 CVMxDorsetxCharollaisxGotland blended with 20% Cotton & 10% Himalayan Stinging Nettle {Ravelry Project Page here}
- Cross, Barnston Island Flock, BC
- Cotton from Cottonman, NC
- stripped original batt into four nests & pre-drafted into nests
Cold Valley Farm, WI, Jacob – lock popping & carding; creating small nests to spin relatively quickly. Heathered yarn, planned 2-ply for weaving {Ravelry Project Page here}
- divided each colour into equal amounts for the two singles to evenly distribute the colours of the fleece
- lock popped while dividing
Spin to Weave
CraftyJaks Boutique Charollais – breed & colour study July – Dec 2020 {Ravelry Project Page here}
- Batt & nest preparation to work through
- Inspiration photo was from Greta Lynn
- Drafted the bat into a long roving to spin end to end & chain-plied
- 2-ply vs 3-ply, same grist
- Wove into a point twill stole – maximized yardage
- 7EPI x 8PPI
- Considerations for which to use as which for warp & weft
SweetGeorgia Silk Puff ‘hearth’ – 40% Merino, 40% SW Merino, 20% silk – 15EPI x 15PPI {Ravelry Project Page here}
- 180 ends of dummy warp – tied on & warped
- Very fine – easy to obtain sett
- Good tension & weaving relatively quickly
***
Community Participation
As always, thank you to those who share in the community, uploading photos and thoughts about what you are working on! I appreciate it – it’s my pleasure to be able to share!
***
Thank you so much for joining me today!
Until then, Happy Making!
