Le Tour de Fleece

Spinning synchronicity continues! Brilliant Katherine of wabi sabi is sponsoring Le Tour de Fleece, a spin-along during the Tour de France. Imagine: hand spinning and bicycle spinning, a start in Strasbourg and a finish in Paris – perfection. Both TdFs run July 1 through July 23, fibery sign ups are open through June 29.

My challenge is to spin laceweight from the second 4 oz (113 g) braid of hand-dyed Blue Face Leicester I bought at MDS&W from Cloverleaf Farms. I took a bit of the first braid to Spin Out on Saturday. At the time I thought my first time Spinning in Public was an achievement sufficient unto itself; it turns out it was more – it was training.



(To avoid any allegations of cheating performance enhancement, see, I really do have two braids of roving!)

Training is going well. I plied up a bit and knit a stockinette gauge swatch at 6 st per in (24 st per 4 in or 10 cm). The fabric is wonderfully wooly, with a hand quite unlike Merino. I'd like to spin the yarn even finer, if I can manage it, but would be quite happy with what I've got now.



As for the other Tour: this year's Tour de France route runs counter-clockwise from Strasbourg to Paris in a prologue, 20 stages, and 2 rest days. Cable TV subscribers with OLN can follow twice-daily coverage; the rest of us must make do with online minute-by-minute feeds on the Bicycling magazine website.

Categories: {Project Spectrum} {Spindling} {Tour de Fleece}