Tour de Fleece 2010

I am not a late starter, I am a late reporter.  The Tour de Fleece is here, and my wheels are spinning madly.

Last year, my goal was to spin all of Felicia, a Romney/Corrie mix from Ingrid at Ward Brook Farm in New Hampshire.  The fleece may have surrendered 40% of her volume to my twisty ways.

This year, realism sinks in.  Of course, I am an undeclared member of Team Suck Less, because, of course, I am working to suck less.

My goal is to finish.  Short, simple, sweet, just like for many of the less elite riders, it is a worthy goal. 

There will be no spindles involved in this Tour.  Spindles are fun, and have no timelines associated with their projects.  My goal is to finish three of the following four spinning WIPS:

1.  Finish Felicia.  I thought this would be easy.  I have one bump left.  Then I weighed it.  Thirteen point five ounces.  Ouch.  Pretty close to a pound, so a big bump = a BIG hill.  This does not include plying.  (The singles are pictured at the end of this post.)

2.  Finish my Mocha Enchanted Knoll Fiber batts.  This DOES include plying.  Two ounces x 2, one on each bobbin.

3.  Finish my Enchanted Knoll Farm roving.  It has wool from all the sheep, sari silk, silk, and whatever else it has in it.  This has been tough to draft.  I started playing with long draw, which worked marginally better.  I divided the 10+ ounces into three parts, am on the third bobbin, and will finish with a rustic three ply.

4.  Ply Handspun by Stefania indigo/osage Jacob singles.  I bought the roving after fondling it several Rhinebecks ago,  and thinking that it was extra soft Jacob.  Not so much.  The prep was neppy and irregular, so I used it to get acquainted with my cherry Schacht last year.

I started in double drive.  I tried and tried to be happy with double drive.  The roving was a victim of my misery.  For the last part of the bumps, I switched to scotch tension.  Plying the singles should be interesting.  I am not expecting much, but I do want it to be DONE.

In order:  

EKF Mocha batt, EKF farm roving, Stefania Jacob (the scotch tension part)

I have spent some monkey-mind time thinking about using the TdF for finishing stalled stuff.  I threw up my hands, said something along the lines of "Whatever!" and forged ahead.  If I finish ANY three of the four, I will be content.

I had my brain stretched:  I attended the TKGA conference in Manchester, NH this weekend.  I have lots to say about that in another post.  Key words:  Austrian knitting, Candace Eisner Strick, Norwegian Purl, Beth Brown Reinsel, Miss Babs.

Comments

[Lynn]

I started the TdF with 6 stalled projects; I've finished two (the only ones on wheels) and half of two spindle projects. Frankly, I shall be very happy if I finish (including the plying) ONE of the four spindle projects. Skinny singles go on FOREVER!

[margene]

You are going for the win! All singles look like they'll do well going on a date and as you with matchmaker they should turn out happily wed!
Spin on!

[Rosemary]

Good luck with all that spinning. I'm sure you will finish at least one of those projects.

I finished (except for a long soak and lots of rinsing out the extra dye) the multi-colored corriedale today. It's all spun and plied. If I can get the excess dye out of the yarn, it will be fabulous.

[Diane]

Ah, you're going to be one of the domestiques who don't get any of the glory, but form the backbone of the race! Go you!

TKGA still exists? Must go Google them and see what's up, I've lost track over the years. We went to a TKGA convention about 10 years ago, it was like a smaller Stitches then.

[gayle]

I'm such a late starter that I haven't started yet...
Finally finished carding the fleece (well, half fleece) that I had intended to spin, though. And the wheel has made it out to the living room.
At this point I may settle for being happy to do *any* spinning for the TdF, let alone finish anything.
Can't wait to hear about TKGA.

[Kathy]

Great stuff there!

[Carole]

Goals really help me to stay on track with my spinning. Hope it works the same for you. Good luck!

[Lorette]

I've just declared that my goal is to spin every day. What gets finished gets finished. It makes the whole thing much more enjoyable.

I've also tried to like double drive. It seems less fiddly, but I don't feel like I have much control over the wheel with it. I wonder if different fibers prefer different drive systems?

[Sylvia]

Double drive has its time and place, but Scotch suits me better, too. For sheer production speed of heavier grists I have used DD and cranked out the singles. Anything finer than 2500 ypp or so and I prefer Scotch.

[Marcia]

No Tour de Fleece (or de France) for me this year. Off on another adventure in the truck last weekend and have returned from Wisconsin with my very own loom! My only hope is that I can get rid of some of the handspun stash.....

[Teyani]

hard to focus on spinning when you've just been tempted by all those knitters..... on the other hand, spinning is good for meditation, and processing.. which is good when handling the world around us.

[Caroline M]

What gets finished gets finished, it won't vanish into thin air after they've torn through Paris. Progress of any sort is good, in the end it all gets done (or doesn't, by a process of natural selection)

[Lucia]

If you get even halfway there I will be massively impressed. Of course I am such a slow spinner that finishing ONE 4-ounce project would impress the hell out of me. (That's my TdF goal.)

I forgot all about TKGA. Probably couldn't have gone anyway. Must find lid for brain: things keep falling out.

[claudia]

All of those are worthy goals. Honestly, any spinning at all this hot and humid month will be a moral victory.

[naomi]

That mocha looks nice.