Last year was my very first Tour de Fleece. I went a little overboard and spun up an incredible amount of fiber. This year I decided to take it easy and keep it a bit more low key and laid back.
But that doesn’t mean I’m not challenging myself. I’m on two teams this year, Team Schacht and Team Ashford. For Team Schacht, I am using my beautiful Schacht Ladybug to spin silk. I’ve spun lots of silk blends since I started spinning two years ago, but I have never tried spinning pure silk. So, I bought a Treenway Silks fiber kit from The Woolery, and some Ashland Bay undyed silk hankies,
A box full of silk fiber and a bag of silk hankies
and today I dug in.
I started with the undyed tussah silk sliver, which is a preparation that is very similar to combed top. The fibers are all lined up and the drafting is easy. I spun it all today with my Ladybug set up in Scotch tension using the medium pulley with the drive band in the smaller groove, which is a ratio of 9:1.
A bobbin of tussah silk singles
The singles is a lace weight that when plied back on itself makes a heavy fingering weight yarn. I have a length of dyed tussah silk that I will spin in the same way, then I will ply the two together to make a 2-ply silk yarn.
For Team Ashford, I’m spinning on my Traveller in double drive using the sliding hook flyer and the middle groove on the pulley that comes with the flyer. The ratio is 8:1, which is normally too slow for me, but my goal is to spin a singles that will make a worsted weight yarn when chain-plied. I just naturally tend to spin very thin singles, so I have to work at getting them a little thicker, so the slower ratio really helps.
The fiber is a braid of merino wool from Greenwood Fiber Works in Holly Berry that I have had in my stash for quite a while.
Greenwood Fiber Works merino in Holly Berry
Merino can be a little tricky to draft because it tends to be pretty sticky, and I haven’t spun a lot of merino, so it’s not autopilot spinning for me. I am trying to keep the singles as consistent as I can because I will be chain-plying it. Chain plying isn’t as forgiving as doing a 3-ply.
Here’s my day 1 progress:
Merino singles on the Ashford sliding hook flyer
All Kinds Of Knitting 
Nice progress for Day 1. Love the colors of the holly berry.
Thanks, Janet. I love the colors of the holly berry, too.
That silk looks stunning. I,ve spun with it once and I remember the sheen it had on it.
Thanks. Yes, it has a lovely sheen, and I love the natural color of the tussah silk.
I don’t spin so it’s interesting to learn a bit more about it. I love the Holly Berry colours.
I’ve only been spinning for two years. I started on a drop spindle. I love it almost as much as I love knitting.