Tag Archives: Tour de Fleece

Tour De Fleece 2017––The Finish Line

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Yesterday was Sunday is the final day of the TdF, and I spent the day Friday winding my final skein, taking pictures, and washing the skeins. I am very pleased with all my TdF yarns and look forward to knitting with them.

ITW Elevenses in the Shire before it was washed. I love how the browns and greens ended up blending when I plied this yarn.

All seven of the skeins I completed during the TdF. All the fiber is Into The Whirled. This picture was taken before the skeins were washed.

My TdF skeins are getting a nice soak in Eucalan in my kitchen sink.

The skeins are drying. After soaking them in Eucalan, which is a no-rinse wool wash, I squeezed out as much water as I could by hand, then put the skeins in my washing machine and ran the spin cycle. This removed a lot more water than I can remove by pressing the skeins in a towel, and as a result, the skeins are just about completely dry 24 hours later.

The skein at the upper front on the right, the one with the bright blue, was singled out for special treatment. It’s the fiber that I spun long draw to make a woolen-spun yarn. I finished it separately from the other skeins. I first soaked and agitated it in very hot water, then shocked it with very cold water, then put it back in the very hot water, then in the very cold water, repeat a couple more times. After abusing my yarn in this manner, I pressed the excess water out of it, then I took it out to the front steps and thwacked the bejeebers out of it on the concrete steps. The purpose of this abuse is to slightly full the fibers and even out some of the inconsistency in the yarn. The finished yarn has a lovely halo and is light and airy. Light and airy is the whole reason for woolen spun, or the main reason anyway.

The Tour de Fleece 2017 has been a roaring success, and I would be remiss if I didn’t thank Ravelry and the Ravelry groups Schacht Spinners, Tour de Fleece, and Into The Whirled who organized the teams I was on. The teams provide encouragement, support, help, and praise, and give us a forum for showing off our achievements. The Ravelry community is the best community on the Internet.

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Tour De Fleece 2017 Day 20 Stage 18

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Tomorrow is the final day of the Tour de Fleece and all I have left to do is wind my final project off the bobbin. Of course, all the yarn I made during the Tour still needs to be washed and measured.

Into The Whirled Elevenses in the Shire Cheviot singles are awaiting plying.

And this is Elevenses in the Shire after I plied it on my Schacht Matchless.

ITW North of the Wall 2-ply. This is the fiber that I spun supported long draw to make a nice woolen-spun yarn.

ITW Zephyr fractal 2-ply is all skeined up and ready to be washed.

Tour De Fleece 2017 Day 17 Rest Day 2

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I spent the second rest day winding yarn off the bobbins onto the niddy noddy. I still have two bobbins of plied yarn yet to wind off, but they will have to wait for another day.

Four skeins so far

Into The Whirled Yipes! Stripes! Targhee 2-ply thick and thin

Into The Whirled Talisman Targhee fractal 2-ply

Into The Whirled Gilmore’s Glorious Goods BFL/Silk chain plied

Into The Whirled Herding Cats superwash Targhee chain plied

The yarn has not been washed yet, so I don’t know the yardage or grist yet, but I’m very happy with all of them.

 

Tour De Fleece Day 16 (Stage 15)

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Today was a challenge day, and since I didn’t do any spinning yesterday because I sometimes do have a life, I challenged myself to spin a full 4 ounces of fiber today.

Here is a picture of success!

ITW Zephyr on Polwarth. This is a fractal spin done on my Flatiron in double drive. The singles are very thin and when plied together will make a fingering weight yarn, or maybe sport weight if the Polwarth poofs a lot when I wash the skein.

Tour De Fleece 2017 Day 11 (Stage 10)

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I finished spinning up the ITW Yipes! Stripes! today.

The second bobbin is all done. I will ply it with the first bobbin to make a 2-ply. It will definitely be thick-and-thin because that’s the way I spun the singles.

I might ply it tomorrow. I have lots of plying to do, so I decided to do some plying after I finished Yipes!

This is Gilmore’s Glorious Good, another Into The Whirled color way, in the process of being chain plied in Irish tension on my Schacht Flatiron.