Tour de Fleece 2012

The fun has come and gone from the Tour de Fleece... sigh... I miss it so.  In the event, you do not know what the 'Tour de Fleece' is, it is a group of fabulous crafty people on Ravelry who spin yarn during the Tour de France.  There are prizes, fabulous ideas and fantastically crafty and speedy spinners who share their yarns with everyone.  I find it to be very inspirational.  Had a fun time this year on team 'Breakaway' which is the hot spot for art yarns.  With out further ado, here are my yarns.....

One of my favorite yarns from the tour.  It is also one of the last yarns I spun.

This one is from a batt I traded for from Cobblestone Creek Farm.  LOVE IT!


From my Wicked batt



Sometimes my favorite yarns come from batts that are often overlooked at festival.  This batt hung out in my booth for the entirety of the 2011 Festival seasons.  So glad no one bought as I truly loved spinning it and adore how it turned out:)


The very last of my hand painted combed top was finished during the Tour.


Also spun up a quick little sample of my cloud for the shop during the tour:)  I also did a bit of spinning on my Bosworth spindle which I didn't finish in time for the tour to finish, but will post a picture of it soon!  All in all, I had an absolute blast as always for this years tour de fleece.  My only regret is that we have to wait for next year for the camaraderie to begin again!

2011 Tour de Fleece - Project #5

Like project #4, I think project #5 will be hanging out on my counter top for a little while so that as the abbominal snow man of Bugs Bunny fame says, I can pet it & hug it & squeeze it & call it George. I don't just like to tempt; I absolutely love when I am tempted by other indy artists' creations as well. Think this one came from Chimera on Etsy. Sorry to say it took me close to a year to spin it up! 100% Merino wool, 4 ounces & 300 yards.

Tour de Fleece

Project # 3 for the Tour is a core spun LunabudKnits batt. Chock full of yummy merino, Shetland, mohair, glitz, firestar, Tunis, and a few other tid bits that are slipping my mind at the moment.













It is of course Miss Kitty approved;)

2011 Tour de Fleece Projects #1 & 2

This year, I am numbering my projects in order they are to be finished.  So far, my starter project is done and while the spindling of the Merino & Yak is slowly progressing, the run of Shetland/Angora 60/40 blend is in line to be the second project I finish.

Crosspatch Creations batt purchased at Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival.  Started before the Tour started, but one of my goals was to finish it during.

One of my favorite fiber blends from Vintage Fibers that was traded for during Midwest Fiber & Folk last month.  Love this stuff!!

Tour de Fleece Project #5 & #6

I have two Tour de Fleece projects to report for this post. I certainly hope it makes up for a few days of non-sharing;)

Project #5 was spun as a thicker single graduating through the rainbow's color scheme. I know, I originally planned to spin two bobbins of singles and ply them together, but you know me, I'm an instant gratification girl! After going through the first rainbow graduation, I decided to continue spinning on the same bobbin and reverse the colors. Then I wound the single off using a center pull ball winder and plied both the beginning and the end together. I have heard some folks say this method will leave you with skewed yarn, but I have never once had this happen to my finished yarns.

Oh, yeah, almost forgot.... I did something else a little different too..... I spun the single 's' or counter clockwise and plied 'z' or clockwise. Yeah, I know, big no-no in most books, but I am very happy w/ how the yarn turned out. The project it is slated for is a felting one, so I seriously doubt that will matter! Final yardage is 222 and weight is 186 grams or 6.5 ounces.

On to project #6 in the Tour de Fleece challenge. Remember those poppy petals I made the other day? Well, I put them to good use with this yarn! I started with one of my Demented Batts at my shop. This one is full of luscious hand dyed Tunis lamb, merino, mohair and silk noils. It was topped off with a healthy portion of glitz, hemp, sari silk, milk fiber and a smidgen of firestar. Each flower was put together using the yellow circled I made the other day and several other pre-made fabric rose petals. The flowers were spun in as I was core spinning the base yarn. Total yardage is 56. Weight is 88 grams or 3.1 ounces.

Tour de Fleece Project #2

Corespun Merino, firestar, glitz, hemp, sari silk, silk noil and mohair with fun bits of tulle, fabric, flowers, and eyelash yarn.

Yardage: 82

Weight: 82 grams / 2.9 ounces

Worsted to Aran weight yarn that was spun thick and thin with fun slubs. Plus with the add ins I don't think WPI would be accurate;)