oh! the hero complex

Now that I’ve been spinning seriously for just under a year, I can actually take part in this year’s Tour de Fleece! What is the Tour de Fleece, you ask? It’s a spin-a-long (handspinning, that is) that takes place concurrently with the Tour de France, with one simple rule: they ride, we spin.

There are optional challenge days, and teams, and probably a lot that I’m missing, but this isn’t about competing with other spinners — it’s about challenging yourself, and setting goals to help you reach them.

My goals this year were simple:

1. Spin every day of the Tour de France (July 4-July 26)
2. Spin down as much of my fiber stash as possible.

So far, so good! Shall we do a recap?

Pre-TdF:

I plied eight ounces of Corriedale top from Into the Whirled, in the colorway “The Perfect Storm”, which I’d spun up last week and let rest on the bobbins for a bit. I used my super flyer to spin up a two-ply yarn (having learned from my first foray with my super flyer that I need to let it build up a LOT more twist than I think I do), and I’m guessing I have about 250 yards total of a DK-ish weight.

TdF Day One:

I finished spinning a braid of merino combed top from Frabjous Fibers, in the colorway “Spilled Ink”. This was an incredibly fun spin, and I got my finest, most consistent singles yet!

After that was finished, I let it rest on the bobbin for a little while, and moved on to a braid of Malabrigo Nube. in the colorway “Aguas”. Now, I knew about how Nube can be a tough spin, both from what I’ve heard other spinners say, and from my own experience, but this was awful. Even with pre-drafting, it was a total mess to spin. If I’d thought ahead, I would have brought my hand carders with me (I’m staying at my parents’ for a bit), and turned the braid into rolags. Alas! This spin is firmly in the “congratulations, that’s the worst anyone’s ever done it” territory.

To use one of my least favorite sayings: it is what it is. And what it is, is ARGH.

I’ll eventually ply it, but only when the rage has faded a bit. Lessons learned! But at what cost?

TdF Day Two

I went ahead and chain-plied the Frabjous Fibers yarn — again, a delightful experience! I did have one challenging moment where my singles broke, and at least in my experience, that’s a big complication in chain-plying. But! I managed to reattach everything without too much disruption/thickening of the yarn, and everything else went smoothly. Another DK-weight yarn, from what my WPI estimate tells me, but I’ll know more once I’ve set the twist later.

What’s Next

I dug deep into the stash for this one — I think I purchased this in 2007/2008? Anyways! It’s a four ounce braid of 80% merino/20% tussah silk, in the colorway “Wineberry”, from CloudLover Fiber (now defunct, it seems). I’ll definitely be pre-drafting this a bit more than I usually do — once bitten, twice shy, etc. Wish me luck!

Everything Else

I’m on vacation for most of July, and other than spinning and knitting, I don’t plan to do much! I just finished reading Ronald Malfi’s Come With Me, which was suitably creepy and melancholy, and have moved on to India Holton’s The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love. Writing has fallen a bit by the wayside, so I think that’ll pick up when I’m back in my own apartment. For now, I’m just happy to spin and read and hang out with my parents, while mooching off their AC!