Saturday, July 4, 2009

Tour de Fleece: Day 1

Today is the first day of the Tour de Fleece and I'm excited to be participating this year.



For a long time now I've had this pound of All Spun Up SW merino/alpaca (all in the same colorway) sitting in my stash, waiting to be spun into 3-ply fingering weight yarn for an upcoming project. A few days ago (when I realized there was still time to join in) I signed up for the TdF thinking it would be a perfect opportunity for me to spin all of it from start to finish. I still have about 6oz of my summer spinning project left to finish before my wheel is completely free -which should make reaching my goal a little more difficult, but the TdF is supposed to be a challenge, right?

Realistically, I think it's likely I wont finish in time. Still, if I can get 3 of the 4 bumps spun and the 4th on the wheel and in progress I'll still feel like I did a very good job. The reason I've chosen this particular project for TdF is because I don't really like spinning more than 4oz of one color at a time. However, after working non-stop (with the exception of the project on my Bosworth midi) for several weeks on my Summer spinning project (fibers almost entirely in pinks and pastels), I feel that spinning the dark, wonderfully earthy colors in the SW merino/alpaca will keep me satisfied for much longer than they usually would. The fiber choice can't hurt, either -so far the SW merino/alpaca is my absolute favorite to spin. Tour de Fleece just seemed like the perfect time for me to dive headlong into this project.

It's nice to be spending time at the wheel regularly again. I have been spinning as much as I possibly could over the last 4-6 weeks, but it hasn't been as much as usual with all the work on the house. There's good news, though: we finally got the house listed with a real estate agent last Thursday and it is on the Market. Aside from one small cosmetic repair that still has to be made, all that's left is keeping it nice and tidy until it sells and then packing when it does. Both my husband and I feel like we can finally breath easy... at least for a little while.

I also want to apologize for the quiet emptiness of the shop. I've been meaning to dye up some fiber (it's still hanging out in my bedroom closet) for the last couple of weeks, but with finishing up on the house, it's had to be pushed back a few times. I think I should be able (really) to get it done this week. I don't foresee anything getting in the way now.

There's so much to catch up on. I have several different things I want to post about, but I haven't had time to sit and write. I also haven't had the best weather for photo-taking lately, so I've been putting that off as well. I'm really looking forward to the next time we have a stretch of overcast, rainy weather. 80+ degree heat makes me cranky.

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