This year I was able to participate in Tour de Fleece. I got so much done even though my knitting suffered. The first skein above is from Spinner's Hill. I named the color way 'Inside the Dewdrop', after an episode of Cosmos I was watching at the time. I got 374 yards of sport weight yarn from 4 ounces of fiber. I love Spinner's Hill fiber so much and her colors are just perfect. This was such an enjoyable spin. It drafted perfectly, was nice and soft, and twisted exactly how I wanted it to. It was labeled wool but I'm pretty sure it was merino as well. I love me some merino! No plans for the yarn yet (shocker!) but because I kept it as singles, I'll have to keep that in mind as I look for something to make with it.
This next skein is one of at least 7 hanks of brown wool I spun up from a garbage bag full of brown fiber. This came from my friend's sheep that she had to sell. She had them sheared before selling them and then gave me the fiber. There are still two garbage bags of fiber left, but one of my goals during the Tour was to get one of the bags spun up. I didn't quite make it in time for the deadline because I snapped a drive band but I did finish it within a week after the tour ended. I spun the singles on Angela's Ashford Traditional and then did a 2 ply on my Ashford Student Spindle. I wanted to have a little more control while I was plying plus, I haven't quite gotten the hang of 2 plying on the Traddy. I came up with about 617 yards of bulky to super bulky yarn from about two pounds of fiber. I'm not quite sure of the breed but it felt like it could be Corriedale to me. It had a nice stretch and bounce to it that reminded me of the Corriedale I spun last time. Surprisingly, I do have plans for all this yarn. I'm deciding on whether to make the Ledge Trail Vest, Woods Road Vest or Freeport by Elizabeth Smith. I already made Mud Season by her a few months ago and loved how simple and stylish her sweaters turn out.
The last hank of yarn came from Windsong Farm Originals that I purchased at the Little York Fiber Festival last October. This fiber is Cotswold and from four ounces I spun 176 yards of singles at a fingering to sport weight. I absolutely hated this spin. It was torture throughout. It was very difficult for me to draft the fiber even though the staple length was quite long. The fiber was also pretty hairy to work with and that was kind of grossing me out a bit. I have no idea what to make with this and was even considering giving it away but I'll hang on to it for a while and see what happens.
So all in all, I thought my Tour de Fleece was successful. I moved out over 2 1/2 pounds of fiber and got a sweater's quantity of yarn from it. Woot, woot!
Well you had a really productive Tour de Fleece! I love, love, love that top hank - color, weight, everything. And while the brown colorway, on its own, is just a little uninspiring, the fact that you spun all that yarn is really super. And finally that bottom spin - I took a closer look at the photo, and I kind of like it. Maybe a cute hat for one of the kiddos or even some mitts for you?
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