Tour de Fleece Day 1
Yesterday Kromski Minstrel 80/20 merino silk blended on my drum carder…Thich Nhat Hanh on Audible…birds and squirrel feeding outside my studio window…life is good.
Cocoon
I feel like I am emerging from a cocoon. In this case the cocoon was a 7 month long Pacific Northwest Winter – over 100 inches of rain since October and counting. I really am grateful that the drought in the rest of California south if us has been declared over. But I am more than ready for this long rainy winter to end. The good news is that we are starting to get a few sun days in between stints of Spring showers. Our yard is starting to come alive in flowers. The camellias and native azaleas are blooming and so are the bluebells.
Fall is in the Air
Our redwood trees started shedding the first dried branchlets this week. It’s a gray day with a hint of cool drizzle in the air – a jeans and sweatshirt day. My antidote to the grey is this merino yarn I had spun awhile ago and put in my stash. Easy pattern for a scarf and great color.
I also love the color contrast of this heather flowering in our garden right now.
Spinning Lessons
I have learned some valuable lessons from participating in Tour de Fleece. One we all know but don’t always apply: Practice makes perfect. I have seen a steady improvement in my spinning over the course of the tour. I am more consistent in my spinning as well as being able to better control the thickness and twist of my yarn.
Today I have almost 600 yards of Corriedale drying in the sun. This was my latest plying yesterday.
I have always avoided wearing white. One reason is that I have always had small dogs who jump all over me. But another reason is that I wore white dresses in countless church ceremonies in my former life as a Catholic child.
But I am looking at this yarn differently because of a remark on the internet the other day from a fellow spinner about loving the purity of undyed fiber. I think this yarn will knit up as a nice vest once I finish spinning the rest of it. And it is off white after all.
Color is still my passion.
But it’s nice to broaden my view as so much of the information from this tour has done.
Andean Plying
I have been spinning almost every day during Tour de Fleece. I have been so inspired seeing photos of what everyone else is spinning and posts about what they are learning!
One of my goals during the tour was to learn Andean plying. So this morning I hunkered down and followed some links to diagrams and online videos. At first what looks like a relatively simple technique twisted my brain. But I took several breaks and persevered. The picture below shows some yarn I plyed yesterday from shingles I had spun the last couple of days. The drop spindle has what was left on one bobbin successfully and plyed after numerous practice runs with waste yarn. I have been so grateful to see the work of so many wonderful spinners online and be able to learn from them during this event.
Treadling, Heather and a Hungry Squirrel
Today has been mostly cloudy after almost 1 and a half inches of gentle rain in 24 hours. But that is always perfect weather to find sanctuary in my little studio.
Here is today’s Tour de Fleece installment of a bobbin of Shetland singles on my Kromski Minstrel. Thai is my first time spinning Shetland and thank goodness I am enjoying it as I have 2 pounds!
I have been appreciating the vibrant colors in these heathers in our garden. Even when they are not flowering the foliage often adds a stunning contrast.
As I was spinning, one of our resident squirrels hung from the window screen and was undeterred by my presence in a quest for sunflower seeds and peanuts.
Day 5 Plying, Spindling and a Silky
An overcast morning cleared into a beautiful sunny afternoon. It was a great day for my next installment of Tour de Fleece spinning. This morning I felt like working with my drop spindle for a while.
While I was spinning my silky terrier Spencer was resting from a rousing round of chase the weasels and birds.
This afternoon’s results are from plyiing the singles from Days 2 to 4.
While I was plying in my studio the bird feeder hanging outside the window was visited by sparrows, goldfinches and a tree squirrel. None of them seemed to mind that I was spinning in the studio about 3 feet away from the window.
What a glorious day!
Tour de fleece and poppies
This year I am participating in Tour de Fleece. It is a worldwide yarn spinning event. The idea is to spin every day that the cyclists are pedaling in the Tour de France. The first day was July 2. It took me that day to realize via social media that the event was underway. I also burned up some time deciding to participate rather than just be a bystander. But here is the result of my labors on Day 2 of the event
andToday, Day 3. I am spinning natural merino fiber. I have 2 pounds that have been in my stash for years.
In case you are more interested in Matilija poppies here you go…..
In the Woods
Right now this Redwood stands to my left having dropped a carpet of needles.
The redwood sorrel punctuate the needles along the bank.
I sit along the path in the shade of these ancient trees spinning this…..
into this…..
Once in awhile I get lucky and catch a pose from my male silky fresh from his bath. This is right before he hears the dreaded click and scurried away.
I count my blessings as I look over the wilderness that is my playground.
