It’s that time of the year again: the Tour de Fleece has started last week! This annual event takes place alongside the Tour de France, and spinners worldwide are racing along on their spinning wheels and spindles. It’s always fun, and as I love spinning, of course I’m participating again!
Before the Tour started, the Dutch Karma Group on Ravelry did a fibre swap to prepare. You need to collect some stash before spinning, right? And it’s fun to exchange special fibres with other wool enthusiasts. I played along, and my swap package to my partner contained half a Spinoco box. Nunoco is a fibre company that was run by Candy and Lora. Candy is still running Nunoco, but Lora moved away and started her own Etsy shop, SpinJones. They are still working together a bit, and the Spinoco box was a common initiative, a combination of samples from both shops to mix and match.
The Spinoco box is quite droolworthy, and it’s like a box full of exquisite fibre bonbons. My swap partner was very happy!
I also received a nice package from my partner:
It contained half a braid of Dutch Wool Diva Millefleur II (Polwarth/silk), some silk/merino rolags, and a toothbrush…
But on July 1st when the Tour started I did not spin any swap fibre. I started out with self-made rolags from a lovely braid of ultrafine merino by Undercover Otter.
I spun about a spindlefull a day, and after a week I had finished my first 100 grams!
I also spun a bit on my Jenkins Kuchulu. There was already quite a turtle on it, and it is a perfect spindle for traveling. When I visited a friend on Friday I brought the spindle to pass the time in the train.
After finishing the Undercover Otter fibre I started spinning the silk/merino from my swap package. I spun it a bit thicker, so that it will hopefully turn out as a DK weight yarn after n-plying it. I will use it to weave more squares on my Zoom Loom.
However, I did not feel like plying yet. I love spinning on my spindles too much. So I took the other swap fibre from my package and started spinning thin singles on my Dyavols. I will use the yarn to knit fingerless mitts someday.
And I’m still eyeing the Spinoco samples. They are so lovely! I even bought another set when it showed up in the shop… But I don’t know what I want to make with them yet, and the thickness of the singles depends on what I want to do with them later. So they are just sitting there, looking lovely, for now.
We’re almost halfway, time is flying! Just keep spinning!
