Preparation and Training

Saturday is the start of the Tour de Fleece or TdF. For those nonspinners out there, we will get you, it's only a matter of time... I mean, it's a super fun time where we spin along during the Tour de France. One of the best parts about it, as far as I'm concerned is the fact that you set your own goals. You can do whatever you'd like but you are encouraged to challenge yourself. For me, I love to use it as a time to strengthen my spinning skills and try to spin a little bit each day. I did go digging in the stash to find some things to set my sights on though.

Here are the main goals for the tour. Starting at the top: Cloudlover Merino in Peacock. This was a club colorway that a friend got and didn't love so I purchased it from her. It's been calling to me but I have no idea what it would like to be. To the right, Cloudlover Shetland in Decay. I love the Decay colorway and I got this last year at Shepherd's Harvest. I'm not sure about the Shetland base in this color so I also bought it on Polwarth this year. I feel like then it's okay to spin the Shetland and "use it up." I'm a little odd like that. The third braid is Zarzuela's Fibers Targhee in Emeralds. I really want this to be a traditional 3-ply because I think it would look amazing with those colors, subtly blending.
I also have one secret spinning project. I've already started it and it looks like this.

Exiting huh? No spoilers on this until it's done because it's a gift for a friend. It's going to (hopefully) be a lovely laceweight 2-ply when it's done though.
I have no delusions on finishing all these things, only that I'd like to work on them all if possible. I'd also love to spin something from my Into the Whirled stash finally so if I do miraculously finish all these things, then I can work on something from there.
I've been doing other things to get ready for the tour too. I glued the whorl back together that's been broken for over a year.

I can't believe how nice it looks, you can't even tell where unless you look very closely.

Don't worry, I was still using it, I just thought it was about time I actually fixed it.
I even sewed a spindle bag for my supported spindle I'm planning to use during the tour.

It's a 12-inch Russian Spindle made of Honduran Rosewood and I'm still getting used to it, it's my first Supported spindle ever so part of my goals are to get better with it during the tour. I cut the same size fabrics for the other box bags I've sewn, I just used a different zipper and sewed it the other way.
Here's a "regular" knitting project box bag.

Isn't that funny?
I've also got on my agenda to clean and oil the wheel very well so she is all ready to go and I'm "training" by trying to finish up a spin that's been in progress for a long time.


It's (surprise, surprise) Cloudlover 80 Merino/20 Silk. I think the colorway is named Ligeia but I can't tell for sure. It's all different shades of lovely purple and I want to knit it into an Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief when it's done.
The Tour de Fleece is really fun, you can join as many teams as you'd like, I'm on the Cloudlover team, the Supported Spindlers team and our local St. Cloud Knitters team. The very best part of the Tour de Fleece though? My amazing local spinners. We're taking the opportunity to have an all-day spinathon and potluck on the first day of the tour. Now I just need to figure out what I'm bringing as a dish to share and I think I'm ready for Touring.