Tour de Fleece

Over the years, I've heard "Tour de Fleece" mentioned numerous times, but I never understood what it was. I knew that it ran concurrently with Tour de France, but that was about the size of it. This year, I decided I'd try to find out more. Turns out it's a world-wide "spin-a-thon" which you can participate in either as an individual or as part of a team. Social media is full of groups, some of which are more restrictive than others in the rules they set, but many just tell you to set a personal goal and stick to it for the duration of the bicycle race. I've joined one of the latter type, and for my challenge, I'll be doing my first fractal spin. I bought a four-ounce braid, but being somewhat uncertain about how this is going to work, I'll be starting with half of that. I like to put my handspun up in two-ounce skeins when possible. If all goes well with the first half, I'll spin the second one the same way. And with that, I'm off on my Tour!

Toppin' and Tailin' Time

It's toppin' and tailin' time! If you are a gooseberry jam aficionado as I am, you'd be willing to put in the effort to top-and-tail, i.e., cut off the stem and blossom ends of each individual berry, which is necessary before they can be turned into jam. I pick, top-and-tail, cut each berry in two, and then freeze them in jam-sized batches so I can do the cooking during cooler fall weather. It took me 45 minutes to top-and-tail the three cups of berries from this morning's harvest..first of the year, with lots more to come. My bushes are absolutely loaded this year! I let a few of these get a little too ripe so they were hard to cut in two without squishing, but another batch this size will be ready to pick either tomorrow or the next day. I love my gooseberry jam!

Fill-in Spin

With Tour de Fleece set to start in just a couple of days, my initial challenge was to find a "fill-in spin" to keep myself occupied after finishing up the cotton. I had 50 grams of lilac Merino left, and although I knew I wouldn't be able to get it all done (I have other time constraints), I knew I could get one bobbin of singles finished in the time frame. And wouldn't you know it? Now I'm ahead of schedule. At least I have a couple of bobbins of singles waiting to be plied. That should keep me busy until the 4th. As for my Tour challenge, I'm not exactly happy with the braid I picked out for a fractal spin. It didn't divide well, and I'm afraid it's going to turn out muddy, but having never spun a fractal before, perhaps it will work out better than I see it in my mind's eye.

June Waxwings

 

On two occasions earlier this week, I was almost certain I had seen a couple of Cedar Waxwings, outside their customary (and quite irregular) visitation schedule. Last night at bedtime, there was no question. An entire flock of them (more than a dozen) showed up to scavenge the seed scattered below the feeders. Several even came to the back steps, picking seeds out of the dry moss and from pockets in the concrete. They were nervous and flighty, but I managed to grab this photo for documentation purposes. It was surprising to see them at this time of year. When they do show up (and that only happens every four or five years), it almost always coincides with the Mountain-ash trees either being in flower or when their fruits are ripe.

Bronka and Merry

Bronka (my Kromski Minstrel spinning wheel, named for a friend) is ready to turn the cotton project over to Lily ( my Louët S15, otherwise known as the "ply wheel"). Other than an initial experiment to see how well the process worked, this is the first time I've spun cotton on a standard wheel. Bronka can be fitted with a fast whorl, unlike the Louët, and I was surprised at how easy it was to spin fine cotton on her. Of course the advantage over spinning cotton on a charka or tahkli is that her bobbins hold enough for an entire project. I zipped through 2.5 ounced of natural brown cotton in the space of two weeks. I will have to pick a quick project for my next spin because Tour de Fleece starts on July 4. I haven't participated before, and my challenge will be to complete a fractal spin from a Malabrigo Cloud colourway in greens. My summer "spin cycle"is full of firsts: cotton on a standard wheel, learning to use a drum carder, a fractal spin, and Tour de Fleece. As for Merry, his involvement is a given.

Clarkia, Farewell-to-Spring

Also known as Godetia, our native Clarkia is commonly called "Farewell-to-Spring." Hang on a mo'...did that authority say "native?" Why had I never seen it until the developers planted the roundabout at Nisqually-Mashel State Park with it? I've gone by several times en route to somewhere, and each time, I've continued on my journey, wondering just what the hell all that pink stuff was. Yesterday, I made a point of stopping. Upon closer examination, I was still none the wiser, so I looked it up when I got home. Clarkia, aka Godetia, aka Farewell-to-Spring, native to western Washington in several species. As often as I travel this route, you can bet I'll be keeping my eye on the seed heads. The Barren Wasteland needs some Clarkia.

Spin Cycle

No question about it: I am on spin cycle. After finishing the "confetti" yarn, I went digging in my cedar chest to see what I wanted to do next. Several ounces of blue "Charm" (a Merino/bamboo blend) came to the top of the list. I found a smaller packages of it as well, something I remembered setting aside to do with a drop spindle. I spun it all up and thought I was done until I checked the box of drop spindles where I found one more small package and a nearly full spindle which fortunately, I'd spun at the same diameter as the rest of what I'd just completed. Plied, the lot gave me 436 yards.

Then came my reward. I'd promised myself that when I got the "Charm" done, I'd try spinning cotton on the Minstrel. I'd become fairly adept at spinning cotton with a tahkli or on my book charkha, but it's quite a different procedure on a standard spinning wheel. As it turned out, I was pleasantly surprised. Using a very short forward draw, I was able to produce a uniform, fine thread. The 62-yard skein you see here is my first attempt. There are a few lumps and bumps which occurred as I tried to determine the best technique, and now I am well into spinning another much larger skein with far fewer irregularities. In fact, I might get it done in time to put in the Puyallup Fair!