Tour de Fleece 2026

It was my first Tour de Fleece, and for my initial challenge, I wanted to spin a fractal yarn. To that end, I bought a Malabrigo Cloud braid in shades of green which, although I found the preparation very annoying to work with, turned into two decent skeins of yarn after all (left and curled over the top). I was so frustrated by its matted nature that for my next challenge, I said I'd finish up the Lilac Mist top (second from left), plying, washing and setting the twist in the Malabrigo when I needed a break. Once the Lilac Mist was done, I did a build-your-own fractal, again not too pleased with the preparation, but it did make a cool yarn (third from left). Then I really went off the deep end, and set myself the task of learning to spin on an e-spinner (Electric Eel Nano, center). Since I had plenty of natural white Corriedale wool, I used that (third from the right), and it turned out so nicely that it's going in the county fair (not the state fair). I was so pleased with the e-spinner that I asked myself if I was brave enough to try spinning cotton on it, which was primarily what I wanted to use it for. My first half-ounce skein (second from right) is a little rough, but by the time I was done with it, I had figured out most of the foibles and immediately put more cotton on the Nano (that's what's on it in the photo). For the final leg of Tour de Fleece 2026, I said, "I'm just going to see how much of the mixed greens I can get out of the way, and I'm going to Navajo-ply it." Out of enough wool for three skeins of equal size, one is completely done, one is ready to be plied as of this morning, and I'll start the final one today. The yarn and full bobbin are shown on the right. For a first Tour, I don't think I did half bad!

Tomato Candy

A friend calls Sungolds "tomato candy," and with good reason. They are one of the sweetest cherry tomatoes you can grow. I've done rather poorly with them for the last couple of years, but this year promises to be different. This is the first on two plants, and if the pollinators cooperate, there should be plenty more to come. The peppers also seem to be doing well, with both jalapeños and sweets starting to form. The eggplant (only one so far) is the size of a tennis ball, and the plant has numerous flowers. I think this is likely to be the best vegetable garden I've grown since moving here over 35 years ago.

Greens

For the last week or so, I've been working on the first of three bobbins of singles in shades of green which will be Navajo-plied into a three-ply yarn. I've had the wool for some time, but hadn't decided precisely how I wanted to spin it. With five shades of green to work with, I could have made it a fractal. Likewise, I could have run it through the drum carder, blending it into a batt. Several other options crossed my mind before I finally settled of Navajo-plying. What is that, exactly? It's a way of making three-ply yarn from a single bobbin of singles, essentially using your hands to make long loops of "finger-crochet" chain. It's also called "chain plying" for exactly that reason. One hand is held stationary in your lap. The other hand manipulates the yarn, drawing a loop toward the stationary hand while carrying a third strand along with it. When the stationary hand is reached, you draw up a loop through the end of the chain and feed the yarn onto the bobbin with the active hand while holding the new loop in the stationary hand. Sounds complicated, but it's just making a hand-held "crochet" chain on a longer scale. I finished up this bobbin this morning (and man, is it loaded!). It needs to rest for at least 24 hours before I begin plying it.

"Warped Weavers" Tartan Ruana

You'll have to forgive the less-than-glamorous model. Your attention should be directed to the ruana. This is the "Warped Weavers" tartan, developed by Caryl Bohn for the Acton Creative weavers' group on Facebook, and registered with the Scottish Registry of Tartans, #15142. After much experimentation to get a 50/50 weave using 8/2 cotton, I settled on 24 epi with a slightly harder than usual beat. It was woven as two panels matching the wider red stripe in the center back. Finished, it measures 60" x 40", and has a turned hem. There are many ways to wear a ruana (belted or otherwise), the most elementary being to just drape it around your shoulders as I have done in the center photo. Alternately, one end can then be thrown over a shoulder. It's perfect for those times when you just want to warm up a bit without putting on a sweater/jumper or a long-sleeved shirt.

Going for Gingham

Now that the tartan ruana is off the loom (I'm not quite finished with hemming it yet), I wanted to take a break from complicated patterns for a while, so I decided to make some plainweave towels in a gingham pattern. Gingham is traditionally woven tabby. If I changed it up and wove it as a twill on the same threading, it would be called "check" instead. "Buffalo check" is a larger version and is woven as a twill. Since my squares here are only six threads wide (roughly 1/4" at 20 epi), I am carrying the unused colour up the side, white on one side and blue on the other (and yes, they will be square once the piece is washed and fulled). For some strange reason, I keep singing "We're off the see the Wizard" as I weave this.

Stuffed

I might have been able to squeeze another couple of yards of plied wool onto this bobbin, but when they say Nano bobbins hold two ounces, they mean two ounces. This is roughly 2.25, and I knew I was pushing my luck. So...details! This is my first spin on the EEW Nano, and it was an absolute joy! I spun two bobbins, each with a smidge over an ounce of Corriedale wool, and then rather than plying them on my Louët, I decided to see how the Nano behaved with a full load. Because the singles were so fine, I had a little trouble controlling the amount of twist due to not staying focused on the job at hand. My tendency was to feed the plied yarn onto the bobbin before twisting it sufficiently, which I could have remedied by turning the speed down, but then I tended to overtwist in compensation. It's just going to take a little practice, and having said that, this is still a perfectly workable yarn. I'm very curious to find out how many yards are on there. I'll add a footnote when I find out.

Footnote: Unbelievable! It measured off at 266 yards!

Holodiscus Discolor

 

Ocean-spray (Holodiscus discolor) is a common shade-tolerant shrub native to the Pacific Northwest. Its profuse flowers are something of a roadside attraction in June and July. It is sometimes called "ironwood" (not to be confused with the Acacias, or any other of several dozen trees/shrubs bearing the same common name). Indeed, the stems are quite hard, but are generally too small to be of any serious use. The flowers, however, are another matter. Pollinators love it. It also serves as a larval host to at least one of our Swallowtail butterflies, and also to Lorquin's Admiral (a butterfly I see fairly regularly around here).