2021 Tour de Fleece

Here we go again! 

https://sports.nbcsports.com/2021/06/23/2021-tour-de-france-live-stream-schedule-dates-route-how-to-watch-and-more/

In case anyone was wondering what my "spin" looks like, here's an archive photo of me and my bestie-cat doing yarn things together, circa 2013-ish: 

Maia with yarn for Monmouth caps. She prefers if I just stop moving and let her sleep on me.

I looked up past notes, the other day, and discovered that I've been following the TdF (whichever way you read that acronym ;) ) since 2014! 

Pre-Tour Inventory: Work  

At work, my stash is currently all Jacob wool, after a Woolery quiz paired me with this fiber in a "What Sheep Are You?" kind of sales gimmick. I was so happy with the result, I bought a top of each of the 4 natural colors they had (white, grey, black, stripey grey/black), and I'm working through them. That's a good "production" spin, but not inspiring for a limited time challenge like TdF, so I dug through my at-work stash and found samplers - so now I'm starting with Norwegian Top.

Sampler fibers! I'll post the citation if/when I dig it up.

Pre-Tour Inventory: Home 

At home, my spindles are full with white Jacob and cat (both of mine are long-hairs: dark grey tuxedo, beige-Himalayan). I started clearing my spindles at an Adlersruhe demo, and got into plying with two of the sheep spindles, leaving half of a third. 

Over lunch, I dug in my hope chest for roving to work with. (They're all in there, after the Great Rearrange, a few years ago, in which all yarns moved to one side of the living room, and rovings to the other. <3) 

-- I initially thought about the Merino I blended from primary colors into a nice Mooneschadowe maroon. I've been waiting on that until I knew what that wanted to be, but it wouldn't hurt to spin it and maybe leave it as singles - I might-could even BLOCK it as singles! I haven't done that step before. 

But in the process of digging, I found the full Eider Top - I think that'll be where I start for home spinning. I bought this one at the same time as the Jacob, in 2019, to be another New Experience (separate from the sample above, which duplication was not intentional [and sources are different, so there'll still be some differences in the fiber itself]). 

1) Samplers

Fiber in its sampler baggie.

All fiber from the sampler baggie on a spindle.

Norwegian Top was hair-like for a bit, and then we got to be good enough friends. I don't know that I love this enough to make it my primary - but also, I still don't really have a primary. For all that I committed HARD to the Jacob, for a bit, I don't know that I'm going to setup recurring shipments, or anything. 

First eighth on a spindle, with the second started.

Welsh Mountain Top is spinning like an obsession - I have a hard time putting this down. 

2) Home Stash 

Eider Top is spinning like a dream - it just runs, and I go immediately into a Zen state. 

3) New Orders

So there I was, minding my own business on the Tour de Fleece FB group, and someone posted a spindle full of rainbow, and I had an "inappropriate lust" moment - the colors were sublime and the layout of the copp was artful. I searched for rainbow rovings first, and picked up two in breeds I don't think I've spun to date. And then I read the post, and the supplier had a FB group for his work. So, I'm in for two there, too! Updates as I have things in hand, which should start later tonight. 

Leicester Longwool Locks

Cotswald Locks

4) Finished Hanks

I hanked off my white Jacob - what I'd started plying at Adersruhe. I have it labeled for this year's TdF - I might add my chart here, as I get it more populated.