It Has Begun

The calendar says July 1 (crazy, isn't it?), so that means one thing in spinning circles: The Tour de Fleece -- that annual celebration of spinning that goes along with the Tour de France -- has started. Yesterday, instead of taking my knitting, I took my Lendrum to my LYS along with one of this year's Crown Mountain Farms shipments. I managed to knock out 4 oz. of singles in the time I was there:




(Apologies for the poor photo -- in my excitement at having gotten this much done, a poor iPhone photo was all I could manage).

This is Karakul -- the first time I've spun this fiber and not one of my favorite fibers to spin, to be honest. It's on the rough side and is probably better suited to rugs than garments. I decided to keep this as a single, and at my LYS owner's suggestion, I will probably carry it along with a softer wool for a felted bag or basket I can use to hold my fiber while I'm spinning. Unfortunately the singles are a bit energized because I forgot to switch out my fast flier for my regular flyer before I left home, but I don't think that'll be an issue with felting.

What I'm working on now is finishing up a Loop bullseye bump that I bought at MDSW; I'd started it last week foolishly thinking I'd get it done before the Tour started, but of course that did not happen. I'm now probably three-quarters of the way through it, though, so a couple more spinning sessions should do it.

This particular batt is a blend of merino, bamboo, tussah silk, and just a hint of angelina for sparkle. I'm planning on chain plying this when it's done.

Expect to see a lot more spinning in the next few weeks!