Tour de Fleece Update

I've been spinning every day but have slacked a bit on the blog posts. Oops!

TdF Day 3 - Supercoils-to-Be

Small update for today. Need to finish spinning the yarn and then send it back through the wheel to add more twist. It's slightly thick 'n thin for the coils but needs to be overspun, which it is not. Nothing I can't fix though! ;o)

TdF Day 2 - Corespun

In honor of the 4th of July I started the day off by making a couple of red, white and blue Rambouillet batts with plenty of sparkle in them.

Corespinning went very well today. This is probably the easiest way to spin yarn. I love the results and you get great yardage from small amounts of fiber. What's not to love?

I ended up with 147 yards of corespun. It's really soft yet extremely sturdy. I think I'm going to make a Dream Swatch Head Wrap out of it to wear next 4th of July.

TdF Day 1 - Thick 'n Thin

Off to a good start! Finished a full bobbin on Thick 'n Thin yarn. I haven't weighed or measured it yet. This was  a little rough going at first. I was getting a bit frustrated but then I found my rhythm.

Le Tour de Therapy, er I mean Fleece ....

What? You were awaiting my series of posts about the awesome Insubordiknit Workshop? Oops.

It's been what can best be described as an emotional roller coaster around here these past two months. I had great plans of practicing all my new art yarn spinning techniques and posting about everything I learned at the workshop. Yep, great plans of a new yarn every day or two with plenty of pictures and such to really get those skills down. Apparently the universe had other plans for me.

Shortly after the workshop hubby and I decided that we wanted one more little set of feet running around here and as it has gone before ... we think about it and "poof" ... we're pregnant. Just like that. Okay well almost ... you know how these things really work. So I had the usual too tired to stay up past 8pm thing going on which since that is the kids bedtime I had no peaceful quiet time at night to spin. Things were going well and I was really excited and getting my mojo back to start spinning again and then just like that "poof" ... miscarriage. That's what it felt like anyway. Like my baby was just ripped right away from me. There growing in my belly one day and then gone. My body dealt with things very quickly while my heart and mind are still trying to adjust and catch up. I've never dealt with this before and I really hope I never have to again. It's been extremely difficult on me. The good news is that I'm surprised at how much better I feel today than just a few days ago. I can actually type this without crying which is a huge step up from where i've been.

So enter le Tour de Fleece 2010. To be honest I completely forgot about it until about three days ago. I've pretty much been moping around this week and avoiding everyone I know except for my husband and children. I happened onto Ravelry and was reminded about the tour and decided this would be a perfect opportunity for me to get in some spinning therapy (good for the soul, i do believe), practice those new skills I mentioned and start communicating with the outside world again even if it is only through the internet to people I don't know in real life. Baby steps, right?

I participated in the beginning of the tour last year but was derailed by a class reunion trip. I totally lost my mojo that weekend and I don't think I did much after I returned home. So here's hoping I can stick it out and accomplish my goals. This will be good for me in so many ways.

Tour de Fleece 2010 Goals:

A. One skein of each artyarn technique I learned at the workshop. Probably between 2 - 4 oz of fiber for each.

1. Thick 'n Thin (done)

2. Coils

3. Trapped Foreign Objects (using Turkish Knots)

4. Racing Stripes

5. Corespun (done)

6. Cacoons

7. Twists & Halos (singles done)

8. Supercoils (done)

B. Fleece to Felted Bag

I've been on a roll with felted bags lately and that may even be a big part of the new direction for my shop when I start selling again. I have quite a few Dorset-Suffolk fleece in my fiber room and I want to turn one into a felted bag or two. I've been kettle dyeing batches of this fleece to spin into fat singles for knitting another felted bag. So as I go along in the tour I'll be working on this along with my art yarns. Should make for good warm up and cool down spinning. Good thing I have two wheels and plenty of bobbins! :o)