Fiber Arts Friday: Tour de Fleece - 2011, week 4 and wrap-up

Week one, two and three are here.  Week four and my final wrap-up are below.  :-)

Friday, July 22nd - Challenge Day

I was thinking that last Thursday was going to count as my challenge day.  However, since I've been having so much fun with my drop spindle, I thought I might try to take it to the next level.

I am very much a park and drafter when it comes to spindling.  So I have decided that my challenge shall be to try to move into a more fluid motion of spinning and drafting all at once.


6 days of spindling = ~1/2 ounce of Paco-Vicuna Yarn

I was not able to get an action shot, but I was able to spin and draft all in one motion. At least until the yarn broke. :-/  It took me a bit to get the yarn “fused” back together, but I will definitely spend more time spindling properly. :-)

Saturday, July 23rd

Back to the Batts of Wonder... I sure do enjoy spinning Huacaya Alpaca.

Sunday, July 24th


~ 2 ounces of Huacaya Alpaca Yarn after 3 days of spinning

Wrap-up and Thoughts

My goals were:

• Spin every day the Tour races - Not Completed.  I missed three days and made up one.  So I have a deficit of two days.
• Finish Spinning the Black Huacaya Alpaca Batts of Wonder - Not Completed.  I have started spinning this yarn, but have a ways to go before I complete the lot.
• Spin the Tibetan Mastiff Fur I carded a while back - Completed.
• Improve my skills to the point of nothing being over spun. - In Progress.  I'm doing much better.  I still have small bits of over-spun yarn, but I have come a long way baby.
• Practice Spinning Thick. - Completed.  The TM fur was started out a bit thin, but I was able to get the yarn to a more consistent thicker thickness.  With it being plied I have a wraps per inch (wpi) of 8-10.  Which is much thicker than my normal 17-18 wpi singles.
• Spin with a Drop Spindle while I'm travelling. - Completed.
• Spin only alpaca-related fibers - Completed.  I spun Tibetan Mastiff Fur which we use use protect our alpacas, Paco-Vicuna which is an alpaca breed in development and Black Huacaya Batts of Wonder.

While I wasn't as prolific as last year and I am disappointed that I did not meet all of my goals, I am proud of my accomplishments.

The resulting yarns are very different and therefore good for different purposes.  Which brings me to how my spinning has changed since last year's Tour de Fleece...

I was much more interested in trying out different fibers and seeing what happened.  But over the last year I have migrated into spinning for specific projects.  I think this is good because aside from the one yarn I spun for my BFF Hat, all of my TdF2010 yarns are still in my stash.


Golden Tibetan Mastiff
22 + 106.5 yards at 8-10wpi, 6.5 ounces of 2-ply yarn.
(10 days of spinning)

I still think it would be fun to actually spin during the Tour de France... as in spin at the same time and same length of time the riders are racing... maybe next year?  ;-)



Be sure to check in with the other Fiberistas over at Wisdom Begins in Wonder.  As always, you're certain to find inspiration.  Happy Fiber Arts Friday.